Complaint Review: Citysights NY - New York New York

On March 19, 2010 my fiancee and I were visiting family in Maryland.  We were only in town for 3 days and we dedicated our final day to making a trip to New York; which we had always wanted to do.  Upon researching; I found www.citysightsny.com which offers double-decker bus tours through New York and also offered a Ferry from New Jersey to New York in one of their packages.  It sounded like a bargain at $118 (two tickets) and I signed up online, printed my tickets, rented my car, and made my way to New Jersey..

When printed, I received two tickets (one for the ferry, one for the bus) and the instructions on the ticket clearly states "Please bring this voucher to the NY Waterway Port Imperial in Weehawken, NJ to exchange for your FREE roundtrip commuter Ferry and NY Waterway cruise BOARDING PASS."  So, I typed it in the GPS and away I went.  I arrived early to the NY Waterway and happily presented my pass and by the look on the attendants face, I knew I was in for trouble already.

Apparently; this 'voucher' from CitySights holds NO BEARING whatsoever at the NY Waterway; the attendant reccomended I call citysights; which I did.. The customer service was horrible, the citysights rep on the phone told me to hand it to the attendant, and after explaining several times that it DOES NOT work like that; he placed me on hold and told me to drive 2 miles up the road to another location (1800 Port Imperial Way).. So, I paid $20 in parking and drove as instructed only to find an abandoned yacht club house.. I even went inside before being escorted out by security and asked if they knew anything about citysights, they didn't.

All in all, I called, drove, and yes, cried a little as I could "SEE" New York across the harbor but had no hope at this time of making it across.  I called customer service approximately 6 times, eventually when NOBODY could help any futher, I asked for a refund to which I got "Yes sir, we are happy to help with that, all refund requests must me made in writing to our headquarters".. Honestly, I had felt like I've been scammed.  There wasn't a SOUL on the New Jersey side that knew anything about CitySights and NOW they are just making it hard to receive a refund.  My fiancee burst into tears and we headed back to Maryland.

Later that night, I spoke with a customer service rep who said she would forward this to "Khadeem" first thing the next morning and call me with a solution.. I never heard anything.

Now, A month later; I've sent the required letter (which has to include a bank statement of the charges, receipts, and a written letter).  I sent it certified mail just to make sure it arrived.  They received it last week; I've left TWO messages on "Khadeem's" voicemail asking politely for him to call me back or inform me what my refund status is... I've read some pretty awful reviews of their tours, and people getting the run-around for refunds, but I was honestly SCREWED out of my vacation, I never even REDEEMED my passes, and I'm still being avoided...

AVOID THIS COMPANY!!!