A (negative) review of Fat Tire tours

I'm sorry to hear that this happened to you. It's shocking they did not issue a refund. We had a negative experience with Fat Tire in Paris. My husband and I have biked extensively, including a self-guided tour of Spain and Portugal, and regular urban biking in the US. We had two teen girls with us who were not expert cyclists, and my observation is that many adults in the group had little urban biking experience. Although the ride was lovely at certain points (such as biking in the evening near the Louvre), overall, it felt unsafe. The groups were too large to really hear directions when we were riding through the streets. Participants did not receive enough instruction about how to ride in a big group. Thus, some other, inexperienced adults in the group would suddenly stop and hop off their bikes, nearly causing others behind them to collide with them. At one point, we were squeezed to the side when an emergency vehicle flew by, and a motorcycle trying to jump out after the emergency vehicle almost hit my daughter. The tour leaders did not notice. The tour also included biking down a very steep road of large cobblestones, which my inexperienced daughter was not ready to navigate. She ended up almost losing control of her bike and having to walk down. The boat tour we were scheduled for was absolute mayhem - it was incredibly crowded, there was no special reservation for us, and it was impossible to keep the group together. I felt, overall, that safety and enjoyment had been sacrificed so that they could make the most money possible from the tours. I would not use them again.

That must have been a huge disappointment for you and your family. I am sorry that it worked out the way that it did. I have to agree that a responsible tour company should know when the location that it is bringing people to is closed.

Did you ask the tour company for a refund since the advertised product was not delivered?

It seems that most of the time this tour company does deliver a product that people enjoy and can use. I am sorry that your experience with them was such a negative one and hope the rest of your trip went better.

A refund is really due to you and all the other customers and I hope that you have contacted Fat Tire and asked for one. This type of poor planning by a tour business is ridiculous. I have not done a large bicycling tour because I fear all the things mentioned in the first response (I am a worrier and I was once in a horrible bicycle accident requiring hospitalization caused by a short stopper in front of me ) but if you ever want something smaller, I highly recommend French Mystique Tours. I do not think that he does a tour to Versailles but he does really good small tours. Just as a point of planning, a biking tour with 100 people needs more than one tour guide (more like 4) just to manage the group.

If you asked for a refund, and if they declined, I would suggest filing a dispute with your credit card company (assuming you used a credit card when making the reservation). Unless there was a big disclaimer that the company could not control public events, traffic, large crowds, etc. it seems to me that you did not receive the product you signed up for.

If you paid in cash, you are at the mercy of their decision.

I’m not a fan of Fat Tire after doing their daytime Paris “tour” in 2003. I agree with susan above. It was very unprofessional and not safe. At that time, and maybe still, it was American college kids in Paris for the summer doing the tours. We had one guy for about 30 of us. My son and I are experienced on a bike but many weren’t. The “guide” didn’t know Paris at all, he just knew the route and the scripted words. He paid no attention to any of us as we rode through the streets of Paris, with heavy traffic, trying to follow him. We stopped so often to listen to him talk about a site that it really wasn’t a “ride”.

I’m actually not surprised to hear what happened to you kbb, based on our experience and my impression at the time that Fat Tire was not professionally run. Sounds like Fat Tire has not improved. To be fair though, like any “tour”, it can all depend on what “guide” you get. Although not in your case kbb, and you are right, Fat Tire should not have had a tour to Versailles that day.
I agree with others about getting a refund. I would have demanded my money back as soon as we got back to their office in Paris.

I‘m also sorry that you had this experience. Like the others, I‘m interested to know what communication you‘ve had with the company. Did you get an apology and a refund? Did they say, „Stinks to be you! You took the tour; no refund for you!“?

Have all of you registered your dissatisfaction in the guidebook input section? It sounds like this company needs to be removed from his books. On our recent trip to the UK, we booked tours with both Rabbies and Mad Max because of his recommendations and were very pleased with both tours. His guidebooks need to always be that dependable when recommending daytours.

Definitely you are owed a refund. This is another reason I never take these type of tours. I have seen Fat Tire riders often In Berlin.

You should 100% leave a 1* review on Trip Advisor as well. It does look like someone responds to the reviews rated terrible and she actually has left her email address on one of the responses.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187147-d577423-Reviews-Fat_Tire_Tours_Paris-Paris_Ile_de_France.html

I agree you should have gotten a complete refund which you should not have had to ask for. They could not provide the service, they should have refunded your money.

Three years ago, I took a 4 hour bike tour of Paris on an electric bike with Paris Charms and Secrets. They limit the tour to 12 participants and our guide was excellent. I took a Sunday morning tour and there were only 3 of us and the guide! They also offer a 3 hour evening trip. Other than cruising on an e-bike, one of the nice things about the tour is that we parked, locked the bikes and were able to go inside some places. I recommend them highly!

Philip, sounds really good. I’m making a note of your rec, thank you.

This post seems suspicious to me. A one poster.

In some ways that’s true diveloonie, it’s a first-time and a complaint, BUT, the points are valid as the company is recommended in the RS guidebook. I don’t think it’s suspicious, such as a competitor trying to generate bad publicity, but a genuine assessment of the company’s structure, at least in the Paris region..

I too am normally suspicious of one time posters who join just to slam a hotel, tour, etc. (I am similarly suspicious of one time posters who join just to praise something).

But this post is different. There are very specific details in it (date, exact problems, etc) that are far different from the "Fat Tire sucks!" or "Fat Tire is the best!" type of posts. There's also the fact that other posters on this thread, who went on different days and so didn't encounter the race in Versailles, had similar issues.

Any single post is simply a data point. We all then choose how to interpret it. I feel this post deserves serious consideration. Another reader may have a different impression.

Since the OP doesn't seem to be returning to comment, I'm going to say that my initial response to the OP's post was to roll my eyes and think, "Another big American baby who decides to smear a company in a public forum instead of working with the company to reach some meaningful, fair resolution OR despite the company offering fair resolution." The comments of others who had suboptimal experiences with the company tempered my response. I still think the OP owes us a comment on what her conversation with the company was after the tour.