New York Iconic Cruises — Local services in New York

We just spent a week in NYC, a trip I spent almost a year planning for. I purchased the 48 hr bus tour online for the 7 people in our party as I thought it would be a fun way to explore the city, plus we could also do the night tour. We were staying right on Time Square so we took the bus the first day from stop number 1 on 1/1/25. The bus driver was very nice. We asked how often the bus would come around as we planned to do a full circle and then hop off at the Empire State building, go up and then take the bus again to Soho for some shopping. He told us the bus would be every 30 min. (There are 2 other companies that also do the hop on and off bus and they come around much more frequent but I was fine with every 30 min as we also paid less than what the other companies charge). We did as planned and were back at the bus stop a little before 3:50 pm. It was extremely cold and windy, we waiting in the cold until 4:40 pm, that’s 50 minutes and then gave up waiting and decided to just take the subway back to Time Square to our hotel since the bus never came. We were just so cold that we no longer wanted to go to Soho and we were all annoyed as well. We grabbed dinner and went back to the #1 stop in Time Square to take the night bus tour. That tour was nice and enjoyable and very pretty. When we got on the bus, I mentioned the wait and lack of bus from earlier and was just given a response of “well, if we don’t have many people doing the tour, we don’t send out the bus to waste gas.” He did radio in and tell the person on the other side of the radio what happened earlier bus that person’s response was “no, there was a bus every 30 min.” There was no customer service or accountability. The next day, we went to stop #1 again to take the bus (they park there so you are actually able to get a bus there), and as we hop on, I show the person our email with the QR code sent by the company (I purchased the tickets online) and he proceeds to say in a rude way that those tickets are not for this company. I show him the full email stating that they are and he can see the email. He continues to be rude and say they are not (it seems like their people are not even trained to recognize their own tickets!). Finally after arguing with me for 5 min, he states he will need to take a picture of it and send to his supervisor. He does and they are confirmed to be legit of course. I also asked again how often will the bus go by once we hop off because we were left stranded the day before and his only reply was “well you should have called the 800 number to be picked up” (mind you, we were never provided an 800 number on the email or by anyone the day before nor were we ever told to do this before) and he also proceeded to say “well I wasn’t working yesterday.” We took the bus to Soho and my kids, traumatized from the day before, refused to wait to take the bus again to go someplace else. This was our experience, just wanted to share and allow you to make your own decision as to what you want to do. As for me, given the chance again, I would not...

Important Warning to All Families and Residents of the United States and Tourists Visiting New York

I would like to warn you about a company employing some workers to transport tourists from the free ferry terminal between the islands, where the Statue of Liberty stands. This company employs illegal workers in the streets in front of the terminal gate. They wear orange shirts and offer to sell you tickets, claiming that there are no tickets available except from them.

Additionally, at the beginning of the encounter, they took money for the tickets and insisted on an obligatory tip. The person representing the company then handed us over to another person, and we had to walk for ten minutes, causing my children and family to feel dizzy and extremely tired. After that, this person also demanded a tip insistently before handing us over to the company's bus.

In reality, the tickets are free and provided by the local government at the main terminal. Surprisingly, the police do not hold these individuals accountable or follow up on this issue, which calls for a lawsuit to investigate the matter.

These individuals collaborate with the company to take you far from the terminal, claiming that the bus ride will take five minutes. In reality, it takes more than half an hour. Moreover, the bus lacks air conditioning, and the windows do not open, causing children to sweat excessively and vomit.

We asked the driver and his assistant to stop, but the person supposed to guide us was not present, and the assistant was lying on the seat, talking on the phone without any concern. This behavior reflects a lack of respect and responsibility.

When we asked the police for help, their response was confusing. They asked us not to stay with the bus and to contact the company to get a refund. The problem is that the company has no clear contact information—no email, no main website, and no social media presence.

I have decided today to file a lawsuit against this company and to investigate the police's lack of attention and failure to take decisive action against the fraud involving the groups standing at the main terminal and the bus transportation issue.

Legal Basis: According to U.S. law, a lawsuit can be filed against the company under the fraud statute (18 U.S.C. § 1341) for misleading and causing distress. Additionally, the company can be held accountable under Civil Code § 1708 for causing psychological distress to children and tourists. Compensation can be claimed for the damages caused to children due to severe sweating, vomiting, and psychological distress resulting from mistreatment...

WE GOT SCAMMED, DON'T DO IT! First, we purchased three NYC sightseeing tickets with Iconic through Groupon for $72.09. On getting to the pick up location (47th st. & 7th Ave.) we received from Iconic by email. We couldn’t locate a single Iconic bus nor representatives to guide us. However, we met Top View representatives wearing red, who informed us that Iconic company was not in operation, and urged us to buy sightseeing tickets with Top View. The top view sightseeing information leaflet shared with us displayed an essential day pass for uptown/downtown. We opted for this pass with the aim of doing a sightseeing for uptown NYC. The Top View representative that attended to us ended up processing a downtown tour ticket. We immediately informed her of our intent to do the uptown tour, but she assured us that the ticket would also be valid for the uptown tour as shown on the information pamphlet. We were charged another $147 by Top View for the tour. We were directed to get on the bus right infront of the ticket station (Stop 1). We got on the bus and scanned our tickets with the hope of connecting to the uptown bus at stop 1, 14 or 15 as shown on the map on the pamphlet. But we never got a chance to connect or get on the Uptown tour. Instead, we were taken on the downtown tour, and the bus driver asked us to get off the bus on 42nd St. & 8th Ave. He said we could connect with the uptown bus after crossing the street. We crossed the street, and waited for the uptown sightseeing bus. When the Uptown bus arrived, we were denied access because our ticket did not show "Uptown" on it. We explained to the bus driver it was an error on the part of the ticket sales person, but we were still denied access and was directed to the customer service office at 2nd East 42nd Ave. On getting to the customer service representative at Top View's office, we explained our situation and requested for a change of ticket. However, the customer service representative apologized and told us there was nothing he could do to help us because the ticket had been scanned. What I planned to be a happy-convenient sightseeing ride for myself and my guests to places of interest uptown NYC, ended up being a stressful, unpleasant experience. I am requesting a refund of $147 paid to Top View and $72 paid to Iconic Tours because both companies did not deliver value for the money they have...