Islamic-Tours.com Adam Haque Alias Emad Islamic Spain tour Rip Off/Scam London Internet

BACKGROUND

My family (wife and 2 daughters aged 16 and 7) wanted to visit Islamic Spain this July.  We were looking for a guided tour in order to learn and understand the history of Islamic Spain.  We searched the internet and sent emails to a few websites advertising such tours.

www. Islamic-tours.com was one such website.  Our first email correspondence with Adam Haque (Destination Manager Europe & Middle East tours – as per email title) was on 28/01/2016. He invited us to join the 'Al-Andalus Gems Islamic Spain' educational heritage tour. He was willing to accommodate us during the dates we requested.  He shared the proposed itinerary, the cost and services to be provided. 

The cost (for 8 days) for the 4 of us was GBP 2317 excluding airfare.  We paid 80% of the cost in April 2016 via bank transfer and the balance GBP 480 we paid in cash to Adam Haque on arrival on 15 July 2016 at the Madrid airport.

The final itinerary for 7 days (it had been changed since emailed to us a few weeks before) was as follows:

Friday night and Saturday day – Madrid

Transfer to Seville on Saturday night

Saturday night to Monday night at Seville

Tuesday visit Cordoba on route to Granada

Tuesday to Thursday night in Granada

Friday morning transfer to Madrid to catch the flight on Friday afternoon.

 GENERAL OBSERVATION AND WARNING

www. islamic-Tours.com is a misleading website.  It portrays a service of a structured organization providing many tours across several Muslim countries employing professional tour guides and operators.  However in reality Islamic -Tours is a one man show.

Adam Haque destination manager as introduced to us also happens to be known as Emad – the Director of Islamic tours.com.  This came to light during our tour when we met an old acquaintance of Adam Haque alias Emad.

Adam (Emad) is a man with limited knowledge of history.  He is a man with poor management and organizational skills.  He has a loud and aggressive personality not suitable at all for the job of a guide.  And worst of all, he is not honest, does not keep to his word and twists and turns what he says to suite his own convenience.

SPECIFIC ISSUES in relation to services promised and services delivered

1. Transportation

“All City tour transfers inclusive within a Luxury air-conditioned Coach or MPV vehicle , FULLY Licensed & Insured by the Andalusian Board of Tourism”

Walking, metro or public bus was what was offered.  If a taxi was taken we had to pay for our taxi plus the taxi taken by the Adam (Emad) as we were a family of 4 all could not fit into one vehicle.

Madrid to Seville was via bullet train paid for by Adam (Emad) as promised.  However he had booked a very late train (arriving in Seville at mid night) in order to make use of a cheaper rate.    

As per an email correspondence Adam (Emad) told us that another very knowledgeable person would be joining us in Seville and will drive us and escort us to the historical sites.  He mentioned how we would be getting 2 expert guides for the price of one! As it turned out the other person was another unsuspecting tourist paying a first time visit to Spain! Then we found out that this unsuspecting individual had paid for the hire of the car himself and suddenly found he was driving our family around as well! The car hired by this person was a 5 seater.  Together with Adam (Emad) we were a party of 6. After the first drive round Seville we mentioned that we were not happy about our 7 year old driving without a seat belt and that we would not accept this conveyance for our transport from Seville to Granada via Cordoba. Adam (Emad) was not happy with our stance on this matter but then decided he would go by train to Cordoba and Granada.  So we travelled with this other gentleman in HIS hired car from Seville to Granada via Cordoba.

Adam’s (Emad) plan was for the other gentleman to drive us from Granada to Madrid (airport).  However we decided this was totally unfair on the other gentleman and therefore insisted that Adam (Emad) purchased us either train or coach tickets to Madrid - he purchased coach tickets 18 Euros per head since it was cheaper than the bullet train.  It took us 5 hours to get to Madrid.

    2.Accommodation

“8'Days accommodation in 3/4* star boutique hotels in city centre hotels close to all Islamic heritage sites”

The initial quote was for 8 days.  However we stayed only 7 nights.  The price was not changed.  Furthermore we did not stay in any of the hotels mentioned in the itinerary sent to us.  None of the hotels were conveniently located to heritage sites.  We had to access via metro, bus or cab.  The hotels were acceptable BUT none of the hotels were ‘boutique hotels’ as suggested by Adam (Emad).  

   3. Tours and Guides

“Fully Escorted 'Andalusian Gems' daily tour excursions with English Speaking Tour Manager & local English guides”

Adam Haque (Emad) was an English speaking guide with limited communication skills in Spanish. As a result he could not communicate effectively with the locals resulting in unpleasant and unnecessary arguments with Taxi drivers.  Demeanor of Adam (Emad) was loud and unprofessional causing us constant embarrassment. 

Adam (Emad) also never escorted us within a site which needed payment.  Neither did he pay for a guided tour nor a recorded tour. We paid for our own recorded tours within the premises. Within the first couple of hours we realised Adam (Emad) was not a professional tour guide.  He spoke non- stop but one could easily see the complete lack of substance in his talk.  We began to question his integrity almost immediately.

The very first morning we were ready at the time stated by Adam waiting for him at the hotel reception. There was no sign of him so the reception called his room.  He was still asleep!  And this was not the only time he was late to meet us.

 4. Meals

Meals were mentioned many times in the itinerary:

Examples:

• “08:00-09:00 , Scenic breakfast in a beautiful traditional cafe on the banks of the Guadalquivir”
• “14:00-15:00 - Lunch at a scenic mountain side Sierra Nevada restaurant with views of the Alhambra Palace. Halal Fish Paella or Pizza for children”
• “21:30 - Dinner on the banks of the Guadalquivir river at an Egyptian restaurant”

Our payment of GBP 599 per adult (3 adults) and GBP 499 for one child for 7 nights did not include a single meal. Not even breakfast! Add to this we had to pay for the Adam’s (Emad) meal as well whenever he was with us.  He ordered more food for himself than the rest of our family put together.

The only thing he consistently provided us with was bottled water. 

5. Destinations

“MADRID express 3-4 hour tour of Plaza Mayor, Retiro Park, Gran Via, Puerto Sol and Royal Palace”

The tour price only included metro rides and walking tour (Taxis and entrance to Royal Palace paid by us).  We paid GBP 499 for our 7 year old daughter.  There was no entrance fees payable for children this age. So why were we charged this amount for her when even taxis were not included in the price?  A tour guide tailor making an itinerary for a family with a 7 year old should know there is a limit to the walking a 7 year old can do.  

Knowledge imparted by Adam (Emad) in the capacity of a historical tour guide was minimal and information relayed was questionable.  When questions were asked he would side track the conversation with some other topic. 

“SEVILLE - TOUR with Almohad Masjid - now Cathedral visit, Giralda Minaret, Plaze de Espana, Royal Palace, Barrio SantaCruz (Merchant quarter for Arab &  Jewish traders), Arenal District -Bullring stadium near River,English speaking professional guide”

None of the entrance tickets had been pre purchased.  We had to stand in a queue at every venue to purchase a ticket and get in.  The only entrance tickets paid for by tour guide was the entrance to the Alcazar palace and Cathedral.  We paid for a boat ride and horse drawn carriage ride round town which we did on our own initiative.

“CORDOBA - Qurtuba - Umayyad Grand Masjid Tour, Puento, Romano - Roman Bridge, River 'Wadi-al-Kabir' Guadalquivir panoramic scenic tour, Alcazar Real & Caliphal garden, Caliphal, Horse stables, Jewish Quarter,Medina Az-Zahra - Umayyad Royal Palace city tour, half-day tour of the Seat of Power of Khaliph Abdur-Rahman III, Puerto Almodavor & Roman Wall evening tour”

The itinerary sent to us stated a night at Cordoba.  However this had been changed and we did not stay the night at Cordoba. Instead just spent the day whilst driving from Seville to Granada.  Therefore the time in Cordoba was rushed.

We visited the Grand Masjid/Cathedral, the Roman bridge and Medina Al Zahra.  Adam (Emad) did not know Medinal Al Zahra closed at 3 pm. He thought it closed at 5 pm. As a result we arrived very late (2.20pm) and had extremely inadequate time to explore this interesting site. 

Granada

By this time we were truly sick and tired of our guide. His lies and incompetence was too much for us to tolerate anymore.  He had purchased the tickets to the Alhamra online based on our request (as they only sell a limited number of tickets per day per session).  We took the tickets from him and decided to do our own investigation of Granada. This was the best decision we made on the trip!

On the very last day at 8.22am Adam ( Emad) sends us a whatsapp message requesting us to vacate the hotel we were staying in immediately and transfer to another hotel.  This was a total surprise as he never mentioned this before.  We were under the impression our last 3 nights were to be in one hotel in Granada.  It turned out that he had not booked us for that last night in any hotel and at the last minute the hotel we were staying in was booked out hence he had to transfer us to another (cheaper) hotel for the very last night of our trip. 

CONCLUSION

www. Islamic-Tours is a scam and Adam Haque (Alias Emad) is a fraud.  For the money charged you get virtually no value add.  Hotel bookings can be easily done online.  That was about all that was done by this tour operator who charged us a total of GBP 2317.