ATV ADVENTURE TOURS — Local services in Jalisco

Unsafe company! Beware On Wednesday, April 13, I joined an ATV/Zipline Canopy Puerto Vallarta/Tour with Wild Trek Adventures (same company operates under different names). We met at their office and then set out on ATVs for a 45 minute ride up the mountain. Once at the top, there was a very rustic restaurant, where we were encouraged to order drinks and food, then we set out for the zipline part of the tour. We were given brief instructions by Oliver the tour leader, such as how to hold our bodies when on the line, how to brake and when to not brake. Each zipline had a ‘stopper’ (a poorly constructed folded over piece of vehicle tire secured with duct tape) at the landing platform, with a worker to grab you and help you disconnect from the line. There were nine lines, and on the eight line, the longest one and over a river, I had an unspeakably terrible accident. About two-thirds of the way down this line, the worker on the platform gave me the braking signal. I proceeded to brake as hard as I possibly could (I work out/lift weights daily and am quite strong) as I headed to the landing platform. Upon approach, the ‘stopper’ was either not there or not functioning and the worker did not catch me. I hit the pad on the tree at the platform right-foot-first and saw my ankle dislocate and break in two places. I started screaming while rotating in the air in my harness. I was eventually lowered to the ground, screaming for help, an ambulance, medical attention, anything. There was no help to be had. They had to hook me back up to the zipline and two workers held me as they ziplined me to the final platform and carried me back to the restaurant and sat me down. Again, there was nobody there to help me and they had to put me in a full-size ATV with Oliver driving me and my husband 45 minutes back down the mountain over treacherous ruts and bumps that sent me screaming every time my ankle moved. I was taken to an area hospital, and while I lay screaming in the emergency room, Oliver the tour leader and his female associate stood there staring at the harness I was still wearing and asked the nurses if they could remove it from me so they could take it with them. Moving even a centimeter had me screaming again, even with an IV of painkiller that was now hooked up to me. Eventually, the nurses cut it off and gave it to Oliver and his associate. As they left, my distraught husband was offered 170 pesos (about $9USD) for a taxi back to our hotel. No apologies. I had emergency surgery where I was implanted with a titanium bracket and nine screws, then had to remain in the hospital for three nights. Recovery will be long and painful. Canopy Puerto Vallarta/Wild Trek Adventures is an extremely unsafe operation and I urge anyone reading this to find a different...

Never again. Originally we were told about a price and as soon as we got there they added random prices. I don't mind paying insurance and other stuff but it almost felt like a rip off when they kept adding prices for practically anything. Insurance was "optional", however, if you did not pay for it than you had to leave your credit card on hand and they "wouldn't charge anything" unless it was "needed". We didn't feel comfortable leaving our card and they suggested they'd write down all of our card information and we can take our card. Obviously at that point we felt safer to just pay the $25 insurance fee. Then they proceed to ask for a $10 deposit and a ID to rent their face bandanas. When face bandanas were returned they would return your ID and deposit.

We ended up departing almost 25 minutes after our designated departure time and soon realized that the majority of the vehicles were not up to date on maintenance. A group of people on our trip had already paid to rent quads and decided last minute that wanted to opt out for razors. The agency claimed none were available until they group decided they were willing to pay extra for one. Suddenly the agency had an extra razor available. It turns out that the razor that was suddenly available was overheating which essentially made the whole group stop every 5 minutes. The tour guide claimed it "wasn't over heating" yet he had coolant in the back of his ranger. The rest of the tour until we got to the top of the mountains consisted of constant "routine check ups" or so that's what the tour guide referred to it as.

We got back to the agency to pick up our ID and deposit for the bandanas and the lady at the front desk refused to give the $10 deposit to us because their policy is you turn in an ID OR you pay the deposit. But they made us do both and told us they never received the $10 from us. The agency insinuated we were lying because they stated they had cameras. We asked them to show us the footage to demonstrate we did give the deposit but their IT guys "wasn't available" and neither was the girl that took the bandana money from us.

I've done other razor tours at Puerto Vallarta but never have I experienced one as bad as this one. Save yourself from a terrible experience and look into spending a razor tour...

I recommend you don’t take the tour however, if you do don’t buy the tequila or the photos. I have provide why should you be interested: This is the biggest scam I have ever been involved in and I’m 73 yo. The tour lasted 3 hours as advertised with less than a total of 50 minutes actually driving, which I’m willing to overlook. Our 1st stop on the tour was a tequila tasting with a guy who called himself Buggy. His presentation was great and we sampled tequilas that were made by him and they were good. Unfortunately, what you tasted was not what was provided when you purchased a bottle. It was a classic bait and switch! The packaging was the same it was wrapped for travel and given to a guide and is most likely opened once you arrived at your home of record. Once you’ve returned home and tasted the contents of your purchase you realize you’ve been cheated. The guides also take pictures along the way and when purchased they have you take a photo of the original receipt and provide you with a copy and point out that if your photos are not received call and they will resolve the issue. No one ever answers the phone, you get a recording stating the obvious by an operator and you cannot leave a message, I have attempted to make contact for 6 days to no avail. Therefore in an effort to ensure others are not scammed I have written...