ToursByLocals: Read the fine print if you might need to cancel!

I know we often think that a written refund should only apply to the other guy because I have a good story. So I am never sure of the appropriate response to this situation. We lost an airline ticket under some similar conditions because we didn't read the fine print close enough. Now if we think there will be a problem we buy the cancellation insurance after reading the fine print several times. Now if they don't have a fine deadline, how do you control last minute cancellations?

Your travel insurance should cover it.

Tours by locals is an agency that acts as a middleman between local guides and customers. When you make a booking you first need to select the local guide you wish to guide you around. So your booking isn’t really with Tours by locals, it’s with the local guide you selected. A local guide who reserved the time in his/her calendar for you. A local guide who may even said no to other requests because of your booking. A local guide with bills to pay and who may very well won’t get another booking on such short notice.
As unfortunate as your situation is, the local guide is not responsible for your medical issue. So I don’t think it’s unfair that the local guide isn’t the one who has to suffer the financial consequences of it.

Dutch is correct. The guide would have earned $675 from someone else if you had not filled their schedule. So in effect you are asking them to take the loss instead of you. Or, they find a last minute replacement for you and they get a bonus for the day? Hmmmm. But rules are rules.

Ruth, I'm sorry about what happened.

It sounds like you are aware that you were at fault for not reading the fine print, but it was very generous of you to come here to tell us your story, so that others will be aware and make sure to check cancellation clauses before they book anything (especially high-priced services).

I'm sure your story will persuade others to read through the contract before purchasing. Kudos to you!

Sorry for your disappointment, Ruth, but this....

"Cancel up to 15 days before the start date of the tour and get a full refund, including all fees. Timing is calculated in accordance with the time zone of the tour."

...is clearly stated on the TBL website under "View our cancellation policy" for a standard booking. Consider it a legal contract for signing on the line. They also offer a "Any Reason (Flexible) Policy Option" which, had you chosen it, would have refunded the full amount you'd paid for the cancelled tour, less any service fee, provided you'd cancelled ahead of the tour start time.

It does appear to be the policy of TBL and not their individual guides as it links to all the tours I browsed at random, although it sounded like they at least contacted the guide to see if they'd be willing to provide some sort of refund.

https://www.toursbylocals.com/policy/toursbylocals-cancellation-policy

It's not at all unusual for a guide service, hotel, etc. to strictly hold to their cancellation policies. You said above that you never buy trip cancellation because you're willing to risk losing the $ and betting that you wouldn't? Unfortunately you just lost that bet. Yes, a very good reminder to read the fine print and not expect any exceptions. Again, so sorry for your disappointment, and I sincerely hope the medical emergency is past and all is well in that dept! :O(

Was not my intention to be critical of the OP, I would have asked for mercy too. Never hurts to try. And if I had a dollar because I lost a great sum because I didn't read the rules, i would have enough for a RS tour.

Mardee, thanks for understanding my intent in writing this. Not a whine, but a cautionary tale. I do think 14 days is a longer window than one would expect for canceling. I wrote the request to negotiate a refund not really expecting much but knowing that saying nothing would get me exactly that.

Agreed, Ruth, that it never hurts to try! Especially as you did so kindly.

How about the standard travel insurance that comes with most credit cards, have you checked that policy? Maybe there is something in that to help recoup.

Ruth, you don’t mention travel insurance so I’m not sure if you have it, but in the future, you might want to think about using a credit card that has its own travel insurance. For example, I have a Chase Sapphire Preferred card that I use for just about all my travel purchases (at least the expensive ones). It has a built-in travel insurance policy that I can use in case anything happens and I have to cancel.

It’s not a “cancel for any reason” policy, but should take care of most travel issues dealing with health, medical, other issues involving you and/or your family or a travel companion. It covers most major expenses, even baggage loss/delay and so on.

Thanks, Mardee. Helpful info. I'm super careful about medical travel insurance; always buy the top tier of AMEX Assurance coverage and an annual Medjet policy to get me home. After five decades of good luck and no cancellations, I've never bought trip cancellation. It's kind of a betting game, and I'll take a finite amount of risk. Finally ran out of luck this time!

I never even considered that my cards might include some built-in cancellation coverage. Called VISA, and my Capital One Venture card doesn't, but I looked at the benefits of the Sapphire Preferred card and it looks well worth the money to upgrade, especially since on all my trips with friends I pay all our expenses up front on my cards and get reimbursed later.

But there is good news! I've kind of been boycotting AMEX since they drastically increased the spend to earn miles, and putting all my expenses on VISA. However, I did put ONE charge for this trip on my AMEX Reserve, and it was the big balance for the tour I've questioned! Called AMEX and they confirmed I do have some level of trip cancellation coverage on the Reserve card, but the department that handles insurance questions only works Monday to Friday.

So who knows? Maybe I will have some coverage. Maybe not, but I'll never know if I don't ask! Thanks so much for your helpful tip. If I do get a refund, I owe you a glass of prosecco on some distant shore some day! Will report back next week....

If I do get a refund, I owe you a glass of prosecco on some distant shore some day!

Ha ha, I would definitely accept that! Good luck!

Hoping AmEx can help you somehow and really appreciate the heads up warning.

This forum always performs a great service if others can learn from our mistakes. Thank you for reminding us how important the fine print is. We lost out once because we made an assumption based on what we thought we knew from previous experiences….wrong. Now we take nothing for granted. I hope you get some compensation. Good luck and safe travels in the future..

Crossing fingers that AMEX can come through for you!!!

I am a travel agent and have been using TBL for many years now .
On September 5th, I booked tours for September 18th and 19th in Cinque Terre through ToursByLocals on behalf of my clients
At the time of booking, the “Anytime Cancellation” option was not functioning properly. Since their travel plans were 90% confirmed, we proceeded with the standard booking.( the glitches in the new TBL portal keep popping up often )

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, my clients initially requested cancellation. The Lady's father, who turned 100 years this August, had suddenly fallen ill , requiring her immediate presence and hospitalisation

This was the sole reason for the change in travel plans... Understandably so

When we contacted your support team, I was advised that the booking was non-refundable as it fell within the 15-day window. I explained that the “Anytime Cancellation” option had not worked at the time of booking and even offered to pay the upgrade cost retroactively. The response I received suggested that I should have canceled and rebooked — but respectfully, this would still have fallen within the same 15-day window, leaving us in the identical position.

I was further told that ToursByLocals would make full payment to the guide to protect their income. However, the guide has since confirmed he has not received any payment. At present, therefore, my clients’ funds are being retained by ToursByLocals for a service not rendered. This appears to be an internal decision, not a contractual necessity, and raises concerns of fairness.

Importantly, if the “Anytime Cancellation” option had functioned as it should, my clients would have been entitled to a refund even under the same circumstances. The discrepancy is troubling, particularly as these are repeat guests who have consistently chosen ToursByLocals because of its reputation for fairness and integrity.

The lady's father has now stabilized. My clients therefore wish to proceed with their travel and enjoy the Cinque Terre tours as originally scheduled on September 18th and 19th.and TBL is now ghosting me . I have checked with the guide and he is still available for the 1 of the dates . if TBL is anyway going to pay the guide why cant we use the service since he is available ... NO RESPONSE to this .
Any ideas/suggestions

It's worth taking note of what Sarah Sait has just written above. Looking on line, we can see that she's the founder of a successful, luxury travel agency with about thirty years experience in the field. That's quite something to have her contribute to this column with her question.

sarahsait, thanks for contributing. However, I don't understand why you would choose to book your clients' tours through a third party agency rather than directly with the tour operator. You obviously know who the actual company is since you say you have been in touch with the guide. Truly baffling.

In addition, as a professional travel agent why would you not have insisted that your clients purchase travel insurance especially with a 100 year old father?

Ruth, thanks for sharing your experience. Good luck with AMEX.

The situation is unfortunate. We would hope if the guide were to book your cancelled date with another client, they would refund all your money and not double dip. That would be the right thing to do, but you will never know if the guide is that honest. At the minimum TBL would be entitled to their commission IMO and that should be deducted from any refund.

sarah's post - her first, welcome aboard - reads like a copy and paste of a complaint letter to the company????

It does Nigel, absolutely, but it is enlightening to learn that the TBL had neither paid the guide nor refunded the money, and ghosted a travel agency with whom it had an established relationship.

And I had the same thought as jeanm but assume that the agency’s established longterm relationship had worked well…until now and it’s a shortcut when one has a workload of clients.
Ron from Rome, who knows this field, could explain why an agency would use TBL, if he sees this.

Elizabeth, in my earlier life I was a travel agent for 10 years. I can not think of a reason for Sarah Sait' s agency to use a third party booking source except that it's easy for the agent.

I look forward to Sarah's response. And I appreciate her first post demonstrating why so many of us on the forum recommend always booking directly with the provider.

I get emails all the time from travel agents that have booked tours with me for their clients on Viator or GetYourGuide, instead of with me personally. It is pure laziness, as my contact details are a click away. No other reason not to book direct.

Whenever I find something interesting on Tours by Locals, I go sleuthing to try to find the guide's personal website. Most recently, I was looking for tours in a town/city in western Germany, found a great TBL guide/tour, and easily had enough info to find the guide's personal site. And his band's website. So, I'll do a tour with him on Dec 13 and watch his band play on Dec 14.