Review Egged Tours

I am writing with great disappointment in the 2day Petra and Wadi Rum tour that took place on the 5th and 6th of June 2018.
Day 1:
1.On the morning of the 5th I was to be picked up from Jerusalem at 0400hrs. The driver was 15minutes late.

Egged response:Will are checking the reason for this delay. but 15 minutes is reasonable time.

2.The process at the border was increadibly messy and inefficient. The guides did not appear to know who was with what trip nor did they provide clear direction or leadership. Once through to the Jordanian border there was further confusion and delay in working out where the luggage would go and who was responsible for what creative further delays.

Egged response:This is not an easy task to coordinate both crews from both side of the border.We had many people and we managed to operate it properly to have everyone safely cross. note that sometimes there is one person who get stopped in security and all group is late, we can not always control the crossing process.

3. Arrival to Petra was to be at 1130hrs. We did not arrive until 1230hrs and the group was so big the guide was unable to identify who was with the group. Furthermore, this delayed the process of getting people into a group and tickets organised. We did not pass through the gate to Petra until 13:30hrs.

4. The guide told us we needed to stay with the group and yet he provided no history on the place but rather made dad jokes. I was very dissatisfied with the this and felt as though my time was being wasted as we continued to stop and start waiting for all members of the group to catch up approx 50people.
This gave us 2hrs and 15minutes to access the site, from start to finish. This is completely unacceptable given the price paid for a guide and expected access from 1130hrs. The group was too large for the guide to control and caused further inefficiency.

Day 2:
1.Supposed to leave the camp in the morning at 0800hrs as advised the day before. Due to two people not showing up on time the entire group was delayed by 40minutes. Unacceptable, again another waste of mine and the rest of the group's time who had paid for the service and we're on time.
2. Reaching Aqaba no free time was given. Option to have lunch that was it.
3. Lunch was supposed to be included in the trip on day two, however we were told it was going to cost us 20USD. Not happy with this there were no other options available for food nor anywhere to look around. We were told we would be taken to a market to look around. It was simply an expensive bazare(shop) next to the restaurant. This is fulse advertisement and unfair that those not willing to pay for an expensive lunch had no choice but to stand and wait an hour with nothing to do..

4. Arrived back 40minutes late to Tel Aviv.

Egged response: 40 min late out of 5 hours ride is reasonable time. we do say that time is approx cause there are things along the way we can't control.

I am seeking a refund for poorly organised and managed tour. I received a guide for Petra but all the information provided was of jokes and no historical relevance. I paid $419USD for efficiency and ease of access and received constant delays and misguided information.
I paid a western price for this trip and given this I had western expectations; punctuality, clear communication an educated guide and efficient use of my time. None of this was provided and no apology made. In total this trip cost $539USD inclusive of border fees. This is a very expensive trip a I feel completely let down by the service provided.

I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience to resolve the matter and provide clear direction on the refund process.

Egged response: This tour is a group tour and the travelers should be aware they are traveling with other people. The size of the group may change from day to day and the people in the group are from all over the world, in all kind of ages - This may cause some delays.
Alternately is a PRIVATE tour