Dear Koen,
Thank you for your trip rating, which I must say I found a bit unfair and I'll try to elaborate on why is that. So when we booked a tour we planned originally planned for BMW 2 tourer or similar as a car for you. Please note that in car rental business, it’s never possible to guarantee the exact same car, and in your case you were unlucky that two days before the arrival the planned car, another client damaged the bottom part, destroying the engine so the BMW 2 tourer couldn't be delivered or repaired in such a short notice (the question is will it be repaired at all). This also made it impossible to communicate this with the you as everything really happened last minute.
The replacement car you got Peugeot 2008, so same automatic like BMW, small SUV type, suitable for 4 persons. What was impossible to predict is that 4 people would have so much luggage in the summer months (with light clothes etc) for a week time, and even with that amount of luggage, the replacement car could have it fit inside, only with trunk cover removed. The fact is that even if you got the originally planned car (BMW 2 tourer) which was unluckily out of service, you wouldn't be able to fit it there neither, without removing the cover, which they didn't feel comfortable driving with. However, rental car agency took one of your suitcases, and brought it to the agreed meeting point, Ostrog monastery, so it is not true that you waited not 2h like said, but more like less than half an hour, since you stated they will visit the monastery and have lunch and planned it to spend there around 1h30min, so nothing of their day was ruined, in contrary, it was reacted with maximum efforts on our side (us in the agency with whom you were in touch over the phone calls and messages, as well as the rental car company). So, you got VF Jetta which is an upgrade BMW 2 tourer (your initially planned vehicle). Despite providing support on day 1 when needed, you never complained about lights, or anything else about the car, therefore we couldn’t assist there, not knowing something was wrong, though wrong might be too harsh of a term, considering that things like orange warning lights can be just due to the factor that service light wasn’t switched off during last service, which could’ve been explained if you asked, or sensors of tyre pressure, possible to adjust at any gas station (for free) in the country, if that was of too much of a bother. With everything you stated, I really am amazed that they made it across the country for 800km+ in such a “horrendous” car as you described it.
When it comes to activities it’s very malicious to say that 9 out of 10 activities were late (maybe the 10th one is the one they were 15min delayed at the Skadar Lake cruise, who knows). Anyhow, activities that are dependent on other participants like rafting or canyoning, where not only 4 of you can go on a tour, but everyone needs to wait at the camp before the group is completed, as people are coming from all over the place, we cannot push the start of the tour earlier than that happens, but we need to give you the timing our providers give for the meeting point, which is not also the starting time of an activity. If you were delayed for a hike, because you were staying too long at breakfast (and our guide was there 15min prior to the start of the tour), Staban lakes hike on July 16, I don’t see how that can be our fault, and yes, our guide in Cetinje on July 19, was less than 5min late for the meeting time, that’s more or less the only truth one could read from your review.
Overall, I am sad that you didn’t appreciate all the great activities, accommodations, guides that we arranged, and the extra efforts we provided on day 1, but rather focus on the things that are really out of our hands and eventually didn’t or shouldn’t affect the tour itself.
Nikola
Ontdek het reisbureau van Nikola