Took a tour of Southern Laos last month with Ride L.A.R.A.

Felt the need to make others aware of a number of issues our group had with them - which beyond abusive emails from the boss, Eric, we've had very little success in making amends for.

Among the issues:

We were 7 people in our group including a local guide (Eric didn't join our group) - they had only 6 bikes for us. We missed the entire first day (of 4) due to being a bike short.

The L.A.R.A. website promises well serviced bikes. They were anything but: Bald tires, no brakes, no lights, mirrors, indicators or anything else. Dirty fuel filters - very clearly, the bikes had been ridden hard and sent to us without any sort of maintenance. Our schedule - involved 500kms or so of road riding.

On the last day, one of the CRMs (for which we paid an additional USD50 a day) seized. Our guide insisted we ride it after it started making grinding sounds - and Eric now blames us for the damaged caused. We also had to paid $200 of our own cash to transport the bikes and rider back to Veintiane. We were not reimbursed for this.

We paid $30 for a damage mirror (one of the only remaining ones on any of the bikes) - clearly this money doesn't go to replacing damaged parts - as all the bikes were knackered - it gets pocketed? The rental equipment they supplied was likewise in terrible shape. Unwearable in most cases.

The Ride L.A.R.A website promises support vehicles 'can be arranged'. I wish we had arranged - although I'm sure it would have cost on top of the USD1,039 EACH we paid.

Eric's response to all our concerns has been nothing short of psychotic. My tips, if you choose to use them, would be this: Only collect bikes in Vientiane - and test ride them first, ensure you have a support vehicle or at the very least the provided guide has sufficient mechanical knowledge. Not so I our case, and if not for one of our groups knowledge, we'd have been stranded in the jungle.

In short, the tour had all the potential of being an amazing, 'once in a lifetime', trip. But Ride L.A.R.A failed on just about every level - including after abusive sales service.

Caveat Emptor.

Jim Flashman.

Hey Jim, sorry to hear your Holiday was spoiled but shoddy workman ship. Laos is great place to ride, I have heard many reports about the level of equipment in Laos and Asia as a whole, although there are some rental shops with good bikes it seems that prevention is not better than cure.....

Where did you ride...

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Powered by Dreams. www.motorcycle-tours-laos.org

Hi....I am Eric, owner and operator of L.A.R.A. For the guys who don't know, we are operating moto tours in Laos for 5 seasons now and our 2nd in Myanmar.

Many things Rob says are very true. And others less so, without context. First off, from his Facebook:

"Although some problems, one of the best trips we've ever had"

As I was in Burma leading a tour, I did not personally load the bikes on the bus for transport to Pakxe. I did however call every single day of the tour and even after the tour, once I was made aware of the mistake. I called to Fuark, our partner in VTE, from Mandalay to address the problem. He is human, he made a mistake. Another bike was en route.

Yee, their guide, led them to Sekong, the planned destination, on a rented HOnda Dream scooter, checked them in to the hotel, ordered their and food, and set out back to Pakxe at 6-7PM. He arrived at 1AM. The new bike arrived at 6am and he then raced BACK to Sekong to meet the group to begin the next day. A very noble effort, indeed.

In the meantime, I spoke to Yee that evening, of their 2nd day. It turns out, 1 guest had zero off road riding experience, and one could not complete the track or the ride to backtrack, and had to use a tractor. The terrain was discussed in detail, as well they asked for off road adventure on Ho Chi Minh Trail. No mention of one rider with NO experience and none of one with little to none. But Yee said they were still quite happy and smiling. And that they would have to amend the program.

And yes, it is true, one CRM had a bearing go out, in the bottom end. And yes it is true the damage was exasperated by continued driving. But we never asked for any money for that damage from the guests. In a very heated email I did explain that the attempts drive the bike made it worse, but again, never suggested they should pay. These are mechanical items, and to assign blame to the driver would be unfair.

And all of this happened 1 hour from Vientiane. The tours' end.

1 hour.

The other accusations, about the bikes, not true. A clogged fuel filter, on one bike, very possibly could have just clogged with something falling in at a fuel stop, some bad fuel, many possibilities. Hardly a major offense and easily fixed by blowing thru it with your mouth, in this case, Yee's, and going on. It was a 4 day tour and I know Fuark did not install brand new tires. No mirrors, brakes, lights, simply not true.

"The Ride L.A.R.A website promises support vehicles 'can be arranged'. I wish we had arranged - although I'm sure it would have cost on top of the USD1,039 EACH we paid. "

Yes, that is TRUE. And now we are at fault for doing exactly what we advertise, selling tours and the appropriate add ons??? Yes, the truck is $125 per day, inclusive of truck, fuel, driver, and his food & lodging, quite reasonable.

Now I spoke to these guys several times on the phone and via email while in BUrma and once I got home. At the very minimum, I told them, I would refund $200 PLUS the transport of 3500THB for the CRM. In addition to further compensation to be decided.


Once I got home, I spoke to 1 of the Robs about compensation, and again re-stated the above, which he liked, as well as a free tour for 4 days, for everyone, at any time. Just show up to Laos and it's ALL free. Petrol, bikes, hotels, food, everything but the and flight to Laos. He loved it, said it was just what he wanted, and he would fire off an email to the group and CC me.

Well imagine my surprise when the email said I had graciously agreed to a 50% refund ($3000) OR a free 4 day tour. I immediately emailed him asking why he would say that, we NEVER discussed 50% of anything, what gives. Of the 6, a few were happy with that, a few used profanity, and a few were indifferent. But no mention of why the 50% refund offer.

A week later, one Rob emails to say they would take the 50% offer.

I again said I never said that, why would they expect half back on a mostly successful, definitely enjoyable tour?

For umpteenth time I was cussed and cursed and spoken rudely of and to, as well as extorted with threats of Facebook and Tripadvisor if I didn't give them $3000.

I told them good luck and goodbye, among other things and have ended our relationship.

In closing, the issues that they had in the beginning were fixed quickly and professionally. I was in constant contact with them, every day from Myanmar, at great expense, more than 3.50 per minute.

The original route had to be edited due to their groups inability to ride safely on the terrain. Our terms and conditions addresses this quite clearly.

We offered to pay them $200 and 3500THB for a bike broken 1 hour from the final destination. We did not ask 1 cent for the Honda clutch lever/perch with mirror stanchion (65 pound sterling)that was broken and replaced with a 5000LAK China one. No damage charged for the bars bent, the dent in the Pro Circuit chamber, and scratches or damages to the tank etc, as it seems according to Yee, the one that fell the most was riding that CRM.

The $30 paid was for a broken mirror and handguard on the XR250 of Fuark. The one with no mirrors...

We offered to give them a free tour in lieu of everything that happened.

What we would not do is respond to threats of extortion and cursing in exchange for money that was way out of line with the problems they experienced or of the experiences they had in and of themselves.

They responded favorably on their private posts among friends in addition to tipping my staff 6000THB for the tour. Hardly what one would think were actions of guests that thought that somehow they should receive a %50 refund.

Again, I wish them all the best as a group and good luck in future touring.

And yes, Caveat Emptor....do your research....this is our 5th season in Laos and take a look around...this is the first major complaint we've had. Our reputation as a company and mine as an individual speak for themselves. As it has been said on this board before, about 5% just can't be satisfied. We do regret that but take it as a cost of doing business. And continue to be grateful the majority of our guests are highly satisfied and continue to ride with us in other destinations like Burma, Thailand and Cambodia.

I Just did a tour with Eric, and unfortunatly i hurt my knee early on and had to ride in the vehicle with his offsider Pac (great bloke). They were nothing but helpful and the rest of the guys who kept riding were having a great time, if a rest day was needed we stayed in a relaxing place to recharge. Or drink + rest, do tourist stuff, sleep whatever. I own a few dirtbikes and I do all the maintenance on them so i know a little. Maybe i was just lucky but my KTM 450 exc seemed (I think it was) brand new, best bike i`ve ridden to date. I must admit there were a few of punctures that eric fixed no problem even found some guy to repair a tube in some hut on the side of the road. Anyway im going back in November to have another crack hope i get the same bike :}

cheers Dave.

I did a tour to Myanmar last year October last year (http://lorrainespence.com/2012/10/) Eric’s tour was one of the highlights of my 6 months trans Asia trip. I wish I could have taken my own bike but since you cannot do I took the opportunity to join an organised tour with Ride Lara. What a GOOD decision the trip was Awesome, Eric is a great guy and a great Guide, in one of the most amazing counties to ride though. Not only do I highly recommend Ride Lara but I highly recommend taking a tour with them in Myanmar or Laos.

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www.lorrainespence.com

Hi All
Just come back from a 10 day motocycle tour through Laos ,
we selected to go with Ride Lara and our tour guide was a quickly American called Eric
we arrived to find a good quality selection of Honda crf250,s ready to go
We put Eric under pump from day 1 by allowing one of our party to cross examine all his stock of knobbly tyres , in which he proceeded to puncture 3 tubes while changing , Eric in his infinite wisdom took a deep breath and said all is cool let's ride
Accom started average to good and ended brilliantly as for the food started sensationally and got better
lots of bruises, bent bikes and hangovers , Eric for a quirky mad yank is good for a night of Aussie style BS but can match it with the big boys if want to talk politics religion and world affairs

I'm A veteran off all things motocycle tours in Asia and won't judge a tour guide on how well he delivers the expected , but there ability to keep things rolling when the shit hits the fan

we had a lot of rain and washed out roads and tracks , the solutions where plenty and effortless

To sum up ,excellent trip ,good value for money and a first class tour guide

we'll done EZ

Interesting bit of contrast there! I am not one for the idea tours for the most part in familiar countries (i.e. US, Canada, throughout Europe) but would definitely consider one for countries less traveled like Laos. Seeing Eric chime in puts my mind at ease, too.

A friend of mine is currently in Vietnam with a couple of co-workers doing something at a hospital (he is an operating room technician in Los Angeles, the person who hands the surgeons their operating tools or something like that) and he just posted some photos on Facebook of the New Years celebrations going on, and I commented that I have Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos on my bucket list to ride by bike, and then I came here and saw this thread...it is meant to be, but I am 45 years old with many years before retirement, so will have to wait--unless you do $250 tours including airfare from the US??

I didn't think so....

We did a tour with Ride lara in January this year, Eric has sold the company to Don Duvall. I did a tour with Don, January last year (Ride lara) and it was nothing short of amazing a lot different to the tour this year. Our tour this year started in Pakse and finished in Vientiane, We arrived in Pakse 7 riders, 3x KTM 450 2 x KTM 300 2 x Xr 400 we paid $70 a day extra for the KTM’s. We spent the entire day before the tour repairing bikes the KTM’s 3 wouldn’t start, 3 starter motors didn’t work, 1 needed front wheel bearings, 3 didn’t have working lights, 4 had leaking front fork seals and we found out later all the KTM 450 engines drank oil, the list goes on (lucky we paid $70 a day extra for them)Don had just purchased the KTM’s from Eric about 3 weeks earlier, Don had put new tyres chains and sprockets, oil change and air filter and had neglected to fix any of the other problems the bikes had (the oil burning he may not have known about) The tour itself was ok, it could have been a lot better if not for the actions of one of the riders.
I have had feedback from another group who did a tour with Ride lara in February, apparently Eric has booked tours and Don is not honouring the bookings. The group arrived at Vientiane to be told the tour had been cancelled, they were offered bikes but would need to pay for the guide, fuel, food and accommodation even after they had paid for an all inclusive tour. There seems to be a lot of conflict between Eric and Don, Eric seems to be still taking the bookings and the money for the tours, but it’s Don’s company. So I wouldn’t book or pay for a tour with this company until they work out their issues.

Just a word of thanks for your feedback about the current situation; your writing carries a ring of truth.
But some folks may question the veracity of any first post.
to the HUBB - there, now I am hedging my bet

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Dave

I'm one of the group wb holden refers to in his (first) post that got screwed over thanks to the bullshit that's going down between Eric & Don and I can confirm he is correct.

Having paid Eric Wasson of Ride L.A.R.A in full for an all inclusive 11 day tour with bikes, guide, fuel, food, accommodation, tips and tolls etc as well as comprehensive travel & medical insurance, we arrived in Vientiane to be met at the airport and told the bikes would be the only part of our tour that would be honoured. If we wanted a guide, we were told we would need to pay an additional $175/day on top of having to pay for all our own expenses. To quote Eric in one of his pre-sales emails "If you don't drink, you'll never put your hand in your pocket!". Well, what a load crap that turned out to be!!

On our first night in Laos, we were told that Eric had sold his business to Don and that Eric had actually relocated to the US some months prior to our arrival. At no stage leading up to our arrival did Eric mention any of this and he had plenty of opportunity as one of our group was speaking with him via email frequently.

What he did though was leave it until he knew we were in transit and on our way and then email one of us to spill his guts and explain his deal with Don had gone sour and that he was very sorry and it wasn't his fault and he'd been f**ked over by Don and he was really the victim in all this and blah blah blah!

Eric then rang us from the US and tried to pitch that we were actually very lucky because some of the his other tours that had landed in the weeks before us got nothing and at least we were getting bikes. Yeah, thanks Eric for actually providing the bikes we had paid you for!

Eric also tried to convince us that paying $175/day for a guide was good value and he reckoned we'd only need to spend $60-$70/day each ourselves for food, fuel and accommodation. Well I suppose that is pretty cheap touring... if you were only paying once! But we had already paid for all of this and weren't in a position financially to have to pay for everything except the bikes all over again. That was an expense were simply weren't prepared for and couldn't afford.

We asked Eric to refund our money but he gave us a sob story about how he was broke and again threw the all the blame back at Don.

Reluctantly we decided to go on a 5-6 day ride and then cut our tour short and head home as we'd didn't have the funds to cover costs for the full 11 days. We'd come this far and spent 18 months planning the trip so why not try and salvage something.

In the end we fell in with a great bunch of expats and a few locals who were all riders and who'd all heard the stories/rumors about Eric & Don that were doing the rounds in town. These guys took pity on us and between them, they decided to ensure we got our full 11 day tour. Bloody great to see riders pulling together to help us out the way they did. If it weren't for these guys, our trip of a lifetime would have been a write-off. Cheers fellas (you know who you are)!

So, with the memory of landing and being told our "all expenses" tour had been reduced to just the supply of 3 hire bikes only still eating at my guts, I'd say that under no circumstances can I recommend anyone have anything to do with Eric Wasson. DO NOT pay him in advance for anything. DO NOT trust him or his word as it's worth less than nothing. It's unfortunate but dishonourable operators like Eric ruin the industry for the honest guys running legit tours.

Inside of this sub-forum, this thread should be a sticky IMO.

While credit for good situations is very necessary, where it is deserved, it is also essential that issues concerning tour operators are easily accessible.
Highlighting the operation via a sticky also provides the tour operator with a clear opportunity to put the other side of the argument (as has indeed happened in the past in this particular thread).

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Dave

Certainly alot to reply to, but I'll keep it brief.

Everything stated by the unhappy guests is true. No one is exaggerating their experience or what I told them or why what happened to them did in fact happen.

I do take exception to possibly two points....One, no one is "taking any money" currently or in future from L.A.R.A. As of the last "completion" of the last tour on 1 March, which the user "JoBloe" is recounting, all tours have been cancelled and refunded. You can rest assured, there are no future/pending/unresolved tours after that date. If there have been any inquiries for tours/rentals/services from us after about the end of January, they have all been replied to the same:

"We no longer offer any services of any kind and will not undertake to do so in the future."

The only other point I take exception to, I said I was "broke"...I guess that's certainly subjective, but in this case, it refers to my financial situation as it pertains to L.A.R.A. I was trying to explain that, as part of the deal made with Don, by him not honoring his commitments, I unfortunately would not be paying essentially again for the tours to proceed as promised. I did do what I could in what little time I had to make it as pleasant as I could. I do agree and understand it wasn't enough. But finding out everything had gone to shit byt he 1st week of Feb, there was very little I could do with regards to now having to FIND and HIRE bikes, which I did, as well as try to provide them ( the guests) with some sort of guide or leader. One group, I used my support driver to lead them, which on one hand wasn't exactly what they had been hoping for, but it also didn't leave them standing there with their dicks in their hands like one of the other groups. Point is, I did the best I could with what I had with so little notice. All 3 groups that were casualties of this screw up received some form of compensation from my pocket. Some I was able to hire bikes for, some received lodging and transport to other destinations, some were led by my driver. All were (extra) monies paid from my pocket that should have been counted as "proceeds" from the sale of the business to Don.

As far as not revealing some of these details to the guests, the part of the story that isn't being told is my last communication with Don was in the end of January. I was not aware there was any friction or issues going on with us. WHen I was contacted by the first group that revealed problems, the forum user "Holden", I saw that Don was cc'd on the email(s).

I asked them, Did Don reply? No. Not a word.

I sent Don my own email(s) asking for clarification. Nothing.

It was really the 1st week of February I suspected something was going on, but with no contact, I had nothing to go on. Was he hurt, sick, out of town, away from emails/phones? No clue. And to this very moment, still, nothing. Not one word of anything.

So yes, in the fallout from a very poorly conceived business arrangement, there were some casualties, I will admit to that. Without any info from the other party involved, I cannot explain, justify, excuse or debate his reasons.

I can say with certainty that I did not operate and own this company for nearly 8 years with little to no negative feedback, having supplied 100s of guests over the years with great tours, great bikes, and great services under these type of circumstances.

If anyone out there would like to frame this as a "scam" or rip off, you're free to do so and I won't debate it any further. BUt simply trimming away all the fat and BS, it amounts to nothing more than a disagreement between two (ex)partners, that sad to say, affected some people and their expected experience.

The web site will be killed shortly and as I said before, we are not taking any bookings for any services, period. What I worked to build the last 8 years has been ruined for reasons that are certainly open to debate.

It doesn't amount to a hill of shit, but I can say I am very sorry for the people that were affected by this and feel they were taken advantage of and or lied to.

And as far as booking with Don in future, like me, I know Don isn't a common thief or liar, but somewhere, someway our expectations and agreement(s) must have deviated seriously from the original intent. As trite and simple as that sounds, I suspect that's exactly what happened. Nothing more, nothing less.

The last and only other point I'll raise is this....for those of you reading from abroad and not having lived the ex-pat life, please understand, in situations like this, when 2 parties don't/cannot agree, we can't just "call the police" or take them to court to settle our differences. Contracts aren't worth the paper they are written on and private parties are often left to settle this on their own. Yes, of course there is a "court system" in Laos, but as anyone with experience would attest, the time, effort and money would be better spent pissing into the wind. For me, I have to just let it go, chalk it up to a very poor experience, and move on. Of course I wish it were that simple for those that were affected, but I'm sure it won't be.

Happy and safe riding and all the best to all of you in the future.

+1

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Dave

All,

I have read these posts with interest and unfortunately two friends and I have been recent victims of what can only be described as FRAUD with RIDE LARA.

After months of planning we traveled from Singapore and arrived in Laos to the same overwhelming, deflating disappointment outlined by joeblo in this forum - specifically that nobody was there to greet us, in hand with a rambling email from Eric explaining that Don had absconded with the funds that we paid to Eric's bank account.

Essentially that our tour had been canceled and we would not get any of our money back.

On this point, it will be interesting to understand what amount was paid by anyone else on this forum for the privilege of a tour with RIDE LARA. We paid USD1300 each (3 persons). That is nearly USD4000 that has been effectively stolen by the management of Ride Lara.

One of the many things that riles me about this whole situation is that Eric chose not to tell us about his no show as our tour leader until after we had boarded the plane from Singapore and it was too late to turn back. It seems that joeblo here had the exact same experience. I just don't understand this. If you already have our money and have no intention of showing up to take us on our tour, at least have the courtesy to inform us BEFORE we get on the plane.

Since returning from Laos there has been further money wasted (phone calls to Eric in Denver where he mysteriously has emigrated, apparently overnight - though he overlooked to inform us of this small point until we arrived in Laos); and time spent drafting emails to insurance companies etc. etc. etc.

To this point we have not yet received any of our money back. If anybody has any suggestions about recourse - for instance the whereabouts or contact details for Don - I would be very interested to hear them.

Caveat Emptor indeed.

Each of our group paid USD$2699 each up front. There were 3 of us so that's USD$8097 Eric took us for. Sure he paid for the bikes but they were hire bikes which we found out could be rented direct from the bike shop for USD$40/day. We had them 11 days so the cost to Eric was just USD$1320. That means he walked away with USD$6777. That's a pretty good racket he's got going!

Yeah, I see a pattern here. It was the same for us, Eric sent his email explaining everything only after he knew we were in the air and on our way. Given that he'd asked someone to step in as a tour guide a week prior to our arrival, not to mention two other tours before ours had been through the same shit, at best this shows piss poor planning and consideration for his clients on his behalf and at worst, it shows cunning and deliberate deceit. Given the similarity between our experiences, I know which I'd put my money on.

So why is it Eric that you can't/won't refund us for the components of our trip we paid for but never received and had to fund again out of our own pockets?

It's been a week Eric and the site's still online. It takes just 60 seconds to switch off a website. What's the rationale for it still being online a week after you made that statement?