Warning on tour operator in Colombo, Sri Lanka

San Diego, CA
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Warning on tour operator in Colombo, Sri Lanka
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I had a bad experience with Rail Tours, operating out of the "Tourist Information Office" in front of the main train station in Colombo. The travel agent's name is Prasanna, and he proved to be a persistent and capable liar. I had made most of my travel arrangements on my own, but I had a five-day gap in the middle of my journey, and in a moment of weakness, I made the mistake of allowing Rail Tours to fill it in for me. Prasanna told me that I would be getting the "government rate" on the hotels. Well, government employees must pay a much higher rate than tourists, because after leaving Rail Tours' office, I found way cheaper rates on the Internet for the hotels I was assigned. When I called Prasanna and told him this, he said my rooms were in a "new wing" and/or were "suites." This wasn't true; they were just ordinary (sub)standard rooms in junky hotels that work with this unscrupulous tourist information office. In addition, Prasanna sold me a wrong train ticket. The main reason I agreed to his services was that I wanted to secure an observation car reservation for the scenic route between Ella and Nanu Oya (near Nuwara Eliya). But on the day of the train ride, I found that my ticket was not for the observation car but a regular, cheaper car in the middle of the train, with an inferior view. This was very disappointing. On top of all this, Prasanna doled out the needed travel funds to my driver a little bit each day via banks and partner hotels, so we were constantly detouring here and there to get money for a quarter tank of gas at a time. Crazy! I don't know about other Sri Lankan tour operators, but I can't imagine they are any worse than Prasanna and his cronies at Rail Tours (or whatever name the "tourist information office" at the Fort Railway Station in Colombo, Sri Lanka, decides to call itself in the future). Avoid! You've been warned.

Oostwold, The...
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11. Re: Warning on tour operator in Colombo, Sri Lanka
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We booked a rip at this office, and were overall satisfied with the service, price, etc. We booked a ten-day-trip from Mirissa to Ella, Nurya Elija, Kandy, Sigyria, Polonarua, Kandy, Colombo. The driver (Kepi) was nice, spook good english, had tips and advices, and when we changed the original plan that was no problem at all. Kepi brought us where we wanted to go. The hotels were ok, except one: Glenfill Inn: no service, dark, view on the wall of the neighbour-building. Considering the total price we payed (€ 670,00, two persons) for 10 days, driver's salary, gasoline (almost € 1,00/liter) 9 hotelnights including breakfast, three traintickets, etc., we got an good vacation for a reasonable price. OK, Green Palace in Sygiria is Pressana's own hotel, but who cares: it is beautifully situationed in nature and ricefields, quiet, friendly staff, good ktichen, spacious room, good bathroom, airco, clean. Anyhow, our experience is positive.

Mildura, Australia
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12. Re: Warning on tour operator in Colombo, Sri Lanka
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We went into what we thought was the ticket office at Fort station to buy tickets to Kandy, we ended up also buying a 10 day, 8 night package of accommodation, car and driver for $1000. The tour was arranged by Sampath and included 2 nights b&b, AC at tidak guest house Anuradhapura, 2 @ hotel lion rock Sigiriya b&b AC, 1 night at the grosvenor at Nuwara eliya b&b, 2 at panorama hilltop in Ella breakfast and dinner and 1 night at Richards cabanas b&b in thissa. When we got back to our hotel I researched the Rail Tours company and after reading some of these reviews I felt quite sick with worry, thankfully the reviews got better towards the end of the post but I was still apprehensive.

Needn't have been, our driver Sawwa picked us up punctually, was the most courteous, friendly, caring and knowledgable driver one could wish for. our accommodation most of the time exceeded expectations, some minor issues every now and then but we were expecting 1 star and got 1-3. star.

Mr Sampath was aware of the reviews and was in constant contact ensuring everything was ok (which it was).

We finished our tour today regretfully but will be coming back to Sri Lanka (thanks in part to Sawwa) and will have no hesitation in booking other tours through this company (as long as we get Sawwa again).

Am only posting this review to reassure people in a similar situation to ease any concerns.

(Ella panorama hotel has the best balcony views - Rawana falls, little Adams Peak and the valley all from your room and the breakfast room as well)

UK
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494 posts
5 reviews
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13. Re: Warning on tour operator in Colombo, Sri Lanka
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Potential tourists, just ask yourself, how do these brand new posters come out of the wood work so quickly. Simply to promote a company and counter the agrieved members thread.....especially when they have no previous history of activity on this forum! How do they know if not regular members!

In my opinion they are a calculated invention and destroying the reputation of this forum. These locals are also damaging the reputation of Sri Lanka as a tourist destination . I have never experienced the sort of underhand tactics displayed, in all the time we have used this forum, researching our trips. Starting to think we would have been better of booking India again, if this the sort of hassle we will encounter even before we get there!

Edited: 7 years ago
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Destination Expert
for Sri Lanka
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72,758 posts
291 reviews
357 helpful votes
14. Re: Warning on tour operator in Colombo, Sri Lanka
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Absolutely! Just to cross-link the latest tourist treated disastrously bad by these scammers

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g293962-i9270-k6693418-Railway_Tourist_Information_Centre_Colombo_bad_experience-Colombo.html

to make sure no real tourist ever walks in there again unpreparedly!

All the best,

<Erik> & [Sandya]

Hampi, India
1 post
15. Re: Warning on tour operator in Colombo, Sri Lanka
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My girlfriend and I went into this place in order to buy a rail ticket but got chatting to the tour operator (Sampat). We realised quickly that he wanted to sell us more than the train ticket and was a little sceptical at first. After having a chat for some.time and about possible routes and costs, we ended up agreeing to a ten day package including hotels, train tickets and a driver for 8 of these 10days with a driver Rohan. Having completed the trip with Rohan,we were extremely happy with the service, hotels and especially our driver and cannot fault the service.

Colombo, null, Sri...
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18 posts
16. Re: Warning on tour operator in Colombo, Sri Lanka
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Sorry for the bad experience "mikxe" faced! there is always bad eggs in every basket .

Canberra, Australia
1 post
1 review
17. Re: Warning on tour operator in Colombo, Sri Lanka
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I booked a tour with Mr. Ferdinando Prasanna at office in the front of Colombo Fort Station. The arrangements worked as promised, which was impressive as I had walked in off the street and walked out with it all booked. There was one hotel on the tour with a poor room, but after I sent a message back to Mr. Prasanna, the hotel changed us to an acceptable room. Our driver tended to stop at overpriced tourist souvenir spots, but I guess that is what the average tourist wants (he would stop at other spots when asked). There were no hidden charges or extras, and it ended up being cheaper than I expected. More at: http://blog.tomw.net.au/2013/05/colombo-to-kandy-by-train.html

Amsterdam, The...
1 post
1 review
18. Re: Warning on tour operator in Colombo, Sri Lanka
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I'm very sorry to say that I also had a very bad experience with the railway company. I am an experienced traveller, but I'm used to travel without an tour operator. Our driver Lal was very nice but that was the only positive thing. he had his own little stops along te way where we had to buy things like expensive juwellery or oils or other things that we didn't want. And the worst of all was the pressure to buy because we were alsmost forced.

The hotels we stayed in were gross. In Kandy we stayed one night in a mold coverd, far away from town hotel. With a "swimming" pool. Absolutely no swimming in there... We had some more terrible overpriced hotels and we were not allowed to make any changes to the plan. the beds had used sheets and there were things that just didn't feel right...

it was way overpriced and a terrible experience. Never Ever let prasanna talk you into his mess. because he does still work at the railway tours.

London
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2 posts
1 review
19. Re: Warning on tour operator in Colombo, Sri Lanka
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I do not usually write reviews but following our poor experiences with the Colombo Tourist Information Centre, situated inside Colombo’s main train station, moreover, our dealings with Mr Sampath, I feel compelled to share my experiences with other tourists and register my complaint.

I consider myself relatively well travelled, on occasions I have utilised tours operators knowing that I will be paying over the odds compared to organising trips myself but without the palaver that goes with this. .My girlfriend and I wanted to do the Sri Lanka’s famous “Cultural Triangle” we gathered that we required two full days, a guide and transport to do this.

After promising quality hotel, a decent mode of transport, a guide who can speak English with a tourist board sponsored licence who would be with us throughout the duration of the tour, a deal was struck. Mr Sampath assured us that a driver would collect us from our Guest House in Batticaloa in the morning, implying furthermore, the driver would be with us throughout the tour, even staying in our hotel and that we would not have to pay for anything, which we thought also including the entry fees of the attractions once we departed with our 32.000 R. We knew we were paying a premium rate but naively thought that he would deliver a rather good service that he smilingly promised us. We had our reservations but when he displayed us with his official tour guide credentials including a government licence and the fact we were in what we thought to be a government sponsored official tourist information office, he gave us a false sense of security that turned out to be misplaced.

On the first day of the tour, the driver turned up past midday in a clapped out van with the a/c barely working, Mr Sampath rang us providing a cock and bull story about the driver being involved in a RTA hence his lateness. The hotel complex (Lion Rock Hotel) where we stayed in Sigirya was half built, the swimming pool in mid completion, with no TV, although the resturant was decent enough the stay was only valued at 3,000 R per night at the most. We had expected that the driver would be on standby to drive us around the Sigiriya area in the evening but instead departed the moment he dropped us off at the hotel and reporting that a different driver would be collecting us up “sometime in the morning”. The driver English was not “fluent”, proficient at best, when we posed questions relating to the conditions of the tour and the hotel a suspicious amount of selective comprehension of the English language was displayed but we did managed to hear a torrent of historical errors.

When I spoke to Mr Sampath via telephone highlighting my dissatisfaction with the service, he replied “you have missed understood” he also confirmed that he had only booked one hotel night not the two nights he had promised, although I fully understood that he were taken for a ride.

The next day, a driver in a Tata Nano taxi came to collect us, for those that are not familiar, the car is smaller than a Ford fiesta, it has no boot area for starters, when I provided my shopping list of complaints, the driver apologised stating that he had nothing much to do with Mr Sampath. To be fair I quite liked and felt sorry for the driver after speaking to him in limited English. At the end of the tour, I was in a conundrum as to whether to tip the driver but figured that he is complicit with Mr Sampath.

Edited: 6 years ago
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Level Contributor
109 posts
20. Re: Warning on tour operator in Colombo, Sri Lanka
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Any tourist having legitimate complaint can file complaint with the authorities ,If you feel cheated you must report it to the relevant authorities , either with the police or sri lanka tourism authorities,so that the offenders don't repeat the offense . Although TA is a good forum to warn others of the dangers ,it won't serve the cause much.

Edited: 6 years ago
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