Dear Clent,
Please excuse the delay but I've been unwell this past week. I've managed to talk with Tommaso and who was in charge of the emergency line that day.
But first let me explain about the boat - I did not mean that privately owned boats, up to a certain lenght though, can not navigate the Grand Canal ( although it is needed a special permission given to residents only ); what I meant is that all tour companies use the type of boats that are used also as water taxis - the same type of boats you would find also when cruising privately at lake Como and Lake Garda as well.
This said , as i’ve managed to talk with Tommaso, I must report what I've been told by Tommaso as well; He works regularly for us. All our guides, if they sense something went wrong during the tour, must report to us what happened and why. He indeed advised me that the boat was delayed as the one assigned had an engine problem and the company had to send another one, but that, as he was at the meeting point on time with your name on his Ipad ( the person with the emergency line reported that he did not receive any call from you or the guide either ) and that after a few minutes, due to the crowds around, you’ve managed to meet each other and that he used up the waiting time to show you around St Mark’s square landmarks, he did not felt it necessary to contact our office to advise about the delay, which did not impact on the duration of the Grand Canal ( 1 hr boat tour + 20 minutes extra before the tour with Tommaso).
As for the commentary, he admitted he also talked about the school system, mentioning the Ca' Foscari university that can be seen on the Grand Canal and that overall he felt like the tour went well, also because he received a generous tip.
Anyhow I understand that for various reasons you were not happy with the tour and therefore I’ll approve for a partial refund, of which our accounting will take care during the week.