J.M. Hoe'ing

Upon reading over the submitted complaint by *** *** the following information has been put together in response: Unfortunately upon reading *** ***'s complaint it seems that he has one main issue with the vacation that he was booking, he thought it was to be freeThis
is a very unfortunately situation as none of the promotions fulfilled through the Travel Center are for any type of free vacations, they are for discounted travel where customers are responsible for taxes, booking fees, activation fees and often times surcharges or full priced vacations if the customer chooses to forfeit the promotional offer by making choices that are not within the promotionIn going over *** ***'s file we can find no information where *** *** had called and spoken to a representative getting any information pertaining to a free vacation, however, if *** *** is stating that he contacted the booking company customer service and that they told him there was no such thing as a free vacation it can only be assumed that he was speaking to one of our customer service representatives because we here at The Travel Center are the verbal/phone line customer service department for the booking companyThe only way that a customer may contact the booking company would be through fax or email, they do not have a phone line It is once again unfortunate that *** *** would think that his vacation was free, in fact we do not understand how this could be possible if not only did *** *** speak to a representative that told him that it was not, but that he also on 11/19/sent in funds to the Travel Center for activation in the amount of $essentially making the vacation he was planning immediately not freeIf at any time *** *** thought the vacation was to be free this should have immediately told him it was notAlong with that fee, *** *** sent in an activation form which contained the following terms and conditions:"Travelers are responsible for all government taxes, activation and booking feesTaxes and fees for these vacations depend on length and season of travel."This immediately tells *** *** that his vacation will not be free, so we are very sorry if he was confused but it was on the initial information that he himself chose to send in. In digging a bit deeper into *** ***'s file we that he did indeed use the information that we sent him to continue the process so that he may begin the finalization of his booking with the booking company that we sent him to on 12/10/Upon the document that *** *** returned to our company on that same date called the "Booking information Needed" form it states the following information towards the terms and conditions which also include the refund policy of The Travel Center:"Please remember that day advanced notice is required for all vacationsThe advanced notice time does not start at time of activation, it starts after you receive your booking documents and codes and you contact your booking agent by sending in your "Official Booking Forms""This promotion is for non-peak season travel(including days before or after any major promotional travel holiday) with Tuesday and Wednesday departures.""Promotional travel restrictions may be bypassed with the knowledge that this violates your promotional offer and will subject you to a possible surcharge.""Once travel documents and booking codes are ordered and purchased by the Travel Center at your request, there cannot be any refunds of any fees collected by The Travel Center."As you can see we have given *** *** all of the information pertaining to his promotion and the restrictions as well as the terms and conditions for the refundsUnfortunately upon contacting the booking company it seems *** *** sent the documentation called the "Official Booking Documents" to them on 4/5/2016, this means that he is not eligible for a refundWe also found out from the booking company that he requested dates that did not give a day advanced notice and was also requesting to travel within a week of a major travel holiday. It unfortunately seems that *** *** either had a full misunderstanding of the promotion or that he simply did not read over any of the documentation that was provided to himIt is not our job here at the Travel Center to be sure that every document sent to a customer is fully understood, if the customer returns the document signed we will assume that the customer has full understanding of the documentation and that they wish to proceed with booking their vacationIf at any time *** *** had felt concerns pertaining to the information given to him the process should have been stopped and a refund should have been requested, instead, *** *** continued the process and did not request a refund until after he forfeited his promotion and did not like the quote sent to him by the booking companyWe are sorry, but no refund will be provided. The documents referenced have been attached for convenience

From: *** *** Date: Mon, Nov 2, at 6:PMSubject: Fwd: You have a new message from the Revdex.com of Metro Washington DC & Eastern Pennsylvania in regards to your complaint #***.To: ***@myRevdex.com.orgHi, ***,thanks for the quick response.
Here is a copy of my deposited check. I never received any receipt from the company. Would you also suggest I send hand written letters or emails to any of the following addresses? A friend of mine familiar with my complaint sent them to me: State Fraud Protection Division *** ** *** ** * ***, Baltimore, MD *** District Attorney ** *** *** Rockville, MD *** Federal Trade Commission *** *** *** **, Washington, DC *** ***

After reading the letter from Ms*** and pulling her file this is what I have in response.On April 20, The Travel Center received Ms***'s activation payment of $check number ***.On April 20, On the same day Ms*** payment arrived at the Travel Center an email was sent
to *** with an attachmentThe attachment was the Booking Information Needed FormThis form is used to assign customer to a booking company, and provide the online access codes to request their travel dates.On April 24, The online access codes were emailed to Ms***.This is the last correspondence we have received from Ms***During our busy season it is sometime difficult to get through to a live personOn the recording it gives an email address of *** this is provided, so that customers can email their questions for our customer service representatives to answer during our peak season and after hour's callers.If Ms*** would like to receive a refund please have her send the request to *** this is our refund departments email addressA partial refund in the amount of $can be refunded to Ms***Since the Travel Center had to purchase the access codes to the booking company websitePlease inform Ms*** that a check will be mailed to herPlease have Ms*** put her current mailing address in her email request and to mention the comptroller's name Donna to speed up the process.Sincerely,The Accounting Office

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved] Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because: The Travel Center is stating they are
not responsible for any advertisement or product I purchased from the initial company, however, both companies have the exact same mailing address. So how is it possible that one "company" does not afffiliate with the other "company"?? Furthermore, why would any client be doing business with the "Travel Center" if they were not directed to do so by "*** ***" company?? It is obvious they are different branches of one and the same company and they make it impossible for the client to get their money back
Second, I sent in (two) money orders for $each, as it was supposed to be $per person/per trip. So why would they "do me a favor" and reimburse 1(one) $fee? It they were trying to do right by the consumer, they would offer $which is what I am legally due since according to them once vouchers are issued I am not entitled to a refund and a voucher was never issued for my second vacation
Third, I was sent this email on July 8th-
As you are now threatening to take action against our company, your file will be put on holdThis hold will be placed on your file until you have sent a letter to our company stating that no legal or negative action will be taken against our companyAt this time, once this letter has been received by either fax, mail or email with your signature we will be more than happy to discuss your vacation booking processUntil this time, your file has been put on hold
And last, I have not heard from "*** *** Travel" regarding my initial $payment or "*** Reservations" (who also shares an office with The Travel Center) regarding my $payment. Since this companies all do business together, one of them, regardless of which one, should refund me as the consumer since the package purchased and fully paid for was not delivered
Thank you.Regards,*** ** ***

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: I'm sorry,but they are not telling the truth.I have tried to contact them both thru phone and e-mail with no response from eitherI will close this complaint and try again to contact them and see if I due indeed get a response , if I do not get in touch with them would you like me to contact you or not? I personally do not believe they will talk with me
Regards,
*** ***

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: I am rejecting this response because: I do not accept the response from this company (The Travel Center) because they do not accept responsibility for the actions of people that represent their business. I would not expect them to accept the feedback about their customer service reps or their behavior of avoiding phone calls whether it is mine or someone else. At no time did I say that I never was able to reach someone. In fact I talked to them probably 5-times but was not provided the information that I needed or was mislead. It was like pulling teeth, if I didn't ask them a direct question then I would not get the full picture. I would not expect them to give refund because they feel there was no wrong doing on their part. This is not a company I would ever do business with knowing the customer experience they provide or even accepting responsibility of providing poor customer service. In regards to having the customer service department assist me with contacting other companies on my behalf I don't think they would have my best interest at heart and will definitely pass on the offer. I would like you to try and contact the other company, *** *** Travel ###-###-#### or ###-###-####, I think they are located in Philadelphia, Pa. This is the company that I paid $for the so called vacation package (2adults).
Regards,
*** ***

August 3rd, 2015After reading through the complaint submitted by *** *** we will do our best to answer all issues that have been raised through the complaint.To begin it seems that *** *** is referencing a completely different company stating that not only has she paid a large sum of money
but that the large sum of money was to cover and pay for her vacation*** *** references *** *** Travel and at this time we can only assume that this is the company she is referring to having paid a large sum to as well as the company that told her she would pay these funds and the vacation would be paid forAt no time do we here at the Travel Center sell or advertise any vacations or promotions, so this could not have been our company that would have given her this informationIf *** *** had questions pertaining to this information or pertaining to the fact that she would not be paying any further funds than we can only say that we are confused because on the documentation called the "Booking Information Needed" form that *** *** signed and returned to our company on 6/4/it specifically states the following: "Please remember that day advanced notice is required for all vacationsThe advanced notice time does not start at time of sale, it starts after you receive your travel documents and codes from the Travel Center and you contact the booking companyThe Instructions will be located in your next stepPlease remember that no destination or date is guaranteed and no vacation is booked until you receive your official travel documents and itinerary from the booking companyThis promotion is for non-peak season travel (including days before or after any major promotional travel holiday) with Tuesday and Wednesday departuresThe travel time and departure dates may be bypassed with the knowledge that this violates your promotional offer and will subject you to a possible surcharge.” On this same document *** *** violated the following promotional terms and conditions; Requested peak season travel Requested peak fly day Did not provide day advanced notice Requesting a specific hotel which is not a promotional offer Requesting a specific Airline which is not a promotional offerThis document has been copied, highlighted and included for your convenienceUnfortunately at this point with all of the following information provided we cannot grant *** *** request for a refundWe see no evidence that *** *** could have possibly not known about the promotion and if there was any confusion *** *** could have contacted our customer service department for further explanationOnce *** *** sent in her "Booking Information Needed" form to be processed and we sent *** *** the codes to book her vacation with her booking company on 6/17/she was no longer eligible for a refundThis information was also stated on the same "Booking Information Needed Form" that *** *** signed and returned to our company on 6/4/2015, it states the following: "Once travel documents and booking codes are ordered and purchased by the Travel Center at your request, there cannot be any refunds of any fees collected by the Travel Center.” This information has also been highlighted on the included document for your convenience.Once again, at this time we unfortunately can provide no refund for *** ***, this means that at this time our business with *** *** is concludedWe have performed all duties that we are obligated to perform by sending *** *** the codes to use to book with the booking company, at this time if she has any further questions she must first close this complaintAt the time the complaint is closed the hold will be taken from her file so that she may be provided assistanceOnce this action is completed *** *** may call the customer service line at *** or she may email Info TravelCenter@***.com to have any desires questions answeredSincerely, The Travel Center Staff

--------- Forwarded message ----------From: *** Date: Fri, Jul 31, at 11:AMSubject: Re: You have a new message from the Revdex.com of Metro Washington DC & Eastern Pennsylvania in regards to your complaint #***.To: "***" Dear Revdex.com,The Travel Center has paid me a portion of my refund $Thank you for your help in this matter regarding complaint ID #***.Thank you*** ***

August 17th, 2015Dear *** ***,After reading the letter that *** *** has sent to your office we have the following response to the issues that have beenbrought up.As we read through the letter from *** *** it seems that unfortunately we cannot address the issues that she has broughtforth
including her desired outcomeUnfortunately *** *** has not paid the Travel Center any fundsAt this time the onlyassistance that could be provided to *** *** would be information on the company that she has paid so that she may contact thempertaining to a refundTo give *** *** this information this case must first be closed so that our customer service department mayassist herPlease be sure to have *** *** first close this case against our company and contact the customer service line at *** so that she may be assisted.Sincerely,The Travel Center Staff

In going over the complaint that *** *** has submitted we here at the Travel Center have the following information to provide. *** ***'s entire complaint seems to be based on the fact that he feels he was told from the beginning of his process that his vacation
was only supposed to cost a certain amount and/or be freeUnfortunately this is not the case and from the beginning of the process starting with out company our documentation supports this by stating that *** *** will be responsible for multiple fees as well as any surcharges for not following the promotionOn multiple occasions *** *** has been told that he needs to contact the company he purchased his package from because we here at the Travel Center do not promise free or specifically priced vacations, we are not even a booking companyOur job at the Travel Center is to take information from the customer and direct them to the proper booking company to provide a quote for the vacation and specifics that the customer has asked for, we have completed this obligationOn 4/9/*** *** filled out and signed his "Booking information Needed" form supporting all of the information given to him and stating that he knew not only that we here at The Travel Center are not responsible for anything any other company has told him, nor is his vacation free and that he knew once the documentation was returned and he was sent to the booking company that no refunds were going to be providedThe Booking information needed form specifically states the following:"The Signature below confirms that the information provided is correctOnce travel documents and booking codes are ordered and purchased by the Travel Center at your request, there cannot be any refunds of any fees collected by the Travel Center."The Travel Center is not responsible for any advertisement of the product that you purchased or written and verbal agreements made by the company you purchased it fromIf you have any questions about the package please call that company.""All vacations and pricing are subject to change without notice prior to confirmed booking."(This document has been attached for convenience)After this document was signed and returned by *** *** he was sent the information to proceed to his booking company on 4/16/2015, we see in the complaint that he stated he did sent in the fee to begin the finalization of the booking process with his booking companyAt this time *** *** has used our services by continuing on with the booking companyUnfortunately, due to the fact that *** *** has signed documentation with all of the Travel Center terms and conditions and that he did sign stating he understood once the documentation was sent to him to book with the booking company was sent by our company that no refunds would be provided, we cannot provide a refund to *** ***This is an unfortunate situation but as stated in the documentation, any issue with the promotion must be discussed with the company that provided that promotion, not our company

August 11th, 2015Regarding the letter of complaint and rejection sent from *** *** I have the following response after reading its contents.In reading through the contents of the rejection letter it seems at this time *** *** has not asked any questions for our company to answer nor has he stated any information that we have not responded to within the previous response to his initial complaintAt this time we feel as though we have nothing further to say so unfortunately we have no response to this later and ask that *** *** simply reads our previous response to the initial complaint.Thank you, The Travel Center Staff

July 10, 2015To Whom It May Concern;After reading and looking over all of the documentation provided as well as the letter that you have provided we are unfortunately very confusedReading over the letter in it's entirety from your office shows that *** *** is stating that her complaint has
been submitted due to the fact that The Travel Center has told her to submit $to get "free" airline and lodgingUnfortunately we state that we are highly confused about this because it does not make sense that at any point anyone would submit any funds of any kind for a "free" vacation.On the documentation that *** sent to our company for her activation it states the following: "Once your certificate has been activated you will receive an email confirmation link, along with booking instructions." Blow this it states the terms and conditions which say the following: "Travelers are responsible for government taxes, book, and activation feeTaxes and fees for the vacation are dependent on the length of the cruise or hotel stay and season of travel." This information shows that the information provided from the customer to the Travel Center states specifically that the vacation is not free and that *** *** will be responsible for more than just the activation feeThis information is again re-worded in the activation confirmation that *** *** received the same day that her activation fee was received and processedThe document that *** *** received, filled out and returned to our company to be processed is called the “Booking Information Needed" form and states the following, "All vacations and pricing are subject to change without notice prior to confirmed booking." At this point, this also states that you will be responsible for funds, so once again we here at the Travel Center would have no idea what "free" vacation *** *** is referring toBoth of these documents have been copied highlighted for your convenience.Unfortunately *** *** is stating that we are asking her for $On 7/6/*** *** contacted us regarding this information and a customer service agent that was assisting her informed her that we have no idea what she was referring toThe only information that we have sent since the return of the "Booking information needed" form would be the email sending *** *** to the booking companyWithin this email she is to send a $deposit to the booking company so that the booking company may book the vacation she is requesting, without this deposit sent to the booking company she cannot contact them and they will not know that she exists because she is not yet a customerWe contacted the booking company, *** *** has not done this therefor the booking company has not contacted herThis means that as we stated to *** *** on 7/6/we have no idea what the $is that she is referring to, at this time she threatened to contact you and our representative let her know that until the complaint is closed we can no longer assist herThis is company policy after a threat against the company is made.At this time, we are willing to in good faith towards pleasing *** *** offer a partial refund to her because it seems that she is highly confused and even though she has been provided with two different documents stating that funds will be required she is somehow under the impression that the vacation is to be freeThe partial refund we are willing to offer would be a $partial refund out of the $that was sent to our companyAt this time we feel in no way are we obligated to refund *** *** at all due to the "Booking Information Needed" document that she filled out, signed and returned stating the following: "Once travel documents and booking codes are ordered and purchased by the Travel Center at your request, there cannot be any refunds of any fees collected by the Travel Center" and by our company sending the email on 6/26/that included *** ***'s login information to the website to begin booking with her booking company, we have fulfilled our obligation.If *** *** wishes to take advantage of the partial refund being offered please have her email our refund department at TCWCustomerServices@***.com referencing that she accepts the partial refund offered in the Revdex.com correspondence.Sincerely, The Accounting Office

Here is a letter from them continuing the scam suggesting I give them even more money for changing hotel, airfare, and flights that have never been provided They want victims to believe they are a separate an independent agency, and claim they are unaware of any prior transactions with there various "Front" groups: *** *** ***, ***, and *** *** *** Vacation Reservation CenterYour representative is *** Request For New QuoteWe understand that sometimes you need to make a change in plansChanges in dates or hotel, air flights or destination can be done for you for just a small administrative fee of $Once your fee is received and your check or money order has cleared our bank we will email you your confirmation within five business days so that you may re-submit your quote. First Name: _______________________ MI: ____ Last Name: ___________________________________ Address: ______________________________________________________________________________ City: ______________________________________ State: _________ Zip Code: ____________________ Email: ________________________________ Day Phone: ____________________________ Night Phone: _____________________________________ Vacation Destination: _________________________________ Travel Date: _________________________ Reason for New Quote: ________________________________________________________________________________...⇄ agree and acknowledge that I understand the terms and conditions of the offer given to me as posted on the Travel Site. Sign_______________________________________________Date_____________ Please make your check payable to:*** *** *** *** *** ***Clarksburg, MD ***

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: I was told by your paid customer service representative on different occasions that I was to receive free days nights hotel stayThis is a scamI sent in $188 and all they did was refer me to a real travel agencyPlease dot not send this company any money, it was a total scam meant to prey and on the disabled and the elderlyI found out this Company has done this many times to other people again THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM DONT SEND THEM YOUR MONEY
Regards,
*** ***

After reading the letter that Ms*** has sent to your office we have the following response to the issues that have been brought up.It seems that the first issue being brought up has something to do with advertising and a phone number and customer Service agent that is not our own
Unfortunately, due to the fact that we here at the Travel Center do not sell or advertise any product which is does state on our documentation we cannot assist with any information, questions or complaints pertaining to such mattersMs*** would need to contact the company that did advertise the product to her in order to file a complaint with that company, we cannot answer on behalf of another company.The next issue that can be read on the complaint that Ms*** has submitted seems to be that she requested a refund and never received the response that the refund department sent to her, unfortunately due to the fact that the refund Ms*** requested was responded to on 5/6/via email and our customer service department was not contacted by Ms*** pertaining to the issue until 8/10/we really cannot state anymore towards the issue except that on that same day 8/10/the refund department was contacted and instructed to re-forward the previously sent response to the customer and to the email that was Submitted to us by the customerUnfortunately it seems that this complaint was filed previous to Ms*** calling and having our customer Service department contact the refund department to have the request response re-sent to herDue to this fact that would be why Our Customer Service department constantly let Ms*** know that unfortunately until this complaint is closed and until we receive something in writing stating that no legal nor negative action will be taken against our company, the customer service department could not assist herIt is company policy that if there is an open complaint against the Travel Center that the customer service and refund departments cannot assist a customer until that complaint is resolved and closedOnce the complaint is closed the departments may resume contact with the customer and assist in all of the customers needs.At this time we see that Ms*** is still requesting her full refund, in order to close this matter We will be more than happy to do soPlease have Ms*** first close the complaint, after this is completed she may email the refund department at *** accepting the full refund and referencing this complaintThe refund will be processed and at that time our business will be concluded with Ms***Sincerely,The Travel Center Staff

August 11th, 2015Regarding the letter of complaint sent from *** *** I have provided the following documents with information attached to answer all of the complaints she has referencedWith this information I will do my best to assist with this complaint.In reading over the complaint from ***
*** it seems that the only issue he is having would be that he feels We here at the Travel Center are not willing to answer his questions in order to book his vacationAt this time in regards to this claim all that can be said is an apology that *** *** feels this way because currently there are pages of notes regarding conversations from different representatives speaking to *** ***We can only deduce that the reason at this time *** *** feels he is not begin assisted is because during the last conversation held with *** *** he said that he would be contacting you as well as an attorney So we let him know that due to this information all future contact must be held through either your organization or the attorney that he plans on gettingUntil the time of this contact his file was to be put on hold so that the issues at hand could be resolved, this may be what he is referencing.Previous to this conversation held *** *** sent in his activation and he was sent the information in order to book his vacationAt this time aside from any questions *** *** may have had pertaining to booking his vacation the Travel Center had and has no further responsibilities in regards to *** ***'s vacation, our job here at the Travel Center is to send *** *** to a booking company that can book his vacationThis had been done and to our knowledge *** *** received documents from the booking company to do so.*** *** wishes to resolve this matter by receiving the funds paid to the Travel Center backUnfortunately at this time this request cannot be granted due to the documents *** *** has signed showing that he knew the process and the promotional vacations restrictionsThis document has been included and highlighted for your convenienceThe document that *** *** signed and returned to our company on 3/26/states the following: "Once Travel documents and booking codes are ordered and purchased by the Travel Center at your request, there cannot be any refunds of any fees collected by the Travel Center...”This information clearly states our refund policy once the document that he returned is sent to our company for the process to be continued and those documents to be sent to *** *** so that he may book his vacationWe are sorry that we cannot assist *** *** any further.Sincerely, The Travel Center Staff

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:
There is nothing else to be done with this complaint, although I am not satisfied with the response The Travel Center referred me to *** *** ***, which is where I mailed our $deposit They are the "processing center," according to The Travel Center The two businesses share the same address, and are, I think, part of the same business operation The Travel Center uses advertising to get travelers to think they can receive the free airline tickets I already indicated what that advertising was in my earlier complaint Then the traveler sends in the deposit to *** *** *** Once the quote for the price of the tickets has been made, which is in fact the same price as one can find online, the deposit will not be returned I had emailed *** *** ***, as directed in the letter The Travel Center sent to you, and *** *** responded with an answer saying that they would not return the deposit because we had already received our quote for the price of the tickets They are correct in that this "no-return"policy is stated on the form we completed with our deposit So we will not have our deposit returned, but our complaint is more about the operating policies of these two entities than it is the loss of the moneyThey conveniently are two businesses operating as one, so that the Travel Center can then refer complaints to *** *** *** *** had complaints about these businesses the last time I looked, and I noticed that there were other business names used in association with The Travel Center, as well as other locations for *** ***, so my conclusion is that there are a number of complicated business set-ups to lure travelers into these schemes.I consider this issue closed, so perhaps I should have checked "accept the response." I checked the other reply because the whole response, and that of *** *** is such an unacceptable business response and procedure Thank you for your time in this matter
Regards,
*** ***