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After David Fisher spends an extra 60 euros to get on a rescheduled Eiffel Tower tour, he wants to know if he can get a refund. Viator says yes — and then no.

Q: I’m writing regarding my recent experience with a Viator tour in Paris. I recently booked the Eiffel Tower Reserved Access Tour and the optional Summit by Lift Tour for four people.

The day before the tour, I received an email saying the time had been changed from 9:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. because of labour problems at the Louvre.

When we arrived at the meeting point, the representative told me that there had been a “mistake”—their mistake, not mine—and we could not go on that tour. She said my options were to pay an additional 15 euros per person to get on a tour that included the summit that day or cancel the tour, get a refund, and try to rebook for a later date.

We opted to pay the additional 60 euros since our schedule for the rest of the week included timed ticket admissions to other attractions.

Unbeknownst to us, the summit tours must stop at the second level to change elevators. Therefore, my party of four could have easily, and with no additional cost, been added to a summit tour to get us to the second level. We would have had no access to the summit, but we did not initially make a reservation.

I have requested a refund of the additional 60 euros charged to me for the mysterious mistake through Viator customer service but to no avail. During my first phone call, I was told by a representative that “it would be taken care of,” and that Viator “had my back.” I then received an email indicating that I had requested a full refund of $305, which I did not. I even sent a copy of my receipt for the 60 euros with my email. Viator denied the refund twice, very curtly.

I’m very frustrated with this episode, and I hope you can understand what I consider a very reasonable request for money spent that I should not have been made to pay. — David Fisher, Nottingham, Md.

A: Your Eiffel Tower tour should have operated as scheduled. But if it needed to be moved, the tour operator should have given you the rescheduled tour at the same price—not asking you for more money. Making you pay more feels a lot like a bait-and-switch.

Viator is a platform that sells tours, and you’re right — it should have had your back. It looks like Viator got its wires crossed with the tour operator and, for some reason, believed you wanted a full refund for a tour you had already taken. So, of course, it would deny that request (and of course, you would never make that request to begin with).

It appears the tour operator didn’t follow Viator’s published guidelines, which say it should give 24 hours’ notice at the very least, before the start time of their experience. You were surprised by the offer to either pay extra or cancel. Technically, you could have asked for a full refund, but who goes to the Eiffel Tower, braves all those crowds, and then cancels on principle because the tour price went up by 15 euros?

I list the names, numbers and emails of the Viator executives on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org. A brief, polite email to one of them might have gotten you out of the cycle of robo-denials that you seemed to be in. They keep sending you the same form letter denying a refund request you never made.

I contacted Viator on your behalf. Viator said you should have received a notification for your refund, which refunded the 60 euros you requested.