Iceland Holidays Reviews 42

Icelandholidays.com review - I want to warn fellow travellers about this company so that you avoid the stress that they cause. I booked the holiday to Iceland on behalf of my parents as it was a surprise birthday present from my mum to my dad. To begin with I thought Icelandholidays.com were just like any other tour operator although I did think it was strange that Gareth never wanted to answer the phone and everything needed sorting via email - now I understand why.

About three weeks before departure I randomly received an envelope in the post containing adverts for other holidays that icelandholidays.com offered such as lake annecy and ski arrangements and my parents boarding passes. I contacted icelandholidays.com to ask where the rest of the details were and that is when I started to be fobbed off. I was told they would be sent separately.......I waited and waited. We were then at less than a week before departure when I realised how Gareth operates. The money my parents had paid had been used for something else so he had to wait for money to come in from somewhere else before he could book the excursions and transfers that had been paid for months before. My parents are in their 70's and I had to ask him if he expected me to just send them on a plane to Iceland not knowing where they were going / what they were doing.

I waited and waited and eventually got the emails. The emails came straight from their supplier so it was obvious they had just been booked. When I booked the holiday for my parents I booked 'Northern Lights twice' and was offered a free Golden Circle tour. When it came to receiving the vouchers I was told that they would have to wait and see what the weather was like as they may see the Northern Lights on the first night then they dont need a second trip (bearing in mind the operator offers a second night if necessary anyway). The whole point of booking the two excursions to see it was that they could then see that amazing site on more than one occasion. Gareth told me that they had the Golden Circle tour instead of the other evening tour even though he had originally offered that for free. I had lost the will to deal with such a ridiculously unprofessional company by this point. It even got to the point that I called the Hotel in Iceland to confirm that their room has been paid for as I was worried they would get to Iceland and have no hotel - luckily they confirmed it had been paid.

I should also add that when the balance was due they just debited the money from my card - I never gave them permission to do that or keep my number on file. Infact I did not even want to pay on that card but did not get a choice.

Unfortunately my Dad became critically ill when they were due to travel and so they had to cancel. We'd had an horrific time with my Dad being so ill in hospital yet icelandholidays.com still did not want to make it easy for us. Gareth confirmed when I notified him of the cancellation that he would send a cancellation invoice for insurance purposes..... 2 weeks and several chasers later I finally got the invoice.

It is clear that Icelandholidays.com operate on the basis that they wait for a customer to pay so they can pay whichever bill needs to be paid next. That is no way to run a business. Years ago I worked for both a travel agent and a tour operator so I know exactly how they should work.

Whatever you do, do not book through icelandholidays.com or any of their associated companies. If you have booked then certainly dont expect them to answer the phone to chat anything through. Gareth probably has so many disgruntled customers that he can't afford to answer the phone incase he ends up speaking to one of them