Complaint Review: Travel Center

I would like to express to you my anguish at having tried to take advantage of “A Great Vacation Deal.” Our office of employment received a fax explaining how we could take advantage of vacations abroad. It had caught my eye when I read that I could pay $600 for a trip for two to Hawaii. It stated that pricing included hotel and flight. This seemed very inexpensive so I made sure I read the fine print and looked into what I would actually be paying for this trip. I found out that there would be an additional activation fee of $138, which I was okay with considering the price. Also, I would be charged taxes for each night spent at the hotel, and food and drinks, which is all very understandable. I was thorough with my questions, and Travel Center had cast away any doubts I had about there being anymore dollars spent. I received information from Travel Center so I assumed they were the agency I was working with. I started receiving documents from other facilities named Infinity and Grand Incentives which I wasn't aware of all the different parties I was going to be working with. Through being timely and prompt I was still getting this feeling that Infinity and Grand Incentives were very much out of tune with one another. Grand Incentives informed us that the flight is only possible on a Tuesday.  I then contacted Infinity so I could book the hotel. I was told that I can only book the hotel starting on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday! Upon hearing this information, it gave me an overwhelming feeling of deception and disappointment. This is because, on making agreement with Travel Center, they had reassured me that there would be no additional costs in order to make my trip to Hawaii a reality. The representative from Infinity even suggested that I do what “most people do,” and pay for the extra nights.  From my experiences in dealing with all parties concerned, I feel horribly misinformed and cheated. When I contacted Travel Center, I was rudely informed by the representative of my apparent mistake, and that Universal Vacation is the agency I contact in regards to the $600 amount. The representative did however, make it clear, their part was taking my payment for the activation fee of $138. At this point my whole travel ordeal had been such a drain on my soul I had asked for a refund. “No we don’t do that,” was the immediate response. I respectively requested to speak with a supervisor and my response was “I will not give you the owner’s information or name I’m the supervisor, the secretary and I make all the decisions and I will not give you a refund.” Before I could make sense of such an irrational and unprofessional response, the representative had hung up the phone. My chance of getting the representatives name had been taken from me due to her emotional and unprofessional behavior. My next step was to call back, what I believe to be, Universal Travel. Their advice is was to speak to their legal department. I duly obliged and attempted to contact their legal department with the e-mail address that was given to me Customerservice@theuniversaltravel.com. I have yet to receive any response. 

Upon this moment I had performed all instructions put forth, and to no avail. There seems to be several organizations collaborating in an ineffective and dishonest partnership. I am not pinpointing the blame on one, but rather accusing the partnership of business that comes across as very unprofessional and deceitful. This type of business seems unfair and very wrong. I will be taking the necessary actions to make sure I get my money back. 

 I am working toward a full refund of all expenses in the amount of $738. Better still, I would sleep peacefully at night knowing that such horrendous business practice is not repeated.