Gran Canaria

  We made a half-day log trip with Simon. He informed us well, took us at noon from our residence and brought us back home in the evening. In his car... read more we felt safe and comfortable, even on adventurous roads, rocky, curvy or up through the clouds with only a few meters of sight.

As we wished, he brought us to the Petroglyphs at the archaeological site of Balos. Breathtaking rocks from Lava with ancient stone carvings by the Guanches (and sadly also some much younger legacies).

In the beautiful old town Aguimes we learned how to drink coffee the Canarian way in the sweet Bar
"El Populacho" and saw very special sculptures.

Then to Pico de las Nieves, the the highest peak of Gran Canaria, with a magic view on fabulous rocks and trees, in between clouds were floating, pure magic, like in a fairy tale.

Later to Roque Nublo, climbing by foot up the mountain exactly in time for sunset, watching it from above a sea of clouds. It was super exciting, much more than expected. It felt like we travelled to another planet.

Simon has a wide knowledge, he offers information and stories on Canarian history and present, mentality and culture, in an easy way. It´s a pleasure to chat with him. He is kind, attentive and knows when to give his customers some space and privacy.

Looking forward to traveling with Simon again!

  Such a fun and informative tour! I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to learn and see more about Gran Canaria

  Very nice tour. Beautiful views of GC and Simon is a great tourguide. He knows so much about the island and loves to talk about it. If you want to... read more see something more than your hotel and the beach go around with Simon. I had a wonderful day.

  One of the BEST tours we have ever taken! Simon and our driver Itor were awesome. So many stops, so much history and information. We loved every minute of the... read more day. From Pico de Las Nieves to Las Palmas Old Town, it was amazing. Plus we were able to see the Dunes as well. Definitely a jam packed day 9 hours but so worth it for the GREAT price. Lunch was AMAZING. So much fun, definitely recommend to anyone visiting.

  So pleased we chose this tour with Simon.This being our first visit to the island, had our experience of Gran Canaria been confined to our stay at the hotel in... read more our resort then our holiday would have been the poorer for it. The trip was well organised and very insightful. We covered so much of the island with regular stops for refreshment and the opportunity to visit villages and see places of natural interest. The views were spectacular. Simon is relaxed, personable and very knowledgeable. It was a pleasure to spend the day with him and our fellow travellers. Would highly recommend.

  Long story short: He canceled very last minute after confirming the tour and then started threatening and harrassing me via Whatsapp when I left a negative review on google. I... read more guess this is the reason he has a near perfect score. However: You should know that none of his threads hold any value as he already violates european law by harrassing or threatening you in a lot of different ways. I will elaborate in the full story.

Full story (please also check screenshots):
On 2 october we booked this tour for 2 people and paid 138 euros for it via Viator. Tour date was set to be on 22 october. Simon has his settings set to immediately confirm the booking - which is a setting he can choose himself as definitely not all tour operators do this. I booked several tours that had a conformation later, for example because a minumum number of guests are required. These companies communicate honestly about it.

During our holiday I even received a chat message - via Viator - that confirmed the hotel pickup time and what clothing to wear (the last pasrt you can also read in the tour description).

Unfortunately, Simon didn't get enough people for this "Small group" tour (usually small group is 8, which means we would already be 25% of the group) and decided to cancel his tour. He did so on the 20th of october on 21:49. Since we had a tiring tour that day, we already slept about that time. But even if we were still awake: It wouldn't matter. On such short notice it's impossible to find a proper (and affordable) other tour around Gran Canaria. So I left a negative review about it on Google.

In my review I made a mistake, writing that Simon canceled less than 24h before the tour. To that Simon immediately started threatening me and harrassing me via Whatsapp. He was calling me a lieer and threatened to report me to google and my employer.

So I checked about the 24 hours and corrected my mistake (fair is fair). However: you should notice a few other things about what he said:

1: "By using the anonimity of the internet": I was not posting anonymous, my name is right there at the review. He would not be able to find my whatsapp if it was anonymous. - Partially because of this, I think it's a habit of him to threaten people to keep his score high.
2: "Harm us by posting lies": I made a mistake, I did not post lies. And I happily corrected that. Yet he keeps insisting that I lie.
3: "We canceled 2 days before departure": Not quite so if it is at 21:49 in the evening.
4: "Private tour around the island for 96 euro per person": I never requested a private tour. But don't confirm a tour if you need a minimum and just be honest about it that a minimum is required. Since that is nowhere to be found in the tour description, nor in the confirmation: The risk is for the tour operator, not for me as a guest.
5: "Digital Slavery": First of all: It is not digital. As a tour is a fysiscal thing. Second: You offer this tour this way. If you cannot do it, it is YOU who put yourself into problems. It's not slavery.
6: "Your behavior will be reported to the management of Sforza and Google" Well, as long as it is a honest review (and it is), google really doesn't care. Reporting it to my employer would be a direct violation of GDPR law. Besides: in European law your employer is not allowed to act upon things you do in your spare time, unless you do them in the name of your employer (which I clearly didn't).
7: Saying something about me being able to afford a tour is just a very low thing to do.

So this shows just the tip of the iceberg on how agressive this guy is.

So I told him I would correct the 24h mistake, but that I still don't agree on his approach and will keep the 1-star as he threatened me.

Unfortunately he then starts to blame viator for confirming the tour. Like I explained before; Those are settings he can control himself, not Viator. And he even send me a chat message confirming the pickup time. So this was obviously a lie (not a mistake).

Confronting him with this he changes the subject about the amount of people and threatens again to inform my employer and google about it. So I decided to also rewrite that part.

To explain: I had to book for 2 people, since my travel buddy can't book himself. If you read the review well, you can see that I never stated that the tour would leave with only 2 people. However: I re-wrote that part to prevent confusion for others, as maybe other readers would mis-interpret it as well.

I told him that I would sue if he would inform my company about it (which he first said he already did, and then says he will do). I also warned him that he violated GDPR law, but finding my phone number in the booking and contacting me about a review. I never consented to that.

The rest is self explanatory. You can see the original review with his comment, the edited version and the whole whatsapp conversation in the added screenshots as proof that I am not somebody that lies.

  Gran Canaria MAXXX tour was amazing!! Simon was very informative and we learned so much from him about the Gran Canaria! Small details that we wouldn’t have any idea about.... read more We passed by so many places and so many stops and the most amazing was the highest peak in the island: El pico de las nieves and everywhere surrounding it from the mountains to the beautiful views where we basically managed to see all the island and Tenerife as well!!! the island isn’t that big but very tricky to get around and with Simon, you’ll be getting an unforgettable canary experience. The tour was everything we’ve imagined and more and would highly recommend for anyone visiting.

  It was a great day, loads of information provided by Simon. Exceeding good value for money. Varied placed visited all of which was really interesting. We would... read more highly recommend this trip to anyone. It was a small group which we appreciated

  This is a must-do for any visitor to Gran Canaria. When other people who were supposed to join the tour had to cancel at the last minute due to the... read more flight ban from the UK, Simon went ahead with the tour as scheduled so it ended up being a private tour!! This was very much appreciated indeed as other tour operators would have cancelled the tour as they usually require a minimum number of participants, etc.

The tour itself was simply incredible. Seeing the sunset ABOVE the clouds from the highest mountain in Gran Canaria was truly magical and an experience that I will never forget! We also got to witness a once in a lifetime astronomical event, as well as sip coffee with alcohol in a local cafe with some locals (a truly authentic local experience)!

Thank you Simon for all your hard work. I am now back in the UK stuck in lockdown wishing I was back in the Canary Islands!