Туристы остались без трансфера на Camino из-за сбоя сервиса GetTransfer.com

A reader called Carmel decided to walk the Camino recently – or at least a decent chunk of it – but instead of finding inner peace or enlightenment hiking roads trodden by millions of pilgrims over many centuries she was left fuming by a car transfer that never happened. She and a buddy made a plan to walk the trail of Vigo to Santiago “as it had long been on each of our bucket lists”. The pair flew to Porto on May 17th and took a bus to Vigo the next day, where they stayed overnight, steeling themselves for the walk the following morning. “The plan was that we would walk for five days, arriving in Santiago on the 23rd, and overnighting there prior to travelling back to Porto airport on the 24th for our flight home,” Carmel says. “As we knew we would be tired after all the walking, we decided to book a transfer rather than a bus for our return journey, for additional comfort. As it happened, another friend and her husband and son were also travelling from Santiago to Porto airport on Sunday 24th so we decided we would all share the transfer.” READ MORE So far so good, she says. But the wheels were about to come off her best laid plans. Or at least the wheels were about to not show up, we should probably say. “Prior to our holiday, I found a company online called GetTransfer.com, and booked a transfer for the five of us. The price was €269, which seemed reasonable for a two-and-a-half hour journey. We booked it for 12pm, as we thought it would be nice to spend a few hours in Porto prior to heading to the airport for our flight that evening,” Carmel says. “As the week went on, however, our plans changed, and we decided we would travel later in the day, and head straight to the airport. I knew that the first booking was made on a free cancellation basis, once I did so before the 22nd. So I returned to the website and checked availability for 4pm on the 24th. Very quickly, I received an offer of a 4pm transfer for only €202. Naturally, I was pleased with this, so I booked it straight away. I then went back into the website to cancel the original booking, assuming the €269 I had originally paid would be refunded to my bank card. “Unfortunately, however, they refunded the money by way of a credit on my GetTransfer account. This was not what I had intended, so I contacted them to ask them to refund it to my bank, given that they were already getting business from me with the second transfer, and I didn’t want to be out of pocket by almost €300 while abroad on holidays. “And that was when the nightmare began. There ensued the most frustrating email exchange whereby they showed a complete disregard for the circumstances in which I found myself, failed to even consider my request, and stuck to their guns that this was how they operated – refunds were made only by way of a credit to the customer’s account.” [ Cost of kids: 14 ways having three children can add up to more than €800,000Opens in new window ] We should probably interrupt Carmel’s story here to explain what GetTransfer.com is, even briefly. It is an online platform that puts private drivers in touch with would-be customers. If we were doing an elevator pitch in the offices of some Silicon Valley venture capitalist’s office we might call it the Airbnb of transfer companies. This is how the company describes itself on its website. “GetTransfer.com is a worldwide online marketplace connecting passengers and drivers for private transfers. Registered users on GetTransfer.com can submit requests for transfers and delivery services, and receive offers directly from transportation service providers. These offers include actual photos of the vehicle, vehicle rating, and completed rides, all available before the user makes a payment.” We thought it was interesting that the second paragraph on the website reads like this: “DISCLAIMER: GetTransfer.com, along with its associated app, functions as a booking platform that facilitates connections between clients and independent transport service providers. The transportation services are rendered directly by the suppliers to the clients, and are independent of the GetTransfer.com platform. GetTransfer.com neither exercises control, nor influences the terms and conditions under which these transport services are provided. GetTransfer.com serves solely as an intermediary, responsible only for facilitating the booking process, and not for the provision of the actual transport services.” [ Online shoppers warned of scam messages ahead of major tax changes this weekOpens in new window ] Carmel says this was “very frustrating, as I really didn’t know if I would need to use the service again. But I didn’t have the energy to pursue it further, so I just focused on the Camino and enjoyed the days I had left. We arrived in Santiago late on Saturday evening, and availed of a late checkout on Sunday to catch up on some sleep.” Then at 3.40pm, all packed up and checked out of the hotel and ready to meet their driver to take them to Porto at the pre-arranged time of 4pm, Carmel checked her email and saw that there were messages from the driver, including one looking for her mobile number and another to say that he was on his way. “I assumed he was travelling from Porto, and was relieved to see he had left in good time to reach us by 4pm. I replied at 3.43pm,” she says. “At 3.55pm, I messaged the driver to say we were outside the hotel (our pick-up point). At 4pm, the driver had not arrived. The GetTransfer website was indicating that the journey was ‘in progress’ so I was not too concerned. However, when several more minutes passed, I tried to call the driver. The number given was a Cyprus number, and it was unanswered. I then messaged the driver again. There was no response,” she says. “My travelling companion called the number again, and got through to an agent. The agent advised that the driver had cancelled the transfer. We were completely shocked by the last-minute nature of the cancellation, and the fact that the driver could do so without contacting us to let us know. “My friend asked the agent what could be done to resolve this, as we needed to get to the airport. He said he would see if he could arrange a replacement, and would contact us by phone or email in five minutes. When we received neither the promised follow-up call nor email, we were forced to ring around looking for a replacement transfer. Thankfully, we managed to get one that got us to the airport on time, but as it was booked at very short notice, we were forced to pay €406, which was more than double the cost of the transfer we had booked in advance.” Carmel says that having already been dissatisfied with the response to her previous request about changing the time and getting a refund to her card rather than in the form of a credit note, she “felt completely let down by GetTransfer”. “This episode caused us all much stress, and we were shocked that GetTransfer left us completely to our own devices to find an alternative transfer. There was zero support from the company, and no comeback for me as the customer. To crown it all, they subsequently refunded the €202 to my account balance, so I now have the sum of €471 in my GetTransfer account.” And she paid €406 for the actual transfer, which means, ultimately, getting from Santiago to Porto cost her the guts of €900. We contacted GetTransfer and it said it was looking into the matter but at the time of writing we had no update.