Horrible experience. The street vendor selling the tickets (at 7th Avenue and 41st Street) was extremely rude. The odd thing was that she wanted us to use another bus tour (the Big Bus) and walked us over to where a Big Bus vendor was selling tickets. We did not want to walk to the Big Bus stops as they were further away from our hotel and my husband has trouble walking too far. She also did not want to give us a route map. She finally gave us a used one after I kept insisting. She kept raising her voice at me when I asked why we were walking away from the stop and was extremely rude. We ended up buying tickets from the Big Bus vendor who was much nicer. read more

This company is an honest to goodness old fashioned scam. It's written into their "service agreement" that they cannot be held responsible for anything that happens with your trip, including the trip not happening at all. Paid for two premium tickets ($663.xx after all fees and taxes) for the 4th of July fireworks show and did not receive -anything- near what was described on their website. My experience was aboard The Royal Princess and is similar to other complaints you see here. I'm not so mad about the boat leaving late because these things do happen but the organization was simple appalling. Our boat had a "sky deck" that was smaller than your average patio and hardly any seating to speak of. Priority boarding never happened. We left before any food was brought on board. There was no booze or music or dance floor that was described on the site. We went out about 300yards from the dock, flipped around for about an hour and some change, then went back to the dock after the fireworks ended. Whole trip was around 2 hours. Never saw the Statue of Liberty, which you know, who wants to see THAT with fireworks nearby on the 4th, right??? Like they have nothing to do with each other. This was definitely NOT an almost $700 event. I even gave them a chance to make it right by asking for a refund. I'll let the pictures I post speak for themselves. I'll be taking this up with my bank and making sure this company is listed as a scam with them, possibly even escalating to a class action law suit since this was a clear case of false advertising and an irresponsible waste of ALOT of peoples time and money. For anyone who was a victim of this scam, please reach out to your banks and make them aware of this companies predatory tactics. Don't make the same mistake we all did. PAY ATTENTION TO THESE YELP REVIEWS!! read more

TopView - Email - Bus Tours Near Me - New York, New York

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What garbage. I guess Yelp is better at filtering fake reviews than Google. I was in the city all week and tried to use my "hop on, hop off" tickets several times, without success. Every time I tried to get on the bus, the bus was full. No one "hopped off," so it was impossible to "hop on." My tickets were therefore completely unusable. Basically, many tourists just hop on the bus at the first stop and take it for a driving tour of the city, without ever getting off. So the concept of a "hop on, hop off" bus just doesn't work. I asked for a refund since my tickets were unusable. They said no, pointing to their delightful no refund policy. read more

So much fun such great people to help you around! Lamont was such a great help on telling us about what to expect on the tour. Thank you Lamont! read more

TopView - Hop on hop off bus night tour - Bus Tours Near Me - New York, New York

Drivers are extremely rude to tourists. I've witnessed multiple drivers berate tourists who don't quite understand English and are only looking to sightsee. I've witnessed multiple drivers close the door on tourists faces after they ran 2 blocks to catch the bus. And I've witnessed multiple buses without air conditioning in 100° temps. Big Bus is the far superior company read more

My family and I stopped at the South Ferry and were given this bus package without any information about what it entails. We had to wait over 30 minutes initially just to get a bus, and the bus itself had no air conditioning. When we got off and wanted to get back on a couple of hours later, they made us wait over two hours and we still didn't get a bus. The representative kept giving us false promises but the buses only came every 30-45 minutes and they were l overcrowded. I don't understand how a company can advertise higher than the number of working buses they actually have. Terrible experience, especially since me and over 40 others were all waiting in the sun in a temperature over 90 degrees! read more

LeBron and Lamine very helpful Professional. Explained everything thoroughly. So glad they helped us read more

A very disorganized and disappointing service. Bought a 24 hour pass for a group of six, and the hop on/off experience was very disappointing. None of the staff were helpful with basic info sometimes flat out saying untruths. Had to wait for more than two hours at some of the stops. I would never recommend this service to anyone!! read more

If you read all these negative reviews and still choose to book Top View, you're a fool. This is the email I sent to them outlining their issues and demanding a refund: Hi, this is my second attempt at requesting a full refund for 5 tickets purchased on 5/21 because of major issues with your service or lack thereof. If I do not receive a response by 5/29 (given the holiday), I will file a complaint with the BBB and visit your office at 2 E. 42nd St. 1- We waited 45 minutes for bus #347 even though one of your employees told us it was 7 minutes away, then after waiting 7 minutes, another employee told us it was another 13 minutes away. Both of those ETAs were incorrect, and 45 minutes is too long to wait for a $60 bus ride by common-sense standards. 2 - When the bus finally came, there were only 6 seats to accommodate the 20+ people who had been waiting on line for up to 45 min. Needless to say, most of us could not get on the bus and were expected to wait for the next one that was "coming in 5 min" (yeah right) and apparently only had 2 seats available, according to the bus driver. 3. You claimed there was a live map feature on your app, but it did not work. It just said "buses come frequently, check back soon." Every 45+ min is not "frequently," and upon "checking back in soon," there were still no bus ETAs available in the live map. Everybody on line was complaining about all these same issues, therefore this was a widespread problem. It's not my responsibility to pay $295 for a bus tour and not be able to get on the bus. I think about 7 Big Busses passed us while we waited for 1 Top View. read more

I can't even review this company because they refuse to allow me to make a reservation for the tour I wanted because I would be a single rider. Pretty fucked up to discriminate against single riders. read more

Complete sham. Buses are spaced one hour apart. If you get off to take a picture, it's at least an hour until a bus might go by. Try anything else but this company. read more

It was a cool to see the whole city on top of the bus, but unfortunately they over book. One night we waited for 2 hours at stop 13. Every bus that came said they were full and to wait for the next bus. The manager said she was sending a bus for us which never came. The bald driver was very very rude to my mother and even shut the door on her face, literally. And then drove away after we tried to get his attention because, of course it could have been an accident, he looked at us a drove away. My mother has bad knees and bad back so standing for 2 hours waiting for the bus to come was not good. If we had known earlier how easy the subway was we would've just took that! Many of the busses they had running the A/C was broken in 90 degree weather. This bus tour is too expensive per person to have so many issues. They need to only book what they can handle. The best part of this company was Cecilia! She was awesome (the night tour guide). This was my first time in NYC as an adult, if your coming here I would stay in a hotel out of time square, then take the subway to check it out, then go back to another neighborhood! read more

TopView - Time square - Bus Tours Near Me - New York, New York

They do lie to you, I mean they want that commission. We had a few staff even follow us to our hotel and trying to sell us the best deal they have. We were offered a free bike rental as well, but they did not disclose that you have to pay first before getting the free hour and rental. They also said the ferry leaves on a rolling basis, so we can just go when we can. However, there is a schedule of when the ferry leaves. So there are definitely a bunch of miscommunication. Also, we hopped on this Uptown tour bus and we stopped at this stop for about 20+ minutes. It was sooo long, I was getting frustrated. Only a few people hopped on. All I see is this other TopView staff walk across the street, grabbed a sandwich, then headed back to the bus and handed it to our driver...I mean I wish we knew if he was on lunch. Because that was a huge waste of time. We sat there not knowing when we were leaving. That was definitely the longest stop we've experienced during the 2 days we purchased the passes for. Overall, it's alright. Not the best, I suppose. We ended up using the subway a good amount of time, since the hop on hop off is fairly unreliable, especially with time limits. We also didn't get to use the night tour, as it only left from one spot? Drivers don't have a smile when you walk through the doors, they're just there to do their job. They don't give you a tour orally, there are headphones you grab on the way in. You plug those earphones in on the machines on the sides of your seat, and you just listen to a pre-recorded script of the tour. I did enjoy having a public transportation to get around with, but there was just a bunch of miscommunication and greed-driven sales. They had different deals, but we got the everything tour for 2 days for 2 people for about $120. There are a bunch of other sightseeing tours out there with the same deals, so I wished we looked more into it. We did feel pressured having 3 different TopView staff surround us in front of our hotel. read more

TopView - Bus Tours Near Me - New York, New York

We were a group of 11 , we had the tour for 2 days. First day we were waiting for almost 3 hours at central Park newyork. No bus turned up. We kept calling customer service which took forever to answer the phone. The first time they said it should be there in 10 minutes. The second time it was supposed to be one stop before us the third time they said it already passed your stop. With 11 of us just scrutinizing each and every bus that passed by. No it definitely did not come. The second day at a different stop. The busses did come but all for full so our group could not go. We ended up splitting up the group. So 3 people went on one bus 1 person on the second and the rest in city bus. The whole group lucked out one time to go together on the bus that was to the liberty cruise. So we each paid $100 and ended up going only 2 times on the bus. If one top view bus passed us, they were at least 7 big bus that passed. They also do not have a tracker on they app so you cannot track where the busses are. Will never recommend anyone for this bus service. Very bad experience. read more

Horrible, first, guts on street selling are crooks. Second, bought a 3 day pass.m thinking it would get me around the city quickly. Wrong!!! Each stop took me about 20 -40 min to get on each bus. Awful 3ed you'll be passing a historic site and it will just be playing music. I would not buy this again!!! We took the subways in New York City. The first 2 times were challenging. But after getting to know locations it was quick and easy. Recommend subway!!! read more

What a scam. Please do not use this company! They will take your money and screw you over by over booking and over crowding. If you try and contact their customer service they will not give you any help read more

Okay the tour itself is really great but the cleanliness of the bus and where it picks you up is atrocious. The people leave all their eatery food stuff all over the bus. The chairs look like they weren't cleaned after the tour before(and they have a bus every 15 minutes-ample time to clean) the area where the bus picks you up is disgusting. Make sure you take the uptown tour FIRST because it ends at like 5pm. Bring a bottle of water, snacks, etc. because they only give you headphones and a poncho. I got my tickets on Groupon(which was way cheaper for a good package of 2) The information from the guide was interesting. New York really has a rich history. read more

Westly W Out tour guide made the ridiculous wait time worth it. He killed it! Highly recommend you get on his bus. read more

Scam!!!! Very tiny fleet. You will waste your precious time waiting for a bus that will never show up. Use Big Bus, Toot bus or Sightseeing brand company instead. Any of those three are 100 times better than this joke of a company. read more

I was very excited to booking this experience in Atlanta, GA for my birthday. The company called me to inform me that they have to reschedule the original dates that I booked (09/02/2024) due to the a/c being broke on the bus that weekend and representative offered me the next weekend that was coming up, a Saturday at 5PM which was the only time I can reschedule for. I was informed that my tickets would remain the same and I would not be getting new ones, so I did not expect a new confirmation email which I never got. The day of 09/07/2024 I arrived at the location early, dressed up for the occasion with my party after we both paid $25 for parking. The employee who came to scan my tickets then informed me that the dates I was rescheduled for were the 14th which would have been pushed back two weeks and that is not what I agreed to or rescheduled for!! The bus was full, and we had to go back to our vehicles after driving there for 50 minutes, paying a total of $50 for parking and wasting time and money on getting dressed. When I called to speak to a representative names Tyrone to fix the issue, he barely sounded apologetic, and he offered for my party and I to come back the next day. He said he would refund 25% of both tickets which would be $45, and he can upgrade the experience but that would be it. Although they rescheduled me the first time, messed up my reservation the second time and ruined my birthday these people were not sincere or willing to accommodate us properly. Even the employee that was scanning tickets at the bus informed us that there were people upset before who had to get rescheduled and they got their parking reimbursed and the ticket refunded. Not only was this company reckless and gave me the worst experience but their accommodation was trash! Refunding $45 total for both tickets was pointless when we paid $50 to park and would have to come back again and pay $50 to park, that is a $100 loss. Then we would have to drive that far again to come back and get dressed again... this is what Tyrone, and this company thought would be acceptable. I turned their offer down, asked for my original tickets to be refunded and I am determined to speak to whoever I need to about this matter along with leaving reviews! I would not recommend booking with these people -0/10!!! Absolutely horrible! read more

Promises broken + no customer service = frustration I hosted two Chinese-speaking visitors in New York and looked at several hop-on/hop-off tours and picked Top View in part because the website says they offer Chinese narration on two routes. Much to my embarrassment and frustration there was no Chinese channel on the Downtown tour.whixh made the whole thing pointless.   I talked to the driver and he said, "Yeah, we have Korean but no Chinese. I don't know why they say we have Chinese. You should call and complain." So I called customer service and she also couldn't explain why the website and the printed brochure handed out the bus both promise Chinese language narration but it's not actually available. She suggested I write an email, which I did. It has been a couple of days and I haven't heard back. read more

TopView - What's available on the bus: no Chinese - Bus Tours Near Me - New York, New York

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terrible terrible customer service. I was told there was air conditioning - there is not. After three stops our bus apparently broke down, but the driver never said anything to us. A passenger told us. So we all went to the sidewalk. Waited for 15 minutes for another bus. The top was full, so we roasted in the bottom of the bus. the downtown loop is supposed to be one hour and 35 minutes, according to the guy who sold us the tour. We started at 1:45. At 5 PM. We finally got off the bus and took a taxi back to our hotel because we were boiling in the bottom of that bus. we were more than three hours into that loop and still hadn't made it back to our starting point. Utterly ridiculous. Zero stars, awful, awful awful! No stars. read more

Scam / False advertising We arrived on Friday, 6/23. It was a rainy day and we were a group of 5. Our street agent quoted us a price of $50. I didn't check my receipt, but realized later that I was charged $59 per person, plus an additional $10 "feel" per person. This was not the price disclosed to me. What I paid was $19 more than what was quoted to me. When I contacted their email contact (because there is no phone contact), I was simply told "I could not be refunded". Please beware of added or different charges! read more

Dirty busses No airconditioning Way too many people Total chaos at river cruise (long waits in full sun on a rundown dirty pier) Clearly underpaid (motivated) employees read more

I already sent an email in with pictures of my receipt. I still have not heard back from anybody. I'm hoping they do give me a refund because it was the biggest rip off ever. I'm sure a lot of people love their tours and we would've too if the bus didn't break down, and the driver wasn't so rude to us and other people, I believe it's all about making money. I have sent a copy of my receipts. read more

Well, I also attempted to resolve my issue with the BBB. Topview did not respond to the complaint. Their disregard for consumer grievances is poor business practice. Dear Angela This is in reference to your complaint against Topview Sightseeing. Your complaint was assigned ID 18042208. Your BBB has tried to present your complaint to Topview Sightseeing in an attempt to resolve this matter to your mutual satisfaction. Unfortunately, despite our efforts, we have received no response to your complaint. We attempted to contact Topview Sightseeing through written correspondence twice on your behalf, but we must now close this matter in our files. This does not minimize the importance of your concerns, nor is it any reflection on the validity of your dispute. You may now want to pursue this matter through an alternative resource. To view a list of agencies you may wish to contact for additional assistance, please visit: http://www.bbb.org/new-york-city/public/Agency/. Your BBB helps settle many marketplace disputes between consumers and businesses, but please understand that we are not an enforcement agency and we cannot compel a business to settle your complaint in a particular way, nor can we compel them to respond. BBB mediation is a voluntary process requiring the good faith and willing participation of both parties to a dispute. The firm's failure to respond to your complaint will be reflected in its BBB record. A firm's rating may be affected by its failure to answer even one complaint. Your experience may, therefore, alert other inquirers seeking information through the BBB. Please feel free to contact us with any further questions. Sincerely, Seymur Angarita Complaint Analyst Phone: (212) 358-2882 sangarita@newyork.bbb.org THE TEXT OF YOUR COMPLAINT WILL BE PUBLICLY POSTED ON THE BBB WEB SITE (BBB reserves the right to not post in accordance with BBB policy). PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE ANY UNNECESSARY PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION (such as social security numbers, birth dates, etc.) IN DESCRIBING THE NATURE OF YOUR COMPLAINT. BY SUBMITTING YOUR COMPLAINT, YOU ARE REPRESENTING THAT IT IS A TRUTHFUL ACCOUNT OF YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THE BUSINESS. BBB MAY EDIT YOUR COMPLAINT TO PROTECT PRIVACY RIGHTS AND TO REMOVE INAPPROPRIATE LANGUAGE. read more

we started our day touring the upper area of manhattan. this tour was fine. not too many stops. the downtown tour was terrible!! the number of stops was preposterous AND we sat at the Battery Park stop for 20 minutes not moving!!!! Never again. read more

Such a disappointment. Purchased a two days NY Downtown and Uptown and their services couldn't be worse. Buses late, overcrowded, long waits on stops with no less than 45 minutes. Lucky if when the bus came you could get in, most of the time full. My passes had additional tours added that I was not able to enjoy because of their unbelievable disorganized schedules. The bottom line, use another company or take a BIG LOSS as I did. One of the biggest waisted money I ever had. read more

This was the worst experience ever. While trying to have fun with family on vacation the Top View employees on the street was rude and disrespectful. Even the drivers was not to pleasant. Talked rude to the passenger. Contacted top view by phone but it's automative so you have to email. Emailed on several occasions but again what you would think would be ok let us call you they kept emailing. If you are looking for a great experience don't use them. The Bike rental you have to pay for the first hour plus rental fees. Be careful of the people in uniform really don't know who they work for. read more

TopView - The seat was wet with puddles of water - Bus Tours Near Me - New York, New York

Horrible service did the Father's Day cruise and they only had 3 High chairs hair in my food could not order a burger the way you want it it started 40 minutes late dessert came at end of cruise fighting for a refund do not use this company horrible read more

The best way to see New York city. I highly recommend this company. Make sure you buy your tickets from them and not an agent. They are very straight forward about everything. The busses run every 15 minutes. The map they give you is great. The info on the headphones is perfect. I highly recommend this company! read more

We had amazing service by the team, due to the weather we were unable to board the Liberty Cruise. A great gentlemen was very helpful and made arrangements to validate our tickets for the next day to visit the Statue of Liberty. I am very pleased to say they work very hard and needs to be appreciated a lot more and have been very helpful. Lebron and Lish solved the issue - Thank you guys. read more

I would give it Zero Stars if that were possible. The "tour" is nothing more than a drive around the city with no human providing a description of the sights. What you get is a prerecorded audio presentation that usually lags each site by 30 seconds. An absolute trifling business read more

This is tour is awful! Waste of time. Waste of money. Awful! We got the liberty cruise as included in the package. We were told to be on the 10 am bus for a 12 pm cruise. We did as told and we were in the bus at 10. Got here at 1220 ... missed the cruise. They rebooked us for 145. What a waste of time. The headphones given and used for info on the bus had terrible sound. Could only get a few words out of a sentence. We wanted to go somewhere specific. The guy checking tickets told us get off at 6 or 7 to get there. 6 & 7 were no longer stops. No one told us. So we went to 8 and had to walk 15 blocks to get to where we wanted. I called customer service and not helpful at all. I plan on disputing the charge, horrible experience. If zero stars was available that would be my choice. And they said busses every 15 minutes. Not true. More like 30-40 minutes. If there is room available, if not then you have to wait for another 30-40 minutes. We get to the cruise, no signage, no people around. Just ridiculous. We will not be doing the night cruise that is included as with the experience so far, it will be another disappointment! We wound up having to Uber from both locations, each day used as sitting on the bus was a waste of time. The tickets cost 267 for the 2 day pass. Used twice. Sucked both times. Took so long to get anywhere. So we will not get on another. Just a huge inconvenience read more

I was lied too and more importantly robbed from this company! I bought these tickets as they sold them as they were the best way around NYC! This tour didn't advise that they don't operate from their port on certain days and I missed out on a paid Statue of Liberty attraction! I was late to get there through another port. I had to spend money on ubers and was only able to access this service tour once??? Their waiting stops are so inconsistent!!! Their response to rectify what happened to me was to offer me new passes as if I live in NY or to transfer them to friends or family??? Makes no sense! I will share pictures of the closed port that their maps share. Very unprofessional and POOR customer support! PLEASE DONT BE FOOLED!! Also not to mention the port they have us go too, isn't a safe area for tourist!! read more

TopView will take your money and not deliver! I spent almost $400 on the hop on hop off tour only for them to stop running the buses for a day and a half of those two days. Their terms and conditions indicate that they will alert customers and post any changes in the active map section of the app and none of this was done. I have contacted their customer service and they said that, all sales are final and there are no refunds. Apell my end of the bargain and paid the money for the and they did not provide the tour or any updates about changes to the tour. Do not waste your money!! read more

More buses. We waited over an hour while watching three empty buses go by and one bus parked at our stop ate his lunch then left without opening the doors. Yesterday we took the bus downtown and we could have gotten there quicker walking read more

fue una experiencia horrible los contratamos para 18 personas y nos dejaron botados en el frío porque cada vez que pasaba uno venía full y tuvimos que esperar por más de 45 min en el frío cuando por fin nos buscaron no Nos llevaron hasta nuestra parada porque habían terminado el horario y no podían continuar entonces tuvimos que caminar mas de 10 cuadras en el frío quedamos realmente frustrados y decepcionados . Juan Sotillo (Tempo Hotel Time Square) el vendedor nos dijo que trabajaban hasta las 6 y después el chofer nos dejó botado porque trabajaban hasta las 6 el vendedor se llamaba Félix , los autobuses estaban asquerosos y los choferes manejaban rapidísimo read more

keep searching. The guys on the street are trained to lie about the products. Limited on bus hours and choices. we rode only 3 times on bus and need to take taxi or subway to move around effectively. will never use TOPVIEW again. read more

It's beyond ridiculous. Putting 10 people at a time. Over an hour already and only have gone 1 stop.