NEPAL ENVIRONMENTAL TREKS AND EXPEDITION PVT. LTD. - Kathmandu

Worst travel company I’ve EVER dealt with

Now I know the above statement is a pretty big call. But I’m going to list for you why this company deserves the title of ‘Worst Travel Company’. So if you bear with me, it will all become clear by the end. Enjoy reading about the comical screw-up that this company is.

Background:
We booked a 5 day tour with the company to summit Island Peak (Imja Tse) in Nepal. As we were going to be in the local area already, we planned with Nava (owner of the company) to meet our guide at the nearest village, Chhukung, on the 15th May, at Trekkers Lodge, to begin the tour.

1. We arrived at Chhukung on the 13th. There was no Trekkers Lodge in the village anywhere. Therefore, we had to buy Everest Link WiFi to let the company know which lodge we were in. Strike 1.

2. Surprise, surprise......on the night of the 14th (we know because we visited every lodge in the village), and for the entire day of the 15th, no guide arrived. Strike 2.

3. We bought more Everest Link WiFi on the 15th to ask where our guide was. At 2:33pm (15th) we were assured that Pasang (our guide), "If in case he does not reach tonight definitely tomorrow morning he will be there". Phew. So I have a guide coming, I guess the tour will start just 1 day later.

4. At 11:52am (16th), after being assured that our guide would meet us (refer above), he still was a no show. So WE had to initial contact with Nava (and ONCE AGAIN they didn't contact us to see if the guide had arrived or if we were ok, we had to do everything). The guide was now TWO days late to meet us & the tour company had not once initiated contact to find out what was going on. Strike 3. At 11:59pm (16th) they said they will call the guide to find out what is happening.

5. At 1:54pm (nearly 2 hours after we were assured they would find out where the guide was), we still hadn't heard back from Nava. So ONCE AGAIN we initiated contact and called them. Strike 4.

6. At 2:07pm (16th) we received a message that "There must be accident or anything wrone (sic) ". At 2:51pm we received a message that the guides mother had died and that he had ALREADY gone home by helicopter. Now we know this is unfortunate and always tragic. But this information we find out nearly 48 hours AFTER he is meant to be with us on our way to summiting Island Peak. Where was he 48 hours ago?

7. 3:45pm (16th), "just today mother of doed (sic) and he returned back". I know this sucks for everyone, but hang on, the guide was meant to meet us on the morning of the 15th and didn't arrive and then we were PROMISED (refer point number 3) that he would be in Chhukung on the morning of the 16th. Both of these timeframes were BEFORE the guide found out about his mother. Plus, as Tangboche (where the guide helicoptered out from when he found out) is roughly 8 hours away from Chhukung, how was he meant to get to Chhukung? This also makes point number 3 another lie. I would love to see how the time frame was going to work. And all of this was before the ill news of the guides mother.

8. 4:08pm (16th), "Porter will bring permit till tomorrow morning". Now to our understanding the permits were in Tangboche, which is roughly 8 hours away from Chhukung. That would mean that the porters will be walking all night to get them to us by "tomorrow morning". We asked multiple times via messages how the porters were going to do it. Always to no reply. We eventually had 1 of the permits (not the other) messaged to us. But the question still remained unanswered how after being promised that the porters were going to be in Chhukung "tomorrow morning" from Tangboche. (Our porters never showed up...)

9. 4:15pm (16th), after discussing it we decided me still might accept a new guide but we had questions. 2 of them were (written in the same message), "Has the guide been up island peak before? When was the last time?" The reply came at 4:21pm "Guide has climbedisland (sic) peak so many times" and also at 4:21pm "This season also he climbed island peak". Now this second one was a straight out lie. When we met the guide we asked him this questions. He HAD NOT climbed Island Peak this season. Nava knew we were on the verge of leaving and was telling us what we wanted to hear, not what the truth was. This capitulated the entire transaction between us and the tour company. Truth is not important, what the client wants to hear is. You can clearly see this trend in every point made. Strike 5.

10. When the substitute guide arrived (approximately 7:00pm on the 16th), he had no idea what our 5 day itinerary was, what was and was not included, or even who Nava was. He was organised through the original guide, not the company.

11. We summited Island Peak on the 18th. On the 19th at approximately 10am our guide left us in Chhukung and the tour was over. Now my math might be a bit rusty, but I'm pretty sure from 7pm (16th) until 10am (19th) is not 5 days. So what happened to all the money we paid for everything, for 5 days? This was going to have to be resolved in Kathmandu.

12. Also, when our substitute guide left we asked whether he was going to pay for the food/accommodation in Chhukung which was stated in the tour contact (copy of the signed/dated/stamped contract can be supplied to anyone interested), in which he replied we were to pay, get a receipt and then get the money back in Kathmandu. You would think that would be pretty simple. Not so with this company, as you will shortly see.

So, how many strikes is that? A conservative count puts it at 5. Now I don't know about you, but I don't know of a sport or situation in life when it is ok to have 5 strikes. So why does this company think 5 strikes is ok?

But wait there's more.....

It gets even better. When we arrived in Kathmandu to collect our refund on the expenses we incurred whilst we were waiting in Chhukung, it became a huge time-consuming argument/negotiation over multiple days.

To show that we were not being unreasonable by asking for a refund, here is a message I received on the 16th at 3:01pm, "I will pay to the expenses to the guide you are taking from there or I refund you.." Now you think that would be pretty straight forward. But not to this company. After deciding to continue with the new guide anyways, at his discretion we completed the tour in 2-1/2days (refer point number 11) instead of the planned 5. Therefore we calculated that after paying for a tour that included 5 days worth of food, accommodation, cooking fuel, guide assistance, porters assistance, and where we didn't have the option for having a 5 day tour. We thought we were within our rights to ask for a refund (minus the things that we did use. For example, climbing permit). However, once again, this tour company didn't believe this screw up was their fault. Then who's was it? Ours? They truly thought that they were not responsible and wouldn't give us one rupee refund!! Crazy!!

I could go on and on about the arrogance and continued lying culture they showed towards us during these days long negotiations, but I won't bore you more than I have already. If you want to see it for yourself, book a tour with them. Or better yet, buy a pair of shoes, receive only one of them (half of what you paid for), walk around Thamel (Kathmandu) and see what it feels like. Especially if you ask for a refund for the one show you didn't receive. It'd be cheaper, less painful and more enjoyable than booking a tour with this company.

Next, after two days of telling us they were investigating what happened we were sick of it and asked for them to cover just our out-of-pocket expenses that we paid for food and accomodation in Chhukung. They funny thing here is they were getting off lightly. We had already paid for that food/accomodation in the tour package, and then we paid it again when their guide didn't show up. Yet we finally just asked for the food/accomodation we paid for whilst waiting. So they were making money off the tour package food/accomodation they didn't pay for. You would think they'd be happy to make a profit.....well guess again. They wanted to 'negotiate' (read: reduce/steal) the money amount that we paid. Are you kidding me?!?! Eventually after much yelling they agreed to pay the amount but they needed to go to the bank and collect the money as it wasn't in the office. Ok. How long? 5min. We waited 15min. Just a little longer. Our patience had hit a wall. We were done. This had been 2 full days by this stage and multiple meetings. Get your act together! So we started to ring the police to finally ask for their involvement in this organisation and........BAM........the money appeared. But not from the bank as it was meant to, but from the office where there was supposedly not enough money.

Now here is my question to anyone wanting to book with this company. Whilst I don't have enough time and space to reiterate all the lies and deceits we caught this company in. I want you to ask yourself a serious question, what type of company stalls to give you money after two days of meetings, is so scared of police involvement and presence in the company that the money and finality of the issue ends in seconds after they had been called. What are they hiding? What have they done in the past? What are they afraid of in the future?

Everything I have spoken about here can be backed up with evidence. If you would like the evidence to prove that this company cannot be trusted and is not worthy of your money feel free to contact me via this website. All quotations are taken from messages between Nepal Environmental Treks & Expedition and me (which I can provide screen shots of should you wish to see them also).

If you would like your tour in Nepal to be a rollercoaster ride of lies, deceit and broken promises. Then this company is definitely for you. Enjoy the ride! But if you want to enjoy your time in Nepal stress-free and enjoying your vacation whilst the tour company looks after you (which is what the tour company business model is built on), then for your own sanity, please choose another tour company. There are hundreds of them in Kathmandu, let alone Nepal. Don't let this company destroy your vacation like they did to ours. Enjoy Nepal, it's an incredible place!