Problem with San Stef Travel

[gaynor]

Hi
I know everybody sings the praises of San Stef Travel which is exactly why I have used them for taxi transfers for the last 2 visits. However we had problems this year when we booked the coach to go to Corfu Town. All went swimmingly until myself, and 4 others were dumped in Sidari on the way back without warning and told a mini bus would collect us due to an accident !!!. So we waited and we waited and we waited and eventually Noula arrived 45 mins later smiling in fact the first comment was "so this is where they dumped you" now as you can imagine, we were all tired and perhaps a sorry would have been good.  She did indicate that we had only been waiting for 20 mins which was not true. When we asked her where the accident was she knew nothing about it and was very rude. She said all she knew was that she had been woken up and asked to pick us up !! Not good and very unprofessional. We did use San Stef for an excursion on our last visit but as we were picked up in a van that had no suspension and taken to Sidari to meet the coach I didn't use them for excursions this year but thought we would be safe getting the coach from San Stef and back again to the town.
I have just booked for next year and will not be using San Stef travel again and would not reccommend them as Noula was very rude to us.
Almost as soon as the driver dropped us in Sidari he was picking up another coach load to take to the town so I suspect that is why we were not taken to San Stef.
As said above if Noula would have apologised I would not be posting this but instead she was very rude

 

[tonyco1]

Sorry to hear you had a problem, but you need to remember that Noula is just the agent, not the operator.
Sounds like she was let down on the booking, and tried to fix the problem.
Her Mini-bus is not brilliant, but was only really designed for transferring customers up the hill or to the Harbour

I have known Noula since she was a little girl, and she would never be deliberately rude, although it may have come across that way to you,
or she may have reacted to you possibly, everyone being tired and jaded, as we are all human.
I think you were just unlucky this time, as you just don't hear of Noula being rude.

So many people praise the service as we do, because it really is very good 99% of the time, but no company will ever have a 100% record.
However, her record over the years is well above average, as testimonials show. Such a shame you had a problem!

[gaynor]

You are right Tony we were all tired, Noula too I think if she was woken up and I think that yes the coach company probably let SS travel down, but as said before a sorry would have been nice and honesty is always the best policy in my opinion.
I, like you have not had problems in the past with transfers but unfortunately for me this has put me off. I can only go on my own personal experience. And by the way the minibus was fine it was the vehicle that we were picked up in in 2011 that put me off booking any further excursions, the only reason I booked the coach to Corfu Town was because I thought it was door to door.
hey ho never mind, it certainly wont put me off SS, love the place and have already booked for next year !!

[diane13]

Such a shame this happened to Gaynor but from our experiences we have only ever had praise for the way the girls at San Stef Travel have treated us.

[Teamnickos]

I think it's sometimes just a language thing. Quite often we ask a greek person something and they say 'of course' which can sound a bit rude/sarcastic/intolerant, but it's not meant in that way. I've always found Noula very polite and friendly

[debra]

I can hardly imagine Noula being rude - she is just so lovely!  Do you think maybe just a different sense of humour?

[Jimbo]

I don't think Noula would be carelessly rude. Her anger is with the bus driver. If the trip left from Ag Stef it should return you there.

Being the driver, or the bus company's manager, at the end of the phone from Noula later would have been like sitting behind a 747 warming its engines up.

Haven't been in the new posh mini-bus yet. I rather liked being driven in a proper Greek rattling vehicle by any one of three beautiful women - it reminded of the old days when you counted the wheels before you got on. Do we really want an air-conditioned theme-park Greece?

[gaynor]

Hi Jimbo
Think you're right Noula was probably furious with company not us. It hasn't completely put me off if everybody seems to think it is very unusual as I would like to go to Corfu Town again next year with hubby I think I would just ask for guarantees that we would be brought back to SS. as for fandabidozi vehicles, I do like to feel that the car/van I'm in is roadworthy and safe. The minibus this year was fine. I have heard people mention metal Mickey, could that have been the van we were in last time ?
Anyhow, the older you get you kind of realise that things happen and perhaps we were just unlucky
Gaynor

[Gillywoo]

Hi
I know everybody sings the praises of San Stef Travel which is exactly why I have used them for taxi transfers for the last 2 visits. However we had problems this year when we booked the coach to go to Corfu Town. All went swimmingly until myself, and 4 others were dumped in Sidari on the way back without warning and told a mini bus would collect us due to an accident !!!. So we waited and we waited and we waited and eventually Noula arrived 45 mins later smiling in fact the first comment was "so this is where they dumped you" now as you can imagine, we were all tired and perhaps a sorry would have been good.  She did indicate that we had only been waiting for 20 mins which was not true. When we asked her where the accident was she knew nothing about it and was very rude. She said all she knew was that she had been woken up and asked to pick us up !! Not good and very unprofessional. We did use San Stef for an excursion on our last visit but as we were picked up in a van that had no suspension and taken to Sidari to meet the coach I didn't use them for excursions this year but thought we would be safe getting the coach from San Stef and back again to the town.
I have just booked for next year and will not be using San Stef travel again and would not reccommend them as Noula was very rude to us.
Almost as soon as the driver dropped us in Sidari he was picking up another coach load to take to the town so I suspect that is why we were not taken to San Stef.
As said above if Noula would have apologised I would not be posting this but instead she was very rude

 

An unfortunate incident, however, I will just add that my sister and hubby booked a trip with Thompsons once and were put on a old minibus without aircon, it was so bad they got off at Sidari and walked back to San Stef!

so it's not just San Stef travel that makes mistakes.

As for an apology, you try getting one off Thomson......good luck.

Andy

[tonyco1]

We are here now with SAN STEFANOS TRAVEL.
They are brilliant and can't do enough for you.

[gaynor]

I know Tony, it was just unfortunate we had a bad experience as it does tend to put you off. I would never have booked an excursion to Corfu Town that then dumped you in Sidari for 45 mins on the return journey. As said above we were all tired, hot and needed the loo, having been on a warm coach for well over an hour. All we wanted really was an apology not a made up story about an accident that meant the coach couldn't get back to the village, that Noula knew nothing about. Just saying.