Picasso Travel

I sought to change a name on a Jetline (JT Holiday Group) boking passenger list with Picasso flights via Jetline email. The email printed on every booking confirmation document was invalid; but the email did not bounce back as undeliverable. Rather, I received messages stating that thecompany aimed to respond within 72 hours. This went on for weeks. No matter how many times I emailed, a response never came.

I also could not call Jetline, the company that booked the Picasso flights, as the booking confirmation documents listed only an England telephone number and I live in and booked the trip from the US. Every time I tried to call, I was told the number was unable to complete my call. No correct instructions on how to contact the UK company from the US were printed on booking documents. When finally connected (I had to change my cell phone plan to call the only available telephone # for customer service) , the Jetline representative said that if wanted to change the name on the Picasso flights, I had to speak with Edward, and Edward is unavailable. Call back later.

I did call back, day after day. I was repeatedly told that Edward was sick and to try to call back tomorrow. At no time did a representative of the company call me back.

I I tried to reach Edward daily for nearly 2 weeks, with no success. Still repeatedly told that only Edward could change the booking.

In reality, Edward was away from the office for multiple weeks with some pancreas issue. Again, I was never told he would have an extended absence, and I was blocked from making the passenger change with anybody BUT Edward. Where is Edward? I began to believe that Edward had quit, or perhaps died, or that the company wasn’t real at all.

Edward finally returned to the office. He did not contact me. I contacted Jetline for what felt like the hundredth time and was connected. I sought to change a name on my Picasso flight.

We are now well into September, and I started this process during the second week of August. Edward charged me $700 (which posted to my bank account immediately) to change a single name, and booked two completely new flights to and from Rome, instead of just changing one passenger name. When he asked me to approve these flights, he did not send me a document but a heavily cropped screen shot. I had to use my fingers and scroll left to right to read all the information from my cell phone. By receiving this information in such an illegible way, I overlooked the fact that my outgoing flight had been completely changed and was now set to arrive in Rome at 11:50 am on Day 2 of our 6 night vacation, instead of the original 7:00am arrival time. I elevated our complaint to the department supervisor, Rose. At this point, I was in tears and honestly believed I was putting my 78 year old mother in danger for traveling with this company. Rose told me to stop crying and to drink a glass of water. Twice over the past month I’ve been told to calm down and drink a glass of water. She then said she would make all possible efforts to get us on a flight that arrived in Rome earlier, to allow us more time to see the city. We are traveling in November. Attractions will close, nightfall comes early, and an 11:50 arrival time virtually takes away one complete day of sightseeing. Rose never called me back and never sent a personal email.

Instead, yesterday I received a generic email from the admin team with correct names for my Picasso flight but still with the 11:50 arrival time. I attempted to reply to this email and received a bounce back message that this email is inactive.

I will absolutely never book with Jetline again, and I will post this review everywhere I possibly can. I also hold very strong reservations about booking anything with Picasso flights, the flight consolidator assigned to our travel package booking through Travelzoo and Jetline, because once I started having challenges with Jetline regarding my Picasso flights, I checked online review sites and was devastated to find review after review from customers vowing never to book with Jetline again. I will definitely research Picasso’s reputation as well. What criteria has Travelzoo been using to vet its suppliers Jetline and Picasso?

I’m exhausted and discouraged. This should have been an easy trip. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

If anyone uses this company they will be considered crazy. They bait you and then screw you
The customer service is the world worst...
DON" DO IT!

Review: I feel that I was overcharged by $579.90 by [redacted], a travel agent who works for Picasso Travel in New York City. She charged my daughter and me $750 for a flight change from Moscow, then resisted, for over two weeks, providing an invoice for the high cost. [redacted] claimed to have provided an invoice to my daughter, when she did not. She was repeatedly rude and avoided communicating by leaving on an 11-day vacation without warning me ahead of time, though we were in the middle of emailed negotiations over the invoice. She avoided answering my questions about how much her agent's fee was, what [redacted] penalty was for a flight change, and the pre- and post-tax costs of the original and new flights. I contacted Picasso Travel at least 3 times in an effort to get their help in obtaining the requested invoice and information. I also wanted proof that the amounts charged us were justified. [redacted]'s prices quoted kept changing, starting with the first amount of $2315 for the post-tax price of the new ticket, which eventually went down to $1737.10 (post-tax) on an invoice I finally received. This was actually about $75 than the price listed on the [redacted] website, so even [redacted]'s lowest price was higher than [redacted]'s price. When I finally received as much of an invoice as I was going to get, the very small print did not seem to match the dates and prices that would have gone with the flight my daughter came home on. Staff at Picasso Travel, [redacted] and [redacted], were not helpful, and kept referring the issue back to [redacted]. [redacted] stated that the documents could not be altered and that [redacted]'s numbers looked good. He made errors in both of these statements, which showed that he was supporting [redacted] and really not looking at the situation with a critical eye. I felt that I would get no honest documentation out of [redacted], and no help from Picasso Travel, and there was no recourse but to take my complaint elsewhere.Desired Settlement: I would like a refund of the amount that my daughter was overcharged, which I estimate to be $579.90 = $2315 - $1737.10, the initial and final amounts that [redacted] quoted as after-tax ticket prices for the new return ticket. I also think that [redacted] should be investigated for dishonest business practices, as indicated by her strong resistance to providing an invoice to a customer. I also wonder about the legitimacy of the way she and Picasso Travel operate as ticket consolidators.

Business

Response:

October **, 2013

Dear [redacted],

I would like to let you know that we have relieved your letter dated on October **, 2013 regarding the customer complaint, under assigned ID Number: [redacted].

With this opportunity, we would like to inform you about the history of the case and the actions taken in chronological order.

But before doing so, let us introduce Picasso Travel in brief. Picasso Travel is a Ticket/Tour Consolidator for agencies across the United States and through our sister companies for those across the world. With high and professional services, we have been serving the travel industry for more than 30 years. Although we do have retail customers, please note that 90 % of our businesses comes from travel agencies around the US and beyond. One of the agencies we do deal with is [redacted] TRAVEL ([redacted],owner, at ###-###-####) who does buy her airline tickets from Picasso Travel for her direct costumers.

History in brief:

1 - Back on MAY **, 2013, we did issue one ticket to passenger: [redacted] for travel on ** JUL - ** AUG - 2013 - JFK-SVO-JFK on [redacted] ([redacted]).

2- After Departure but before return date, passenger called for the return date change of her ticket for From August ** TO August **, 2013. Due to high fare difference as well as Airline Penalty and [redacted] and PICASSO travel service fees, [redacted] (Owner of [redacted]) disclosed the information of the costs and advised passenger that she needed to have confirmation from her mother before she could have done any exchange.

3- As such; she received the conformation from her mother on Aug **, 2013 stating:

-----------------

Dear [redacted],

My daughter, [redacted], asked me to email you to say that I am her mother and that I authorize a charge to her credit card for about $700. This seems high for a flight change, and I am wondering why it is so high. Please email me before you charge the amount, or call me at ###-###-####.

[redacted] (NUMBER CLEARED FOR THIS LETTER)

---------------

4- After the corresponding, [redacted] e-mailed [redacted] at [redacted] TRAVEL again and approving:

Dear [redacted],

[redacted] gave me more info. on why the flight change is so expensive, and I approve up to a maximum of $800 on her credit card for the flight change.

Thanks.

-----------------

5- With this confirmation,. she did the exchange and disclose the breakdown as:

575.00 fare difference) + ( 100.00 airline exchange penalty) + (75.00 Agency service fee) = 750.00 USD in total

[redacted] later sent her the copies of the ticket and exchange forms with all the breakdown on them upon [redacted] requests. (If you need, we would be happy to share the same [redacted] coupons with you as we did to her.)

----------------

6- Once passenger returned to the States. [redacted] started sending e-mails after e-mails to [redacted] ([redacted] TRAVEL) and later to Picasso Travel (ticket issuing agency) and claiming that she searched online therefore the fare difference between old and new dates should have not been as high as she wad been given. Moreover, she started to ask some form of refund on the exchange portion of the tkt.

7- Despite the fact that we advised her numerously that the way she constructs her e-mails, the way she accuses [redacted] and us (at some point) are not acceptable, she continued to e-mail and at some point was harassing [redacted] on her e-mails for the partial refund of the exchange penalty.(All the e-mails are with us and if you need, we can disclose all of them to you.)

8 -Although it is not our part of services, in order to satisfy her that we are not the one but the airline who is keeping the exchange penalty and the fare difference, and in order to proof that subject authorized exchange action was in fact done correctly, we obtained e-mail from Airline and disclosed it to [redacted] on September **, 2013. Ailrine e-mail quotes "You did exchange ticket properly" (If you like we can also provide that e-mail to your review.)

After the story above, we would like to inform you that [redacted] Travel followed the steps on the book as it supposed to be and did not do any exchange action without written authorization, and did the exchange correctly and informed passenger accordingly.

If you need further information, we would be happy to assist you at any time. Please feel free to contact me should you need any more information about the subject complaint.

Best,

Tel: ###-###-####

Fax: [redacted]

Business

Response:

October **, 2013

Dear [redacted],

I would like to let you know that we have relieved your letter dated on October **, 2013 regarding the customer complaint, under assigned ID Number: [redacted].

With this opportunity, we would like to inform you about the history of the case and the actions taken in chronological order.

But before doing so, let us introduce Picasso Travel in brief. Picasso Travel is a Ticket/Tour Consolidator for agencies across the United States and through our sister companies for those across the world. With high and professional services, we have been serving the travel industry for more than 30 years. Although we do have retail customers, please note that 90 % of our businesses comes from travel agencies around the US and beyond. One of the agencies we do deal with is [redacted] TRAVEL ([redacted],owner, at ###-###-####) who does buy her airline tickets from Picasso Travel for her direct costumers.

History in brief:

1 - Back on MAY **, 2013, we did issue one ticket to passenger: [redacted] for travel on ** JUL - ** AUG - 2013 - JFK-SVO-JFK on [redacted] ([redacted]).

2- After Departure but before return date, passenger called for the return date change of her ticket for From August ** TO August **, 2013. Due to high fare difference as well as Airline Penalty and [redacted] and PICASSO travel service fees, [redacted] (Owner of [redacted]) disclosed the information of the costs and advised passenger that she needed to have confirmation from her mother before she could have done any exchange.

3- As such; she received the conformation from her mother on Aug **, 2013 stating:

-----------------

Dear [redacted],

My daughter, [redacted], asked me to email you to say that I am her mother and that I authorize a charge to her credit card for about $700. This seems high for a flight change, and I am wondering why it is so high. Please email me before you charge the amount, or call me at ###-###-####.

[redacted] (NUMBER CLEARED FOR THIS LETTER)

---------------

4- After the corresponding, [redacted] e-mailed [redacted] at [redacted] TRAVEL again and approving:

Dear [redacted],

[redacted] gave me more info. on why the flight change is so expensive, and I approve up to a maximum of $800 on her credit card for the flight change.

Thanks.

-----------------

5- With this confirmation,. she did the exchange and disclose the breakdown as:

575.00 fare difference) + ( 100.00 airline exchange penalty) + (75.00 Agency service fee) = 750.00 USD in total

[redacted] later sent her the copies of the ticket and exchange forms with all the breakdown on them upon [redacted] requests. (If you need, we would be happy to share the same [redacted] coupons with you as we did to her.)

----------------

6- Once passenger returned to the States. [redacted] started sending e-mails after e-mails to [redacted] ([redacted] TRAVEL) and later to Picasso Travel (ticket issuing agency) and claiming that she searched online therefore the fare difference between old and new dates should have not been as high as she wad been given. Moreover, she started to ask some form of refund on the exchange portion of the tkt.

7- Despite the fact that we advised her numerously that the way she constructs her e-mails, the way she accuses [redacted] and us (at some point) are not acceptable, she continued to e-mail and at some point was harassing [redacted] on her e-mails for the partial refund of the exchange penalty.(All the e-mails are with us and if you need, we can disclose all of them to you.)

8 -Although it is not our part of services, in order to satisfy her that we are not the one but the airline who is keeping the exchange penalty and the fare difference, and in order to proof that subject authorized exchange action was in fact done correctly, we obtained e-mail from Airline and disclosed it to [redacted] on September **, 2013. Ailrine e-mail quotes "You did exchange ticket properly" (If you like we can also provide that e-mail to your review.)

After the story above, we would like to inform you that [redacted] Travel followed the steps on the book as it supposed to be and did not do any exchange action without written authorization, and did the exchange correctly and informed passenger accordingly.

If you need further information, we would be happy to assist you at any time. Please feel free to contact me should you need any more information about the subject complaint.

Best,

Tel: ###-###-####

Fax: [redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

[redacted], working in conjunction with Picasso Travel, is charging my family for the change of the return flight ticket according to the following formula:

RETAIL price of the new ticket MINUS WHOLESALE price of the original ticket.

The problem is that [redacted] was paid a RETAIL price for the original ticket when the [redacted] paid her from the money that we had paid them. It is standard in the industry for wholesale ticket prices to be raised when being sold to a customer, thus making them retail prices.

By charging me based on the formula above, she is making a second profit on a ticket on which she already made a profit.

IF the documents that she has provided are genuine, which I question because of her evasive and hostile behavior throughout the transaction, she should be providing the document that shows the amount that was paid to her and/or Picasso Travel from [redacted] using my family’s money. If Picasso Travel is a reputable company, then they will insist that [redacted] provide that documentation. [redacted] has shown, however, that she is on a first-name basis with many of the people who ‘verified’ the documents she has provided. I feel that she and the [redacted] have a mutually profitable arrangement that they don’t want to lose, and I am concerned about whether accurate documentation will be provided that shows the actual retail amount that was paid for the original ticket.

The formula that should be used in making an exchange for a customer is:

Price change = New RETAIL price MINUS old RETAIL price.

I would like Picasso travel to recalculate the price change of the ticket based on this formula, and refund the amount that we were overcharged. If it is a reputable company, then they will have accurate documents showing the original transaction, and they will hold their agents to the ethical and professional standards of the travel industry in the United States.

By the way, I have concluded that Picasso Travel is indeed the company that is responsible for this transaction, as the company their representative mentioned in their response to the complaint, [redacted] Travel, was not mentioned by anyone until after the Revdex.com was contacted. [redacted] and [redacted] presented the travel arrangements as being handled by Picasso Travel, and that company did not deny it when I asked about it in my email to their customer service department.

[redacted]

Sincerely,

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

[redacted], working in conjunction with Picasso Travel, is charging my family for the change of the return flight ticket according to the following formula:

RETAIL price of the new ticket MINUS WHOLESALE price of the original ticket.

The problem is that [redacted] was paid a RETAIL price for the original ticket when the [redacted] paid her from the money that we had paid them. It is standard in the industry for wholesale ticket prices to be raised when being sold to a customer, thus making them retail prices.

By charging me based on the formula above, she is making a second profit on a ticket on which she already made a profit.

IF the documents that she has provided are genuine, which I question because of her evasive and hostile behavior throughout the transaction, she should be providing the document that shows the amount that was paid to her and/or Picasso Travel from [redacted] using my family’s money. If Picasso Travel is a reputable company, then they will insist that [redacted] provide that documentation. [redacted] has shown, however, that she is on a first-name basis with many of the people who ‘verified’ the documents she has provided. I feel that she and the [redacted] have a mutually profitable arrangement that they don’t want to lose, and I am concerned about whether accurate documentation will be provided that shows the actual retail amount that was paid for the original ticket.

The formula that should be used in making an exchange for a customer is:

Price change = New RETAIL price MINUS old RETAIL price.

I would like Picasso travel to recalculate the price change of the ticket based on this formula, and refund the amount that we were overcharged. If it is a reputable company, then they will have accurate documents showing the original transaction, and they will hold their agents to the ethical and professional standards of the travel industry in the United States.

By the way, I have concluded that Picasso Travel is indeed the company that is responsible for this transaction, as the company their representative mentioned in their response to the complaint, [redacted] Travel, was not mentioned by anyone until after the Revdex.com was contacted. [redacted] and [redacted] presented the travel arrangements as being handled by Picasso Travel, and that company did not deny it when I asked about it in my email to their customer service department.

[redacted]

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted], good morning,