Lengthy but necessary review if considering a ski transfer with this company. We were very happy with our pick up from Grenoble and drive up to Serre Chevalier. Unfortunately the journey home was a different story. Our flight was at 8pm and when we booked, our collection time was 15:25. There are 2 routes from Grenoble to Serre Chevalier: around the Alps- approx 3.5 hours in good traffic or approx 2 hours via the D1091 which had been closed the day before we were due to travel due to high winds and avalanche risk. We contacted the company the day before, expressing concern about our pick up time given that the road may be closed. We were assured by SAS GYR the local company that Shuttle Direct outsource to, that they were monitoring the road conditions and would adjust our pick up time accordingly. They also acknowledged that there was the possibility of a road closure again. On departure morning, an early check of the official french traffic website told us that the road was indeed closed. Only at lunchtime did we receive communication from them to say that "we had a problem " and that he would not be able to get us there on time as the road was closed". If this had been monitored as we wrongly assumed it was, we could have arranged our own transport, not ideal seeing as we had paid approx E1300 for the return trip. At this point we were basically told by head office in Spain (rudely) that it was our problem and there was nothing they could do to help. We had to sort ourselves out a new plan and Shuttle Direct would reimburse us. The comms with the driver were sporadic and it became clear we were stranded and the driver said had been driving since 2am. Not what you want to hear when you are transporting your children down a mountain road. Essentially we were left high and dry. We booked the next flight home which was from Turin and asked the driver when he eventually was to arrive, to take us there. We were then told this would be an additional E500 to what we had already paid. Lucky for us (to be honest and the poor driver who had been working well over EU regulation hours), a receptionist at a local hotel found us a new, cheaper taxi. As we had now missed our window to catch our flight, this was £1500 in a new taxi, flight and overnight hotel. The punchline....Shuttle Direct claimed "Force Majeure" for a planned road closure and refused to reimburse us, we are now claiming from our insurer. Avoid like the plague. They were overbooked and greedy so had no way of flexing their schedule.
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