TopView Sightseeing 4+

I came to New York with my family and my aunt’s which resulted in 9 of us. The morning started out fine until after lunch. I was checking the time it said we had 10 minutes until the next bus came so we walked back only to find they came back early. We tried to see if we can still get on when we were a street light away. The driver saw us but refused to stop for us. We waited for the next bus and 2 showed up simultaneously. Both refused to let us on because they claimed to not have enough space for 9. I kept checking the time for the next bus on their website and it somehow went from 4 minutes to 30 minutes. Some time later, another bus showed up and said they did not have enough space either. The time that showed did not match up with the arrival time of the bus. However what did not sit well with us was that there were multiple smaller groups that was more than 9 people in total and that driver let all of them on yet turned us away. In the end, we had to wait a whole hour just for bus. Chances are that if we ever come back to New York, we won’t be using this service again.

Have always loved a hop on hop off bus in cities, ridden them in Paris, Capetown, etc and it’s a fun informative way to get around the various sites. But this app and the NYC tour was terrible. First it’s a bait and switch, I paid for a 48 hour pass that said it “includes Central Park bike rental”. Then after you’ve purchased they send you an email that gives an asterisk saying it’s only with purchase. At that point you can’t refund the pass! So we get to the bike rental and they tell us it’s only 2 extra hours free after you pay for an hour. Obviously they get a lot of scammed people from this bait and switch bc she was very rude about it.
The app had no idea where we were and directed us to take two subway rides to get to stop 1 when we could see the Empire State Building and that stop was only a couple blocks away.
The bus ride itself was frustrating as traffic does not really move so you’re just roasting at the top of the bus while it plays music bc they can’t think of any additional info about this city to fill the time while the bus is stopped?

I did this tour 10 years ago and was excited to get the tickets so my 3 friends who have never been to NYC could see as much as possible. Didn’t go near enough to most things I hoped they would see. Stopped by traffic at places but then sped up when he could, so no time for pictures of things even in the distance. Very frustrating. Secondly, I am on a walker and was not told we would not be taken back to stop #1 where we got on near The Crowne Plaza where we are staying. Fortunately, the supervisor was there at stop 17 (end of tour) and was kind enough to get us at least to stop #18 which did help. You need to notify passengers that all have to get off the bus at 17. It shows the red line going from 17 to 18 and back to 1 on the map. Misleading. The driver and his helper were very courteous to all of us. We have also booked the Liberty tour and the night tour tomorrow before heading home on Wednesday morning. Hopefully, these will be not as disappointing.