Ghost City Tours — Local services in Charleston

Absolutely the worst tour. Not to mention this company doesn’t stand behind their tours and make it impossible to get a refund or to speak to management. I must say, I have found my entire experience with this company as a whole to be very disappointing. I used this tour company in August 2024. It began with my tour guide Laura being rude and making snarky comments to the tour group, as well as making guests (specifically male) uncomfortable when she “acted out” part of the story by leaning up against them (which no one found to be funny or necessary to the story). The tour itself excluded all of Chalmers street and the pink house entirely (which is listed on the website as being included). My interactions with Ghost City Tours then continued when I attempted to revive help via online chat the night of my tour (August 9th) and was not able to reach a resolution. On August 12th I reached out via phone to Ghost City tours to attempt to resolve this issue. I was assured that a manager would be calling me to work on a refund, as customer service was only able to give me a credit for a future tour. I called again on August 13th and was later left a voicemail stating once again that I would be receiving a call. I heard nothing. I then attempted to call once more on August 21st and 22nd in an attempt to find out why I hadn’t heard anything. It had been over two weeks since my tour and this matter should have been able to be resolved within the first week. I was not comfortable accepting a rain check, as my tour was not just dissatisfying, it was blatantly not as advertised. The guide was allowed to take us wherever she pleased and add to that, the stories weren’t interesting. Compared to a previous tour in Wilmington NC, which combined spooky with history and stories, this tour was honestly boring with a rude guide. My tour ended with her saying “and this is the best part of the tour! This is where it ends!!” And then… she left us blocks away from where the tour started. Many people are not local and had a hard time finding their cars at 10:00 in a city they were unfamiliar with. This is a potential safety issue, especially for female guests. Add to that, the company was not responsive to me and after waiting for 14 days I got the same generic response that the online chat gave me. The customer service rep repeatedly said that their manager was “sick” or they would resubmit the refund request. After receiving one email from a manager explaining that all sales are final on already run tours and she could only give me a voucher for another tour, I told her that this was not acceptable and received no response. After many unreturned calls and emails I gave up. The company straight up refused to speak with me. This leads me to believe that customer service is not the top priority of this company, because this is not a request that is out of the realm of what would normally be wanted by a customer after a poor experience. There is no way to escalate concerns, and no one will help you. Through the ordeal I was kind and courteous, however many requests to have this looked into be a person who could resolve the issue was ignored. This company sucks, don’t give them your money. Not to worry however, I did eventually get my money back through my credit card company. Always dispute if the company refuses to work with you. Such a disappointing experience in such a...

Totally worth the legthy read! DO NOT GO!! (* 8/6 update: NOW the company wants to reach out and make it ok when I take it to a public forum. Where were they the last 3 weeks?? Yeah, good try) (* 8/4 update: The company wouldn't even bother to email or comment. Wish they stood behind their customer service as much as they do their 'no refund policy'....worst customer service I've ever experienced)

It was chaotic from thebeginning. He was fumbling on his phone, once he/they got everything together the other guide and group take off (with a lantern, which made it creepier (better) and we instantly wished we had that guide). Our guide just stood and talked at us for about 10 mins. We finally get moving (he has a cell phone & flash light) only to walk 5 mins and then stop and stand in a single file line for 30 mins while we are only hearing about the history rather than ANYTHING creepy...we all start getting antsy and hot and wanting to move. Finally, we start walking again, only to walk for 2 minutes and then he proceeds to tell us to all sit on this half-wall and preach at us about the history of Charleston again (which we took a history tour earlier that day so this was hearing everything for the 2nd time that day). We all felt like we were children on on a field trip the way he kept lining us up. At this point, were already an hour in and have only moved once and heard NOTHING ghostly yet. People start questioning him..."are we going to hear anything creepy?" "When are we gonna walk?" "I thought this was supposed to be and 'edgier/scarier' version of an actual ghost tour" "Can't we at least see a cemetery or something?" He pulled out his phone and was showing us this old school syringe that really had nothing to do with anything...?? We ended calling an Uber to come pick us up and left (we were a group of 7) and the other group of 5 left as well. It was so disappointing that his entire group left. Which, I feel bad for him but it really was that disappointing And I don't want to add insult to injury but our guide (who was dressed kind of like a pirate 🤔) stunk pretty bad. Everytime he would walk down the line in front of us we would have to turn our noses the other way or pull our shirt up over our noses. Also, we saw the other group walking past us (with a lantern) twice as we stood in the same spot.

It also helps the "vibes" if the guides speak lower/slower/creepier tone but he was very animated, lots of jokes, high energy so it took away from the atmosphere/vibe

Again, my husband and I have been on quite a few of these tours and have never had a bad experience. This was absolutely not a ghost tour as much as it was a history tour....about two buildings and a cobblestone road. It was bad, really bad. Their website also sells it as and 'edgier/scarier' tour which is why we chose that one but I know there were at least 12 or 13 people who left very, very...

Awful, terrible, unacceptable experience. Consider booking a tour with a completely different company. They confirmed the meeting location at the wrong address, we missed our first tour because we couldn't find our group and the customer service representative, Damian, couldn't help us with anything. They couldn't find our guide so we could meet them. What they did do was offer us to join another tour for the next hour, but that tour was conveniently more expensive so my card was was charged extra for that tour. I confirmed the address for the new tour THREE TIMES on the phone with Damian. We walk across town to the new address. This is a dirt parking lot, no lights, completely quiet street. Noone is there to greet us, noone else for the tour is waiting. I call Damien back, they tell me I am at the wrong address. How can that be possible when I confirmed THREE times? Damian tells me the new address, the SAME ADDRESS WE STARTED AT ORIGINALLY. Seriously? We all run across town due to not wanting to miss this tour and we barely make it. I call the next day and ask for compensation for our experience and I speak with Elaine, who simply tells me no to the refund and that they can offer a "raincheck" for our next tour we book. OBVIOUSLY I will never book a tour with ghost city tours ever again. They give me an attitude and make it seem like they don't care that we had such a stressful time just getting to the meeting place. No apologies, no sympathy. They are not holding themselves accountable for the awful customer service provided the day of or the day after. During their busiest season coming up, do yourself a favor and book with a company that cares about their customers and hold themselves accountable for their lack of training and customer...