Bad customer service & no respect of customer's privacy
The sales rep didn't contact me before our departure to let me know the tour guide's name & contact info. Upon our arrival in Kun Ming, we didn't see anyone picked us up. When I called all phone numbers listed on the sales rep's signature line, a machine answered the numbers I called were invalid numbers, only her cell number could connect but she didn't pick up. We were very panic & thought we were cheated/scammed. We went to the airport information desk & they helped me calling the sales rep's cell, only the second time call was picked up. The info desk told her that her customer was at the Kun Ming airport without no one picked them up. The sales rep said "I have so many customers, I don't know which one they are. They should contact their tour guide because they have been given their number & info". Her tone & expression reflecting that it's not her responsibility of what happening to us in Kun Ming airport. I was so mad upon hearing her irresponsible response & took over the call, she then woke up from her sleep & said she would call the tour guide to check what happen. In Kun Ming, the tour guide didn't pay attention to her hygiene, she didn't brush her teeth before meeting us & her breath was so horrible & we were force to breathing on her horrible bad breath (out of bed bad breath) all day long for 4 days while she kept talking to us. Whenever we wanted to look at dry mushrooms & teas in a shop we passed by, she always said they were not good quality & beware being cheated, she could bring us to the trusted vendors that she always bought hers from. Ended we were brought to shops that she had business connection with to inflate the price to give her a cut. Not very honest tour guide. She also took pictures of us with her cellphone without asking our approval ahead of time if she could do so, no respect of our privacy. In Shangrila, we were assigned to a male tour guide who was acting super arrogant & rude to us. He walked way ahead of us without explaining to us anything about the place we were visiting, then stopped & looked down at the river without caring if we were with him. I walked to him & asked why he walked so far ahead of us & not telling us anything about the place. He yelled very loud at me "Do you want me to tell you now?" He was so unprofessional & inappropriate as a tour guide. The food in Shangrila was so horrible. Particularly the second day. We paid for a private tour of 2 people with this travel agent & were told a person could order up to RMB 90, so 2 people = RMB 180, but the food ordered by the tour guide on the second day in Shangrila, we think it's only about RMB 50, very poor food quality & choice. In Kun Ming, when we wanted to order a dish more, the tour guide didn't allow us by saying it's too much already, when it's not & she ate together with us. I don't know if the remaining balance of our RMB 180 food budget also kept by the tour guides or it's saving money for the travel agent company. We were satisfied with our lunch choice of the restaurants & dishes when we were in Dali & Lijiang. The best tour guide we had was the one in Lijiang. She didn't try to sell anything to us (by bringing us to a shop or anything like that), very helpful, knowledgeable & has integrity, never trying to take advantage of us. What worst about this travel agent - they asked their tour guides to keep taking pictures of their customers using the tour guide's cell. So when we asked our tour guides to take a picture for us using our cell, they either said they would take it with theirs & would forward it to us, or they took it with our cell but also with their cell without asking our approval about it. When I finally complained about it, one of the tour guide told us that's the company policy to keep taking pictures of their customers & sent the pictures to the company to be used for their promotion brochure, etc. The company itself never disclosed to us about it ahead of time nor asked our approval if it's OK to take our pictures & using them for their promotional activities. Is this legal in China? Not recommended travel agent for your China trip.