Address

717 King St, Alexandria, Virginia, 22314-3014

Phone number

(703) 837-0125

Neighborhood

Old Town

Category

Business & Professional Services > Advertising

Reviews


22-Jun-12
cynthia t

This resoundingly negative review of Mariden USA of Alexandria, VA USA will be posted on every single travel website which asks for reviews of travel companies.

DO NOT USE MARIDEN USA FOR YOUR TRAVEL NEEDS.

From the very beginning of the process (October, 2011) Mariden USA has continuously failed in producing information regarding their advertised educational group travel tours. My family has invested $6800.00 total, which we may not be able to get back.

The optional insurance that was purchased by me does not cover the gross ineptitude of Mariden USA itself. The policy was for personal changes that caused loss of travel, not the changes of the travel agency.

After booking in October, 2011, it was nearly the end of May before we knew exactly which dates the group was flying. And that was a scant month later at the end of June. June 25th to be precise.

On Monday, June 18th, we received word that the Air France flight to Paris on June 25th, had been OVERBOOKED by TWENTY PERCENT!!!!! 20%!!!! and that the ENTIRE GROUP had been bumped from the flight with NO SOLID DATE FOR A RESCHEDULE.

MARIDEN USA stated that it was NOT their fault that the flight had been
overbooked. Three other groups had been booked for that day, and ALL of them were bumped. I believe it was gross negligence by Mariden USA that this occurred.

This incident was the last straw in a lengthy list of oversights and poor policies in play at Mariden USA. Unfortunately, I m not allowed enough space here to list them all.

Our group leader has since contacted the Attorney General and a lawyer and was told by the lawyer that it would be lengthy and expensive to try and get our money back from Mariden USA, so instead they were trying to get Mariden USA to offer a secondary date to travel later on in the summer, the departure date being anywhere from July 21st to August 3rd!!!

This sort of business practice is absurd and wrong.
I fully intent to pursue this in a court of law, and bring charges against Mariden USA for fradulent practices and demand that they reimburse every penny spent. I have already contacted the New York State Attorney General, as the group leader has, and am currently writing to the Virgina State Attorney General as well as to my New York State Federal Senator and Representatives.

MARIDEN USA ENGAGES IN FRAUDULENT AND MISLEADING ADVERTISING AND BUSINESS PRACTICES. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.

Again, this resoundingly negative review will be posted on EVERY SINGLE TRAVEL WEBSITE THAT REQUESTS A REVIEW FOR MARIDEN USA. THESE REVIEWS ARE PROTECTED UNDER THE FIRST AMENDMENT AND ARE THEREFORE IMMUNE FROM LEGAL RECOURSE.

DO NOT USE MARIDEN USA FOR YOUR TRAVEL NEEDS. AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS.


30-Apr-12
Heather T

I advise my colleagues considering traveling with Mariden USA to proceed with utmost caution. Mariden USA was consistently & continually underhanded and duplicitous in the planning of our trip. Initially I was told everything I wanted to hear, but, sadly for my students, the reality was far different than the false promises I heard from Mariden USA representatives.

FLIGHTS

I selected Mariden USA because company representatives said they could get direct flights from Boston to Rome and returning from Athens to Boston. Many direct flights are available. Mariden USA representatives understood this was a priority of my students. Not only did we end up with layovers, but also these layovers unnecessarily prolonged the trip, eating away hours that could have been spent touring sites in Rome and Athens.

Mariden USA representatives also informed me that our group would travel
together: This, after all, is the definition of group travel. However, Mariden USA split up our group. I was forced to involve an attorney in my perfectly justified efforts to compel Mariden USA to do what was right--that is, to amend the travel plans so that all my students traveled together.

In addition to denying my students the experience of traveling together in
one group, Mariden USA denied compensation to the three travelers in
the separate group. Reviewing the correspondence, it is obvious Mariden USA denied compensation because I engaged an attorney to convince them to honor their verbal commitment to me and my group.

LATE FEES and RECORD KEEPING

Where Mariden USA exhibited poor planning for our legitimate travel and
itinerary requests, such disregard did not carry over to their relentless pursuit of so-called late fees from parents.

Ironically, Mariden USA was able to assess late fees to my participants, yet
was not sufficiently organized to send invoices of fees due prior to sending
notifications of late fees. This pursuit of late fees without sending
invoices was a offensive attempt to wring more funds from parents. Mariden USA¹s poor record keeping passed on a great deal of extra work & stress to me, the customer.

DURING THE TRIP

Mariden USA¹s poor scheduling, abysmal planning, and lack of attention to
detail repeatedly manifested itself while on our trip.

Although our guide in Rome, Alex, was truly exceptional, the fact remains
that because someone in Mariden USA's office did not pre-plan and realize
the Vatican would be closed on a Sunday (a fact generally clear to most of the world¹s population), we had to spend six extra hours on the bus because the scheduled trip to Pompeii was moved to Sunday from the more logical original plan of seeing it on the way to the ferry on Monday.

On Monday on the ferry from Bari, Italy, to Patras, Greece, we had to
withdraw 598 Euro from our own savings to pay for the dinners and
breakfasts for my students. These meals were clearly indicated as included
in our overall bill, as contracted by Mariden USA. Although this blatant
breach of contract was ameliorated several days later via Mariden
International¹s reimbursement of these funds, our group should never have
been put in this situation.

Also, while enduring a six-hour layover in Paris en route to Rome on 4/14,
two flights left to Rome earlier than ours from our terminal alone. By my
calculations, the flights and Pompeii trip inefficiencies wasted an entire
day of touring.

The pity of these wasted hours is not the inconvenience but rather the disservice to the students whom Mariden USA purports to accommodate.

SUMMARY

The sole bright spots were the consummate professional tour guides we had
both in Rome and Athens. They were professional, prepared,
responsible, respectful and understanding. Not surprisingly, to my
understanding, our guides were arranged by Mariden International, which
apparently has higher customer service standards than Mariden USA.

I strongly advise my colleagues against traveling with Mariden USA.