TopView Sightseeing Reviews 304

This is the worst company! Do not purchase from them.

We had no air conditioning on the bus during a heat wave! Wouldn't even open the windows or door. There was no notifications from the tour guides or driver of what stops we were at. We had to do guesswork to figure out where we were! There wasn't any guides or information, just long lines and rudeness like we were herds of cattle.

They should have told us about the time limit for The Top of the Rock! That you have to pay extra after 6 pm.

Avoid at all costs.

Just take the subway or walk. Or take a Uber/Taxi.

Terrible company! My daughter and I were only in London for 1.5 days so we thought this would be a good way to see some of the major sites in a short period. Boy were we wrong! First bus never showed up, so we had to walk an hour to get to our scheduled walking tour. Then when we got to our 'river cruise' it was cancelled, no forwarning, no apologies, only a rude customer service rep. Because of this cancellation, we had to take the subway to our next walking tour. We stopped at the river cruise again to book the return trip. After the walking tour we went to catch the boat back and it was cancelled again. So we ran to catch the subway back to make the final run of the Kenningston Palace loop....just to stand there and have no bus show up. Then we had to take the subway back. We spent more time on the subway getting back and forth through the city and missed half of the attractions we wanted to see. Their app is useless with wrong times posted and no way to track where the buses are, so you could literally be waiting for hours. I was informed there are no refunds issued, they are not held responsible for buses not showing up, cancellations, rude employee behavior, etc. My advice, book with a different company! 👎

We booked 6 tickets with TopView in New York City, but we were incredibly displeased with how we were treated by the bus driver. We got on the bus just north of WTC, and two stops before Times Square the bus just stopped and stood completely still for almost half an hour (this was not a scheduled stop). No explanations were given and when we went down the stairs to ask him about why we were just standing still, he was visibly angry and told us to either "get the f*** upstairs or get the hell off the bus". Several other passengers were also yelled at. We didn't feel safe so we left the bus at the next stop (so did all the other passengers). We did not want to continue our tour with this company at this moment, and the rest of the day we traveled by subway instead. Later we asked for a refund, as we had paid several hundre dollars for this thing, but we got nowhere with customer support. They offered us a new ride another day, but we were just tourists for a very limited time, and this offer thus had absolutely no value to us. Stay away from this offering, there are many other, and probably more professional, bus guides in the city.

SCAM ALERT!!!
Was super excited to have the New York Uptown and Downtown hop-on-hop off bus for 24 hours. We were able to ride for one hour uptown. Got off the bus. Enjoyed a walk around Central Park and when we went to use our pass again we were told our passes were “24 hour daytime hours. After 5pm it is nighttime hours”. The brochure does not state this. We spent $255 for a one hour ride and did not have 24 hours of unlimited hop-on-hop off service. When asking a man selling the tickets, we were told to “find an American to break the language barrier and it was our fault and we needed to use better judgement”. HORRIBLE! The better judgement would be to NOT use this company.

Terribly organised. Tourist trap. Don’t bother. Hopped off to look at one of the attractions. Tried to hop back on. Over 100 people in the queue. Waited an hour then gave up and got an uber.

This sightseeing bus tour is a waste of time and money. Particularely if you are on a short city trip. We had to wait for more than 60 minutes for a bus. Intermediate tour stops where frequent and long. The buses are not really clean. The day packages include many activities that you cannot use due to the 24h limit. Wasted almost $300,- for a daypass for two. I will not do it again.

AVOID! Terrible decision to use this service. Paid for uptown and downtown rote and boat trip on our last day in New York. Uptown route had practically zero commentary so had no idea where we were-I’d have thought that the Twin Towers memorial would have been worth a mention rather than tediously patriotic, “I’m so glad to be an American, at least I’m free” music! The bus would stop for lengthy periods with no explanation as to why. We were told that the bus would be stationary for 40 minutes which meant we had to get off and take a taxi to the boat departure point. When I read the review about the boat, which appeared to be nothing like described, I figured it was time to cut my $270 losses. A disaster all round!

Unable to track live bus at all. Did do the night tour which was decent but took the bus on a day with torrential rain. That Bus run for uptown "started" at 10 but didn't show up almost 40 mins later. Got on bus soaking wet and enforced if bottom seats were full then had to go uptop in the storm. The water was just pouring down from ?holes/rivulets in roof of bus and drenching passengers in the bottom. Needed a poncho for the bottom of bus as well. Then tried to catch it on our return and it just didn't show up (or was severely delayed) but again unable to know that due to the bus tracker not working.

The New York City tour is a total SCAM! The worst memory of an otherwise wonderful trip to NYC. They sell tickets through 3rd party agents who harass passersby on the street with a bunch of lies. You get to find out the real truth the minute you've paid. We sat on the bus for a while hour waiting for the bus to get full. Different people pay different prices for the same trip. Never, ever buy your ticket on the street from the "agents"! Buy it online! What a shame. Terrible!

We were denied entry to the handicapped line for our friend who was using a knee scooter after ankle surgery. They claimed that since he wasn’t in a wheelchair, he didn’t qualify for the handicapped section. They also deceived us by telling us that the only way to reach the ferry for the Statue of Liberty was to take a shuttle bus that turned out to be their hop-on, hop-off bus. To top it off, they sold us tickets after knowing that their buses weren’t running that day (May 6, 2025).

Horrible. Broke down in the middle of a highway! Which is understandable. The driver was speeding and driving erratically
The driver went insane! Did not update any of us! Then began shouting jump off if you feel lucky!!! No refunds!! After stuck in the heat no bathroom for 2 hours. TopView thinks we should be grateful they sent another bus! What!???!!! Please use another company!

UPDATE: Top View have finally replied to my latest email — still refusing a refund despite acknowledging their street sellers misled me. Their only offer remains replacement tickets, which are completely useless as I live in Scotland and this was a one-time trip. Their lack of accountability is astounding.

I've now filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the U.S., reporting this as a case of fraudulent sales tactics. If you've had a similar experience, I urge you to do the same here: reportfraud.ftc.gov

With enough reports, the FTC can investigate and potentially take action against deceptive companies like this. Until then, beware: Top View seems more interested in protecting their profits than making things right for honest customers.

ORIGINAL: We were miss-sold 3 x 4 day tickets in NYC based on fraudulent claims from a licensed Top View Street seller. We spent a significant portion of our holiday budget on these rubbish tickets (for example, the buses do not run as frequently as they claim - one an hour on the north circuit) and were devastated to have been so misled on an important family holiday.

Top View the company have taken no responsibility and will not refund us despite us not using their service.

It's really important that every one of us that has been scammed by Top View NYC files a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission in the US. It is a government agency that investigates fraud and deceptive behaviours. Whilst it won't respond to individual complaints, if everyone who feels as deceived and frustrated with Top View as I do complains, hopefully we can trigger an investigation into their dodgy practices.

Stay away from TOP VIEW. They say bus comes every 10 - 15 minutes, they don't!! No ponchos available on one of the busses. Booked a night tour for 8pm, queued up alongside the bus in the rain and they wouldn't let us on the bus as they said they were cleaning it, then it just drove off empty and we were all left waiting an hour for the next bus. A lot of money was spent to be left waiting around. Go with another bus company

Paid 55 dollars online.waited in cold on bus until they filled the bus by hassling passers by until they paid 29 dollars to ride.Spent longer sitting waiting than whole length of tour.shameful

We purchased 4 -48 hour tickets on 11/2/24. However no one told us it was the NYC Marathon weekend! We started our ride from an alternate stop which caused us quite a walk! We had to wait over an hour before the bus took off. As we headed uptown, we went about 15 minutes and then we were told that due to the race we couldn’t go any further. Then a man stepped on the bus and gave us a phone number to call. On this call we were given a different number and told to call it for replacement tickets. I told him I wasn’t sure if or when we were coming back. At no time did he offer a refund. Knowing we would probably come back I didn’t push the refund issue. The man on the phone said to simply call him back when we came back into town and he would reissue them. Never did he say that I needed to provide the numbers or credit card proof to get these replacement tickets!!!!
Spoke with Bradford, the manager today who was useless. He says it is their policy to get proof of our missed tour.
Not having that, nor him being helpful or accommodating AT ALL, we have lost quite a bit of money.
Advice, when dealing with this company make sure:
The route is available
There are no road blocks
You save everything
Because their customer service sucks!!!

If I could give this service a negative star I would have. My husband and I had only a day to tour London before leaving on a cruise out of South Hampton. We purchased TopView bus tickets to be able to see the major highlights of London. We waited an hour and a half in the cold for the TopView bus. Every other hop on hop off bus arrived at this stop during this time, except TopView. In fact, some buses came 3-4 times during this period. One of the other bus drivers told us this is common, TopView leaves people stranded all the time. They provided a QR code to view their schedules, but the website it directed us to was not functional. When I emailed the company to ask for a refund they replied by saying that the tickets were non- refundable but they would be willing to extend the length of our tickets. We were only in London for 1 day. Extending the length of a ticket for a service that by all means they do not prove is useless. Do not use this bus line. Any other hop on hop off bus service in London would be better.

If I could leave a zero star review I would. If you are travelling to NYC avoid top view as a hop on hop off provider. The buses are limited and you will be waiting at stops for long periods of time. The vendors on the streets will tell you that the service is 24 hours everyday and they buses are every 15 mins….. this is a complete lie! Use a different provider! DO NOT USE TOP VIEW!!

My experience with TopView Sightseeing in New York City was deeply disappointing and riddled with issues. The problems began at the point of sale when the representative falsely claimed their service was identical to Big Bus, which I was explicitly looking for. Despite showing the Big Bus app, I was misled into purchasing tickets that turned out to be exclusively for TopView, a completely different and inferior service. Adding to the deception, I was told buses ran until 7:00 PM, only to discover the last bus was at 5:45 PM, leaving me stranded.

The $182 I paid for two tickets was far above the $150 listed online, despite being assured a Hyatt guest discount was applied. This “discount” was both false and misleading, as TopView seemingly has no affiliation with Hyatt. Additionally, the company advertised “winter buses” that were supposed to provide comfort in the cold, yet the buses were open-top and freezing, making the ride uncomfortable. The 40-minute wait time between buses was another glaring issue, especially in comparison to Big Bus, which operates at much shorter intervals in busy areas like Times Square.

TopView’s reliance on their terms and conditions to deny refunds is equally problematic. At the time of purchase, no terms or conditions were provided, mentioned, or made available. Without an opportunity to review or agree to them, these terms cannot legally be enforced. Despite raising this legal argument multiple times, TopView ignored it and offered an inadequate Liberty Cruise ticket as compensation, which failed to address the monetary loss or service failures.

Their customer service compounded my dissatisfaction. Responses were generic, dismissive, and failed to address the fundamental flaws in their service and sales process. Even after escalating the issue, I was met with copy-pasted replies and no meaningful resolution.

TopView’s misleading practices, subpar service, and lack of accountability make them an unreliable choice for tourists. I have since disputed the charge with my bank and filed complaints with consumer authorities. I strongly recommend avoiding TopView and choosing a more transparent and customer-focused tour company.

UPDATE December 2025: I am now in contact with the NY DCWP about this and it is being looked into.

Not worth it! Save your money and take subway or train if possible.