After reading the reviews about John Xie we booked a private guide and driving service with him and our experience has been very negative....Read more
After reading the reviews about John Xie we booked a private guide and driving service with him and our experience has been very negative. Below what has happened to us.
The first day, as our flight has been delayed, we had to change our plans and sleep in Kunming. He arrived late at the airport with a car that was old, very dirty (like it has never been cleaned before) and broken (the heating was not working, the padding of the seats was consumpted, the brakes after some use in the mountains got too hot several times, etc.).
So, for the first night in Kunming, he booked for us a room in a hotel, but when we arrived there (at 12.30 a.m.), he said that this hotel does not accept foreign people! After that, we asked him to bring us to Holiday Inn in the city center (only 7 kms from the point where we were), but he didn't. He starded snorting and took us to a condominium and after we refused to stay there, he drove us to an awful hotel (?!), with homeless people out of the door, searching in the garbage.
After that, we asked again to go to the Holiday Inn and he started shouting to us (it was 2.00 a.m.). Finally, we were forced to take a taxi to go to the Holiday Inn.
As we had a very few time to spend in Yunnan (5 days), we had thought (unfortunately!) that was not convenient to find another guide, so we moved to Jianshui and to Yuanyiang with him.
Regarding the fact that he defines himself a guide (and not only a driver), during our trip he had not said a word about the places we were going to visit and just left us alone (except for a short visit in a village).
Moreover, he complained many times when we asked him to bring us somewhere (also when the places where nearby).
Finally, on the last day, when we were departing from Jianshui to Kunming airport, he asked to be paid in advance. We told him that we were going to pay him at the airport, and he started shouting aggressively and trembling, so we had to call the police (and find a taxi to go to the airport).
Our experience with him has been a nightmare. We have traveled a lot and we have never had an experience like this. For example, just the week before in Guangxi, we had a very pleasant experience with a guide from Yangshuo.
Hope this can help.
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January 9, 2017
