Craftours, Illinois, United States

1Grace McGovern 5:00 PM May 16, 2022

Don't trust Craftours to deliver what they advertise.
Craftours tour company did not deliver what they advertised. Don't waste your money. Craft Tours Pacific Coast Trip -April 3 - 16, 2022. craftours.com/trips/?page=pacific_coast_highway_0422 ; We didn't get what we paid for from Craftours. We did not get what they advertised. In 2020, two of us had fully paid for a Craftours trip abroad with Jim West. Due to the pandemic, it was postponed first to 2021, then 2022, and now to 2023. In 2020,we discussed any possibility of a refund with Craftours, and learned Craftours permits no refunds, under such circumstances. Since we are currently healthy and travel-worthy, early this year we decided to explore options within the USA to use our "invested funds" with Craftours for 2022. We found the above link for a Pacific Coast Highway 1 trip "personally escorted by Jim West, Craftours owner", beginning in San Diego, California and ending in Seattle, Washington. Advertised as having 10 city stops, it would include a "hands-on painting workshop with Jim West", a "basic photography workshop entitled 'Hey Look at This' with Jim West", an optional culinary experience with a local professional chef" and "a professional Craftours escort throughout the entire journey". There was to be a stop at the Hearst Castle, and optional trips to explore the famous pier at Santa Monica, and the J. Paul Getty museum. A booklet sent the week before the trip mentioned fun and games along the way. As background, Craftours is highly praised for its art and craft-related trips. Continually reading great reviews of "Craftours", we were excited for our substitute trip. Craftours seems to us to have an efficiency/fulfillment issue with their office functions, including billing, emailing, even spelling of a simple customer first name. We had to wait for weeks for them to send promised instructions and complete necessary trip tasks. We did receive a March 15th email delivering the unexpected news that Jim West would no longer be joining the trip. Jim was "very sad" about it and appreciated our "understading". Described as "good news for Jim, he would be working on television related projects". We would have a California resident escort, instead. Sounded like ‘bait and switch’ to us. We also learned the Hearst Castle was not yet open, so that was no longer an option. On April 3rd, we landed in San Diego and checked into a very nice Omni Hotel, met the nine other tour travelers, ranging in age from 65 to 82, each of us highlighting our craft interests upon self-introduction. We met our Craft Tour escort and our fantastic bus driver. We surmised that 11 travelers were not sufficient enough to warrant Jim West's time. We left the next morning after breakfast for the next stop. Why fly to San Diego just to eat two meals and leave? No crafty options suggested for San Diego. Next were two nights in West Hollywood with a scheduled Monday tour of the J. Paul Getty museum (at an added optional cost). At the museum entrance, the bus turned around. The museum is closed on Mondays (as are most museums, just check the website). The escort insisted that reservations were made well in advance by the front office. We went to what was billed as the optional Santa Monica Pier instead. Apparently that was our "compensation" for the museum debauckle. At the Pier, we were dropped off and told we were ‘on our own’ to explore. It was a phrase we would hear regularly in the coming days. When asked what there was to do locally, the escort explained only that we could "walk the streets" to explore (her words). Our second morning included a tour of Hollywood’s sights and then back to the museum, if we opted to pay for that add-on. The previous paragraphs are illustrative of the remaining days to come. --There was no hands-on painting workshop with anyone, as advertised. --There was no basic photography workshop with anyone, as advertised. --There was no offer of an optional culinary experience with a local professional chef, as advertised. -- One of our special dinners was at a Japanese sushi restaurant. Surprise! Most of us had never eaten sushi, some still have not. An interesting choice for a group such as ours. --We played one game on the bus over the 12 days of travel, and one at our final dinner together. Fun and games were advertised to be had on the bus. We received no surrounding craft information near destinations. We were unexpectedly frustrated with being told to check with the hotel concierge for local information. Some quilting or other craft places of interest we researched were not within close proximity. We did find one quilt store, but it was closed the day we were there. The tour had made no attempt to include some arts or crafts for those interested and the advertised specialties didn't happen. Many on the bus had traveled previously with Craftours and had high praises for their trips, and especially of Jim West. This trip cost real, unrefundable money, (as explained in the terms and conditions), over and above what we had originally paid for our original booking. Our escort was not what we expected, in no way a substitute for the famous and gregarious Jim West. When questioned about the lack of "entertainment", we were told that an "escort" was there for logistics and not to be "a cruise director". On the "plus" side, the trip did provide many beautiful sights. We enjoyed the comraderie of all our fellow travelers. We understand that terms and conditions exist to allow flexibility in an ever-changing travel world. We did not interpret them to mean that Craftours can change and/or omit advertised things to their advantage, whenever and as often as they wish, without any offered refund or compensation. This tour was a tremendous letdown. Craftours had no response to our complaining email similar to all the above. They just don't care.