Would you appreciate a guide who is unpunctual, irresponsible, subjective, ignorant, indifferent, greedy and dishonest?
We feel that our private hike scheduled with Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix an ultimate mistake made for our 6-day holiday spent at Chamonix Mont Blanc. The booking experience and our communication with office staffs went fine. But the one who took our case was so extremely subjective, nearly arrogant, ignorant, not punctual, and indifferent. In a nutshell, the “guide” taking our case is as unprofessional as it gets. (1) Our 5-6-hour full-day hike was cut short to 4 hours and 10 minutes. Him being unpunctual was not a good start but what really ridiculous is, the “guide” brought a folder with photos of Alpine animals as if we don’t get to see those on internet or other resources. It was our first visit to the region BUT we did our homework and knew we could easily see those Alpine animals live in the Alpine zoo in Switzerland, given the one in Chamonix closed for winter. What a great way to steal time from our full-day hike, think about the time wasted for the presentation with photos.
(2)Our full day hike, one-sixth of our vacation time was turned to a training session of using trekking poles. We were NO newbies but have hiked many trails medium to difficult levels without trekking poles but climbing gloves worn. Guess what, the guide forbid us to use the gloves but insisted us hiking with trekking poles. Worse, when I tripped by the “3rd pair of limbs” forced on me, the trekking poles, and fell on the right side of my limbs, offering no help getting me up, he was so indifferent saying “She just did not focus enough”. Well, surely I was unable to focus on the trail because my full attention was on how to hike with trekking poles.
(3) He first ignored the mutual agreement between us and the office, day hike to Lac Blanc, then our proposal of still taking the trail to Lac Blanc even the likelihood of turning back half way. Yet on the trail he claimed to have known so well, on and off, we ended up wasting time waiting for a group of 100+ contestants for a trail running event to pass by. He also made us wait in the middle of nowhere along the trail he claimed to know so well. Why? So he could “run along” to see of the trail ahead suits us. Funny that he “found” a footbridge and without asking us he determined that it won’t suit us hence we wasted more time turning back to the split point.
(4) He tried to talk us out of group hikes organized by Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix with seemingly convincing but baseless ideas, THEN told us to book our next private hike with him so we can pay him directly. Not sure what gave him the idea that we’d be interested in taking another hike with someone like him, but really we don’t appreciate how he tried to cut a deal behind his employer’s back.
(5) What even more indignant is that seeing us not showing any interest paying him directly for another hike, this guide had the guts to tell us, “I know this trail that is very beautiful and everyone likes it.” We really would like to know what drove him to save the trail with prettier sceneries for another hike but waste our money paid to his employer by taking us to the dull one in the woods. Is it all because we will pay him directly if we are interested in the trail with more beautiful scenery?
(6) We would have never asked anyone about his or her age, but if someone brings up the topic, then we’d appreciate little honesty. The “guide” lied about being younger than me when he is, in fact, 8 years older than me. Why? I can’t help but wondering if he is afraid that his clients will find him incompetent once his real age exposed. Oh, almost forgot to share how I found out about his real age. Incidentally when I googled his first name, job and his employer, his profile with a picture associated with another website popped up. Age is never an issue, but dishonesty hardly comes with any good vibe.
(7) He had dry coughs and had to frequently blow his nose the whole time during the hike. Being the one hiking immediately behind him, God knows how much sick breaths/germs I had breathed in. A professional and responsible being will never take on the job as a hiking guide when he or she has to frequently blow his or her nose. True, we were in open air and should not worry about catching anything. But for 4 hours and 10 minutes staying right behind someone with a bad running nose and coughs may be another story.
To conclude, given all negativities shared above; we will not recommend the company, especially the specific being as a guide to anyone. We thanked him for point us to his favorite bakery in town but that doesn’t change any of the very unprofessional facts.
