点评:Custom 16 Day Trip in Greece
My initial 2020 (Greece trip) with PTG was cancelled due to COVID. On 12/9/2025, I contacted PTG to go ahead with the trip and sent them (12/10) the itinerary which was very nearly complete. This was a disastrous mistake as the company, as I would soon learn, had drastically changed. I did not receive the final itinerary, still with errors and incomplete, until 4/15, 4 months later and 3 weeks before the trip. This was after I had written to PTG (on 4/11): “I am still waiting for the corrected final version of the itinerary. You sent me the last itinerary almost a month ago at which time I sent you a list of the errors in that itinerary. This list was a copy of the previously sent list of itinerary errors, as the last itinerary included the same errors as the previous itinerary. Since then I have not heard back and have not received a final corrected itinerary. If you have discarded/cannot find this list, let me know and I’ll send it a third time.” For months, I was receiving “corrected” itineraries with repeated errors, newly introduced errors, missing/incomplete information and scheduling issues. As an example, visits to a site were scheduled on a day or time when the site was closed. Because of an error made on a previous day of scheduling many items on my visit in Thessaloniki had to be crammed into one day leading the driver to share with me during the trip that he did not know how we could do it (a concern I had previously voiced, 1/13 to PTG). Together, he and I managed to revise the day’s scheduling and planning to make it work. Due to the protracted time of non-responsiveness and numerous iterations of itineraries, with repeated and new errors, I had to change my planned trip from April to May.
I had repeatedly asked for names and phone numbers of my drivers in advance of pick up so I would be ready (wake up on time, etc.) and be able to contact/set up location pick-up if/when necessary. On April 23, less than 2 weeks before my trip PTG tells me: “Two days prior to your arrival, I will send you the contact details of the driver who will meet you at the airport. For the following day in Athens, I will also inform you of the assigned driver two days in advance.” As might be expected, at this point, neither happened. I arrive in Athens airport and text PTG while I am in customs asking again for the airport driver name and phone number. I am sent a name and phone number. When I meet the airport driver this is not his name or phone number. When I share the correct name of the driver and information with PTG the response I receive is “Ooooo yes I am sorry.” For the entire trip I never receive the driver’s name and contact information without first (often repeatedly) having requested it. One of many examples: I was hiking from Fira to Oia (Santorini). I needed to know the driver and his contact information as I need to schedule a pick-up time and place after the hike, especially since later that day I had to get to the airport for my return flight to Athens. I contacted PTG and am told to contact “Lucas”. Who is “Lucas”?, I ask and I am told to look at my itinerary. Well, Lucas does not appear on my itinerary. I am then told that the “emergency number” for Santorini is Lucas whom I need to contact to find out who is my driver. Somehow, I am supposed to divine that an emergency number is the number to call to find out who my driver is, particularly irksome in that I had been told that I would be told in advance whom my driver was. For the entire trip, I had to repeatedly request this information, which was never provided me in advance and without my having to ask for it.
This is not conducive to enjoying your trip when spending a lot of time text messaging various parties just to find out the driver and contact information which should have been provided without having to constantly request it.
Three (3) days of my itinerary in Greece was spent on Mt. Athos, which involved no services from PTG as it was planned and run by another tour company which received, from me, its respective payment. In addition, I decided, early on and shared with PTG, that it made more sense to tour Athens on my own and I did not need a driver from PTG, for it is best to learn the city by walking it. Thus, 5 days of PTG driving in Athens was reduced to 5 hrs. (4hrs on Day 14 and airport, Day 16). Accordingly, 6 days (Days 4-8 and day 12) involved a PTG driver, with days 13 (Santorini) and 16 (Athens) adding an airport driver and day 14 (Athens) 4hrs driving. Thus, additional driving totaling @ 6.5 hrs. So, services from PTG was 6 days and @6.5 hrs. 8+ days, either being on Mt. Athos or on my own in Athens, both involved no services from PTG. However, I did not see any corresponding reduction in price when 5 days of PTG driving in Athens was reduced to 5 hrs. When I shared this with PTG I was told I would need to speak to the “finances director”, but that he was not available. I asked several times when he would be available and received no response. When I shared with PTG a chart delineating the services they were providing me according to the itinerary and asked them to provide the respective costs of each, I was told that they don’t do that. This is from my e-mail to them on 3/22: “Yesterday, I sent you an e-mail that quoted your statement ‘In your 20-day trip, if we exclude the 3 days in Athos, the arrangements with us cover 17 days with cost of 7.780€ ’ (“20-day trip is a mistake”, it was a 16 day trip, May 6-21,but again errors were made throughout). I proceeded to explain: “It is actually 6 days and @ 6.5 hrs. So, not 17 days with a cost of 7.780 € but almost a 1/3rd of that, 6+ days with a cost of 7.780 €. The main error, it appears, is that when 5 days of driving in Athens was reduced to 5 hrs. in Athens (4hrs on May 19 and airport), no corresponding reduction in price was made and the price remained at 7.780 €. If you or your finance director has not looked at the chart sent March 15 please do so. “ 17 days with cost of 7.780€ ” is very different than 6 days and @6.5hrs. with cost of 7.780€. This would constitute paying Private Tours Greece for 10+ days for no service at all. If I am missing something in my calculations, please let me know, as I am happy to pay for services rendered, but I believe all would agree that no one should pay for services not rendered. This was not addressed by the “finances director” from whom I never heard or from anyone at PTG. It should be added that the only service I was receiving was a driver. I arranged and paid for my own hotels (after reading the disappointing reviews of customers regarding the hotels PTG had selected and seeing this myself when I looked up the hotels that they said they would book), site tickets and meals and made clear that there should be no guides. Accordingly, by my computing (and, again, I welcomed a delineation from PTG but it was not forthcoming) I was paying $250+ an hour for a driver! Internal flights based on the airline website were not substantial and here too PTG did not provide the cost amount to me. In addition, initially PTG was to have a driver from Santorini airport to the hotel; however, the hotel offered to pick me up for free, when I shared this with PTG they did not deduct their airport pick up cost from what I was being charged.
This, unfortunately, is the tip of the iceberg. Unneeded stress in planning/finalizing an itinerary with continuous repeating of mistakes and needing to constantly contact someone to receive information I should have been provided in advance or at least during the trip without having to chase after people. I have used travel companies in many travels throughout the world and none of them have approached PTG in terms of lack of responsiveness/responsibility, no transparency and gross ineptitude. No doubt, this will be further demonstrated by a “response” from PTG that it is all a misunderstanding and can, somehow, be explained. I wish this were so, but all that has transpired, only a small part of which is shared here, indicates otherwise and has led me to share this with you so you might avoid what has been a truly trying and negative experience. Greece itself and all its people that I met are wonderful!
翻译:希腊16日定制行程
我最初与PTG预订的2020年希腊之旅因新冠疫情取消了。2025年12月9日,我联系PTG,同意继续行程,并于12月10日将几乎完整的行程单发给了他们。这是一个灾难性的错误,因为我很快得知,这家公司发生了巨大的变化。直到4月15日,也就是行程开始前3周,我才收到最终的行程单,但仍然有错误,行程单也不完整。这是我在4月11日写信给PTG之后收到的:“我还在等行程的最终修正版。您大约一个月前发给我最后一份行程,当时我给您发了一份行程错误清单。这份清单是之前发的行程错误清单的副本,因为上一份行程包含与上一份行程相同的错误。之后我一直没有收到回复,也没有收到最终修正版行程。如果您丢弃了这份清单或找不到,请告诉我,我会第三次发给您。” 几个月来,我收到的“修正版”行程中,错误不断,有新的错误,信息缺失/不完整,以及时间安排问题。例如,我安排参观某个景点的时间恰好是该景点关闭的日期或时间。由于前一天行程安排上的一个错误,我塞萨洛尼基之行的许多项目不得不挤在一天之内完成,司机在行程中告诉我他不知道该怎么办(我之前在1月13日给PTG提过这个问题)。我和他一起修改了当天的行程安排和计划,最终顺利完成了行程。由于长时间没有回复,行程反复更改,错误不断出现,我不得不将原定的行程从4月改到5月。
为了做好准备(例如准时起床等),并在必要时联系司机并安排接送地点,我反复询问了司机的姓名和电话号码。 4 月 23 日,距离我的旅行不到两周,PTG 告诉我:“在您抵达前两天,我会向您发送在机场接您的司机的联系方式。对于第二天在雅典的行程,我也会提前两天通知您指定的司机。”不出所料,此时两件事都没有发生。我到达雅典机场,在海关时给 PTG 发短信再次询问机场司机的姓名和电话号码。我收到了姓名和电话号码。当我见到机场司机时,这不是他的姓名或电话号码。当我告诉 PTG 正确的司机姓名和信息时,收到的回复是“哦,是的,很抱歉。”整个行程中,我从未收到过司机的姓名和联系方式,除非我先(通常是反复)索要。许多例子之一:我从费拉徒步到伊亚(圣托里尼岛)。我需要知道司机和他的联系方式,因为我需要在徒步旅行后安排接客时间和地点,尤其是当天晚些时候我必须去机场搭乘回雅典的航班。我联系了 PTG,他们让我联系“卢卡斯”。我问“卢卡斯”是谁,然后让我看看我的行程单。结果,我的行程单上没有卢卡斯。然后他们告诉我,圣托里尼的“紧急电话号码”是卢卡斯,我需要联系他来查明我的司机是谁。不知怎么的,我竟然猜到要打紧急电话号码才能查明我的司机是谁,尤其让我恼火的是,我之前被告知会提前知道我的司机是谁。在整个行程中,我不得不反复询问这些信息,但这些信息从未提前提供给我,而且我也没有主动询问。
这不利于您享受旅程,因为您需要花费大量时间与各方发短信,只是为了找到司机和联系方式,而这些本来应该提供的,而不必不断索要。
我在希腊的行程中有三天是在阿索斯山度过的,PTG 没有提供服务,因为它是由另一家旅游公司策划和运营的,而该公司从我这里收取了相应的费用。此外,我很早就决定并与 PTG 分享,自己游览雅典更有意义,我不需要 PTG 的司机,因为步行是了解这座城市的最好方式。因此,在雅典 5 天的 PTG 驾驶时间减少到 5 小时。(第 14 天和机场 4 小时,第 16 天)。因此,6 天(第 4-8 天和第 12 天)有 PTG 司机,第 13 天(圣托里尼)和第 16 天(雅典)增加了机场司机,第 14 天(雅典)4 小时驾驶。因此,额外驾驶时间总计为6.5小时。所以,PTG提供的服务为6天,而8天以上(无论是在阿索斯山还是我自己在雅典)则为6.5小时。这两种情况都无需PTG的服务。然而,当PTG在雅典的5天驾驶时间减少到5小时时,我并没有看到价格有任何相应的降低。当我与PTG沟通此事时,他们告诉我需要联系“财务总监”,但他不在。我多次询问他何时有空,但没有得到回复。当我向 PTG 提供一张图表,列出他们根据行程提供的各项服务,并要求他们提供每项服务的相应费用时,他们告诉我他们不提供。以下是我 3 月 22 日发给他们的电子邮件:“昨天,我给您发了一封电子邮件,引用了您的声明‘在您 20 天的行程中,如果我们扣除在阿索斯山的 3 天,我们安排的行程为 17 天,费用为 7,780 欧元’(“20 天的行程是一个错误”,这是一次 16 天的行程,5 月 6 日至 21 日,但再次出现错误)。我继续解释说:“实际上是 6 天,每个小时 6.5 小时。所以,不是 17 天,费用为 7,780 欧元,而是几乎是那个的三分之一,6 天以上,费用为 7,780 欧元。主要错误似乎在于,当雅典 5 天的驾驶时间减少到 5 小时(5 月 19 日 4 小时,去机场)时,价格并没有相应降低,仍然保持在 7,780 欧元。如果您或您的财务总监没有看过 3 月 15 日发送的图表,请看一下。“17 天,费用 7,780 欧元”与 6 天,6.5 小时,费用 7,780 欧元截然不同。这就相当于向 Private Tours Greece 支付了 10 天以上的服务费用,却根本没有享受到任何服务。如果我的计算有遗漏,请告诉我,因为我很乐意为提供的服务付费,但我相信大家都同意,任何人都不应该为未提供的服务付费。“财务总监”没有解决这个问题,我从未与他联系过,PTG 的任何人都没有解决这个问题。需要补充的是,我得到的唯一服务就是一名司机。我自己安排并支付了酒店费用(之前看过顾客对 PTG 所选酒店的失望评论,而且在查找他们承诺预订的酒店时也亲眼看到过),还有景点门票和餐费,并明确表示不提供导游服务。因此,根据我的计算(我再次感谢 PTG 的解释,但 PTG 并未提供),我每小时要付 250 多美元给司机!航空公司网站上显示的国内航班数量并不多,而且 PTG 也没有提供这部分费用。此外,PTG 最初计划安排一名司机从圣托里尼机场到酒店;然而,酒店主动提出免费接我,当我告诉 PTG 此事时,他们并没有从我的费用中扣除机场接机费。
不幸的是,这只是冰山一角。在规划/最终确定行程时,我承受了不必要的压力,不断犯错,不得不不断地联系相关人员获取信息,而这些信息本应该提前或至少在旅行期间提供,而不必费力地追着别人跑。我在世界各地旅行时曾多次联系过旅行社,但没有一家公司联系过PTG,称其缺乏响应/责任感、缺乏透明度,而且极其无能。毫无疑问,PTG的“回应”将进一步证明,这一切都是误会,而且可以以某种方式解释。我希望情况确实如此,但所有发生的事情(这里只分享了一小部分)表明并非如此,也促使我与你们分享,以便你们避免这次真正令人痛苦和负面的经历。希腊本身以及我遇到的所有人都非常棒!