Guys, I hate to say this but I'm now in the process of disputing a couple of thousands of dollars in credit card charges with Sorhay and The Real Panama Tours (I don't want anything for free, it amounts to about 20% of our total booking for 19 total people over four excursions). I feel a responsibility to let the DDF community know what happened because she's now fraudulently taking advantage of the Jewish community and our willingness to pay for "kosher" adventures. I can't figure out a way to take out my link to her company name and website at the beginning of this TR (maybe you guys can help me).
We just went over Yeshiva Week and Sorhay clearly had double and triple-booked herself. She replaced herself with other guides at the last minute for two of our days, which she had committed to me, in writing, over six months in advance. I found out the morning of the tour when she wasn't there (she WAS at the same location with another frum family and when I then asked her if I'd see her tomorrow she only then told me should wasn't coming the next day either)!
This was my third time using her and she always led our tours herself. It's total fraud what she did. I honestly think she booked 3-4 frum families for the week (we saw frum families with her and her other guides every single day of our tours) and last minute just showed up for one day with each. She costs sometimes double to triple other tours which I was willing to pay, because I DO think she can be an awesome guide, especially with a bunch of kids (we had 11 in our group), and to have everything organized with all the kosher food, etc. for such a large group. But every part of the process this time was super disorganized and had poor, last-minute communication.
She knows I put her on the "frum" map with this trip report five years ago and I never even asked for a discount because that just isn't how I am. I own a small business and believe in paying for great service. I asked her to rebate us about 20% of the fees and she offered me $300 off, at which point I told her now I'm really angry and disputing some of the charges (I wouldn't dispute everything because we did to four days of excursions and the kids did have fun) and she literally told me to go ahead and dispute the charges and to take her out of my contacts!
She wouldn't admit any wrongdoing and said she didn't think it mattered who the guides were. I speak Spanish and asked both the replacements lots of questions and they both admitted to me they only were given info about our tours late the night before and then were scrambling to organize the logistics themselves!
Well, live and learn. I still love Panama and planning to still return but will just book other guides directly for a third to half of the cost!
