Thursday, July 11, 2013

A Final Mariden Update

OK, friends, here is one final Mariden USA update. After this, I promise I will extricate my teeth from this tasty flesh and move on to other topics.

Recall from my previous post that my friend Mark Friese in the DC area had a similar encounter with the unscrupulous Mariden folks--he actually went on his trip to Spain but--like our experience--that wasn't the end of his troubles with Mariden. Here's Mark's tale of woe.

First I want to thank you. Your contacts helped me talk to many other people that have had to deal with the poor management of Mariden. I did strong arm them to get me tickets at the last second. I had to visit Augustine at his home and leave messages on Nina’s door. As with some others when we arrived in Spain no arrangements for hotels had been made. In fact the hotel they first sent me to had dealt with Mariden in the past but wanted nothing to do with them in the future. After calling our guide I was directed to another hotel that was supposed to be paid for. The reservations had been made but no payment sent to the travel guide. He said that he could not help me until Nina approved the expenditure. Nina had evidently made some kind of side deal with the rest of our group coming from a different location. They had to pay for travel because she did not have the money and she would cover the hotel, meals and excursions, unbelievable! They bailed at the last moment. I never found out what happened.

In my international email correspondence with Nina to get my hotels and guide paid for she told me she was mad at the other group for bailing on her and that she had to pay all kinds of penalty payments (THAT sounds familiar). Payment was finally made by Nina and our guide proceeded with our tour. Having just two clients rather that 13 it was abbreviated. He did not travel with us, go on tours or dinners with us (except once). I would imagine that he was expecting a big group and the equivalent big tip rate of 7 euros a day( 1,000 euros in total), instead he just had us.

I thought you would enjoy the story. Hopefully Mariden is done. There were murmurs from Augustine of bankruptcy. I know they are being sued in Virginia by the other families that we were originally suppose to travel with. I have been asked to testify. Because of you I had at least ten conversations with others that have been treated poorly by Mariden. Many are willing to write letters or perhaps testify. I applaud you for your persistence and continuing to get the word out to others. Many of these trips were paid for with hard earned sweat by the kids that were supposed to attend. The entire situation is just sad.

So you see, friends, online reviews work. Social media connects us in ways never before possible, and forces companies to be accountable to their customers. Those that aren't... perish. And that's for the better, for all consumers.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I used to work as a tour director for Mariden but I decided not to work for them six years ago. On my last trip the hotels complained that Mariden had not paid for their rooms and it was up to me. I spent much of my free time 'phoning Mariden, at my expense, to get this sorted out. The Opera Hotel in Madrid was one of them.

I also found out that they had not booked an evening meal in Barcelona and this left me with more problems. Instead of accompanying a group I had to find somewhere to eat that evening and pay for it myself. Luckily I was married to a doctor and could afford to do this.

Some unscrupulous tour directors who worked for them would not pay the lovely local guide in Barcelona and directed tours themselves which is not allowed in Barcelona. Be careful because Mariden Canada is just the same. This is run by Nina's father. The same problems occur with this company.

Unknown said...

See above