Dead of night ghost tours — Attraction in Plymouth

Last weekend, a group of friends and I took a tour with Dead of Night. While we enjoyed the tour itself, there were several administrative/customer service concerns that made this rating what it is.

To start with the highlights — Bob was an absolute delight. He was entertaining, the tour was paced well, and he put up with our group’s often out-of-left-field questions and comments. The experience was the perfect level of kitschy tourist attraction and as we reflected, we actually really enjoyed the tour part of the experience.

However, all that said, you’ll notice that my review is only for two stars, and that I posted several days after the experience. I’ve taken the past few days to reflect, and still feel the need to share this feedback.

One of our group had booked a private tour back in July. We received a confirmation the day before the tour and then on arrival, when we checked in, Jan said there was no private tour option. We showed the confirmation and after a few back and forth comments, Jan finally revealed that our intended tour guide had come down with COVID. Our group asked why we hadn’t been informed ahead of time and rather than just apologizing or explaining Jan said “well I could have always had her come give you COVID” and then offered to reschedule us for November. With half of the group coming in from out of state, this wasn’t an option and we requested a discount. Jan said that wasn’t possible and that we could either join the group tour or leave, and even that she wouldn’t have given a private tour with the number of people we had in our group anyway — to make it “financially worth it” that we “needed more bodies.”

The point of the matter is this — I’m not upset that we didn’t get a private tour. Obviously things happen and businesses have to adjust. I’m upset that we were not communicated with, then lied to, then belittled and embarrassed as Jan tried to backpedal when she realized that she had made a mistake.

There are excuses for not liking the tour (it’s not for everyone). There are excuses for no private tours (COVID among them, obviously). But there is no excuse for berating and gaslighting your customers to cover up for your own mistakes. Just admit that you could have communicated better and move on, rather than causing a scene and trying to shift the blame.

It’s unfortunate that the experience was muddled by our interaction with Jan, because as stated earlier in the review, the rest was...

Some of the worst customer service I have ever received from Jan Williams.

We had a private tour scheduled for several months & confirmed the week and the day before, and Jan tried to convince us upon arrival that she had no idea what we were talking about (even when I showed messages FROM HER confirming the reservation several times) and that they weren’t doing private tours that night. Eventually, she acknowledged that the guide we were assigned had gotten COVID. Instead of notifying us of the change, apologizing, or offering to make things right, Jan said “well, I could have had her come do the tour and give you COVID.”

At this point, one of our participants, who has a disability & usually comes with a service dog (who we left at home out of courtesy to the company given that we were expecting to be moving through narrow spaces inside houses during the combo tour) began to have a panic episode and needed to leave the space. They ended up needing to step away from the tour because their disability & anxiety were so badly enflamed by Jan’s cruelty that they couldn’t continue.

To be clear: this review is not about the quality of the tour. Jan continues to say that “this tour isn’t for everyone”, but that’s not the root of the problem. Jan was flat out mean to our group, and she refused to acknowledge that she could not deliver on promised service (which she calls “preferences”). We only had a “private” experience in the house section of the tour because there were so many people in the public group that they had to split us up per tour logistics. If Jan had apologized for the change in plans, or even just acknowledged the change in a way that treated us with respect, then we wouldn’t have walked away having had such a negative experience.

Unfortunately, the deadest thing on this tour was Jan’s...

I attended many of ghost tours. This to be the worst of all. Customer servers was lacking to say the least. Jan Williams was very rude and incompetent to be shown as the face of this business. Jan needs to somehow to tear up that ghostly contract, that was the most scary thing. Bob, the tour guid that we were assigned so that we would be away from Jan, was very hard to hear from the loud crowed we were put with. Three who wanted to yell and talk over bob who was obviously were intoxicated which was specifically called out on a sign which were to be kicked out if caught. Bob was lacking on information, information was only brought from 2019 and forward. The history was lacking like the ghost stories. I would never recommend this tour. It is over priced and not...