Rony's Tours - no show!

[jkgourmet]

We scheduled with Rony for a tour in Roatan.  We paid in full prior to the tour (our choice - he offered to only take a deposit by PayPal, and remainder in cash on the day of the tour.)  I confirmed with him the day prior to our arrival.

 

We arranged for a pick up between 9:30 and 10am.   For those of you who have never been to this port, you meet private guides at a gate just outside the port.  Getting to that gate is like going to a maze of vendors - unpleasant to say the least.   At the gate, it's even worse.  Noisy, dirty and vendors who were aggressive, but polite.  We were there between 9:25 and 9:30am.

 

By 10am we were feeling like there was a problem.  One of the vendors offered to call Rony on his personal cellphone.  He spoke with Rony, and was told that Rony's driver was caught in traffic.  Okay, but why did the other tour guides get there on time?  The vendor gave me his personal cellphone to talk to Rony.  Unfortunately, due to the noise of the vendors and traffic, it was nearly impossible to hear Rony.  The next thing I know, other driver's are coming up to us (again, rather aggressively) explaining that they worked for Rony and would take us on our tour.  I asked for ID to show they were Rony's employees, which they could not produce.  The ID badges around their necks indicated they worked for other companies.   My husband and I were certainly not getting into a car with some other tour company of which we know nothing, especially since we had already paid Rony. 

 

It was a total mess.  Very, very upsetting - not just that he was a no-show, but also the environment of that area.  We are very well traveled - in the Caribbean, Istanbul, Bangkok, etc.  many, many places where haggling and hassling with vendors is known to be awful.  Heck, we lived in Mexico part time for two years.  We are NOT easily intimidated by any of this kind of stuff.  But this port area was BAD.

 

After waiting for 50 minutes we left.  I told Rony to refund our money.  Within a few hours, I received a sincere email of apology, with the same excuse of a traffic jam.  In that email, he said he would refund the amount he received from PayPal - $84 and change.  In other words, the amount he received after PayPal's transaction fee.  As a matter of principle, I objected and said I had paid him $90 and I wanted a full refund. A full refund was process quickly, with another note of apology.

 

So - no sloths, no beach day for us.  In 30+ years of arranging independent tours, this is the very first time I've had any difficulty (beyond a few driver's who were English language challenged). 

 

 

[crewsweeper]

Based on your comments, looks like you docked in Coxen Hole.  We were there 2 weeks ago.  Outside the port gates is a real zoo.  All the tour folks congregate at the same place, plus 2 way traffic along a narrow street.  In and out of town from the east side is a mess given road construction (new cross island road will be great in a few years). 

Sorry you missed the sloths.  But does sound like Rony eventually did the right thing.  BTW if you were heading to Daniel's Hangout, IMO, it's just so-so. Long ride. 2 sloths being held.  Lots of money cages.  Not much else.  I wouldn't do it again. There are now 2-3 other sloth places on the island, but really no interest in seeing how different they are.

[bigrednole]

This is concerning because we are looking to use Rony. We may have to consider an alternate route.

[travelguy2009]

We have ronys booked for our April 1 visit. I emailed yesterday just asking how everything was in Roatan and if ships are being allowed to dock....just concerned with the covid19 scare.....I have yet to receive any response from him. At other times, when I emailed, he responded within a few hours

[crewsweeper]

36 minutes ago, travelguy2009 said:

We have ronys booked for our April 1 visit. I emailed yesterday just asking how everything was in Roatan and if ships are being allowed to dock....just concerned with the covid19 scare.....I have yet to receive any response from him. At other times, when I emailed, he responded within a few hours

My guess is that everyone who has booked with him over the next 6 weeks is jamming his emails with similar questions. Give him some time.

[travelguy2009]

Good news, just heard from them tonight..all is good in roatan

[#1TravelMom]

I'm so sorry to hear you didn't get to tour with Rony or one of his drivers.  He's a great guy.  We've toured with him for more than 10 years - at least once a year.  He's always been prompt.  Coxen Hole can be a mess with traffic.  I'm sure he is sincerely sorry.  His business if very important to him.  He values every person that books with him.