Wannar Reviews 3

We organised a day tour of Mount Fuji through Tripadvisor and a company called Scenic Bend ($235 AUD for 2 people). We organised our pickup through the website close to our hotel in Shinjuku. This was confirmed by an email the night before as being correct. What we did not see till the next morning was the inclusion which in fact stated that the pickup was at Tokyo station, 1 hour away from our hotel. We rang the number on the email multiple times without a response and tried to get there, although running late. About 5 minutes prior to the pickup the local guide rang my mobile to ask what our time of arrival was and after the explanation said they could wait for up to 20 minutes, which clearly wasn’t enough time. He advised us to seek another date. I duly sent an email to Scenic Bend explaining the confusion caused by the contradictory email and this was the prompt reply:
“Once the booking is confirmed, an absence or failure to show up on the scheduled date is NO SHOW. No refunds or reschedules will be issued for no-shows and late arrivals.”
There was no effort to address the issue of the contradictory email or to redress the matter.
Scenic Bend is an American company operating out of San Jose. Its corporate entity is Wannar Travel, a “scam company” with over 500 bad reviews.
Like a lot of internet-based companies, Scenic Bend is a predatory company that exploits local tour guides around the world without adding either value, service quality or significant organisational skills, as was shown by our experience. Google Reviews has a litany of complaints about this company’s predatory practices, poor service ethos, and appalling organisational skills. Tripadvisor should be ashamed for using this company which is simply an extra cost on top of what Tripadvisor makes, without any additional value. The key to this company is in its name. It is BENT. You could save a lot of money and help local guides in Tokyo by doing this directly, as we did at a fraction of the cost. They have pleasant, friendly and knowledgeable English-speaking guides.

Do not book through Wannar, they are a SCAM company. They dont operate their own tours, just a third party that do not offer any services whatsoever. Once they collect your money, they do not help with anything else and tell you it is whatever it is. Customer service is terrible.

Wannar's vip antelope canyon and horse shoe bend tour is very recommended way to get most of your time at antelope canyon. Tour guide picked up us on time and the shuttle is Mercedes. The guide was great and gave us all information about pretty much everything we saw during this tour, not being annoying at all. We were impressed with the amount of care he did for us. Antelope and horse shoe bent were amazing themselves, but the tour guide adds extra preciousness to the experience we had. I wish everyone who goes to this wannar VIP tour.