lauramsgarden

Following a recommendation from a fellow fodorite I had booked a several day driving tour with Carrig Coaches for a planned trip to Ireland in May. Alas, our son needed surgery and we needed to cancel the trip. I was able to cancel all hotel reservations and everyone was very nice about it. I wrote to Carrig Coaches twice and received no answer. And they never contacted me to ask about the May tour. I've been trying to file a travel insurance claim to get back the deposit we paid them, but am being told I need a letter from them confirming that they weren't able to refund the deposit. I've reached out again this week and keep getting notices that the email was bounced back as undeliverable (I've been writing to [email protected]) I also sent a message via their webpage. I was unable to get through by phone as well. Does anyone know if they went out of business? Their webpage is still up. Thanks

ta3153

We have a deposit with them for a trip in September so am concerned by your post. My contact there is [email protected]. You might try that email. I was just about to reach out to them with some questions regarding our itinerary and will still do so and will post what happens with the request.

ta3153

Hope your son is doing well and recovered from his surgery. Another thought is to contact either Ashford Castle or Adare Manor. Suspect they know if there’s a problem with the company.

lauramsgarden

Thanks TA3153, Debbie was my contact as well and that was the email I had written to. I shall try again this morning and try to phone as well. I appreciate your feedback. My son is slowly recovering. spine surgery for a 32 year old is hard. thanks for asking.

lauramsgarden

I was finally able to reach someone by telephone this morning and he immediately sent me an email. I'm hoping it does the trick with the insurance company. So all is well, enjoy your trip.

seamuspie

hope you got it sorted, having lived in Ireland everything happens tomorrow or more like next month

lauramsgarden

hahaha Seamus, I was a bit confused when I finally figured out how to call from the US. With such a professional looking website he was most casual on the phone - I think he called me love at one point. I'm glad they are still in business. Hopefully 2024 will be our year to get to Ireland.

philslaght2325

We are having a similar issue getting into contact with them. What number were you able to get through on? Thanks.

lauramsgarden

hi Phil, it was 011 353 61 220 555. I had to google how to call Ireland from the States as I kept making mistakes with the country code. Good luck.

gingerdunne0985

I booked with Carrig Coach in January for a trip scheduled for June. Initially they were very responsive but communication since March has been very poor. I was originally communicating with Emily but then was advised that she was unexpectedly out of the office. Earlier this week, I was able to reach Mike by phone at the number provided by other travelers. He did not answer the phone as "Carrig Coach" so I am wondering if they are out of business.
I finally had confirmation of where to send payment and the name of a driver that will pick our group up tomorrow, June 24. The person was Sarah from Lea Tour in Limerick. I will post again with any additional information once our trip is completed.

lauramsgarden

oh my goodness Ginger, that is worriesome. I hope that all goes smoothly with the trip. I had the same experience with professionalism at the beginning, and then non-response from March onwards. Their website is still up, very professional looking, but they didn't respond to a message sent through the portal as well. And when I did get through by phone it was the same thing. He answered with a "hello" but I had to ask if I had reached Carrig Coaches. I'll be curious to know what you find out.

gingerdunne0985

Hello again Laura, Just a follow up to the earlier concerns about Carrig Coach. Although I have not received an explanation as to what occured, it does seem that they may be out of business or changed ownership. The Carrig website now directs you to Lea Tours (sorry but Fodors is not allowing me to post the link as I am new to the forum; just go to Carrig Coach and you will be redirected to Lea Tours) Perhaps there are just many companies under the same umbrella. Just before we left Sarah from Lea Tours was responding to my emails sent to Mike Carrig ([email protected]) regarding payments. Thankfully we did end up with a driver and van, who advised us that he did not work from Mike Carrig but Mike Ryan from Executive Hire. Carrig must have subcontracted our trip to Executive Hire (Phone 011-087-793-0447 or 888-793-0416) as this is the company that picked us up. We were charged more than our original quote from Carrig, which was disappointing to say the least. The charge was disguised as a mandatory gratuity to the tune of nearly $2100.00 for our tour with 14 people. While we enjoyed our trip this situation created much anxiety and confusion. This experience was very different than previous group trips to Ireland. Best of luck with your travels.

ta3153

Thank you so much for your update, Ginger! We have a deposit with them for a trip that was supposed to take place at the end of September, but has been rescheduled due to hip surgery. Will contact Lea Tours, but suspect we will be out the deposit. At least we know what’s going on.

lauramsgarden

wow, thanks Ginger for the update. That is a shame you had to go through all of that worry. I know I would have been a wreck. And good luck Ta with the hip surgery. I am optimistic I will get my refund back via the trip insurance but we shall see. However, it was incredibly unprofessional of them not to contact everyone with tours scheduled to update us and give us options re working with the new company or receiving our deposit back, and definitely unprofessional not to respond to correspondence. Wishing you the best in your travels.

ta3153

Follow up on Carrig Coaches (now Lea Tours). As indicated above I contacted Carrig Coaches in July which redirected me to Lea Tours to let them know that we had to cancel our trip and to request a refund of our deposit. I got an auto reply that someone would get back to me. Crickets.

Since then I have heard absolutely nothing from them. This morning I woke up to a voice mail and text from a driver who was waiting for us at the airport and trying to locate us!

I feel very badly for the driver and hope that he at least got the deposit that we paid. Frankly I feel slight sick. Not sure what else we should have done.

bilboburgler

mandatory gratuity

that is shocking

I went to look for them here https://ie.trustpilot.com and found nothing, which is a bit sad.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attrac..._Limerick.html Carrig Coaches are here

lauramsgarden

wow, Ginger and TA what awful experiences. TA, I wonder if you try calling Lea tours if you can get your deposit back given the circumstances. It all sounds incredibly unprofessional, and sad that a previously wonderful company from all reports got bought out by people who aren't good at honoring commitments. Good luck. We hope to reschedule our trip in a year or two.