Dear Travel Troubleshooter: I have trouble with Viator, a website that sells tours. I booked four of its terms in Naples, Italy, this year. Unfortunately, I needed to cancel the excursions because I evolved bronchitis and a center ear contamination in each ear. My medical doctor said I couldn’t journey. I emailed Viator to cancel my journeys. Three of the four excursions offered an immediate refund. However, my excursion of the Sea Grottoes of the Amalfi Coast, for which I paid $775, did now not respond. After several efforts to touch the excursion operator, it declined to refund the excursion, pronouncing that it was six calendar days before my ride.
Consequently, it will offer the handiest a 50 percent refund. I’ve studied the phrases, and I accept them as accurate, with I am entitled to a complete refund. Can you assist me?

Answer:

If you cancel 24 hours before your tour — which you did — you have to get your cashback. If you log into your Viator account and click on “Manage Bookings,” you’ll see the phrases and conditions. They kingdom which you’ll receive “a one hundred percent refund for cancellations made as a minimum of 24 hours in advance of the beginning date of the enjoy.”

But there’s extra. If you overview Viator’s phrases and situations, you’ll also see that the 24-hour rule is a “wellknown” policy but that your excursion operator’s coverage prevails (www.Viator.Com/phrases-and-situations#bills). Viator didn’t operate this excursion, but it has a little control over how you’re charged (and, if essential, refunded).

“Cancellation regulations range from the standard, and also you need to test the provider’s cancellation policy contained within the applicable product list at the time of your reserving, that’s the policy with a purpose to practice to and govern the phrases of your cancellation and any refunds,” it notes. In other words, Viator’s coverage applies — besides, while it doesn’t.

A observation of the Sea Grottoes of the Amalfi Coast excursion suggests a five-day window for cancellations. Somehow, your tour operator had misinterpreted its coverage. That’s not as uncommon as you would possibly think. It’s pretty not unusual for airline personnel to misread their very own fabulously complex fare guidelines. Repeated appeals to the tour operator won’t assist you — except, as Viator’s terms and situations are aware, Viator nonetheless has your money.

You can discover Viator’s executive contacts on my client-advocacy website online: Viator is owned through TripAdvisor, so www.Elliott.Org/organisation-contacts/tripadvisor. A quick, well-mannered email to considered one of them would possibly have helped. I contacted Viator on your behalf. It reviewed your contract and decided that you were, certainly, within the window to cancel.

We’re addressing this error to make sure it doesn’t manifest once more,” a TripAdvisor spokeswoman told me. “The big majority of our merchandise is moving to a 24-hour popular cancellation policy if you want to give tourists the flexibility to cancel up to a day earlier than the begin of their tour for a complete refund. This new coverage will supply travelers more flexibility which will make ebooks with self-assurance.”

I became extraordinarily nervous about taking a 14-day land excursion/cruise to Alaska because I am restricted to a wheelchair. Though I can stand, I do now not walk at all. When visiting in a wheelchair, there’s usually a glitch with something that is meant to be ADA compliant and is not. Our ride commenced in Anchorage, after which it took us to Copper Center, Fairbanks, Denali National Park, Mt. McKinley, and Talkeetna. After the land excursion, we boarded the cruise ship in Whittier and traveled southbound thru the Inland Passage to Vancouver, with port docking in Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan.

Overall, the trip was perfect from an accessibility perspective, although we encountered some hiccups along the way. I brought them to the cruise line’s interest and will share them with you. The following summarizes hints and guidelines I am making from my enjoyment in case you consider a trip: Never expect that when someone tells you a room, delivery, transfer, and many others. It meets ADA standards that it is. There is a wide variance in interpretation and assumptions while one says it’s miles “ADA compliant.” It would help if you listed unique questions that require specific answers from a tour agent who truly is informed about your special, required inns.

When I started out making plans for my ride, I worked with the cruise line directly. I spoke with retailers who cruised at the delivery we had been taking, who may want to supply me info approximately wheelchair-friendliness on the delivery and help me pick a room. I additionally spoke with their access department about accessibility resorts concerning on-land lodge rooms and matters such as trip/motor coach/railroad lifts. These folks have been beneficial. I failed to work through an independent journey business enterprise as I have learned from experience that particular things don’t constantly get replied to well or get “misplaced in translation” while dealing via a third party.

I booked my journey almost 12 months earlier so that I could get exactly what I wanted. For example, I desired a room on a deck containing a buffet, a grill, and out of doors swimming pools/seating/movies to eliminate elevator usage. It also saved us $1400 by getting an interior room–the out of doors open deck became just outside our door, so we did not need a room balcony.