Scammed by Marathon Tours - anyone else?

Reviews are pretty good (indeed, surprisingly and consistently so).

http://www.marathonguide.com/races/racedetails.cfm?MIDD=1041130330

Put in for 2018 or "suck it up, buttercup." Make new friends, learn to love the bunkhouse. Roll w/the punches...

Also, I guess your situation explains why Megan is no longer there, eh?

I think you're emailing a fake account or something. I have done numerous marathons through these guys and never have heard a single complaint. I seriously think you're being scammed but not by the actual race by being an idiot emailing a fake account. The company is legit.

I never had, or heard of anyone having problems with Marathon Tours.Here is the website, why is the address you show different?

http://www.marathontours.com/index.cfm/page/Contact-Us/pid/10240

Are you sure you are accusing the right place?

Check every thing you have done before making accusations you can't pull back.

Assuming what you are saying is true, you didn't get "scammed" if they returned your money. If they are keeping it than you could say that. If they returned it then you got "bumped". Maybe not great service, but not a scam.

I used them one time for Boston and remember I got a response similar to the one you did because my hotel choices were booked. They gave me the option of others or the choice to be put on a waiting list. And there was a wait if I wanted the deposit back.

Doesn't sound like you were "scammed", they are quite clear with how deposits are handled.

I also detect a good whiff of arrogance from your post. "I am a physician so getting the time off for a trip like this is not easy." I'm sure you are real important and are special in general, but in this case you are just another runner trying to get in a race just like everyone else

Sending someone a confirmation email only to rescind it 2 years later when people have made their arrangements is a joke. Their explanation and response also seems to be lacking. Return his $ plus interest and give him a significant discount for a future event. Again assuming it is all legit.

This thank you Sally.

I have NOT gotten $$ back. I want my deposit, interest and any other money I have shelled out.

Yes Megan is no longer there which is why I then emailed Ann who forwarded to the person who took over and got some bullshit of how they have fewer slots now.

But NO contact over last 2 years though they happily took my deposit and I have been making plans.

As to the whiff of arrogance, it is not just that I am another runner, I have to arrange ooverage of the practice (at significant cost) which yes is arranged that far in advance with contracts signed. I am a primary care doc in an underserved part of the country - not a big money maker before you get your panties in a bunch.

I cannot just suck it up and do another year - that was why in 2014 I took the sure thing and not the wait list.

No I will not choose to do another time with them nor another race with them. While others might have had good experiences the only other race I did with them I found lacking - hotel choice overpriced for what it was, and though the city had gluten free everywhere they picked the one restaurant that did not for the prerace meal (I am celiac).

Due to injury I had to cancel going to South Africa (with plenty of notice) they had no trouble keeping most of my money for that so yeah the lack of communication with all of this has me more than angry.

I did not sign up for a waitlist I have an email from a then employee - here is the email I left out:

I have passed the email along to my colleague Karen as both Megan and Kelly are no longer with Marathon Tours. Karen will be in touch with the details.

Best,

Ann

Ann Haebler

Marathon Tours & Travel

100 Everett Avenue, Suite 2

Chelsea, MA 02150

617-242-7845

www.marathontours.com

so no there was no other scammer just marathon tours - though suggesting that missed the part where I spoke to the owner of the company. He did not know why I was not notified of the change in participant numbers. Had I known I would have changed years for the sure thing for all the reasons given already.

Great that some people have had good experience with marathon tours - I am not one of them. This is fraud. Pure and simple.

sounds like a lot of folks are biased towards this marathon tour company. Employees perhaps? Would they have notified you if you didn't contact them? Sounds like they lost your registration but had no problem remembering to keep your deposit. Total BS.

Thank you for the warning, I will never use this company!

Wow. A company that deals with tens of thousands of running/travelers every year for the last 30 years slipped up. Shocker. I've never used them and have no dog in this fight, but I know a lot of folks that have traveled to events with them over the years with no complaints. Hey Doc...guess what?....Shit Happens. Get over it. You're embarrassing yourself.

Are you sure you want to go to Antarctica?

That's where the Draconian/Reptilians home base in under.

Why did you wait until the last minute to book your cabin? Looks like both of you are at fault here. And why wait until the last minute to confirm? If it was that important to you, you should have had everything lined up long before today.

Be Your Own Boss wrote:

Why did you wait until the last minute to book your cabin? Looks like both of you are at fault here. And why wait until the last minute to confirm? If it was that important to you, you should have had everything lined up long before today.

The onus is not on the participant. It is on the company. A simple confirmation email is sent any time we do things these days - rent a car, book a hotel, heck - just sign up for a newsletter.

Go to a restaurant. Ask to use their industrial sized freezer. Put treadmill in it. Run marathon in the freezer. Same thing.

I just saved you about $15,000.

Should have done your due diligence, doc.

The real question is WTF signs up to run a GD marathon in Antartica? You want to go to Antartica, then book a regular trip and go. F running a hobbyjogging marathon in that place. NEXT.

It sounds like Marathon Tours lost some of the rooms they originally had due to circumstances beyond their control. Let's say they originally had 100 rooms available to book and they booked all 100. Then, one of the hotels, boat operators, etc. goes out of business and they are down to 70. Marathon would then knock off the last 30 people to book and put them on a wait list if something else came up. Since this is the Antarctica Marathon, they probably didn't have many if any options to replace. You should have been notified immediately when this happened and offered a refund when you lost your room. This is likely one reason that employee is no longer there. Does this suck, yes, but at the same time, it wouldn't be fair to bump someone else off the trip who booked before you because one employee screwed it up. As long as they refund your money (you will not get interest) they aren't screwing you over.

He's one of those guys that wants to run a marathon on every continent.

To each his own, but I am not impressed with 50 staters or all continent folks, all that means is you have the means to travel that much.

I'd rather someone train and run 1 marathon really well than do stunts like that.

Be honest. You're not pizzed about being out of the money, or by needing to change your schedule around.

You've been bragging to your peers about doing this for some time now. And now you won't have bragging rights down at the handball court.