Mongolia Tour & Trip Reviews

In 2019, I booked a trip thru O.A.T. to Mongolia for 2 weeks starting on July 1st to, among other things, go to the Na'am festival. It is usual and customary to prepay these international trips because of the technicalities involved, such as booking air and hotels. I travel internationally usually two times per year, so I am aware of this practice and have never had a problem with it until dealing with O.A.T.

The first week of March, O.A.T. called me and cancelled the trip, not even departing until July, because of the coronavirus and said they would be returning people's money on April 5th. They did not! They had said they would return it to the form of payment it was made on. For me, $350 was on my credit card and the remainder through a personal checking account. Altogether, it was nearly $8,000.00 US.

Please note O.A.T. had all of my money for at least 6 months, so there wasn't any issue of a check not having cleared. Also please note it was O.A.T., and not me who cancelled, so it wasn't as if I wasn't entitled to a full refund because of late cancellation. I didn't cancel at all.

I have called and called and no one seems to be answering the phone. A message says go to the website because of then coronavirus, but obviously, my payment details will not be there. I have received no money back by mail or credit! I have received no phone calls. No apology letter clarifying their refund procedure. No acknowledgement of my money at all except the receipt I was send months and months ago. Nada. Nothing at all. I cannot reach anyone, despite having waited on hold for hours with their Musack.

While I can understand the coronavirus has slowed things down, I also understand they've held my money a very, very long time and lied about when it would be returned! I'm afraid I've been stiffed and that other seniors will be, too. With this coronavirus thing, many of us have lost 30% or more in our retirement accounts and would like to have our refunds in our pockets.

This is not a company to do business with, assuming they are not filing for bankruptcy and/or going out of business. In fairness, I do NOT know that they are doing either one, it is only my personal fear at this point. They've been around a while, but I cannot help but feel extremely uneasy with them. Certainly, their corporate communications department could use a brush up on basic customer relations skills. I'm very, very worried.