LIFE Adventures

In this year's cycling season, we organized a significant number of cycling tours in Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, and more. We have an agency system that we've been building for twenty years and we use excellent and high-quality bicycles, mostly new and from well-known brands. We've been building our self-guided tours since 2008 and we also serve as a destination partner for larger agencies around the world. John and his group of 7 cyclists did not confirm and book the tour through Tourradar but directly through our website. Here on Tour Radar, they have only expressed their dissatisfaction or, better said, deliberate and desired harm to our company. Therefore, our response is primarily aimed at explaining our side of the entire matter. We can say that we did everything for John and the group, just as we always do for all our cycling groups. To begin with: The customers themselves arranged and confirmed the hotel in Opatija for the first day, which had no parking and was without a roof. And, of course, that day, there was heavy rain during the meeting. Our colleague Jure, who is an experienced cycling guide and our regular assistant, arranged the morning briefing and bike setup in the pouring rain. Despite this, the meeting was conducted professionally and responsibly. After the meeting, Jure returned to the office and mentioned that the customers were unique - in a way that they showed a lack of respect towards him. The clients received quality and almost new bikes: a Trek Allant 7+ (model year 2022), a Specialized Como (model year 2021), and a Scott Sub Tour eRide 20 (model year 2023). These are brand new and high-quality bikes. None of these bikes had more than 700 kilometers on them. The bikes are regularly serviced, cleaned, and inspected. The clients also examined the bikes during the introductory meeting and were satisfied with them. In the 2023 season, we organized 50 cycling tours with such electric bikes without a single issue or complaint from the clients. If anyone wants proof about this, we'd be happy to connect them with our former clients who have used the same bikes. In addition to the bikes, the clients received: high-quality and new Bontrager helmets, quality Ortlieb and Vaude cycling travel bags; a pump, spare inner tubes, a tire repair kit, a repair kit, chain lubricant; bike chargers, locks, and phone holders for navigation. The battery issues mentioned in the review aren't actually problems with the batteries themselves but rather with their usage during the tour. If you treat the bike on the tour, especially on the hilly Croatian islands, using Turbo mode extensively, you might find yourself running out of power and needing to rely on your own pedaling. Before the tour, clients were informed about the specifics and challenges of the trip. We assume they took the tour as motor-assisted and approached it by going full throttle on Turbo mode. I personally undertook a similar tour with my children, aged 12 and 14, for a week of cycling without batteries and with panniers full of luggage for a week-long bike tour - and the kids completed the journey without any issues, entirely without batteries. In summary, we always especially inform our clients that an e-bike tour doesn't mean it's a motorbike ride, with the mindset of going full throttle like a motor. This is the only instance on the tours where clients have run out of energy or encountered issues with the length of the daily stages. Clients have mentioned water bottles. These are not part of our standard offering to clients because they are considered a personal item. However, we do offer new water bottles separately if a client wishes to order them (priced at 8€ per bottle). It appears that our colleague, Jure, had certain water bottles in the company van, which clients apparently used and took as their own. We conduct various tours, including gravel and road cycling, and sometimes the entire group has water bottles that are left in the van before being recycled. Well, these water bottles were taken by clients for personal use, and then they reported that they were dirty. Personally, in this situation, I would be satisfied and grateful to the person who allowed me to have a cycling water bottle, even if it was used, and I would clean it myself. Interestingly, John frequently mentions the water bottles but doesn't mention that they somehow ended up there despite never being ordered or paid for. Regarding communication, the initial communication with the clients began approximately 10 months before the tour date. We exchanged somewhere between 45 and 55 emails. From our end, we handled the entire communication in a professional manner. Our colleague Katarina diligently managed the project and tour. However, it's worth noting that in the last two months before the tour, when everything had already been booked, including ferry connections, hotels, bike reservations, and more, our responses were intentionally delayed due to project priorities. Yes, we could have been even more efficient in this regard, but we were constrained by time for each response at that point. During the tour, clients were provided with a 24/7 phone number for information and assistance. They also received my work phone with a phone number and a WhatsApp connection. I was personally available 24/7 for them, and even client John happily utilized this contact whenever needed. He consistently received the answers and information he expected and requested (all evidence exists and is documented). The clients' problems began on the first day of cycling to the ferry to Cres, where one of the clients broke the saddle on the Specialized Turbo Como bike. Why and how this happened, we do not know, but our company uses 1,000 bikes annually, and we have not once encountered such a case. I have been an active cyclist for 20+ years, and I've never experienced such an incident either. Perhaps it was due to improper use, incorrect saddle adjustment following our initial fitting, or perhaps the bike fell on the saddle. We will never know. In any case, we immediately faced a situation - the client sent at least 10 messages and made several calls, inquiring what to do. We responded to all calls promptly and resolved the situation. The client expected a new bike, but we explained that we would fix the saddle once we determined the actual problem. Therefore, we asked a local bike mechanic on Cres, a friend of ours, to come and assess the situation. This was the agreement. However, the clients did not follow this and instead arranged an additional transfer to the other side, claiming they did not want to cycle uphill. Yet, for this additional (second) extra transfer, they never expressed any gratitude. Our mechanic on Cres even mentioned that the clients had been difficult. On Cres, the mechanic replaced the saddle with a brand new one, allowing the client to continue the tour with a new, appropriately fitted saddle. The next morning, we received a call from two members of the tour group (out of seven) with a new phone number (the third one). They reported an urgent situation at home and that they had to return. We immediately took the situation seriously, advised them on the best flight connection to Rome (the airport), and organized a special transport only for them from Krk Island to Ljubljana Airport. We also organized the transport of their luggage from our depot on Krk (we did not charge them extra for this). Our colleague conducted a fast transport of the clients and their bikes by van from Krk to Ljubljana Airport (the roads were very busy that day). In this case, the clients even expressed their gratitude for our effort and swift resolution. We were pleased to be involved in this special operation, which required six hours of communication, problem-solving, and information exchange. The clients took a full bike repair kit with them when they left, which later proved to be extremely inconvenient. These two clients later requested a refund for the tour's costs, which John also explicitly mentioned. Our general terms and conditions precisely define the cancellation policy, stating that in such cases, the client is not entitled to a refund. We covered all the costs of the tour in advance, including ferry tickets, hotels, transfers, etc. None of the hotels in Croatia would refund any amount for last-minute cancellations. Travel insurance is available for such cases, which clients can purchase. We informed the clients about this and advised them that their insurance would cover all the costs. As it seems, the clients did not have their travel insurance. In this season, we had a case where a client had to cancel the tour due to an illness and received reimbursement from their insurance. Of course, our general terms and conditions specify that if a client cancels the tour 22 days before the tour, we refund 70% of the tour's value. This complies with EU travel regulations and civil law, and we adhere to these standards. Hotels in Croatia: We have been conducting cycling tours in Croatia for two decades. We collaborate with more than 100 hotels along the Adriatic coast. The hotel infrastructure varies. Cycling in Croatia is not the primary product, and as such, most hotels cater more to summer tourism than cycling guests. This is particularly evident in Dalmatia. The situation is much better in Istria, where there are hotels with dedicated spaces for bikes. Our agency never promises special bike storage areas on tours if such facilities are not available on-site. And they truly do not exist. We promise electric bike charging and secure bike storage in hotels. We will be delighted to use hotels that provide special bike storage spaces when and if this infrastructure becomes available. As a cyclist traveler, you need to consider and respect local specifics, infrastructure, and destination development. As an example, Slovenia, where we also organize tours, had a similar situation ten years ago as Dalmatia does now. However, the situation there has since improved significantly. Hotels are now more aware of the importance of cycling guests and invest in bike storage facilities and other cycling infrastructure. Our company even advises some hotels on cycling tourism and needs in this regard. The situation on Pag: where John called me on a Sunday morning, saying, "You are in trouble!" He said, "We're in the town of Pag, and we have a flat tire. We're also without tools. And where are the tools? They went home early with two others." I immediately started resolving the situation. I called the hotel, and they were ready to fix the flat tire and provided the necessary tools. We managed to solve the situation even though we had received a warning that the clients were being arrogant. We managed the flat tire situation, which was rather unusual, given that I have been in cycling tourism for twenty years, and nobody has ever claimed that I was in serious trouble. I have experienced a lot, cycling in many parts of the world, organizing various cycling events and tours, and more. It's quite interesting how the clients, including John, communicated and thought about the situation. On the last day, John asked if we could arrange a special transfer for one of the cyclists of the group from Šibenik because she had a flight to catch. Of course, I responded immediately and organized a special transfer, even though her main luggage was located elsewhere, not in Šibenik. We managed everything quickly and professionally. Our colleague Anja even went to pick up the client, load her bike into the van (you can't handle transfers on cycling tours without understanding that you also need to manage bikes and equipment), and dropped her off at Split Airport. On the same day, John and all the other remaining cyclists in the group arrived in Split, where their main luggage was waiting for them at the depot, and a van was ready to transport their bikes. In summary, it was a complete agency service, fulfilling all the promises we made to the clients on the tour, using some of the best bikes and cycling equipment in the region. In conclusion, I would like to personally thank John and his group for their trust and congratulate them on successfully and safely completing one of the more challenging cycling tourism tours in Croatia. It's not easy to take multiple ferries almost every day, explore the beautiful islands of Croatia, and experience the diverse landscapes, all during the high tourist season. Despite John's concerns and his deliberate negative portrayal of the tour, I can assure clients that they will receive a professional attitude, excellent organization, and our best efforts to ensure their satisfaction during the tour, using some of the best bikes and cycling equipment in the region.