SOTC Complaints & Reviews

We had a worst experience in picking up Great Britain package for 7 nights 8 days in the month May 14 2019.

This was our 3rd trip planned with SOTC. Every time we book for an international group tour either something would go wrong in the beginning or after landing in the tour, but we get convinced by the hotels they provide in the group tour but this time even that did not happen.

They are very smart in giving the hotels at the best and screw in the middle... like any international budgeted or cost saver tour group tour we pick, the shorter stay like 1night they give 4 star properties outside the cities but if there is a longer stay for say more 2 nights the hotels would be like a lodging on cheaper which is not the worth of the money we pay for.

This time when we went for Great Britain all the hotels provided were holiday inn, ibis and atrium but please do not get carried away by the names since even these reputed hotel have low cost budgeted hotels which we came only after experiencing the tour wherein we stayed in Scotland Motherwell in holiday inn express and we are family of 3 and they adjusted the extra bed squeezed in the entrance and we were not even able to enter inside the room. When we asked for this the hotel rep said that all the rooms were like and currently the rooms are full. Then our tour asked whether we could share the rooms with the other family cos all the family who were of 3 had the same problem. Can you imagine in our holiday we have share the rooms with the other family none of them in our group were comfortable in this idea and I tried calling the south regional manager SOTC MR. Rajeev Naidu and it turns out that he was useless option that we had tried out. None of them helped us out and one o[censored]s had to literally sleep on the floor for 3 nights .

If it’s a budgeted or cost saver tour in sotc please do not opt for this kind international group tour operators since you would be experiencing a lot of shocking unexpected changes in the tour and you will not be able do anything about it. You have argue with the tour manager call your local sales team from SOTC nothing would be changed.

Every thing they put in a fancy way of showing the tour will not be the same once you land there and we have return back thinking of messing our valuable holiday time with our family ruined.

Please do think a lot before considering to book a tour with SOTC international group tour holiday packages

We were given documents to produce at VFS visa application centre and when we produced them there we were told that my wife's documents are there but mine was not there. I had to telephone SOTC Coimbatore and got the documents by e-mail and got them printed by paying Rs 280 from my pocket.
I reported this matter to their customer care asking them to refund the amount but there has been no response.
Our tour commences on 30 Jul 2019. While Visa for UK and Schengen can be applied 90 days before departure, they fixed the appointment for UK Visa only on 04 Jun 2019. UK Visa may come only by 17 Jun or so after which only they will fix up appointment for Schengen Visa which means that till atleast 15 Jul 2019 we will have to wait

COMPLAINT AGAINST – SOTC TRAVEL LIMITED

FROM;
DR DAGA SACHIN V
HEAD HPB & LIVER TRANSPLANT SURGEON
MAXCURE HOSPITAL
HYDERABAD

We were planning for holiday for Singapore so we started online search. During which we enquired on SOTC for Singapore package trip. We got a call from Mr. Harshit Odedra. He took details from us regarding travel and as per our request he Said will customize the travel and get back to us.

Details from our side
1. We wish to travel after 12 noon from Mumbai to Singapore on 31st may as we can’t reach Mumbai before 9am on 31st may .
2. We wish to be in Singapore from 31st night to 5th evening.
3. We can’t provide physical passport for visa as our passports are in Dubai, in view of which our booking is subjected to confirmation only and only if its possible to do visa without physical passport.
He agreed to these things on phone and said we can do everything as per your request and I’m sending quotation for the trip. (Attachment 1) (Attachment 2).

After confirmation and repeatedly asking him regarding visa without physical passport we agreed to do payment and go ahead for further booking . He asked us to send scanned copies of all passports which we sent him immediately on watsapp.

Payment details
We did payments details in two parts
1. 1, 80, 000=00
2. 4, 50, 000=00
first payment was done immediately after their suggestion so that they can go ahead and book on 10th may. Receipt of same from their side ( attachment 3).

Actually after part payment they were supposed to start our formalities of booking. However the greed for money is bad.They asked us to do complete payment other wise booking will not be done. We were in a wedding still due to repeated calls from their person we were forced to download paytm app n do all the payment. We were always asked to do everything urgently or we were threatened regarding problem of visa processing .

He was supposed to share the link for payment of remaining amount on 11 th may which was on Saturday. He didn’t share the link. But was constantly behind us regarding payment and troubling . (attachment 4). With great difficulty I have registered his account in my internet banking and after cooling period transferred remaining amount of 4, 50, 000 on 12th may and 13th may as there is limit for online transfer. (attachment 4).

After complete transfer of amount SOTC stopped communicating with us. There was no call from them regarding how to proceed with visa, what about air tickets and confirmation of accommodation.
We thought they are doing things on their end as they were asking few documents and we were forwarding on wats app. On Saturday 18th we called them regarding what’s happening to our trip we got shocking reply no one is communicating from our side (attachment 4). We are really sorry for such delay we will escalate the matter. Even then no one called or communicated us.
Only call we were getting was from finance people regarding payment. We have received your full payment but we are having some issues please send statement of bank account. I was insisting them to have look at the payment UPI no and tally and for the same reason I have send them all the UPI no of transactions but they were repeatedly asking for my bank statement. I don’t know what was the reason. I really doubt their intentions.
At last we got worried and started calling again the person who did booking for us on 20th may. Then he said I’m sorry for the delay. He said our service team will coordinate with you. The service team said we can’t do visa without physical passport on date 20th eve.( Visa Last moment rush)
We got call from many people regarding sorry for poor service, we are trying best to do booking for you.

Then they asked us to be in touch with local SOTC people for visa services. We gave telephonic call to them asking for assistance of visa . The person Mr. Ajay was so rude and harsh no words can explain that. He was telling you have done online booking why are you bothering us you ask online people don’t bother me. If you want to do visa send documents and we will do it. For all your queires you contact online people. We actually wanted to ask what all documents we need to come with for visa. My wife went to submit visa documents. She was not able to locate the address. She called all the available numbers many times but no one received the calls. She asked nearby people and managed to reach the office. Then she received a call from them. She took all the documents needed as per the mail sent by you. My kids were out of station. We had to call the kids for photos, thumb impression and sign. She went to submit the papers for visa and the experience was horrible. They said kids ID cards and our degree certificates are needed. When my wife told about the problem we faced, a person there asked why did we book online. We should have come to their office and enquired. So your own employees are not confident about your services.
They gave us address of dubai office which my brother already knew about. He has a busy schedule there due to which its difficult for him to roam about and apply for visa. This was the reason for which we booked ur package because your guy assured us visa without physical passport.
Even then because we wanted to go for holiday we convinced my brother to go for visa processing. we asked to share flight details and hotel details. Then we got to know that one total day of our package for one family is reduced. We again called the concerned person n said this cannot happen. He convinced me that he will change the flight. I told him I will not submit my visa documents. I again got a call saying please submit documents because visa in India takes time and he assured me evening flight. I again took kids report cards and our certificates and submitted them. Then in the evening we got a call saying flight is expensive and we will give you a dinner complimentary. I told them this cannot happen and asked them to cancel the trip and stop our visa processing. Even then they sent our passports for visa processing.

Problems here are
1. False assurance of visa without physical passport ( Attachment 1 )
2. No communication after full payment for more than 10 days ( attachment )
3. Even after repeated calls no proper support (attachment)
4. Assured to give 5 days and 4night tour package but gave only 4 nights and 3 days.( Attachment )
5. Every morning new assurance and then denying same in the evening. (deviation of package)
6. Repeatedly asking to continue tour package accepting their mistake.
7. Point of contact were more than 10 people with no one aware of anything, one used to promise and other use to inform that this is not possible.
8. This is forgery and cheating to the common man, its common by these online and so called big travel agent to cheat people first ask them to do booking, then full payment, then irritate them by changing frequently promise made so that they can cancel and they will not give any refund and keep among them self. (Attachment)

I have booked a package for Australia in March 2019. When I enquired about that I have funds in my fixed deposit instead of savings account that were clear about it.
And after some days their executive told me that it’s better to break the fixed deposit.

When I submitted the documents at their CP Delhi branch they told me that all my documents are ok for your visa application and we will file it in 3-4 days.

When I called them after five days they told me that we are currently filing for people who are going in May 2019.

Than almost 15 days have passed and they haven’t submitted the application.

When they filed after 18 days after submitting docs to them they didn’t shared the application for review as almost all travel agents reviewed with their customers.

When the visa got refused and then I asked them to share my submitted application they didn’t provided for 3-4 days after so many reminders.

When they provided application docs were completely mismanaged.

And even their sales executive told me that since you are working in the same company for the past eight years you haven’t provided appraisal letters that shows your growth in income which were never asked by them.

This clearly shows that they are not bothered about their customers and also they didn’t inform me that you don’t have travel history in the past five years so it might impact your application.

And then they deduct 50000 per person.

Never go for vacation with SOTC.

Thanks,
Swapan

The feedback from the company was worst to mention.
The tickets were received 3 days prior to the departure.
Forcefully rs1940 per person was charged on account of sur charge whereas this was not paid by any of the 48 travelers who traveled with us.
The booking of the package was done in feb but in march the company came out with better offers.
The hotel provided in florence was worst. Not even 2 star with iron road beds, washroom as small a cubical.
The company is not transparent in updates and once paid the booking amount you are stuck with no option to do what they ask as refunds and deduction policies are very strong and all to their favour.

I am kalpesh prajapati as businessman.

Sotc give the worst service at both place dinner is worst not even any animal eat this type of food given.

And guide tour is pay more in jungfraujoch because i have twin daughter age is 12 running and they say she is adult so i paid 130 euro of each and other day i want mt. Titlis they have given the 2 ticket for adult and 2 ticket for child so this time my daughter is child when they include the package ticket my child is child and i buy ticket then my child is adult.

Hotel in switzerland no soap no toothpaste and hotel is very bad condition

even ms. Divya ( guide tour )is also not about how many euro or chf in ice flyer so i lot money send in austri and switzerland.
I have purchse some item from swarovski and claim at airport they say that at you enter switzerland then stamp at border then claim so i can't get refund due to less knowledge of the guide tour of ms. Divya.

I suggest not go to with sotc tour . This first and last experience never .

Please i give the advise not tour with sotc.
My tour date (24.05.2019 to 31.05.2019 )

kalpesh prajapti

As i did not have a room partner i was unable to undertake the bhutan tour i informed your office more than a month before the trip i was told that no money is refundable as it was a group booking i also understand that a premium tour to bhutan costs only rs 50000/- whereas a group booking charges were rs 51500/-
I understand that your office has refunded nearly 50% of the trip amount to one mrs. Bhuvana who happened to cancel the trip in the last moment.
Even though i informed of my cancellation more than a month before the trip, no refund out of 25, 000/ paid by me was given.
I also understand that i have been charged over and above the premium bhutan individual tour rates. This clearly indicates that ours is not a group booking rate.
So kindly refund the rs.25000/-paid by me after deducting air ticket cancellation charges, if any.
Lalitha krishnaswamy

I had booked a glimpses of europe tour of 15 days which was schedules to depart on 24th of april 2019, then the tour got cancelled because of jet airways shutdown. I paid 4, 08, 000 for 2 people and i got back only 3, 63, 561 and they didn't gave reason why they cut 44000. I should get back my amount in full as the tour is cancelled by them. I was promised by mr. Nazish naik that only 20000rs will be cut as visa application charges and rest amount would be given back. The mistake here is of sotc as they booked jet airways flight even when they knew the company was on brink of shutting down. I need my money back. I will advise never to book a tour with sotc they always try to extract money from you in some form or other.

We a family of four members, suresh chandra, sadhana, shashank and swarnima gupta booked a holiday package eur 320, european splendor beginning 31 may 2019 from bangalore. Booking id gs19004871 and gs 19004824. Our visa as a family were not processed by the company. Suresh and sadhana in mumbai. Shashank and swarnima visa processed in bangalore and not given. Now perforce they have to drop out of the tour with great pain to us. Now when we asked for their refund, initially, they told rs 43000/- per passenger without reasoning and raised it arbitrarily to 93000/- per passenger saying booking amount not refundable. Company website doesn't mention all these aspects. It says only airlines cancellation charges and company. Therefore, may we request you to look into the matter and do the needful.

Dear sir,
This refers to my tour package of 7n/8d.in this connection, i approached mr narayan anand sr. Sales executive sotc travel limited. B - 33 · 1st floor · inner circle · connaught place · new delhi - 110001 · india mobile no. — [protected] direct number —[protected] wherein he offered a package of marvels of ladakh for rs 39900/ (Per adult on three sharing) but due to some circumstances we asked for the package (Per adult on twin sharing basis) and on[protected] he agreed over phone for the aforesaid amount on twin sharing but when the money came out of the bank i. E. Rs ten thousands, he said my seniors does not agreed on this amount i. E. Rs 39900/-. Then i asked for the refund for which he denied. The amount of rupee ten thousands which i paid through cheque no-393925 dated[protected] has been taken on fraud.

My self kbl mittal. Booked a tour to bhutan from sotc in their group tour starting 13/5/19. The tour included 3 star hotel with bf & dinner. We had following issues:
1. The hotel at thimphu was not at all acceptable including the rooms & food quality.
2. The behaviour of the tour guide mr tharpola was unacceptable. He used disrespectful language & lost temper a number of times during the trip
3. Some of the itinerary itemes were not covered.
4. On the last day eggs were kept in the veg & jain packed breakfast.
5. Guide tried to take us in restaurants of their choice for lunch on some pretex or the other.
We wrote mails to sotc, brought the issues to the notice of their local agent mr megh raj but nothing happened.
Sotc even didn't respond. They were sweet till collecting the money for booking the tour afterwards they even didn't respond to our phone.
I opted for sotc since my earlier experience of australia tour was ok. But this one was horrible. At least i expected a quick response from them by responding to my mails & phone.

I, probir kumar biswas, working in air india, in the capacity of deputy general manager, have been travelling all over the world. Previously i have accompanied group tours with thomas cook. But for a change with the advice of my friend i chose sotc for the european splendor winter tour which started on 29th march. During the tour the flights allocated to us and the hotels where good and comfortable. The guide was experienced and a good orator. Everything was going smoothly. But on the 7th day of the tour it was snowing heavily, yet we completed the titlis tour without a problem. Then on the same day we set out for the lucerne tour but due to heavy snowing the driver was reluctant to drive. But our tour guide, mr sanjay was interested to complete the itinerary. However after approx. 6km away from the hotel, he stopped the vehicle with the plea that it was broken down. Mr sanjay advised us to travel back to the hotel without bothering to arrange for another vehicle, while he stayed back with the driver. It was very slippery and was snowing heavily. The journey was very rough and tough particularly for the children, ladies and elderly people like me. Some elderly people took cabs, while i injured myself while walking on the slippery road. Finally with lot of pain and agony i also took a cab. Most of the passengers were south indians who could not speak or understand english even with lot of grivences could not complain.
They neither provided any transport back to the hotel nor any conveyance charges paid. They not only cheated us, and when complained to their customer care executive lady she bluntly refused to do anything. It appears she is in hands and gloves with the travel agent mr sanjay in cheating the tourists.

I had booked a tour plan for croatia with sotc on 10 mar 19
In its yearly discount fair. On 23 april i have been informed that my trip has got cancelled as the firm has decided to cancel the product.

It's 15 the may now and i have still not received any refund. I have been following up on a regular basis but no use. They are just enjoying interedy on my money rs. 89000.

Respected sir,

This is the first time we have booked our tour for 5 people to europe with sotc and in the very first deal we have felt that sotc is the worst travel agency ever. We have booked our tour by paying rs 4 lakhs on 25.03.2019 vide booking file number: gs19006605 and acknowledgement number: ack-005774 (Sharing the id of 2pax).

On 10th april 2019 we had sent an email regarding cancellation of booking of 2 passengers. We have submitted the medical reports of those 2 passengers but still the travel agents are harassing us rejecting the reports saying that they require printed reports. Is it necessary that the hospital/ clinic/doctor to whom we consult should issue a printed report only?? My father is a doctor and he never issues a printed/system generated report.

After getting annoyed by your agent we have arranged a printed report also. Now these people want an mri report. We are super surprised to hear this from a travels company. Does a doctor who is practicing from the last 20 years and is a md holding a valid degree is not competent to issue a medical certificate? This is really very disgusting to hear from such a reputed company. If a person is unfit to travel does an opinion of a md is not valid? Is it necessary to go for an mri just because we have paid you our hard earned money to your company?? I feel to go for an mri should be recommended by a doctor not by a travels company. I being a daughter of a doctor can very well arrange a mri report but would that be fair if your customer arrange a fake report and submit to your company?

We tried to make your agent understand but our efforts are in vain. These people does not answer to our emails nor do they answer our calls. Today these people have conveyed that if an mri report is not submitted they 'll not refund the whole of our money. It has been 17 days we are constantly in follow up with mr haresh and mr rufus but either they do not answer our calls or if they answer they utter such non sense things. We feel sotc needs to educate their agents or the company should not have inserted such refund clauses. At the time of booking these people have called us 100 times and have assured us with best services. Is this the service sotc is rendering to their customers? After paying they have stopped answering our calls. Not only this we have still not received any visa dates or any communication for the other 3 passengers. At the time of booking mr. Haresh assured that he shall share flight details with us within 2 days so that we can arrange our flight from bhuj to delhi on our own but till today he has not answered to our msgs nor have answered our calls. This kind of an attitude is very disturbing and annoying. It feels like the 3 o[censored]s have also been trapped by sotc.

We request you to kindly intervene into the matter and refund our hard earned money of 2 passengers or transfer it to the other 3 passenger account.

Regards,
Ca jhelum ganatra
Bhuj gujarat
+91 [protected]

On 19th april 2019, ananya banerjee, sotc new alipore kolkata agent convinced me to pay an advance of rs60000 against a maldives package that i was planning with her help. She said she will soon send me the package details before closing down for the day. After that there was no correspondence from her end the whole day. After 2 days of plenty of ignored calls later she promised she will send all details on 22ndapril. She didn't send any details. I decided i don't want to travel via such an unprofessional and incompetent agent and decided to get my full refund, so i spoke to the other agent aurijit who assured i will get a refund asap as i felt cheated by ananya. Till now she keeps assuring me that money will be refunded in next 5 days. Most times she ignores my calls and sends msgs saying she will call back. I am fed up. Please help me get my refund.

I r. K. Goel booked a char dham yatra package from sotc mumbai initially ms bushra mirza said that it was a package of 80000 for 2 persons on 11.5.19 and kindly submit 50percent as advance so we deposited 40000 on 29.1.19 after receiving the money they send us the mail for giving them 50090 more for that tour which is unfair so we decided to cancelled the tour we have send the mail on 1 mar 19 to cancelled our tour and refund our money but they said bushra mirza on leave for one week then for one month now mr hrishi deshmanye is dealing with us and said that we were not refund that money as it is a booking amount and then also they send us a mail on 23 apr to give them the balance payment of 50090 which is quite surprised for us and reflect it that they were a cheater and a char company never ever go by them.

I had recently booked a vacation package for singapore and upfront i made a payment of 70, 000 in the sotc mela. Due to unavoidable circumstances i had to cancel my trip. Now, sotc is taking ever to refund my amount. It is been more than two months and they never respond to my emails. This has been the most frustrating and disappointing experience with such are branded travel firm. I would never recommend any of my friends to travel with its sotc anymore.

I am recently cheated by mr aman makkar of sotc gurgaon branch... We are senior citizens and i told him again and agin that we want to travel with a group.. It is very stressful to be and feel alone in a foreign country... He cheated me by saying that it was a grp tour to dubai and abu dhabi for 6 days... When we reached there no grp was there nor any manager or such person to attend us.. You can think of my plight.. I am 69 years old.. Alone in a country with my wife... I cannot describe how we managed this trip as there was no option to come back.. All the time we were trying to catch the person whose no he gave us... We even tried to contact aman and ask him that why did he do this to us... He never replied... I cannot understand... For a little commission a man can do this to senior citizens... If some health problem would have happened who would be responsible for that... I want sotc company to ask him what was the reason for this.. Why he constantly lied... I even want them to remove him from his job instantly.

We were a group of 8 people went to dubai arranged by sotc. They put us up at al manar grand hotel apartment. The hotel does not provide tea satchets etc in the room. Even if you buy you cannot make tea because the electric stove does not work. The washing machine does not work. The washrooms shower is missing. After the bath the bathroom is flooded with water.
Sotc person does not come. Everyday we have to ring up and request for the car. The car is provided for half a day. He takes us around and leaves us in the restaurant for dinner and does not take us back to hotel. After dinner we have to come on our own to hotel. He takes us for shopping and drops us goes away. We have to ring up and request for a car to go to room.
It is a horrible trip. This was not told to us when we booked.
If you are taking sotc tour make sure. The breakfast is complimentary in the hotel. It is average. Sotc never gave us lunch. They provided two dinners. The rest of the day we spent our money.
They call it a cruise with dinner. It is awful better to avoid deira cruise and dinner.

We booked bhutan tour 3rd feb 2019 & paid entair amount. Tour cancelled was verbally told & not given official mail. No procedure for refund of amount is followed yet? Representative of sotc who booked our tour on line is unable to give us refund details! Please make sure about our refund. One has to think should we book further tours with sotc?