We were part of the 30 + large party that were split into three separate groups and all taken group at a time into the small kiosk for admin details to be taken, our driving licences to be handed in and the instructions - drive carefully through Paphos as we were on a busy main road and stop at the red lights - if you got separated from your group the guide would pull over and wait - and no crazy driving.
We were the second group to leave and set off on our 4 hour Buggy Safari trip.
We all met up for the first stop after 15-20 minutes of driving through the streets of Paphos at the beach caves and took loads of photos of this great site - amazing. Next stop a toilet break before another 15 minutes of road driving.
Our guide (the owners son) then took us into the National Park and advised that the off road route was very bumpy and wet due to the amount of rain in Paphos the previous 24hrs -there was no mention to not go through the puddles and it was in certain areas impossible to avoid them as they covered the entire road.
The open fronted buggies offered no protection to the puddles and everyone of the group in these vehicles arrived at our next stop - Turtle Beach very wet and dirty and we all thought this was very enjoyable and part of the fun of an Off Road Safari - the 3 Tour Guides including the owner were all at this rendezvous and never mentioned again at this point to avoid the puddles (not sure how you could avoid them!!!!). There had been a slight collision of two buggies that had dislodged an indicator lens on one of them!
Turtle Beach was great and we were then taken to a restaurant / bar for a refreshing drink overlooking the beach.
The trip at this point had all been good fun and was worth the amount of money we had all paid - €1,500.
We were then split up again and felt like we were returning back to Paphos earlier than we should?
Instead of going back to the Kiosk where we had first met and collected the buggies we were taken to a property in the middle of nowhere - our group was a mixture of children (15&12), a pregnant lady and a selection of ages mid 20’s - mid 50’s (not a stag do or young reckless group).
The owner Chris - one of the guides who had been with us during the afternoons trip came out of the property shouting and screaming at everyone due to the buggies being dirty and demanded €10 for each of the cars to be cleaned! We refused to pay as they still had our driving licenses and explained that at no time had we been told not to go through the puddles. He was extremely aggressive towards a younger girl of the group and we all felt very uncomfortable and vulnerable at this unknown location.
One group of about 11 were herded into a van to be taken back to the Kiosk and 6 of us were rammed into a VW Beetle to be driven at about 70mph down dirt roads - very unsafe!!!
We asked how the remaining group would get back and were told that they would return to collect them after dropping us off.
The remaining group paid €40 as requested for the damaged indicator and licences returned before being viciously attacked by the owners of the company verbally and physically and they refused to drive them the 2 miles back to the Kiosk. As they started to walk away from the property the wife of the company drove at speed towards the group on a quad bike and only quick reactions from certain members of the group prevented them from being run over - she then started swearing and shouting at one of the group who had videoed the incident (we would never have believed this if we hadn’t seen the video footage later) - it was frightening to see and deeply upsetting for all involved.
We had to arrange for 2 x taxis to go and collect the remaining group from where they had been abandoned.
As an owner of a small business myself and dealing with customers daily this is the worst case of customer service I have ever witnessed. If you cannot handle a large group booking and you cannot issue clear and concise instructions from the outset you really need to look at your business model and capabilities a little more closely before someone seriously gets injured and lets us hope and pray this is not by your own doing!!!!
I am sure your reply to my review will be aggressively attacked but I really hope you take it as constructive criticism and learn from it and offer a far more professional service in the future.