The Mark Travel Corporation

Review: Booked an All inclusive vacation. Did not receive anything that was supposed to be included, were treated poorly by staff, harassed by staff, entire group got sick (some so bad they went to hospital for weight loss), and were lied to. The resort staff forged our signatures and filled out comment cards saying we loved the stay, and gave everything perfect reviews. We were told since they have these cards, they will not be issuing us a refund.

Have been harassed by the Mark travel customer service team that are supposed to be "getting us our refund"

I have documents for proof upon request.Desired Settlement: Along with an apology, we want a refund for the resort fees. We are willing to take the loss on the airfare costs if they pay back for the resort costs. This is a small price for them to pay after what we have gone through.

Business

Response:

Revdex.com of Wisconsin

Review: I booked a vacation for my parents for their anniversary last year. After talking with them I found out that the dates did not work so I canceled the trip and made a new one for a later date. It was well within the 24 hr period but for some reason southwest vacations told me that it was 5 hours late so they would only hold it for another vacation package. So fast forward to a couple weeks ago when I called back to set up a new vacation for me, my wife and 2 children they told me it was with the airline not them and I only had a month to book and use it. I then called the airline which transferred it back to southwest vacations. I then tried to make a reservation on line but was unable to. I called in and started the process over the phone then they told me it had to be for the same people. I proceeded to tell them that's not what I was told a year ago or when I called back before calling the airlines. They told me I had to call back at another time to verify. When I called back they put everything in the computer but then said it would be $800.00 more than the package I was pulling up on the website. When I questioned her about it she said prices could vary. So she told me to call back on Monday which is today. A man ([redacted] out of [redacted]) that was talking to me was the rudest guest service person I ever spoke with and said that there is nothing they can do. I asked to speak with a supervisor he said he would get one and after holding for about 30 minutes he came back and said they were just crediting the credit card that has already been paid off for a year. Then hung up. I called them back and have been holding for another 20 minutes so far waiting to talk to a supervisor.. After holding another 30 minutes rep came back to tell me that it will be a long hold and to call back after 6.Desired Settlement: I would at the least like an apology and the credit that is there to go toward my vacation.

Business

Response:

Review: We booked a trip to Mexico through Funjet Vacations. We had two rooms booked and one of the rooms was unlivable. It had a sewer smell that was so strong that it made you gag when you walked into the room. We called several times to have it fixed but nobody ever came. We did get one return call but they still didn't come. We were told the hotel was overbooked so they couldn't give us a new room.

Our package included transportation to and from the airport. We waited about an hour in the heat to be taken to our hotel. Returning to the airport was just as bad. Again, they were about an hour late. The hotel called twice to find out where they were. We were rushed through the airport as we almost missed our flight.

Three of the four of us ended up seeking medical attention to get medicine as the food made us sick.Desired Settlement: At a minimun, I feel we should recieve half of the cost of the trip back. That would be $2,665.66

Business

Response:

Revdex.com

Review: I booked a vacation on 4/8/15 and was forced to cancel the trip on 4/10/15. I was told I would be getting all my money back besides 250 dollars in fees charged which came to 1,122.57. I was informed I would receive the refund in 14-21 business days. On 5/11/15 (the 21 day deadline) I did not receive the refund. I then contacted them via email on 5/12 and was told by a customer service rep I would see the refund in a day or two. On 5/15/15 I still have not received a refund and my email follow up with the same rep has not been responded too as of this complaint. I have since filed a dispute with my credit card company and can produce entire email conversations with time stamps upon request.

Mark Travel failed to provide a refund within their own policy deadline. They also then told me I would receive a refund in a day or two which also was not done.Desired Settlement: My main concern is to the $1,122.57 that I am owed in a refund in which Mark Travel did not issue. I would of course like possibly the fee's waived since Mark Travel did not follow their own 14-21 business day policy as an apology due to the financial hardships this is beginning to cause.

Business

Response:

Review: On May 3rd, a group including myself took a trip to Cancun, Mexico through Mark Travel. Upon arrival, we saw that our hotel, the [redacted] was infested with bed bugs. After several hours of back and forth phone calls, we found a new hotel that we could stay. The agreement with the travel agency was that we would be refunded our first night's stay and the rest of the trip, the money we put into the first hotel would be transferred to the second. Additionally, we were promised a $245 refund for phone charges as it took several hours of out-of-country calls. As it was a weekend, we were told that the refunds would be placed back on the credit card we used on Monday. However, when we arrived back into the US, the refunds had still not been placed. We then called and emailed, multiple times back and forth to Mark Travel and were told multiple times by [redacted] that there were problems with Accounting and that there was a mistake on their part. It is now September and not only have our emails and phone calls been ignored and not returned, but we have STILL not been given the refund we were promised. I still have all the emails detailing these conversations.Desired Settlement: I want the refund I was promised on my credit card, $245 as well as the refund we were promised for the first night's stay of $1,346 on the credit card used for the second hotel stay. It has been 5 months with no resolution and we were promised a resolution the Monday after the incident. Now we are being ignored and they are keeping the extra $1,346 that was NOT to be used for the vacation.

Business

Response:

Revdex.com of Wisconsin

I booked a trip to Riviera Maya for my 25th wedding anniversary. I didn't realize when I booked my reservations for air and hotel that I was booking with a third party company. I had nothing but problems with my airfare portion of this reservation that ended up taking me over 7 hours on the phone with Mark Travel and American Airlines. I dealt with someone named Nahomie who was completely worthless on getting the issues resolved. I was unable to do online check in and had to talk with a supervisor at the airport going out and coming back because my reservation was so screwed up by this company. I only had 20 minutes to spare on my flight going out because it took so long to fix the issue and then coming home it took about 30 minutes plus a supervisor to straighten it out. I was never offered any type of discount to make up for this and never even got the issue resolved despite multiple calls and their flight team working on it. Mark Travel had the incorrect flight confirmation number on my documentation and the flight going out to Mexico didn't even show up. American did get me the correct confirmation and was able to put the flight details into my reservation. This was the worst customer service and travel experience we have ever had! I kept on getting the excuse from Mark Travel that they were not responsible for the issue but American was not the one who screwed up my reservations, name on the reservation plus confirmation number! It was Mark Travel. Totally worthless company! They ruined what was supposed to be a fabulous vacation for our 25th anniversary! I will never ever say anything positive about this company or book with them due to their horrible business practices!

Review: I purchased a vacation package for [redacted] sold by United Vacations in June, 2015. We were placed in deplorable conditions, and despite daily calls and visits to the heel's front desk and customer experience offices, and calls to United Vacation's locally subcontracted travel agency offices of [redacted] to resolve the issue I was unable to reach a [redacted] or anyone else who was able to resolve the issues. One of the rooms we were assigned, where my mother stayed had black mold covering the entire ceiling of the living area, and the second room where I, my husband, and our young child stayed had a malfunctioning air conditioner. Despite several attempts to fix the AC unit, the problem persisted and we woke several times every night to turn the unit on and off. Because the thermostat sensor malfunctioned the room would become unbearably cold when we left the unit on, or unbearably hot and smelly when we turned it off. I was told daily that someone would get back to me, and waited patiently while no resolution was offered. When I tried to leave the hotel I was told I would not be refunded, and would have to pay for other accommodations, which wasn't even possible since I was told all the hotels in the area were booked at the time, or pay for new airfare to return early, which my budget did not allow because of the expense of the original vacation package. Besides the issues of black mold, and a faulty AC unit, our stay was made unbearable by the almost daily construction noise in the wing where our rooms were located. For the duration of our stay my husband, my son, and I were sleep deprived, and unable to enjoy the daily activities. I was finally able to reach a [redacted] on the last full day of our stay after spending more than 2 hours waiting at the guest services office and away from my family. Although the manager was sympathetic, she did not offer any solutions and instead had an assistant call later to inform me that she booked a massage session for me at 1pm the following day, the exact time I told her we are scheduled to depart the hotel for the airport. When I returned home I sent a letter to the travel agency requesting a refund for the vacation package and after nearly a month I was offered a refund of the the fractional cost of the hotel stay. Our so-called vacation was a nerve-wracking, exhausting 10 days of sleep deprivation and frustration. I spent more time trying to reach someone in a number of management offices than enjoying my time time with my family. During our stay the [redacted] staff, United Vacations, and Lomas Tralve, and The Mark Travel Corporation after our stay, have not responded in a timely or satisfactory manner.Desired Settlement: A full refund

Business

Response:

Thank you for forwarding Ms.

[redacted]’s complaint to my attention. I

am sorry she remains unhappy with our decision. However, as we have replied to her on multiple occasions and offered her

a refund of 65% of her hotel stay, we do not feel it necessary to address this

again. We have advised Ms. [redacted] that

the $2700.00 refund is our final offer. Sincerely,UNITED VACATIONS[redacted]

I tried booking a vacation package through southwest vacations, which turned out to be through Mark Travel. They declined my card and said they lost all the information regarding to my trip. I checked my bank account and found that they actually did charge my bank account. After spending a total of over 8 hours on the phone between the bank, southwest, and Mark travel, I was informed that there was nothing they could do because they didn't save my information. It took a total of 5 days for the charges to be put back into my account. On the first day I asked what I needed to about my flight and hotel, [redacted] informed me I would just have to re-book my vacation package, only I had to wait 5 days for the funds to be available. Waiting only one day had already caused the price to jump $80. I requested they offer me the same rate once my money was refunded. This was not an option. They offered me absolutely no help. Once the money was put back into my account I then attempted to book the same package now the price had jumped $250. I went to submit the order and it said an error had occurred, I called immediately while I still had the screen pulled up. After being transferred a total of 6 times no one was able to offer me this new rate. I even sent a screen shot with the price to them. After all the time and awful customer service I decided to go elsewhere to book my vacation.

Review: [redacted] with [redacted] did not forward our money to Funjet to secure of trip. I contacted Funjet to receive an email stating our trip was cancelled due to monies not being paid. I spoke with a supervisor named Sarah who refused to assist me. She stated Funjet never received the funds. We know they never did. We need a official document stating that to send to our bank. Without it our stolen funds won't be recovered.Desired Settlement: An email stating why our trip was cancelled.

Business

Response:

Revdex.com of Wisconsin

Review: Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to express my frustration with a recent experience I had (and continue to have) with Southwest vacations.

On August 29th I booked a vacation package to [redacted] through Southwest vacations. The trip was to take place September 28th thru October 3rd (Confirmation #[redacted]).

Unfortunately on September 15 hurricane Odile hit [redacted] pretty badly leaving not only the hotel but the airport unusable for an extended period of time.

After speaking with a customer service rep.I was offered a couple of options to either reschedule our travel plans, travel to a different location offered by the hotel or cancel for a full refund given the extraordinary events.

Since none of the travel options worked for us we opted to cancel the package. This was communicated and processed by your staff on Sept 18. I was informed that it would take UP TO 20 business days to process the cancellation and issue the refund in full.

December 3rd marks 55 business days after the booking was cancelled and I still have not received the corresponding refund in full. After contacting SW Vacations a number of times I was issued a partial refund covering only the "land" portion of the package. They informed me that the airline (Southwest) is delayed in processing the refund and that there isn't anything else they can do. Furthermore they advised that it is likely it will take 2 months to issue the refund (which now have come and gone).

Please help me straighten up this whole situation and expedite the refund.

Best regards,

Business

Response:

Revdex.com of Wisconsin

Review: I flew to [redacted] 2-3 weeks ago, I paid almost $600 for the flight, I got an hour delayed. Then when I came home from [redacted], they canceled my flight one time, they changed me to a different plane, they told me it's gonna be a direct flight from [redacted]( Georgia) to columbus(Ohio), but they stopped me at Chicago, and they put the wrong gate on my ticket, and my ticket said its the direct flights from [redacted] to Columbus, and an hour delayed too. I was stuck at the airport since 5:00am til 3:35pm I want a refund, cuz I'm not paying that much money for a crappie service.

Business

Response:

I am sorry that Ms. [redacted] had an unacceptable experience on her recent trip to [redacted]. Unfortunately, I am unable to find a Southwest Airlines Vacations' package under her name. If she would be so kind as to provide the 8-digit/letter confirmation number ending in 04 or 4W, I would be happy to see how I can assist.

Sincerely,

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES VACATIONS

Operated by The Mark Travel Corporation

Beth R[redacted]

Review: I have the following charges on my credit card from Southwest Vacations. The 1st two were approved. The second two were never discussed with me.I paid for a Southwest Vacation for a Vacation from New Orleans to Las Vegas on 03/23/15 SOUTHWEST AIRLINES VCTNS ###-###-#### WI Travel/ Entertainment $1,057.93 I discovered a medical health issue and I will have surgery with a hip replacement in early Jun. My physician approved a vacation in the later part of August. I was charged 03/25/15 SOUTHWEST AIRLINES VCTNS ###-###-#### WI Travel/ Entertainment $59.29and also 03/27/15 SOUTHWEST AIRLINES VCTNS ###-###-#### WI Travel/ Entertainment $108.58 to accommodate this change.In fact,Southwest Vacation downgraded my Hotel Room after I asked to change to the hotel at Mandalay Bay since we were planning to see a Show at this Hotel. I will be in a Wheelchair and we are renting a car.Today I discovered the following,2 additional charges for "airfare changes". 05/12/15 [redacted] Travel/ Entertainment $82.02 05/12/15 [redacted] Travel/ Entertainment $82.02 x2 I spoke with a SW Representative because I could not get into my online reservation and the dates I saw on the site were incorrect.Itinerary: 08/04/2015 - 08/16/2015. My trip is from 5/12 - 8/16/2015. When I attempt to view the reservation I see the following-We apologize but this multi-party reservation cannot be retrieved here. Please contact customer service for further assistance. Reservation:[redacted] Status:Confirmed Depart:8/4/2015 Origin:New Orleans Destination: Las VegasI called SW vacations and their rep told me the charges did not originate from them. I called SW airlines and I was told the charges wee from airfare differences. At this point I have paid over $330 for the change to a less expensive hotel and the flights are almost identical to the ones the month before. I love SW Vacations however no one has been able to help me online from either SW Vacations or SW Airlines.Desired Settlement: Refund of $82.02 x 2 charges so $164.03 and the ability to see my actual reservation with the correct online. Reservation number [redacted]. When I click on view , I get the error message which I quoted above="-We apologize but this multi-party reservation cannot be retrieved here. Please contact customer service for further assistance."

Business

Response:

Review: When my vacation package was booked, I booked airfare at a specific time and chose seats for my family together. Return flight was changed without contacting me. No seats except those for upgrade charges were available on the rebooked flight. Called numerous times to try and fix. Finally canceled my reservation and then they advised that I should have waited to speak with their head of scheduling person. Manager was not helpful and was rude.Desired Settlement: I am also in the process of disputing the charge with my credit card company.

Business

Response:

Revdex.com of WisconsinAttn: Mr. [redacted]Re: ID [redacted] / [redacted] / Reservation [redacted]Dear Mr. [redacted],Thank you for your email regarding the complaint filed by Mrs. [redacted]. I am very sorry this customer is unhappy with our services. We want everyone to have an enjoyable experience with our company and I regret that was not the case for the [redacted] family.As much as I would like to advise you differently, schedule changes are an unfortunate part of air travel whether with United airlines or another carrier. Airlines are constantly revising flight schedules to conform to Air Traffic Control, gate and crew scheduling, Customs, foreign landing rights, and a variety of other factors. In the case of United Airlines, when they change a flight schedule, that information is transmitted to us electronically. After that, one of two things happens. If the new schedule is less than a three hour difference, it goes through our system and the flights are changed automatically. Our system then auto-generates a schedule change email to the customer. If the schedule change is more than three hours or has some odd connection it falls in to an Exception Queue and then a call is made to the customer or travel agent. Should a longer schedule change be unacceptable to a passenger we will attempt to find them new flights at the same cost. However, when the only flights available have an increased fare, the customer is responsible for paying that. Schedule changes can also affect seat assignments. Sometimes schedule changes include an aircraft swap or change to the seat configuration, or it may include moving passengers from one flight to another. All these things can affect seating so assignments may be done again as if they never existed previously. For this reason, we cannot guarantee that seat assignments will not change from the time the reservation is made to the time of travel. In the particular case of the [redacted] family, their return flight time was changed by one hour and nine minutes, two days after they booked. It also included a change of the flight numbers, which generally means either an aircraft swap occurred or United Airlines combined more than one flight. As I indicated previously, this can affect seating and it did for this family. Mrs. [redacted] called us after receiving her schedule change email because her family was no longer sitting together. We were unable to assist as there were no seats together for four people on the return. We advised her that she could try calling United Airlines to see if they could help her when we were not able to. Mrs. [redacted] requested a full refund of her deposit because of the seat assignments but we denied her request as we ticketed these passengers as soon as they made deposit and we have to pay United a non-refundable deposit on each ticket. As indicated in our online Terms and Conditions, United Vacations reserves the right, at any time, to substitute comparable alternate hotel accommodations, to alter or substitute vacation itineraries or to do both. Mrs. [redacted] agreed to those Terms and Conditions when she made her reservation on our website. That being the case, we are not offering a full refund of the deposit. However, I have been able to reduce it to $150.00 per person so I have authorized a refund of $200.00 to the Visa account used for payment. The cardholder should be able to verify the credit with their card provider in 6-8 business days. Thank you again for contacting us. Please let me know if you have any questions.Sincerely, UNITED VACATIONS[redacted]

Review: I first booked what I wanted to be a honeymoon/family vacation through Funjet vacations on April 16, 2014. I had one change that occurred on June 7, 2014 with our departure/arrival times. When we arrived at airport on July 15, 2014 for a 8:07 am departure we were then told it would be 11:30am to depart. At approx. 7:30am we were then told it would be 2:00pm before we would leave due to airline not having a flight crew. This was just the beginning of the nightmare. We finally got to [redacted] at approx 5:00pm and our transportation company ([redacted]) could not find our names due to late arrival. We finally got on bus heading to resort. Once we got to our resort Grand Palladium Riviera we were checked into our 4 rooms. My husband and I had requested a king size bed with honeymoon, the resort told us funjet had not included these requests with my reservation and the finger pointing between the resort and Funjet began with us being in the middle of it and suffering with these 2 businesses this began constant fighting for what we had paid for in April. We moved to 3 different rooms within a 24 hour period to get what I had requested when I made reservation in April. The AC didn't work properly in all the rooms, no working AC in the buffet or Ala carte restaurants during our whole stay. We were constantly on the phones when they worked complaining of no AC, no hot water, refrigerators not working or no daily servicing of rooms. We spent most of vacation fighting for what we bought and expected from what Funjet listed as a 4.5 star resort. The electricity went out 3 times at this resort, one time for 2 hours at night, we were in total darkness, no emergency lights, no announcement from hotel staff, no bottled water or crackers for guest. We lost my granddaughter for a short time due to the darkness, only light was from the guests cell phones at times. We had 4 small children and weren't able to eat till 10:00pm, some of us didn't get to eat cause they had to take children to room to go to bed. It was so hot in restaurants we were unable to enjoy our food and some of my family got sick. On the night of power outage we had no AC in rooms for the night nor working phones, one room had no water. We had small children in these rooms!! This was very unsafe and was a complete nightmare. The electricity went out a second time the following day and we had no water or AC. The resort had ceiling fans in lobby but they weren't on to help circulate the air so it was hot to sit in lobby areas. On our final day as we were getting ready, electric went out yet again so we were unable to shower or get ready for our departure. This was not a vacation at all. It was a nightmare and we were not able to enjoy ourselves and 3 of us got sick. I expect nothing less than a full refund from Funjet!!! This was the worst customer service I have ever received from Funjet, Aeromexico and Grand Palladium Resorts. Your company lied about this resort being 4.5 star. This was worse than a 2.0 star!! I'm giving you just a brief synopsis of our issues we suffered. We had to deal with multiple problems daily and were unable to enjoy ourselves and time with our kids and Grandkids!!!!!!!!!!!!!Desired Settlement: Completely refund my entire trip. This was a complete nightmare from travel to/from Resort and then our stay at the resort. I paid $8050.00. I expect a full refund or I will pursue legal counsel. I had 2 reservations due to having 11 people in my group!!

Business

Response:

Dear Mr. [redacted],

I apologize for the delay in replying but we are currently waiting for Grand Palladium to give us a report on what occurred with these clients. We will respond to both Ms. [redacted] and the Revdex.com as soon as we have completed our research.

Sincerely,

FUNJET VACATIONS

Business

Response:

[redacted]

Attention: Mr. [redacted]

Re: [redacted] / ID [redacted]

Dear Mr. [redacted],

As Ms. [redacted] was unhappy with our previous reply, we contacted Grand Palladium again on her behalf. While we cannot comply with her request for a full or 50% refund of her entire package, we have increased our offer to a 3 night per room hotel refund. Attached is a copy of the email that Ms. [redacted] was sent this morning.

Sincerely,

FUNJET VACATIONS

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

I have attached the 4 releases you requested to be signed so that we can get the agreed settlement that you extended to us last week. Again, there was only one credit card used to book this trip through Funjet. Please let me know if there is anything further you need to get this resolved and to be closure to this unpleasant experience for myself and my family.

Review: I purchased a trip through Mark Travel Company DBA Southwest Vacations . The next morning I was checking prices and I noticed that the price had gone down a significant amount.

That evening I called Southwest and was told I would need to call the Southwest Vacations department. I called but unfortunately they were closed. I then sent an email through the Southwest Airlines website explaining that per their policy I was due a refund. I was even willing to cancel my original ticket and rebook since it was within the 24 hour grace period.

I did receive an email from Mark Tarvel company(southwest vacations) many days later advising me that I was unable to qualify for a refund of the fare difference but instead I would be given a credit under their "Low fare promise guarantee".

A couple of hours later, I received a second email saying they had made a mistake and in fact I would NOT be given a refund OR a credit as they had made some sort of mistake and were relinquishing their offer. They advised me in the future to take a "screen shot" to prove the price went down. Nowhere on their website does it mention requiring the customer to do this. And in fact I was willing to cancel my ticket in order to get the lower fare, but how would I have been able to do that if their office was closed? This appears to be a flaw in their policy.

After that last email from them, I again stated my case and told them I would no longer be a customer after this and I explained I was at a minimum due a credit from them.

I have email records dating back from the original email I sent the day after we booked our tickets. I feel Mark travel company dba Southwest Vacations pulled a bait and switch on me and has refused to honor their policy. It's bad business practice.Desired Settlement: Ideally I would like a refund back in my original form of payment. If that is not an option I am willing to accept a credit.

Business

Response:

Revdex.com of Wisconsin

Review: We had planned a vacation to Las Vegas using Southwest Vacations traveling in March of 2012. Before our travel date we found the fare at a lower price ($179.23 per/p). I never received the credit back onto my credit card, however Southwest did issue two Travel Credit coupons valued at $179.23 each with a reservation code of [redacted]. In January 2013 I called to see if the coupons could be extended beyond the April 30, 2013 until August 2013. I was told they have no record of us in their computer system of ever using Southwest Vacations. I attempted to give them my Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards number to verify my travel when told that would not help at all. I was told there wasn’t much anyone could do since I wasn’t in the system. I recently called back in December and demanded my refund as it wasn’t my fault they couldn’t find my itinerary in their computer system. I explained I just wanted them to honor their agreement and as a consumer I didn’t want to lose $358.46. When I spoke with a [redacted], I had agreed to take another vacation using the balance within the next 90-120 days. [redacted] said she would explain this to a supervisor. Approximately two days later, [redacted] called me back and said her supervisor had approved this request. She went on to say a supervisor will call us with a coupon code within a day. After a period of approximately 3-4 days I didn’t receive a phone call, I called back and requested to speak with a supervisor.

I spoke with supervisor [redacted] who basically said since they couldn’t find any information in the system of my travels its didn’t happen regardless if I could prove rewards miles. This is when I found out Southwest Vacations (Mark Travels) is a third party and is not directly Southwest Airlines. I was able to scan and send the Southwest Travel Credit coupons to the supervisor [redacted]. Once she had an opportunity to review the documents, I simply asked that they honor them. She explained they had expired, in which they had. However, when I first attempted to ask for the extension the documents were binding. Nonetheless, it was Mark Travel who denied the validity of my coupons, my traveling with Southwest Vacations and not being found in their computer system.

[redacted] offered one coupon if I was ready at that moment to plan a trip. I requested some time to speak with my wife and to check my work schedule. This reasonable request was denied. When I asked for a refund of $358.23 as the low price guarantees this request was also denied.Desired Settlement: Refund of $358.23

Business

Response:

Revdex.com of Wisconsin

I booked a travel vacation with Southwest Airlines Vacations, which is a link under the Southwest Airlines website. Southwest Airlines Vacations debited my trip on 19 August 2014 for the amount of $1003.92. The travel entailed two flight tickets for my wife and I from San Diego, CA to Hartford, CT via Midway Airport on 2 October, staying a Clarion Hotel near the airport and returning back to San Diego on 4 October. The trip was to attend a family wedding. On 1 October the FAA cancelled all flights through Chicago and Milwakee in order to repair air traffic control equipment. I attempted to book another flight with Southwest Airlines on 2 October but, all airlines experienced delays. I promptly called Southwest Airlines Vacations to cancel my trip on 2 October and was told by a supervisor [redacted] that my trip would be refunded ($1003.92) in 15 to 20 days. On 18 October I contact [redacted] in customer service and inquired about my refend, [redacted] mentioned that the travel refunds department was closed and that I should call back between 8 am to 4 pm central time. I reside in San Diego, CA (PST). I contacted customer service representative [redacted] on 23 October and she mentioned that her records indicated that my refund was being processed and Southwest Airlines had not yet refunded my ticket costs. I contacted customer service representative [redacted] on 28 October and he checked my file to state that Southwest Airlines refunded my airline ticket and the hotel cost, my wife's ticket was not refunded. [redacted] stated he would get the oversight corrected and I should have my refund by Friday 31 October. I was sent an e-mail by [redacted] stating that Southwest Airlines was contacted and will refund for my wife's airline ticket, the initial amount of $585 would be credited back to my credit card on Friday 31 October. I checked my credit card account activity on 1 November and then again on 3 November, there was no sign of a credit begin sent to my crediat card account. I called on 3 November and spoke to customer service representative [redacted] to inquire about my vacation refund. [redacted] stated that my refund for $585 was being processed for credit back to my credit card on 30 October and it could take 5 to 7 business days to complete and that the file note stated that Southwest airlines was contacted to refund the remainder of my ticket costs to cover my wife. When I asked why the refund was taking so long, [redacted] stated that I could be subject to fees and taxes for cancellation, I asked to speak to [redacted] supervisor[redacted] stated that her supervisor, [redacted] had already left for the day it was 2 pm in San Diego or 4 pm in Milwakee which is the normal business day for the company. I stated I was dissatisfied with the company's refund policy and asked for a direct line to the customer service manager, [redacted] stated that company policy prohibited releasing the number to me. She also stated that she could understand why I was upset because many airline reservations were cancelled on 1 and 2 October but, it was beyond Southwest Airlines Vacations control. I asked when my money would be credited back to my credit card and [redacted] stated that she did not know. I feel that at this point Southwest Airlines Vacations should fully fund my refund and credit my credit card. Southwest Airlines and Southwest Airlines Vacations can work out the details on how to get the money back. I feel that the customer service was poor and non-responsive in getting my trip refunded. Not being able to talk to a customer service manager makes me leary of booking any travel with Southwest Airlines Vacations or The Mark Travel Corporation ever again.

Review: I booked a vacation through Southwest Vacations (The Mark Travel Corporation) to the [redacted] on 02/01 from 04/25 through 05/05 for $3,286.82. On 3/22, I called to modify the vacation and spoke with CSR [redacted] to make the modification. I was attempting to modify the vacation from the Quetzal to the Iberostar Beach for 4/24 to 5/04. I was assured this wouldn't be a problem and would only be a modest increase (less than $100) from my original booking. While attempting to do the modification, [redacted] experienced an error on his PC and needed to call me back. When he called me back he said everything was okay now. The plane fare was going to be more expensive, but the room was going to be cheaper. He said they were going to charge me $205.16, but I would be refunded $176.49 of that within 14 to 21 days. I said that sounded great and gave him my credit card number.

The next day (3/23), I checked my Discover card and found two charges totaling roughly $800. I called Southwest vacations immediately and spoke with another CSR. After much confusion, she spoke to her supervisor who told her I should expect to see a refund of roughly $700 sometime in the next 14 to 21 days. Once again I thought this was reasonable. and was only about $100 more than my original package.

I once again checked my Discover card on 04/25 and noticed the following credits and charges.

Southwest vacations issued a credit of $178.49 on 3/23/15. Southwest Air charged me $133.58 and $467.43 on 3/22 (total $601.01). Now I was just getting plain confused on why these were changing and what they meant so I send an email detailing this to Southwest Airlines vacations. I received a call from [redacted] (?), to try to clear things up. She told me I should expect my credit card refund from the airlines within a week to 14 days.

Not seeing a refund yet by April 10th, I attempted to call yet again and waited on hold so long I hung up. I sent another email detail my issues again and received a reply to contact customer service by phone. So once again I attempt to call Southwest Airlines Vacations. I eventually speak with a CSR, she reviews the long history of this issue and tells me it is going to be 14 to 21 business days to have my credit card credited.

This is completely unacceptable to wait almost a month to have my credit card credited for this issue. In addition, I have spent hours on the phone trying to find out what the charges are, what the credits are, and when to expect a refund. I am getting different stories each time I have called. This is embarrassingly bad customer service. My cell phone plan uses minutes and I expended all of them trying to get resolution. This situation shouldn't be that hard to rectify or explain.Desired Settlement: A detail in writing of what my cost is going to be for my modified vacation, including any refunds due to me.. The promised credit card refund within a reasonable amount of time.

Consumer

Response:

On Tue, Apr 21, 2015 at 1:44 AM, [redacted] <[redacted]> wrote:Regarding Complaint ID [redacted]

Review: book at vacation on line at funjet.com, ended up having to cancel the trip on August 21, spoke with Customer Service Rep [redacted] ( nolast name given), didnt get a confirmation cancellation email, but allowed the 14-21 days to past and have yet to receive the full refund amount. For the past two weeks I have called daily and have been told the same thing that the reservation was noted to be cancelled but was still an active reservation. The reps although they are curteous, friendly and professional have all given me the runaround saying they are unable to cancel the reservation due to its after the travel dates... My travel dates were supposed to be August 27-30, and I called and cancelled or thought I cancelled on the 22, (notes state the 24) but yet the reserveration [redacted] is still an active reservation and the refund was never requested.Desired Settlement: full refund including the price of the travel protection for myself and my mom Gwen Jones for the incompetence of the rep who was to intially cancel the resveration on August 22.

Business

Response:

Please be advised that one of our agents resolved this with Ms. [redacted] yesterday, approximately the same time you were forwarding the complaint notification to me. Thank you,FUNJET VACATIONS[redacted]

Review: I canceled my travel reservation which I purchased with travel protection insurance. Mark Travel dba United Vacations accepted my refund request on April 8, 2015. I have yet to receive my refund and the customer service department has no information on when or if my approx. $400 refund will be issued.Desired Settlement: I am requesting my valid and promised refund of approx. $400 that I paid towards this canceled reservation.

Business

Response:

Dear Mr. [redacted],

Thank you for your email regarding the complaint filed by Mr. [redacted]. I am sorry to learn he is unhappy with our service but we have advised him on multiple occasions that refunds take approximately 14-21 business days. As he canceled on May 8, 21 business days would have been tomorrow, June 5. His refund was processed on our side on June 1. If he has not yet been able to see the refund on his account activity, he should shortly as it sometimes takes a few days for it to transmit to the bank and for the bank to post it to the account.

Sincerely,

UNITED VACATIONS

Beth R[redacted]

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.