Complaint Review: Soul Journeys Travel - Select State/Province

Since reports cannot be removed or updated on this website I'm writing this self rebuttal to set some things straight and do the right thing in my eyes as my initial report was extrememly subjective, judgmental and personal.

I would like to extend this public apology to Mike and Dave. The report was composed as a result of frustration and unsettled anger. After venting my emotions, looking back at the report with honesty I cannot indorse it as I don't believe in such ways of expression or action based on my personal values and principals. Perhaps as you 2 mentioned during the trip many times to myself and others, everyone's personal soul journey is different and personal to them.

I wish I could retract my personal judgment and offensive words written in relation to your personality from the report but I cannot do that unfortunately due to the website policy. Once my emotions subsided I saw this wasn't the right way of doing things and my frustration came from my deep strong emotions on people doing unjustice to others and getting away with it.

Looking at this from a completely different point of view it feels as if someone else had written these words and they were not my own. This soul journey (which seemed to have started before and continue after the tour) had brought many emotions and/or issues I probably needed to deal with as someone carrying such anger and frustration cannot find true peace.

I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me for this outburst and accept this apology in the spirit in which it is written.

I genuinely wish you all the best and I hope that this whole situation was really unintentional and it is not a testimon to your nature.

In regards to Soul Journeys, I also hope what transpired was indeed an unfortunate situation which perhaps could have been dealt with better and it is not a true testimony to how Soul Journeys operate and deal with their customers on a regular basis.

Once again Mike and Dave, I'm sorry for all the harsh words and I hope this truely honest message explains the reasons for the initial report and the way it was written and will set things straight for whatever was said against you in this complaint.

This has just been bought to my attention and wish to address it as I am one of the business owners at soul journeys travel – a company I take great pride in and a company that has been successful bringing amazing travel experiences over the past 5 years to travellers; many who have returned numerous times and who have spread by word of their great soul journey.

My decision to go into business with Mike Handcock and Dave Rogers was largely founded upon their integrity as human beings, the social work they do (we support an orphanage in Cambodia), their experience as business people and the matching business ethics of providing good service, value for money, going beyond the call of duty, etc.

We do not know a Jay from Alabama, nor has anyone of this name from this State ever travelled with us. I think his reluctance to use his real name speaks for itself. We would have welcomed his personal feedback if he chose to share it. From every journey we fine tune our systems and will do so from this journey also. That said we created soul journeys to give people an amazing experience which is not just about seeing places, it's about embracing life and focussing inwardly in stunning settings with amazing leaders. 

Instead of 30 people we had planned for and advertised, we had 42 people on the tour, caused by the unexpected filling of this trip within one day which we simply weren't geared up for.  Short of a ballot and creating much dissatisfaction, we had no means to determine who the extra people were. It became a difficult exercise on who to eliminate so decided to make it work by taking extra staff, upgrading the experience and running the journey with all 42. 

We implemented 36 extra one-on-one sessions with Don Tolman, Mike Handcock and Dave Rogers (our three leaders) which received over 90% positive response from participants. We set up 6 additional group sessions that delivered insights and distinctions that were highly appreciated, as well as guiding our leaders to open up additional time around the various pubs, restaurants and bistros that from my observations went beyond and above what people had anticipated and expected on the tour. We also added a second full time support person as a guest relations officer and she gave remarkable input meeting and supporting requests from all of the amazing people on the trip.

For additional feedback about the trip and our preferred means of communicating with our customers, which we refer to as our Soul Journey family, partners, associates and clientele, I kindly direct you to our feedback page on http://souljourneystravel.com/reviews/

Through feedback, discernment of the feedback, and integration of the relevant components, Soul Journey travel will continue to explore fascinating and profound life experiences with our valued customers. We  collaborate and support our beloved, respected and capable tour leaders who in turn are participating in a community that is sharing wisdom, respectfully exploring personal life experiences and discovering sacred truths that can be integrated and implemented in this lifetime through these most memorable and spirited journeys of the soul.  

Great rebuttal Shazar,

I do respect your opinion but I'm simply basing this report on my personal experience and facts. You clearly seem angry based on your demeaning mannor of response, which I understand since you have been friends with the organizers for a long time now.

I'm happy you have enjoyed the trip and your time with the organizers but it is obvious you are not aware of the serious issues (which I mentioned) which came up before the trip, including all the comunication that tarnspired between the organizers and a group of us. I will contact you directly in case you want to have a look at the communication emails yourself and make your own mind.

Once again just to be clear, the main points of my complaint are:

1. Lies in communication to ,myself and at least 3 others.

2. The change of the number of participants in the trip and providing much less meals than promised when selling the trip.

I will contact you seperately in case you want to see the email communication we had with Mike and Linda before you

These issues did not concern you as the trip was sold to you in a different place and time so the value proposition you got was different. In simple words once again - I was sold one thing and got something different with no compensation whatsoever.

I'm happy the meals were great for you and you found them sufficient but it is obvious you have no idea of what transpired before the trip as a group of us was communicating with Souljournys and thanks to our demands the number of provided meals was raised from 9 to 14, when it was promised that MOST of the meals will be provided. So perhaps before you attack my report in such a subjective and even somewhat agressive and demeaning form you should perhaps thank us first for saving you money and standing for what is right in our's and other's names. There were many complaints from the trip participants and perhaps you were focused in the trip and not on the feelings and experiences of everyone else in the trip.

Regarding my personal thoughts and impression of Souljourny's "leaders", this is my personal opinion based in my life's experiences and the experience I had with these individuals and these individuals are more than capable of speaking for themselves. There are many more details you are not aware of so perhaps find out all the information before attacking someone for speaking up and simply warning others to be cautious and make sure they are getting what they paid for.

I'm sorry if this report has offended you in some way but I genuinly posted this simply to warn others who might find themsleves in the same position as me and others were with our experience with Souljourneys.

An interesting complaint made by a seemingly anonymous person as there was no one of the name Jay on our Journey.  I too went on this journey and had a totally different experience to the above writer.  It is not the first journey that I have done with Soul Journeys - in fact it is my 4th such journey.  

You might ask how is it possible that I could be so gullible to continue to be sucked in by this company - am I so vulnerable to their 'NLP techniques' that I am unaware of the lies and ripoffs that they are perpetrating?  Actually I have been exposed to NLP to a considerable degree in my life and understand the methods very well.  My experience of the work of both Dave Rogers and Mike Handcock has always been of the highest integrity - I have had transformative experiences on all the journeys I have taken with them - have enjoyed the company of the many people I have met and communicated with on a deep level during these journeys. Have those journeys always been exactly described to the letter prior to the trip?  Not necessarily - but I have always had great value from them and from the opportunities presented by the experienes provided. 

I would suggest that "Jay" whoever he/she may be look a little deeper than the superficial complaints that he/she has offered and see what value was truly given.  Frankly as far as meals were concerned.. there was so much food offered at the provided meals that I rarely had to feed myself outside of those meals!  The quality and quantity was great - the accommodation we were offered was excellent, the communication I was able to have with the three leaders was over and above  what was expected and the care given by the two women who were doing the logistical support also excellent.

Sorry Jay.. sounds like sour grapes to me... there was one gentleman on the tour who was busy collecting complaints from others for much of the time...  suggest that if that person is Jay as I suspect it may be.. that you may have enjoyed yourself more if you had stopped focusing on what you perceived to be wrong with everything else and started focusing on what was fun for you and what value you were receiving from your interactions with others.