Barceló Dominican Republic holidays — Attraction in Higüey

We booked an excursion with FRANKLIN ALEMÁN to isla Saona. Unfortunately we had to cancel due unforeseen circumstances (one person had stomach problems, another is missing a leg and his prosthetic leg caused him a rash due to the heat and also my 4 month old baby was not going to go on a boat with the bad weather). We called him several days ahead of time and he NOT ONCE picked up the phone, at least not until the night before. Part of our group was still going on the excursion, only some of us wanted to receive a refund. He kept telling us that we needed to get a doctors note explaining why we can’t go on the excursion, even for my 4 month old. He charged us $120 per person for Isla Saona considering He gave us a “discount”. Everyone looked at us crazy when we said the price we were charged since they were being charged anywhere from $65-$80 per person. Meaning, we were practically paying double of what everyone else was paying. He never gave us a receipt. Even though we had been calling several days before, they still applied the cancellation policy to only return 50% since HE DECIDED TO ANSWER THE PHONE THE NIGHT BEFORE. He kept pushing for us to pay only with CASH. He did not want to give us a receipt nor the phone number of his boss. We were able to get it the day we were leaving to the airport by a third person. We were told that FRANKLIN was not allowed to collect cash from the sales, he did it anyways. His boss, RUFINO RIVERA was covering for him. Franklin did not let us take a picture of the the receipt he brought the day of the cancellation.

He was very unprofessional and rude. He did not try to help us out at all. We were canceling with a valid reason. We were a group of 40 people trying to have an amazing time during our family vacation and they ruined it for us. FRANKLIN AND RUFINO ARE CROOKS. They overcharged us and then did not want to return our money. Never again using this company and I’ll make sure all my friends and family know not to use this...

Quick summary: Don't spend your hard earned money.

3 days worth of tours with them and I got picked up from airport with this company. Most importantly the tours they sell are over priced and omg do you spend more time waiting around and doing multiple transfers before you get to your destination only to spend minimal time there before going through the entire process again. My group and I did the mistake and booked a few tours and you can only cancel for 50% back before 48 hrs, should have just booked one. The pick up from airport was arranged online and it was suppose to be 15 bucks carpool option but i got there and there was no one to share the ride with so I spent 30 for private ride. Ok kool w.e don't want to start the trip off bad but to leave they said I never reserved the return and I showed the lady the email of them asking me and confirming round trip transportation but she said I did not pay for round trip and I showed her the email message saying that I wanted to prepay it but the responded said to pay cash the day of transportation both ways. So I had to get a taxi no big deal just annoying. Also all the guides openly expect tip and ask you directly for tip kind of pressuring you to tip rather than tipping based on service. So over all I give it thumbs down and i would not recommend them.

Responds to their response: we were given different information regarding cancelation, we were also not given any other documentation besides the credit card receipt. 2nd. My orginial review states why I was charged 30 I do not need to be told the same information again. My objective was to point out that I had informed your company that I was traveling alone and provided my flight information and that the option for shared ride was provided. So I assumed there would be people already being picked up to share a ride with and pay 15 dollars. I did not know that asking for shared ride was not...

If you have never been to Punta Cana and only have a few days to spend there, please take my advice and find another excursion company to work through. This company is incapable and does not know how to communicate or run a business.

We booked a snorkeling excursion for a 2:25pm pick up on Saturday afternoon, and the driver came an hour late with no notice of this. We were later informed that they forgot us. We wasted an entire afternoon confused, waiting around, with no communication from the company. My friend called 3 times and was hung up on, and we were left alone to figure it out ourselves. We regret this excursion as we could have enjoyed the wonders of PC in another way on our weekend afternoon.

Upon requesting a refund for this negative experience, they did not even provide 1/3 of the amount we paid. They acknowledged there were many human errors that happened at our expense but would not budge on the amount they reimbursed us.

This company is also responsible for coordinating shuttles to the airport from the hotel. I booked one the day before I was supposed to leave for 9am the day of my flight, and upon entering the lobby at 8:55, there was nobody there to pick me up. If you need one thing to go right on your trip, it’s your travel to and from the airport so you don’t miss your flight. The drivers that WERE there claimed they were not my driver and said they had no idea when anyone would come. They seemed to get a weird enjoyment out of our stress. We then had to go back to the office to get help and the worker walked back out with us to the same driver, who was in fact, my driver. They were incredibly rude and unprofessional.

Our trip was wonderful all of this aside, but I would not trust these people again as they simply are unable to contribute to a positive experience.

I’d give 0 stars if I could. Definitely recommend doing excursions, but this company will...