Alibabas fishing tour bit

[Rebecca Thorpe]

After much research on this website and vis travel guides.I booked Alibabas
half day fishing tour for myself and 4 friends.Imaging it would be a relaxed ,fun outing.Im sorry to say it wasnt at all what we expected. The staff were
quite unfriendly and unprepared.They forgot the bait and didnt even bring
any drink.Therefore while we english were sweating to death and gasping in the heat we arent used to they drank all our water.
They set up our lines and didnt even let us reel in the fish alone.Not too exciting as we expected it to be more hands on.They gave us no choice in what fish to go after and kept most of our catch at the end of the day.
We arent fussy and expectations werent too high but some friendly tour guides would have made the day alot more fun. Guess it depends on who you get and how they are feeling on the day...but saying that, there are loads of different operators Id recommend trying another!

[Brian Taylor]

hello rebecca

first of all sorry that we only react to your complaint now. I am currently traveling, took the "office" with me and had not much chance to surf the web/the forum theses days.

I am very sorry to hear that you did not have a got time on our tour, but I must say that I am surprised about the details you have given.
I would like to look into the matter. since you did not complain to alibaba after the tour, we have trouble placing your name to a face and a date. I would ask you to get in touch via email, so we can chat about what happened and we can react... we can not change what we don't know and we can not better the situation and make up for what happened, if we don't have any information.

we surely want to keep our high standards up and hope you help us by letting us know when you went on the trip, who were the guides that took care of you and where you stayed at the time (we usually make notes of that). just click the email button below and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

sunny greetings and best regards
stephanie taylor

[Linda P]

I'm sorry to hear you did not enjoy your trip with Alibaba, although I have not been on one of his tours, we met up with a party with Alibaba's at No mans Land a couple of weeks ago, they were full of praise and thoroughly enjoying the day. I suppose everyone has their off days.

Linda

[Steve Wooler]

As you say, Linda, everyone has their off days. Although Alibaba is very “hands on” and leads most tours personally, some of the fishing/boat tours are handled by trusted, competent people well known to him. However, in any business - when employing people, things can and do go wrong.

I must confess that I was surprised - even astonished – by Rebecca’s post. However, I also knew that Alibaba and Stephanie Taylor are very much on the ball and would get to the bottom of it. When Rebecca posted her report, Steph was in Germany having a well-deserved break with family and friends. She didn’t see the post for some days. Rebecca did not make any complaint after the trip and they have no record of any tour in her name. They’ve asked for further information. Rebecca has not responded.

Anybody who knows Alibaba or Steph will know how dedicated they are to good service. So, it came as no surprise when Steph contacted me several days later, saying that they were keen to get to the bottom of the matter, but couldn’t do so without information from Rebecca as they’ve never heard of her. I can’t release forum account email addresses, but offered to write to Rebecca asking for details, such as the name of the person who booked the tour, and so on. I have been waiting for a reply – but have heard nothing. My follow up has equally been ignored – although delivery receipts show they got to Rebecca's mailbox.

I have also had a look at Rebecca’s posts. Most of them were prior to her trip to Tobago. However, she has made seven posts since her return. Four of those posts are critical/negative of firms.

I am in no position to say that Rebecca did not go on a tour with Alibaba’s or have justification for complaint. Even the best firms (a group that most certainly includes Alibaba’s) have bad days. However, it is truly bad form to come on a public forum such as this and to slate a business or service and to then refuse to provide information that will enable the firm or service to investigate the matter. I am disappointed that Rebecca failed to mention her dissatisfaction to Alibaba or Stephanie. After all, I assume the tour took place while she was staying at Blue Mango – just a hundred metres or so from Alibaba’s home and office. They must have met Brian or Steph to book the tour, so would know what friendly, approachable people they are. So, why did they not complain or express their concern when they returned?

Given Rebecca’s failure to provide further information, I now view her report with considerable scepticism. This applies to her other “negative” reports. I feel there is possibly a lot more to this than meets the eye. Please don’t get me wrong – every reader has the right to express their views on this forum. That is what it is here for – to help steer readers to the best of Tobago and away from the worst. However, if readers are not prepared to back up public criticism of firms and services by providing information (confidentially, where appropriate) and allow those involved to investigate, correct – and, where necessary, apologise – then they must equally accept that they stand to be criticised themselves.

[David Watkins]

Thank you Steve for giving that response.Having known how genuine and sincere Brian,Steph,and all of their people are I was also astonished at this report.I did not comment because I was wating for some response from Ali-baba.
I think the lady may have got conned or mixed up!
David