Bobs Tours in Salzburg not as expected

Hi ndgardengirl -
Sorry you were disappointed with your tour! Question? Which tour did you book? There are two: the "Sound of Music" 4-hour tour, and "Bob's 50 years Sound of Music tour special" which is a much longer 8-hour version.

As you said you "...took the morning to walk around Salzburg" solo, it sounds like you booked the 4-hour tour? I'm asking as, according to the posted tour route, that one apparently doesn't include Nonnberg Abbey, St. Peter’s Cemetery or Festival Hall, only the 8-hour walking+bus tour notes those on the itinerary. Could you clarify?

That's a shame you had a bad experience. We took the Bob's tour a number of years ago and it was wonderful. Perhaps it was just that one guide, as you mentioned. You might consider sending them a polite email with your concerns.

We booked the 4 hour tour. I didn’t even look at the 8 hour option and if those locations were included in the longer tour - then I do bear some responsibility there.

It still doesn’t negate the fact that the tour didn’t meet our expectations. :/

If you didn’t read the outline of what was included in the tour how do you know if it met your expectations or not ?

In case this helps clarify the problem....

These are the tour details and route (itinerary) for the 8-hour "special" tour.
https://www.bobstours.com/sst.php
https://www.bobstours.com/sst_route.php

These are the details and itinerary for the 4-hour tour:
https://www.bobstours.com/som.php
https://www.bobstours.com/som_route.php

So yes, they're different 'cuz the longer one can include more, including the 3 locations you'd mentioned in your original post. Thought it worth the mention here to help others interested in Bob's tours avoid similar disappointment: read the descriptions and itineraries carefully before booking. That doesn't excuse issues you had with a less-than-upbeat guide, ndgardengirl, so do pass those along to the company?

Well, I expected the tour guide to show up on time. I also expected some enthusiasm for the topic and to answer questions of your guests without stopping them half way through a sentence (happened to me). I expect to get facts correct.

The tour schedule did say a stop at St. Gilgen for a coffee break or look about but that didn’t happen because we were behind schedule.

I feel like I have legitimate beefs with the company. Thanks Kathy - I might just send them a note. Lesson learned on booking tours.

A late start, missing the stop at St Gilgen, and it sounds like kind of rude guide would definitely be disappointing. I hope you gave the company this feedback. I went on this four hour tour years ago and it was a good experience. Hopefully with feedback the company can make sure others don’t have your experience.

I am sorry you had a bad experience. We did this tour last December and our guide was Johnathon. He was amazing! We were having breakfast in Salzburg before we left that morning, and a couple at another table told us they did the tour the day before and had him as their guide and how great he was. So when the guide showed up at our hotel and told us his name, we were excited. He was wonderful! Our entire day was a highlight and we had no complaints at all.

How late did the guide arrive? I ask because they pick you up at your hotel, so they make a few stops to pick everyone up. Were they late because of that? The details were on you, IMO, but if the guide was late showing up to work then that is not acceptable. Her lack of enthusiasm is not good either. If this were me, I would bear a lot of the responsibility, but I would contact the company and let them know my concerns. It does nothing to remedy the situation by complaining on a forum without giving a company a chance to make amends and to make sure it does not happen again. Just my .02 worth.

There are no pick ups on afternoon tours. Everyone meets at their location. We were all waiting for some time. I would say 15 to 20 minutes. It you ask people to be there 30 min early and you’re not punctual - that doesn’t start the trip out on the right foot.

I put this out here on the forum because they were specifically mentioned in Rick’s book and it’s why I booked them. As travelers, don’t we want to know all the experiences - good and bad? Yes, some of this is on me. I get it. But if you get a lemon of a guide, I would want to know that as a traveler coming to Salzburg.

I appreciate the input, folks.

I'm sorry to hear of your experience, too. I have not used Bobs Tours... I did the big bus Panorama tour... twice. I felt like it was a perfectly fine experience. I agree with others that Bobs Tours would appreciate hearing your feedback. From what i've read on this forum, it is a good company that wants customers to walk away from its tours pleased with their experience.

It does nothing to remedy the situation by complaining on a forum without giving a company a chance to make amends and to make sure it does not happen again. Just my .02 worth.

But, this is a forum meant to share travel experiences - ndgardengirl appropriately shared her disappointing experience with a tour company. She's under no obligation to give the company a chance to make amends before or after posting about what happened.

I am not saying she would not post here about her experience. I just think to be fair she should contact the company and let them know. How can they remedy it if they don't know? I know if I owned the company, I would want to be given a chance to remedy it and make sure it didn't happen again.

you said her driving was awful. What was bad about it?

I would definitely give feedback to the company based on what you have reported. As you can tell, several of us have taken the tour and had a different sort of experience. So the fact that yours was different indicates feedback is warranted - it sounds likely that this is “guide specific” and not “company specific”. It’s good you have been able to get clarification on what was advertised to be included so that you can now be factually correct in your feedback - which will hopefully make it be taken more seriously.

It’s always disappointing when you start out expecting a wonderful experience that you don’t receive.

Without running the risk of sounding like I’m really old 😀 - I just thinik she could have taken more precaution when driving if you have 8 passengers. Making abrupt stops, going too fast around tight bends on a mountain road, etc. Both my husband and I felt it was just a bit aggressive. Who knows, maybe that is the norm in Salzburg. It was just another irritant in the overall experience for us. I realize that some of this is subjective. Others might not have been bothered by it.

Just to clarify - this was just our experience and our perception of things. Im glad that everyone had a great experience with them. To one commenter’s point - it may be more guide specific than company.