What a disaster! This was the most disappointing and amateur tour company I have ever experienced in any country. I booked a 3 day private tour for two people in July. The week before the tour in November I was told we could not visit Frida Khalo’s house as the tickets had sold out. When I queried why they had not been purchased in July there was no answer other than it was unfortunate. All I was offered was a full refund for the tour, which four days before meant we had no time to find anything else. We decided to carry on. Big mistake.
The morning of our first day in Mexico the guide was meant to arrive at 9am. By 9.30 we had heard nothing. We then heard he was on his way but would be late as his grandmother had recently died and he had been at the funeral outside the city – with hindsight he should not have been working as he was erratic to say the least. 3 hours later he said he had arrived but had gone to the wrong hotel even though it was on our booking form and I had told him where we were first thing in the morning. He eventually arrived 3 and a half hours late. He was very apologetic and took us straight to the Anthropology museum. We had a good tour here and he was fairly knowledgeable. As it was now 5pm he drove us around downtown Mexico City but we didn’t stop to walk around or visit anything else. We were jet lagged so OK with that although obviously it was part of what we had paid for and if he had come on time we would have.
Day two he arrived on time and we set off for our tour. We first had to get petrol though. He did try to get us into Frida Khalo’s house but to no avail. We saw her and Diego’s studio instead which was fairly disappointing (especially as the guide spent 10 mins in the bathroom on arrival so we did most of the tour on our own) and then after lunch set off to the canals. It was raining and very busy. We were told we would have to wait 20 minutes. After 20 minutes we were told there were still 12 boats in front of us and no sign of any coming back. We decided to give up and go back to our hotel.
On the last day we had agreed to meet at 8.30 to go to the pyramids which was to be one of the highlights of our trip. The guide didn’t arrive and ignored our calls and messages. The Vibe phone number was unanswered as it was a holiday and there was no emergency contact. In desperation we asked our hotel to help and they arranged a car to take us to the pyramids and find us a guide there. We messaged the Vibe guide to tell him not to bother coming and he said he was on his way. He was 2 and a half hours late at this point so we told him not to bother. We asked Vibe for a full refund but they just gave us one day and barely any apology.
The whole point of our trip to Mexico City was to see Frida Khalo’s house and the pyramids. And although we booked 5 months in advance this company did not even bother to book our tickets until it was too late and there were none. They sent us an unprofessional and frankly inappropriate guide who told us more about his private life than the history of the city and what we were seeing. We were driven in a 3rd rate and pretty dirty car. We wasted hours waiting for the guide who couldn’t understand why we were upset to be left waiting. At no point did Vibe seem to care or show any interest in how our trip was going even when we had messaged them for help when the guide didn’t show up.
I urge anyone looking for a tour operator in Mexico to avoid this company. Luckily the other guides we had booked in Oaxaca and Merida were all professional and far more knowledgeable (with degrees in history unlike the Vibe guide who had started 3 degrees but never finished one and worked in retail before this role). Don’t risk this company ruining your visit to Mexico. – via 