Scholars Punting — Attraction in Cambridge

We designed to visit Cambridge river trip and pre-booked 3:40pm tickets with Scholars Punting in person at 2:59pm with £45 for 2 adults and 1 kid. We arrived there at 3:30pm and the staff told us to queue, after queuing for 15 mins, the staff started to arrange the people to the boat and told us to came with him to the other boat which is belongs to other company. Unfortunately, no space for the other boat, then he told no space for us even we booked at 3:40pm and told us we were not allowed to get on the boat with no reason. He acted rude to us and told us to deal with the salesman. He handled our pre-booked situation unfairly because we came 10 mins early, queued with other people with the same time slots, we with our little kid were in the middle of the queue, there were some other people queuing after us at the same time slot. But he told us we were "not allowed" to the boat with no reason, which treated us unfairly. That staff acted rude to us and tried to ignore us. Our little kid started crying and asked us why we can't go on the boat. So, we came back to the salesman and asked if he could help. Finally, the salesman spoke to that staff, sorted out our situation and put us on the boat.

We don't recommend Scholars Punting! We will try to get a reasonable answer from the company about that unfair situation, also we will get in touch with Citizens Advice consumer service.

Reply to Scholars Punting: Thank you for your reply to this review, however, we sent you a complaint letter about the rude, unfair and mistreated service from your member of staff yesterday. Your staff was rude, unfair and mistreated us and made our kid upset and cry which we think is unacceptable especially coming from a "manager".

Also, we would like to have a reasonable answer about why we were "not allowed" to get on the boat with other 3:40pm booking passengers. As we were queuing with them, there were 6 people in front of us. Your staff arranged 6 people in front us and 3 more people who were queuing after us on the boat. He told us we were "not allowed" on the boat with no reason and told us to deal with the salesman to get a refund. We went through your 1 Star reviews and we noticed that this is not the first time when the staff is rude, unfair or mistreating customers . Could you investigate the situation on that day and reply us with reasonable answer by email regarding why we couldn't get on the boat but the 3 people who were queuing after us did get on the boat please?

Finally, can you reply here and let us and the future customers know what measures will be taken to prevent this kind of situation from...

We were really looking forward to our punting experience, but unfortunately, it was VERY disappointing. Our tour guide barely spoke throughout the entire tour—we had to ask about each building and bridge ourselves just to get any information. Even then, he would only respond with one or two sentences. He never introduced himself, and we later found out (because we asked) that he had just started a week ago. While we understand that he’s new to the job, a tour guide should be engaging, informative, and make the experience fun, which wasn’t the case. We dreaded the whole hour. I don’t mean to put the blame on the tour guide himself, as it’s clear he just wasn’t properly trained. The company should have a proper training program in place before sending new guides out with tourists.

Additionally, since we went in the morning during winter, we expected to be provided with blankets as advertised on their website. However, no blankets were offered, leaving us cold and uncomfortable throughout the ride.

We went to Cambridge specifically for this experience, yet it did not meet our expectations at all, and we left disappointed. I hope the company improves their training for guides and ensures that all advertised amenities are actually provided.

Better to book other companies to make the...

I had the pleasure of going on a punting tour in the beautiful city of Cambridge, and I must say that our chauffeur, Ben, made the experience truly unforgettable. His knowledge of the University and its history was unparalleled, and his witty sense of humor kept us entertained throughout the entire tour.

From the moment we stepped onto the boat, Ben's infectious enthusiasm for punting and his love for Cambridge shone through. He regaled us with fascinating stories about the place's famous landmarks and hidden gems, all the while pointing out interesting details we would have otherwise missed.

What set Ben apart, however, was his ability to make the tour not only informative but also incredibly fun. His puns and jokes had us all laughing and groaning in equal measure, and he had an uncanny talent for tailoring his humor to suit each individual group.

Despite the large number of punting chauffeurs in Cambridge, Ben truly stood out as an exceptional one. He was professional, knowledgeable, skillful with the punt, and most importantly, he made sure we had a wonderful time. If you're planning a visit to Cambridge, I would highly recommend taking a tour at Scholars with Ben - you won't be disappointed!

Cheers...