Hi Sarah / all,
We would like to take the opportunity to respond so that Rick Steves’ readers have the full information relating to your communication with our private tours department - the version above is incomplete and misleading.
Before we begin, I would like to point out that at no time did you actually communicate or contract with Elegant Irish Tours, you contacted and were dealing with Paddywagon Tours (ask Mitchell to check his email conversation - you only entered the conversation on the last day after 5 weeks of communication).
For context, Paddywagon Tours is Ireland’s leading tour operator, carrying almost 200,000 passengers per year. Paddywagon also offers private hire services as advertised on our website. Elegant Irish Tours belongs to Paddywagon Tours. The service provided by both is very similar but there are some differences in the style of operation and pricing.
Mitchell was communicating with us from 14th July until 18th August when you took over.
We received your first request for a private day tour on 14th July. You received our quotation the same day.
On 15th July (after the close of European business hours) you requested a second tour. You received the quotation on 16th July. You responded asking for a third tour on the same day.
On 17th July you received the quotation requested on 16th July. You also requested that the dates for the first two quotes be changed from those originally requested. We advised that we still had availability but that the first two quotes would need to be priced again by our fleet manager as the timeframe you were travelling was high peak season and certain dates are more expensive than others as demand is higher than supply.
Upon clarification of a final price for all tours you agreed the terms and paid the deposit.
On 26th July you emailed us to thank us for our assistance and to request more detail on the itineraries booked. However, you also requested to change one of the itineraries contracted and also requested quotation for 2 additional tours / transfers. The additional services requested were starting / ending in remote areas of Ireland with little local supply of private chauffeur services in high- peak season. They were also for dates straddling one of the busiest weeks of the season with several of the worlds largest cruise ships at Belfast, Cork and Dublin and a game between Kansas State Wildcats and Iowa State Cyclones taking place in Dublin before a mainly US audience of almost 50,000.
We provided you with the information relating to your booked arrangements and advised that we would need to double check availability pricing and logistics with transport management given the timeframe.
On 30th July we provided you with all information requested. We further advised that we were trying to find an available falconry experience in Dingle that you had requested on 26th July (modification request to existing booking). Dingle is a very beautiful but extremely remote location. Falconry is not widely available there and providers are small family businesses - it is not unusual for them to stop answering requests once at capacity for summer. Our assistance with such requests is on a best efforts basis and we cannot guarantee anything as these are speciality third party suppliers.
On 3rd August we confirmed details of your entire updated and expanded itineraries.
On 10th August you contacted us again with 4 potential changes to 5 separate days of touring that were already contracted.
For context at this point, professional chauffeurs are regulated per European law.
They must comply with restrictions on consecutive days and hours driving, their overnight rest duration, their rest periods during the day and their speed limits depending on vehicle type and group size.
These calculations require careful oversight by professional transport managers.
