Hi Kathleen, I'm so sorry you were unable to join our tour on Saturday!
When we spoke you were understandably upset by the flat tyre on your hire car and I felt helpless to assist. I was not guiding the tour that day and, with 14 other passengers to take into consideration, together with our guide we had to make the decision to commence the tour without you. We hoped you’d be able to catch up later in the day, and were more than willing to help you with this.
Unfortunately you were unable to join the tour - we couldn’t have known how long it would take to get your car fixed but, during our only conversation (at the time of your issue), you’d already made it very clear that this was not going to be a satisfactory resolution. You wanted your money back from us for your flat tyre.
As our reviews will testify, we’re empathetic to customers who can’t make it through no fault of their own - these things happen, after all. We often move customers to different tours (when we can), even if a request comes within 24 hours of the tour departure. Sadly, we didn’t have any availability to transfer your booking because all of our tours for the rest of that weekend were fully booked, with waiting lists.
Through our correspondence with Viator, we recommended you to pursue an insurance claim for your tour tickets, and we’d be happy to provide documentation that you may require.
We’re a small independent business and have T&Cs to protect our existence. We hate it when customers aren’t able to join us - especially when it’s not your fault. But it’s not ours either and we don’t believe we should be out of pocket for it. I’m sorry if this seems unreasonable to you, but it is common, standard policy: if you were to break down on the way to a concert or football match, I very much doubt you’d receive a refund.
We wish you all the very best, Kathleen, and hope that you had a great day in the Cotswolds once your tyre was fixed. Finally, a word of advice; when asking for assistance, I'd suggest against using the term "f__k you" when you don’t get the exact answer you were demanding. In nearly 9 years of running my business, this is the only time anyone has ever sworn at me.