Hi there, I brought the 14 day tour of China for 2 persons. It was advertised on website as 1399GBP but I got charged more. (extra £91.33 per person.)
The concept isn't right even though they charge in euros...The website is misleading so you do have to be careful!
I was charged in euros rather than gbp which is what the website mentioned and also got a large transaction fee of 86.57 for using a debit card, it was not even a credit card!
So I do not recommend this Sinorama company to anyone and won't be using this company again.
Here's a look at our complaint letter sent in to Sinorama after our August 2015 trip to NYC.
Complaint sent and basically ignored by company ... ridiculed in replies and simply laughed at for demanding a refund. Never again will i purchase anything from them. BUYER BEWARE!
Hello,
I would like to register a formal complaint regarding the NYC Freedom bus tour i purchased and travelled with last weekend.
My Order Id is [...] and Receipt NO [...].
In chronological order for time sensitive reference:
Firstly, i had bought and ordered a trip from Ottawa to NYC from Sinorama. Nowhere did it ever stipulate that a third party(JBC Travel) was to be involved, nor that we would need to transfer at any point and time. This unfortunately was the case. Being so, departure time was changed without notice from 1:30am(written in my order confirmation) to 2:30am, and thankfully i found out after having contacted you myself for confirmation. Leaving in the middle of the night and having to worry about not knowing what our departure time is ... less than ideal. Also, we had paid for a "BUS" tour ... and were met with a mini van for transport from Ottawa to Montreal by this third party JBC Travel. Not what we paid for, and much less than ideal.
Secondly, although very friendly, our tour guide stumbled frequently in both English and French languages and was extremely difficult to understand in her directions and information. Not the worst part, but not impressed to say the least. We live in a bilingual country. Services should be offered as such.
Thirdly, and this is the worst part, on our return back from NYC, we were all(all passengers) appalled to find out that the bus's cistern had not been emptied in New York and thus resulted in it overflowing and fouling up the bus for the entirety of the trip back home. The smell was so bad that many passengers ended up being sick and vomiting in bags and containers because of the stench. Throughout the entire weekend trip, your guide was practically begging passengers NOT to use the onboard toilet, but to hold it in until the next drop off to use public facilities. While i understand quantities onboard are limited, that is one of the perks of taking a bus for extended trips like so. Passengers should NOT be dissuaded from using what they rightfully paid for. Now ... the only justifiable reason i can think of that the tank had not been emptied while in the city must be because your company wanted to save on paying the fees associated to emptying it out. SHAME ON YOU! For an extended period of 3-4 hours we all had to tolerate the foul smells emanating from the cabin. Not to mention we had no resort left for emergencies as the bathroom had to be condemned as it was overflowing. When confronted, your guide kept diverting responsibility to the driver, but this was not the drivers fault, but your own for cheaping out on paying the drainage fees. Finally, at a pit stop to the duty free shop, passengers DEMANDED that something be done about the smell. Not being able(or allowed) to empty the tank just anywhere, the bus driver did what he could and put in some deodorizers into the cistern. While this helped with the smell somewhat, if did not completely remove the foul odours, nor did it solve the issue of passengers not having a toilet to use for the remainder of the trip(what they rightfully paid for).
And lastly(and this touches on point #1), not only did we have a horrible ride back with the profound stench the whole ride back, and a flat tire along the way(the one thing we can't blame your company for), but we are told that we will be dropped off at the Greyhound bus station in Montreal to trade in a voucher for the remainder of the trip home to Ottawa. WE DID NOT PURCHASE A TRIP THROUGH GREYHOUND. YET ANOTHER THIRD PARTY! If i wanted to ride a Greyhound bus, i would have purchased the trip from them! Granted it did end up getting us home without having to deal with that disgusting smell any longer, but we had to wait in the terminal for an added two and a half hours to embark on the next bus available. Had you had a bus from your company as promised by the purchase of YOUR SERVICES to drive us home, we would have already been back home by the time this other Greyhound bus even left.
I'm left with a serious disgust of your company and operating methods, and feel like you run a fly by night operation to take our monies and cut corners and cheap out on your responsibilities as much as possible without any regards towards your passengers.
I demand a complete & full refund(including taxes and driver/guide fees of $42USD) for the horrible experience my spouse and I had to deal with this past weekend. Failing this, I will make it my mission to advertise my story on any & all review message boards and forums Google searches provide me with the name Sinorama as well as contact local Montreal, Ottawa & Toronto newspapers to see who would be willing to print out a travel review.
Shortly after we purchased our trip "Impressions of China" from Sinorama I was obliged to rush to the emergency ward with my husband who was rapidly diagnosed as having a stage 3 kidney cancer. Several days later he underwent emergency surgery to remove the tumor and is now trying to recover. Obviously, all of this was totally unexpected and meant we could no longer leave for our trip as planned on October 13, 2015.
Seems how this was to be the trip of my husband's dreams I wrote to Sinorama to ask if we could apply the price of our trip ($4,800 for the two of us) to a departure six months later. They simply answered that the trip was neither transferable nor refundable. Not even an ounce of compassion or understanding for someone who just discovered that he has a stage 3 cancer. So not only are we struggling with the illness but we are also out of pocket for the amount of $4,800.
Sinorama Group Reviews
Price Misleading on website beware
Hi there, I brought the 14 day tour of China for 2 persons. It was advertised on website as 1399GBP but I got charged more. (extra £91.33 per person.)
The concept isn't right even though they charge in euros...The website is misleading so you do have to be careful!
I was charged in euros rather than gbp which is what the website mentioned and also got a large transaction fee of 86.57 for using a debit card, it was not even a credit card!
So I do not recommend this Sinorama company to anyone and won't be using this company again.
Here's a look at our complaint letter sent in to Sinorama after our August 2015 trip to NYC.
Complaint sent and basically ignored by company ... ridiculed in replies and simply laughed at for demanding a refund. Never again will i purchase anything from them. BUYER BEWARE!
Hello,
I would like to register a formal complaint regarding the NYC Freedom bus tour i purchased and travelled with last weekend.
My Order Id is [...] and Receipt NO [...].
In chronological order for time sensitive reference:
Firstly, i had bought and ordered a trip from Ottawa to NYC from Sinorama. Nowhere did it ever stipulate that a third party(JBC Travel) was to be involved, nor that we would need to transfer at any point and time. This unfortunately was the case. Being so, departure time was changed without notice from 1:30am(written in my order confirmation) to 2:30am, and thankfully i found out after having contacted you myself for confirmation. Leaving in the middle of the night and having to worry about not knowing what our departure time is ... less than ideal. Also, we had paid for a "BUS" tour ... and were met with a mini van for transport from Ottawa to Montreal by this third party JBC Travel. Not what we paid for, and much less than ideal.
Secondly, although very friendly, our tour guide stumbled frequently in both English and French languages and was extremely difficult to understand in her directions and information. Not the worst part, but not impressed to say the least. We live in a bilingual country. Services should be offered as such.
Thirdly, and this is the worst part, on our return back from NYC, we were all(all passengers) appalled to find out that the bus's cistern had not been emptied in New York and thus resulted in it overflowing and fouling up the bus for the entirety of the trip back home. The smell was so bad that many passengers ended up being sick and vomiting in bags and containers because of the stench. Throughout the entire weekend trip, your guide was practically begging passengers NOT to use the onboard toilet, but to hold it in until the next drop off to use public facilities. While i understand quantities onboard are limited, that is one of the perks of taking a bus for extended trips like so. Passengers should NOT be dissuaded from using what they rightfully paid for. Now ... the only justifiable reason i can think of that the tank had not been emptied while in the city must be because your company wanted to save on paying the fees associated to emptying it out. SHAME ON YOU! For an extended period of 3-4 hours we all had to tolerate the foul smells emanating from the cabin. Not to mention we had no resort left for emergencies as the bathroom had to be condemned as it was overflowing. When confronted, your guide kept diverting responsibility to the driver, but this was not the drivers fault, but your own for cheaping out on paying the drainage fees. Finally, at a pit stop to the duty free shop, passengers DEMANDED that something be done about the smell. Not being able(or allowed) to empty the tank just anywhere, the bus driver did what he could and put in some deodorizers into the cistern. While this helped with the smell somewhat, if did not completely remove the foul odours, nor did it solve the issue of passengers not having a toilet to use for the remainder of the trip(what they rightfully paid for).
And lastly(and this touches on point #1), not only did we have a horrible ride back with the profound stench the whole ride back, and a flat tire along the way(the one thing we can't blame your company for), but we are told that we will be dropped off at the Greyhound bus station in Montreal to trade in a voucher for the remainder of the trip home to Ottawa. WE DID NOT PURCHASE A TRIP THROUGH GREYHOUND. YET ANOTHER THIRD PARTY! If i wanted to ride a Greyhound bus, i would have purchased the trip from them! Granted it did end up getting us home without having to deal with that disgusting smell any longer, but we had to wait in the terminal for an added two and a half hours to embark on the next bus available. Had you had a bus from your company as promised by the purchase of YOUR SERVICES to drive us home, we would have already been back home by the time this other Greyhound bus even left.
I'm left with a serious disgust of your company and operating methods, and feel like you run a fly by night operation to take our monies and cut corners and cheap out on your responsibilities as much as possible without any regards towards your passengers.
I demand a complete & full refund(including taxes and driver/guide fees of $42USD) for the horrible experience my spouse and I had to deal with this past weekend. Failing this, I will make it my mission to advertise my story on any & all review message boards and forums Google searches provide me with the name Sinorama as well as contact local Montreal, Ottawa & Toronto newspapers to see who would be willing to print out a travel review.
Shortly after we purchased our trip "Impressions of China" from Sinorama I was obliged to rush to the emergency ward with my husband who was rapidly diagnosed as having a stage 3 kidney cancer. Several days later he underwent emergency surgery to remove the tumor and is now trying to recover. Obviously, all of this was totally unexpected and meant we could no longer leave for our trip as planned on October 13, 2015.
Seems how this was to be the trip of my husband's dreams I wrote to Sinorama to ask if we could apply the price of our trip ($4,800 for the two of us) to a departure six months later. They simply answered that the trip was neither transferable nor refundable. Not even an ounce of compassion or understanding for someone who just discovered that he has a stage 3 cancer. So not only are we struggling with the illness but we are also out of pocket for the amount of $4,800.