TripMasters

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: The suggestion that adjusting the Lima day tour and the airport pick up time were "completely out" of the businesses "control" is a ridiculous farce. My husband and I entered the Lima city center the day the tour was origionaly scheduled and although traffic movement was restricted, it was not prohibited as the company is claiming. Our driver simply dropped us off three walking blocks from the main square. The itinerary stated that hotel pick up time for Lima airport would be at 06:30am not 04:50am. There are flights departing from Lima to Cusco every half hour. If the outbound scheduled flight was truly out of the company's control, which I do not believe for a minute that it was, scheduling a dinner the night befor that returned clients to their rooms at 23:00 is the irresponsibility. To address the "altitude sickness", the company conveniently ignored the actual statement that I made. I fell ill due to "exhastion" at altitude, not altitude. My husband and I don't live in Los Angeles, we live in Denver, Colorado. As for the assertion that we must be clients with special requirements, my husband and I are healthy, middle aged, experienced world travelers. Of corse we participated in all of the tours, we had little choice. If we had not, the company would assert that we voluntarily opted out and still try to refuse a refund. The quality of our experiences on these tours due to sheer exhastion is why I am seeking a refund. Being in the business of adventure tours should not mean being in the business of torture by sleep deprivation.[redacted]

Dear Revdex.com,
We are sorry to hear that the changes were not as easily made as the customer would have hoped. When we book our tickets there is always a change fee and if fare difference applies. However, most of our contracts are non refundable. We do see that a quote of the 128.00 was advised...

but when the agent went to make the change there was a price difference making it the 178.00 TOTAL NOT per person. We can never guarantee a fare price until approved and CREDIT CARD has been charged. We completely understand the frustration of the client. However, the client had decided to purchase new tickets else where. In this case we cannot do anything with the tickets they purchased as they were non refundable. We would like to offer the client a credit for a future booking with us. We cannot refund the cost of these tickets as the client purchased the other tickets on her own and the agent advised these were non refundable. We still must provide out money to the supplier. Out terms and conditions simply note there are non refundable fares and change fees but we cannot give exact amounts until time of new change, Should the client decide to travel with our company again we would like to give them a discount.
Best regards,
Danielle D[redacted]
Operations Supervisor

Dear Revdex.com,
 
We were able to change the name for the following booking. This required special assistance from our sales representative. The cient needed to understand even if this is the same passenger these changes are NOT FREE of charge and we were trying to get a waiver that can sometimes take time. This was not a case of the agents no helping this client. This has been resolved and name has been changed,
 
 
Best regards,
[redacted]
Solar Tours

Dear Revdex.com,
We are very sorry that the client felt we did not act on our part. The agents did their job. We would love to give the client the money back but again the supplier is charging us for this airfare. We would love for this client to use our services again and have no problem giving them this amount toward future travel. They are not willing to accept this compensation at this time. IF they change their mind and would like this amount applied toward a future trip we certainly will do so.
We consider this case closed at this time as the client is not willing to accept our offer.
Best regards,
[redacted].

Dear Revdex.com,
We understand our client is awaiting a refund on the unused train tickets. Please note that the supplier denied the claim as follows below. Which is clearly noted in our terms and conditions. However, we have re-opened the claim on OCT 17th with our sales representative to see if...

they can take another look at this case. We will send a follow up this week to see if they were able to close this case in our clients favor. We will respond to the client as soon as we hear back from our contact. Best regards,
Danielle D[redacted]
Solar Tours
Dear Danielle and [redacted],
Thank you for contacting [redacted]. We are here to assist you. I am sorry to
hear that your clients were unable to take their scheduled train from Milano to
Florence and Florence to Rome. The train from Milano to Florence departed on
June 8th at 3:38pm and the tickets were endorsed on the same date, but the time
was 4:00pm. The tickets were endorsed after the train had departed. European
rail reservations are made for a specific date and time. Per the after-sales
policy of their ticket, it was partially refundable only prior to the train
departure time.
The after sales policy is
set forth by the railroads. As a distributor for the European Railroads, we
must abide by the rules set by the companies themselves. This information is
displayed online when you choose the fare and once you add the itinerary to the
shopping cart. If booked in the Contact Center, it will be on the [redacted]
Invoice that is emailed under the after sales section. Regrettably, no refund
is possible for your client's tickets. We regret that we are not able to
provide the response you were expecting. We hope you understand our position.
We look forward to booking your client's next trip abroad.
Best Regards, [redacted]
Customer Relations

Dear Revdex.com,
We are terrible sorry to hear about the flight changes and not being able to get ahold of our agents to help fix the flights. Obviously in these situations the flight availabilities can be hard to find.
Baggage is not something we can guarantee as each supplier has their own...

baggage rules.  We cannot be held responsible for these type of fees. If the last minute flight change endured extra charges the client should claim these fees with the travel insurance provider. She can reach the insurance provider as follows: 
http:/[redacted]
 
Best regards,
European Destinations

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: no action has been taken to right the situation with respect to myself. I understand that sometimes these matters take time, however, the initial complaint was filed with Solar Tours in early February which is the down season for Ireland tourism, not high season. Also, I have provided all the documents/documentation that they asked for, proving that I was charged for something that was outlined in the package. After five months this is not a valid response from Solar Tours.
Regards,
[redacted]

Dear Revdex.com,
We thank you for contacting us. As you would understand we had an influx of cancellations due to the terrorist attacks. We had to work on a case by case basis. So, this certainly slowed the process a bit. However, we have refunded these passengers and they have a total of $765.67...

in cancellation fees. Please understand that we had to charge some basic fees that the suppliers in some cases were not willing to waive. We fought for all passengers in these cases.We believe in this case the refunds are fair and that these clients should be satisfied with the end results. The refunds were provided on DEC 3rd
 
Best regards,
Danielle D[redacted]

We booked through this company for the first time in January. We did a custom trip to Greece. All transactions went very smoothly. I made sure to chat with the customer service agents and did my homework on hotels and cities first before booking and nothing went wrong. From flights to car to hotels, everything was perfect to make this trip the BEST I've ever taken.

Dear Revdex.com,
Thank you
for your concerns of our mutual client. We have reviewed this case and have
honored the original...

package price to our client. However, please take note
that this package did not confirm back to the client due to an internal data
error in cost. So, the client was aware that this package could not be
confirmed. We are working with our supplier to fix this pricing issue. In the meantime
we have offered our client the original price. This case is closed as client
has excepted our offer.
Best
regards,
Solar
Tours

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
By the perfunctory
response(s) they have provided up to now, it is evident, that they are NOT interested in resolving customer’s
complaints.   This is contrary to the long established Revdex.com tradition,
which they have elected to ignore.    They are either economically hurting (insolvent?) to the point that they are
compelled to MISREPRESENT/LIE to a potential customer about the scope of their capabilities and what can
they do for him/her with the SOLE purpose
of obtaining  the customer business. They know that otherwise that would not
be possible. ALTERNATIVELY, the
business model that they are using is antiquated
and lacked the state of the art technology
to do the job right to the detriment of the customer.   To add insult to injury, they do so with
impunity. The question then is:  How much longer can they remain in business
using this present business “model”? At a minimum, before they take your money, they should tell you that they have no control
or jurisdiction over the availability of seats (s) that one is booking ,and,
therefore, you are on you own.  They KNOW that under those conditions, no
customer would book a flight with them!  Why
would anybody do that? After all, guaranteed
seats on a plane are the most important aspect of the flight. Why would anybody booked an international flight
without knowing, in advance, where he/she would be seating. Does it make any sense? No, it
does not!
They lost me as a
customer, one who has been doing business with them for over 6 year-off and on.-All
for a Mickey Mouse amount of less than 100 dollars.
To conclude, I will consult with the local DA Fraud Division
Office, to see if it is possible to elevate the matter even though the amount
is so trivial but they might be interested in the questionable manner in which
Solar Tours is doing business.
 
To Revdex.com:      Thank you for your time and effort in
attempting to show to your members that HONESTY
is not a city in Greenland!
 
Regards,
[redacted]

[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.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.  Although the amount was not correct and I think they are referring to another case, we did receive our refund on December 5, 2015.  After many complaints to [redacted] and excuses from them, this situation has been resolved.  My friend and I are happy this is done and will not use them again nor let friends or family uses this company.
Regards,
[redacted]

From* [redacted]Date: Thu, Sep 11, 2014 at 3:50 PMSubject: Itinerary For Complaint #[redacted]To: [redacted]>
Sorry about that. Here is the itinerary that they gave to me upon payment. Thank you for the prompt response.

Dear Revdex.com,
We are sorry to hear our clients were not happy with their vacation purchase. These clients chose non recommended properties which are BUDGET properties. We always recommend hotels in cities based on extensive research. We do have budget properties available for people who may not...

otherwise be able to travel to these countries. However, the pricing can be the same for a recommended property. These properties have a green check mark in booking process. They are recommended on quality and location. We also offer transfers to and from hotels. However, these can be a little more expensive as they are private car service. The hotel rooms booked were standard rooms but the bedding is never guaranteed. The requests were made to our supplier but often depend on availability on arrival. This was also noted in the reservation on August 2nd that client was aware the bed arrangements are not guaranteed in a standard room. Of course they would have to pay more for a triple accommodation if that's what they wanted. The rooms are very small in Europe and do not always fit the American standards. There is no refunds to be given as services were rendered. We have sent this complaint to the supplier on August 13th with no reply as of yet. However, the complaints of client will not qualify for any monetary sum.Our company is willing to give these clients a credit for future travel should they decide to give us a try. We ask they always select recommended properties if the hotel itself is of particular importance.
Regards,
Danielle D[redacted]

We have just came back from our first European vacation for 12 days last week. We really enjoyed it and nothing to complain. So much to be thankful and it was indeed a great service from air, transfer and hotels accommodation. European Destination is highly recommendable. My son was the one who first traveled to Europe in 2013 and we are glad to having use this travel agency. We will for sure use European Destinations/Tripmasters for our future travel needs and will definitely recommend to friends and family. Their staffs are very helpful and one thing I really like is their customer service is always available. Have called when we were still in Paris to inquire about extra luggage and got the phone picked up right away. Even the missing bag pack that we have at Paris de Gaulle, Arianne J[redacted] is helping and coordinating with the people of Paris Airport. She is constantly providing an update through e-mail. Great job to everyone.

Dear [redacted],
Thank you for getting back to us with the clients request.
Please note that all airlines have different rules and restrictions; which our company is not able to control. For this reason during the booking process we ask the client to read the terms & conditions and if they agree then they must click and accept to continue the booking process.
http://www.[redacted].com/Terms.aspx
Under cancellation we have we have specified the following:
a. Airlines
All airline tickets are non-refundable once ticketed.
I have attached copies of the airline confirmations and cancellation policy. Please provide this information to the client. He can also call the airline directly and verify these rules with them in order to ensure that the information we are providing is accurate.
The 1st document is for [redacted] this airline is ticketless so we have provided a copy of the online confirmation and the fare rules related to the reservation.
The other documents are for [redacted] the display is different since those were issued via our GDS(Global Display System) system.
In the fare basis code you will see the word DEAL. In the attachment for [redacted] fare rules you will see that the word DEAL is a non-refundable fare.
Unfortunately, most airline tickets are non-refundable and this was the case with these 2 airlines that the client booked online. Unfortunately, we do not control the airlines fare rules, regulations and restrictions.
I have attached a copy of the clients online booking which also stated that airline tickets are non-refundable.
We are not able to compensate the client for services that were paid directly to the airline. In our terms and conditions under responsibility we have stipulated the following information.
The passenger's tickets when issued shall constitute the sole contract between the airlines and the purchaser and/or passenger. I have also attached a copy for your records.
We are in hopes that all the information provided will clear up [redacted] concerns.
Kind Regards,
Marybell M[redacted]
Operations Supervisor

I booked a trip with tripmasters and what a nightmare it was. I should have known something was wrong from the start. I asked what I thought were all the right questions. I decided to book. Got all the info confirmed and made payment. Got an email an hour later saying the prices went up and they needed approval to charge additional $500. I said cancel. They replied that they would absorb the cost. Next day I get urgent email, credit card declined. They wanted another card. I said I would call the card company. I called and they told me tripmasters charged my card 6 times so the card declined all charges. I spoke with a supervisor and they denied doing it. We had a 3 way call and tripmasters still denied doing it. I cancelled. In talking with them, I decided to try it again. Finally got it booked, but no travel insurance as we agreed to previously. Wanted cancel for any reason. They told me it was taken care of, later found out wrong policy. I applied for a visa and was denied because of a DWI in my young stupid years. I called tripmasters they said sorry that's too bad and hung up. Everytime I call back and give them my booking number, they put me on hold and never return. I call the insurance company and they tell me its not the policy I bought. I was scammed by tripmasters. They don't take my calls or any responsibility for screwing me. My advice...run away from tripmasters

tripmasters.com failed us at the most critical event when we needed its help the most

We travel the world, and do this every year twice.
Our trips can be of any types: escorted or independent.
If all things were well, then there wasn't really a chance to judge the service provider.

Unfortunately, on this 2-country, 5-city tour, we had an issue with one hotel, and tripmasters.com had definitely failed to stand up protecting its customers.
We arrived at the hotel around noon and left the luggage then began our wandering.
We came back roughly an hour later to leave some items, and the staff was flexible to let us taking our room then. We immediately noticed a very strong septic-like odor the moment the door was cracked open.

Having stayed in many older Europe hotels previously, I was wondering if this simply was the scent of "old" building, though my wife insisted from the beginning that it was septic-like odor.
We stepped into another room which was being cleaned and noticed ABSOLUTELY no such bad odor. We walked back to our room through the hallway, and the moment we cracked the door, the septic-like odor once again struck us. I now completely agreed with my wife's initial assessment.

I worked with a hotel staff and a supervisor to change to a different room due to the health hazardous condition. While we were resolving this issue, more guests were coming and checking in to their rooms. The supervisor steadfast refused changing us to another room.

I decided to call tripmasters.com, reported the issue and requested their assistance to get our room change. tripmasters.com staff put me on hold to call the hotel, and she eventually explained to me that the hotel won't put us in another room. We either stay in that room or she will help to make another booking in another hotel and we'll pay for that. Additionally, the hotel has the exclusive right to refund our money or not. Considering the situation right there, we know that it was just a way for tripmasters.com to say we'd lose 100% of our money.
I responded that I will never get any travel arrangement through tripmasters.com and I’m ready to do it all on my smartphone from Spain. I also informed her that I'll share my bad experience on online forums, and I'd like to speak to a supervisor. She put me on hold forever and eventually I had to hang up. My smartphone recorded the phone call from Spain to USA was 38 min 30 sec long, without any result by tripmasters.com

After I hung up the phone, I questioned the supervisor that why they must put us in that unhealthy room, while many guests were still coming and getting other vacant rooms? I stated that the unsanitary room must be taken out of service until the odor is fixed. At this point the supervisor agreed to switch us to another room which ABSOLUTELY has no such odor.

To sum up, tripmasters.com had badly failed when its customers needed its help the most. For that, I’ll never do business with tripmasters.com again.

tripmasters.com failed us at the most critical event when we needed its help the most

We travel the world, and do this every year twice.
Our trips can be of any types: escorted or independent.
If all things were well, then there wasn't really a chance to judge the service provider.

Unfortunately, on this 2-country, 5-city tour, we had an issue with one hotel, and tripmasters.com had definitely failed to stand up protecting its customers.
We arrived at the hotel around noon and left the luggage then began our wandering.
We came back roughly an hour later to leave some items, and the staff was flexible to let us taking our room then. We immediately noticed a very strong septic-like odor the moment the door was cracked open.

Having stayed in many older Europe hotels previously, I was wondering if this simply was the scent of "old" building, though my wife insisted from the beginning that it was septic-like odor.
We stepped into another room which was being cleaned and noticed ABSOLUTELY no such bad odor. We walked back to our room through the hallway, and the moment we cracked the door, the septic-like odor once again struck us. I now completely agreed with my wife's initial assessment.

I worked with a hotel staff and a supervisor to change to a different room due to the health hazardous condition. While we were resolving this issue, more guests were coming and checking in to their rooms. The supervisor steadfast refused changing us to another room.

I decided to call tripmasters.com, reported the issue and requested their assistance to get our room change. tripmasters.com staff put me on hold to call the hotel, and she eventually explained to me that the hotel won't put us in another room. We either stay in that room or she will help to make another booking in another hotel and we'll pay for that. Additionally, the hotel has the exclusive right to refund our money or not. Considering the situation right there, we know that it was just a way for tripmasters.com to say we'd lose 100% of our money.
I responded that I will never get any travel arrangement through tripmasters.com and I’m ready to do it all on my smartphone from Spain. I also informed her that I'll share my bad experience on online forums, and I'd like to speak to a supervisor. She put me on hold forever and eventually I had to hang up. My smartphone recorded the phone call from Spain to USA was 38 min 30 sec long, without any result by tripmasters.com

After I hung up the phone, I questioned the supervisor that why they must put us in that unhealthy room, while many guests were still coming and getting other vacant rooms? I stated that the unsanitary room must be taken out of service until the odor is fixed. At this point the supervisor agreed to switch us to another room which ABSOLUTELY has no such odor.

To sum up, tripmasters.com had badly failed when its customers needed its help the most. For that, I’ll never do business with tripmasters.com again.

I think Shaline's post here on January 5, 2016 shared same assessment "Their customers service skills are okay when you are booking but if there is an issue, they play games with you even the supervisors."

Review: MARYLAND -- I booked air and hotel to Ecuador/Galapagos. I provided all the information and was informed they needed additional information. I provided the information immediately because of time constraints. My airfare was confirmed as I was informed. I called Sept. 30,2013 to insure my seat assignment and was advised by [redacted] that all was good. Therefore, I waited to hear from agency with the vouchers etc. Since I did not hear from them I called Oct. 2, 2013 to be informed that my flight had been CANCELED!! I never had received notification of this. I was leaving in 3 days.. We spent time going back and forth to no avail. Apparently, the air had been confirmed and they were waiting to confirm hotel. In the meantime, [redacted] canceled my reservations. What they were offering me had a layover of 6 hours and an early departure.

Today, I was informed that they could book me on a flight and ground package for $10,000 for two passengers. This was more than I originally booked . SO I HAVE NO FLIGHT NOR PACKAGE.. IT WAS NOT DIFFICULT FOR them to say good-bye.. your are not going anywhere! What happen to customer service? Had the worked on this immediately, I would have had a flight .

I informed [redacted], agent that the first order of business should have been to insure that I had a flight for Saturday, However, the concern with them is that they do not want to incur the incidentals that this cancellation has provoked (in booking another flight). The customer needs to be assured that a flight had been booked especially given the time constraints and not be concerned with paying for this huge mistake which was not my fault. If they agency could not handle bookings in a short period of time than they should not take the bookings etc.

In addition, [redacted] supposedly has an office in Maryland. However, when you telephone them you are speaking to someone in the [redacted]. When asked if you can speak to someone in MD they deny you the name of the person in charge. Another reason not to do business with them because of outsourcing communicating with their agents effectively is a problem.

Again, I have no flight and was just informed that the land portion was just cancelled as well. I may not be taking this trip this Saturday, but I will make sure that FOLKS do not use this COMPANY!!!

They refer to the terms and conditions but they results are that they cannot handle immediate bookings than they should not. Between the time I booked online and travel was 1 week. They say 3-5 business days is what they need.. The fact that I had not received a telephone call nor email is not good customer service since I only have 2 days before flight.. Now all of a sudden as a result of their omission I will not be taking this trip as planned.Desired Settlement: Reinstate my trip with air and land as it's original rate.. or pay the additional fee on the designated flight. I have all the documents that reflect they were at fault.

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted],

Before focus our clarification to the client complaint, the first point to stress out is that our company policy respond to the Terms and Conditions published online for public knowledge and before any request is submitted, our clients must have read and accept that they agree with the regulation established to acquiring our services.