Late Arrivals in Delhi

LuAnnandJawahar · Jun 24th, 2003, 01:55

Well we can only freely tout our services here, but where we really want to shout is on the "First time arrivals" thread or the "Arriving in Delhi at Midnight" thread, because, oh my god, that's the backbone of our business. You can arrange, in advance, via email, for a driver to meet you at the exit of the arrivals hall with your name on a placard and take you to a pre-booked hotel. We can book the hotel for you, or we can take you to the hotel you booked for yourself. You don't pay anything in advance, so really the risk is all ours. See our website http://www.namasteindiatours.com. Don't worry, if you bypass the feeding frenzy at the airport, you'll still end up with some great stories to tell before your trip is over, we can nearly promise it.

-m2- · Jun 24th, 2003, 03:32

sounds like a useful service -- i can't get beyond the opening page on your website to get more information on your offerings, however. Is is just me? (IE5.1 on Mac)

porter · Jun 24th, 2003, 04:03

Some friends used them recently and were met as agreed which is good. They could probably have managed without the visit back to the office on the way to the hotel though after a long overnight flight.

Is the airport pick up normally direct to the hotel ?

LuAnnandJawahar · Jun 24th, 2003, 19:30

If you used us, Namaste India Tours, we did not take anybody to an office. You are taken directly to your hotel. And if that did happen I need to know about it. I write everyone who uses our service and ask for feedback to make sure everything went smoothly. No one has mentioned this. Have your friend write me if they used our service, please. A driver who does that would be dismissed. Unless ofcourse, the client had asked for some extra service that he did not arrange for in advance, like "I want to get to Katmandu today". That would require a stop. But only if pickup was in the daytime, not the middle of the night.

-m2- · Jun 24th, 2003, 23:21

NIT: another service that could be added to your airport pickup, if permitted by indiarail, would be serving as the local address for on-line rail tickets bought from abroad -- you could deliver the ticket to the airport as well as delivering the client to his hotel or to the rr station. Perhaps you already purchase tickets for clients, but the rr's scheme would ensure that you weren't required to pay for the ticket 'up front' and risk a collection problem if things didn't work out. There is a discussion regarding rail tickets purchased from abroad here:

Booking a train ticket on-line

(and thank you for the PM with the 'workaround' for Mac users)

LuAnnandJawahar · Jun 24th, 2003, 23:57

We've thought about that. We have hesitated to even suggest it however, because people will scream SCAM! Welcome to my world. We know from experience, they will think we have an arrangement by which they pay for a ticket, it is sent to us, and we sell it off to some rail ticket black market instead of delivering it to them. Ofcourse that wouldn't be possible, but it's been difficult to convince people that our airport pickup service isn't some kind of sophisticated bait and switch game. The other issue is that we would have to charge for the trouble, and when you add a service charge to something, people scream SCAM! (You India travelers, you're a strange lot, no offense.) Honestly we would make more from making the ticket ourselves after the client arrives. But what a convenience for the traveler to have them in hand upon arrival! And a time/hassle saver. And, bonus for us, they'd be making the reservation on their own, so when they end up with a 1rst class ticket instead of a 2nd class ticket, they wouldn't accuse you of lying about 2nd class being full. Now, would people be willing to pay for the convenience....maybe we'll find out soon.

millreef · Jun 25th, 2003, 00:39

Being another Mac user (OSX with either Safari or IE)....could you please let me know what that brilliant work around was?
Thx

-m2- · Jun 25th, 2003, 01:25

the workaround suggestion was to 'back in' using a different page to enter:

http://www.namasteindiatours.com/page3.htm

unfortunately I hadn't tried it when I wrote the reply and it doesn't work for me

I'm using OS 8.6, so maybe you'll have better luck!

porter · Jun 25th, 2003, 02:54

Don't want to make a big deal of it but what my friends told me of their experience was

"Pick up was fine. But they took us back to their office to try and sell us various tours and things!! But we just said no and they took us to the hotel."

I do believe you offer a good service. But this undermines the confidence of First Timers to use it. I know you probably can offer good advice re accommodation and travel in Delhi but this can't be the way to promote your service.

LuAnnandJawahar · Jun 25th, 2003, 04:06

Yikes, Porter. It is a big deal to us. You don't accept pms or emails, or I would not bore other users with this discussion, but as I said, if this really happened, I need to know the details. There is only one set of clients I have not heard back from We did their pickup on June16th. We have also had his parents as clients. Is that the people you are talking about? I'll email him right now.

indiamike · Jun 25th, 2003, 04:28

Quote:

Originally posted by Namaste India Tours
(You India travelers, you're a strange lot, no offense.)

All true.

Anyway, on a side note, one of my friends was in India a short while back and needed a driver and I told her to try out NIT.

Recommending somebody is something I rarely do without first hand experience. I had a chance to sit down and talk with her a few days ago and she only had goods things to say and was very impressed by the service and thanked me over and over again for suggesting someone who does such a great job.

So after listening her recount every minute of her journey I give NIT a "thumbs up" for service and keeping true to the promises that they made and reading the post above about wanting to find out the details of why the person was unsatisfied is only a confirmation that they care about their customers.

Mike

LuAnnandJawahar · Jun 25th, 2003, 04:30

Ok, I searched all our email correspondence as far back as we have which is January 5, 2002. And I don't see any negative reports. You can email us at inquiry@namasteindiatours.com if you don't want to carry on here.

-m2- · Jun 25th, 2003, 05:09

Porter: I think it behooves you to check with your friends again to be certain of the organization involved and the details. Reputation is very important to the provider of a service such as this and it is important that both positive and negative comments be reliable in order to be fair to the provider and useful to our readers. I hope you will provide NIT with details which he can check out if necessary and get back to us.

jjacquemain · Jun 25th, 2003, 05:59

You know, I came "this close" (holding thumb and index finger almost touching) to calling on NIT for a pick-up and hotel when I went.......*Kicking myself for not calling*

I got routed to a "government office" and hounded for almost an hour to make vacation plans on the spot...mind you, I was supposed to be at my hotel.

Next time I will call NIT for sure.....I can't be trusted to do much of anything right as of late

I love their web site and quite enjoy the humor thrown in!

Jun 25th, 2003, 10:33

O yes..the website is nice..i would find it difficult to believe that NIT has not been "correct" in their behaviour with their clients... I have never met them btw, but still am comfortable recommending them - how is that for intuition?

Jun 24th, 2003, 01:55	#1
LuAnnandJawahar Maha Guru Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Delhi/U.S. Posts: 663	Late Arrivals in Delhi Well we can only freely tout our services here, but where we really want to shout is on the "First time arrivals" thread or the "Arriving in Delhi at Midnight" thread, because, oh my god, that's the backbone of our business. You can arrange, in advance, via email, for a driver to meet you at the exit of the arrivals hall with your name on a placard and take you to a pre-booked hotel. We can book the hotel for you, or we can take you to the hotel you booked for yourself. You don't pay anything in advance, so really the risk is all ours. See our website http://www.namasteindiatours.com. Don't worry, if you bypass the feeding frenzy at the airport, you'll still end up with some great stories to tell before your trip is over, we can nearly promise it.

Jun 24th, 2003, 19:30	#4
LuAnnandJawahar Maha Guru Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Delhi/U.S. Posts: 663	If you used us, Namaste India Tours, we did not take anybody to an office. You are taken directly to your hotel. And if that did happen I need to know about it. I write everyone who uses our service and ask for feedback to make sure everything went smoothly. No one has mentioned this. Have your friend write me if they used our service, please. A driver who does that would be dismissed. Unless ofcourse, the client had asked for some extra service that he did not arrange for in advance, like "I want to get to Katmandu today". That would require a stop. But only if pickup was in the daytime, not the middle of the night. __________________ Reject violence.

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Jun 24th, 2003, 03:32	#2
-m2- . Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: . Posts: 1,578	sounds like a useful service -- i can't get beyond the opening page on your website to get more information on your offerings, however. Is is just me? (IE5.1 on Mac)

Jun 24th, 2003, 04:03	#3
porter Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: England Posts: 26	Some friends used them recently and were met as agreed which is good. They could probably have managed without the visit back to the office on the way to the hotel though after a long overnight flight. Is the airport pick up normally direct to the hotel ?

Jun 24th, 2003, 23:21	#5
-m2- . Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: . Posts: 1,578	NIT: another service that could be added to your airport pickup, if permitted by indiarail, would be serving as the local address for on-line rail tickets bought from abroad -- you could deliver the ticket to the airport as well as delivering the client to his hotel or to the rr station. Perhaps you already purchase tickets for clients, but the rr's scheme would ensure that you weren't required to pay for the ticket 'up front' and risk a collection problem if things didn't work out. There is a discussion regarding rail tickets purchased from abroad here: Booking a train ticket on-line (and thank you for the PM with the 'workaround' for Mac users)

Jun 24th, 2003, 23:57	#6
LuAnnandJawahar Maha Guru Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Delhi/U.S. Posts: 663	We've thought about that. We have hesitated to even suggest it however, because people will scream SCAM! Welcome to my world. We know from experience, they will think we have an arrangement by which they pay for a ticket, it is sent to us, and we sell it off to some rail ticket black market instead of delivering it to them. Ofcourse that wouldn't be possible, but it's been difficult to convince people that our airport pickup service isn't some kind of sophisticated bait and switch game. The other issue is that we would have to charge for the trouble, and when you add a service charge to something, people scream SCAM! (You India travelers, you're a strange lot, no offense.) Honestly we would make more from making the ticket ourselves after the client arrives. But what a convenience for the traveler to have them in hand upon arrival! And a time/hassle saver. And, bonus for us, they'd be making the reservation on their own, so when they end up with a 1rst class ticket instead of a 2nd class ticket, they wouldn't accuse you of lying about 2nd class being full. Now, would people be willing to pay for the convenience....maybe we'll find out soon.

Jun 25th, 2003, 00:39	#7
millreef Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 47	Being another Mac user (OSX with either Safari or IE)....could you please let me know what that brilliant work around was? Thx

Jun 25th, 2003, 01:25	#8
-m2- . Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: . Posts: 1,578	the workaround suggestion was to 'back in' using a different page to enter: http://www.namasteindiatours.com/page3.htm unfortunately I hadn't tried it when I wrote the reply and it doesn't work for me I'm using OS 8.6, so maybe you'll have better luck!

Jun 25th, 2003, 02:54	#9
porter Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: England Posts: 26	Don't want to make a big deal of it but what my friends told me of their experience was "Pick up was fine. But they took us back to their office to try and sell us various tours and things!! But we just said no and they took us to the hotel." I do believe you offer a good service. But this undermines the confidence of First Timers to use it. I know you probably can offer good advice re accommodation and travel in Delhi but this can't be the way to promote your service.

Jun 25th, 2003, 04:06	#10
LuAnnandJawahar Maha Guru Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Delhi/U.S. Posts: 663	Yikes, Porter. It is a big deal to us. You don't accept pms or emails, or I would not bore other users with this discussion, but as I said, if this really happened, I need to know the details. There is only one set of clients I have not heard back from We did their pickup on June16th. We have also had his parents as clients. Is that the people you are talking about? I'll email him right now.

Jun 25th, 2003, 04:30	#12
LuAnnandJawahar Maha Guru Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Delhi/U.S. Posts: 663	Ok, I searched all our email correspondence as far back as we have which is January 5, 2002. And I don't see any negative reports. You can email us at inquiry@namasteindiatours.com if you don't want to carry on here.

Jun 25th, 2003, 05:09	#13
-m2- . Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: . Posts: 1,578	Porter: I think it behooves you to check with your friends again to be certain of the organization involved and the details. Reputation is very important to the provider of a service such as this and it is important that both positive and negative comments be reliable in order to be fair to the provider and useful to our readers. I hope you will provide NIT with details which he can check out if necessary and get back to us.

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Jun 25th, 2003, 05:59	#14
jjacquemain Nothing is illegal until you get caught~ Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Cleveland, Ohio USA Posts: 534	You know, I came "this close" (holding thumb and index finger almost touching) to calling on NIT for a pick-up and hotel when I went.......Kicking myself for not calling I got routed to a "government office" and hounded for almost an hour to make vacation plans on the spot...mind you, I was supposed to be at my hotel. Next time I will call NIT for sure.....I can't be trusted to do much of anything right as of late I love their web site and quite enjoy the humor thrown in!

Jun 25th, 2003, 10:33	#15
archits Posts: n/a	O yes..the website is nice..i would find it difficult to believe that NIT has not been "correct" in their behaviour with their clients... I have never met them btw, but still am comfortable recommending them - how is that for intuition?