Big Country Tours

"I recently took 25 students and three staff on a four day, and three night trip to New York City using Big Country Tours. Worst tour guide service ever! I had used two different companies over the last 5 years for big trips with my students and they are 5 stars compared to this company, which I had to give 1 star in order to post. From day one, bus was 30 minutes late...I never received my bus driver's information, even though I requested serval times weeks prior to trip. Our tour guide/owner of company told me that we had an indoor swimming pool at our hotel for the students, but upon arrival my tour guide called hotel and they informed her that the pool has been shut down since Covid-19. I won't talk about everything that went wrong as a lot did, but my tour guide/owner did not interact with my students during the entire trip until I told her that she had to speak about Columbia College to my students, since we didn't have a tour guide. Well, after I got directions from a student on campus about where to find the library...come to find out that hundreds of students was on campus getting guided tours by college students/staff. My tour guide/owner did not know much of anything about New York City. She could not tell me what buildings and landmarks we were looking at when I asked her. Please don't put yourself and staff through the same stress I went through."

"Took 25 high school students to NYC using this company. Posting this on hopes that I can save at least one person from getting scammed by this company. Gina who claims to be the owner is the model of incompetence. Our supposed tour guide had the answer “I don’t know” to so many questions it was mind boggling. We wanted a hotel with a pool, she booked us a hotel in which the pool has been closed for 3 years. Had to cancel parts of the trip because she booked nothing in advance. Again, the model of incompetence. Gina will take your money, give you a terrible experience, fly back to Florida and think nothing of it. Please don’t fall for this scam."

"My son's trip through his school was cancelled last year due to Covid and I have been waiting for a refund from this company since last year. I completed the paperwork required and I am still waiting. I am sending emails and tried calling. This is the worst customer service that you ever deal with. I was notified that the deposit would be non-refundable, however the rest of the payments would be returned to me. As of today i have not received a refund and is over year and a half. The company would not return your calls, or emails."

"If I could give them a 0 I would. Our school trip was scheduled for May 1-3rd to Chicago and canceled with the pandemic. When it was canceled they promised a full refund but said we had to wait for all the venders to open. We waited and waited and then in mid July we received a letter saying they would only offer anything above the deposit that was paid. $300+ per family, over $8,000 for our school alone. We contacted the company three times asking for an explanation of what the $150 deposit per person was being used for with no response. While I understand this is a hard time for everyone and they made the arrangements they could not provide back up with any invoices or bookkeeping to support their calculations. On top of that the district requires trip insurance, that this company said was included, and then after they said it did not cover anything. In a second letter received by some parents the company had the audacity to lie and say the school canceled the trip and that they offered a discounted trip or credit to the school for the non-refunded deposit. We are a small school and we as parents talk to our school staff all the time. No such offer was ever made to the school. I would not use or trusting this company."

"My daughter's 4th grade class took a trip to Mackinac using this company. You were allowed to make payments. I accidently overpaid by $51. It has been 2 months since I was promised a refund. I have emailed and spoke with people on the phone who said I would have the refund within a week. Now no matter when I call or leave a message NOONE EVER ANSWERS THE PHONE. Definitely think more than once about using this company. This company is a huge joke. Unprofessional to say they very least. Criminal in that they refuse to refund my money. I review alot of places and am not just someone who complains about everything. I call them as I see them."