- Report: #376899
Complaint Review: europeandestinations.com - Washington District of Columbia
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europeandestinations.com
1629 K St NW, Suite 604 Washington, 20006 District of Columbia, U.S.A.
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europeandestinations.com Booked a hotel in Mallorca, Spain that does not exist. Assured refund for another hotel. But did not refund. Washington District of Columbia
*UPDATE Employee: Problem solved
*UPDATE Employee: Problem solved
*UPDATE Employee: Problem solved
*UPDATE Employee: Problem solved
*Author of original report: The reply from www.europeandestinations.com is another run around and nothing else!
*Author of original report: And more nonsense from europeandestinations.com
This email is regarding the tour package that I had bought from site www.europeandestinations.com on May 17, 2008.
Halfway through my tour, on July 25, 2008, I reached Mallorca, Spain and took taxi to the hotel Verimar listed on the voucher. I was horrified beyond belief that not only the description and surroundings of the hotel were nothing as mentioned on the site, but even worse, the dilapidated building called Verimar had a For Sale sign on it in Spanish. My only saving grace was that the taxi driver knew a bit of English and suggested that I get back to the airport and talk to the woman at the hotelbeds kiosk (hotelbeds is listed on the voucher that you provided). The woman refused any assistance as the package was brought from europeandestinations.com company. So, I was left in a foreign country, without any knowledge of local language or a place to stay, in the middle of the night.
That is when I called up (using taxi driver's phone) europeandestinations.com number listed on the voucher 1-877-267-2247 and talked to one of their customer representatives, who wanted me to call after a few minutes. I explained that I did not have a phone, and it being way past midnight in Mallorca, there was no general or tourist information bureau. But she said that she needed to make a few queries before she could help me.
Eventually I found a machine for international calling cards and for the next almost 3 hours, I was trying to get in contact with the europeandestinations.com company and a place to stay, while totally baffled that I had booked my tour well in advance to avoid this kind of stress and mismanagement.
Eventually, their customer representative told me that I could myself try to get a room either at Lido Palace or Hotel Linda and that your company would reimburse full hotel expenses. But she did not assist me getting the actual room. She said that I would have to make calls myself and find a room, and bring back invoice.
So, I was left on my own to now look for a hotel room, with no contact information for either of the two hotels. So, till around 3:30 am, I was struggling to find a place without any phone directory, local language and any other assistance. I can surely say that this was the worst experience of all my travels.
Eventually, a local who knew a bit of English found a phone number for Lido Palace and booked a room there as per your representative's directions. But then I found that this hotel was on the other end of the island in Camp de Mar- farther away from the location where I had initially booked my place keeping in mind the activities and taxi fare. But now, I ended up in a place that had nothing for my taste and I had to cancel all plans to visit the famous Mallorca caves as they were now half the island away, while my taxi bill ran up.
In addition to putting up with extreme stress and discomfort, I basically had nothing to do on my holiday, except to cancel plans for the world famous caves. So, in addition to the reimbursement for the hotel bill, I should also be reimbursed for taxi fare and phone.
After getting back to US, I called up their rep, sent emails, and asked for what all I needed to submit. I followed all the instructions and submitted all documents for reimbursement totaling 559+ Euros, including $669.81 just for the hotel ($650.30 hotel + $19.51 transaction fees.)
After much patience, and many emails, the company declines to refund me in full and by some vague calculation came up with $392.92. I have told them that that it unacceptable.
So, not only the company www.europeandestinations.com defrauded me into paying for a hotel that does not exist; it left me stranded in a foreign country in the middle of the night; and then misled me again by lying that I would be refunded my FULL hotel expenses.
I have been very patient and reasonable with their reps and clearly that was a mistake to begin with.
I need to know what action I can take against the company and how. I would appreciate any guidance in this regard.
Traveler
utica, New York
U.S.A.
Halfway through my tour, on July 25, 2008, I reached Mallorca, Spain and took taxi to the hotel Verimar listed on the voucher. I was horrified beyond belief that not only the description and surroundings of the hotel were nothing as mentioned on the site, but even worse, the dilapidated building called Verimar had a For Sale sign on it in Spanish. My only saving grace was that the taxi driver knew a bit of English and suggested that I get back to the airport and talk to the woman at the hotelbeds kiosk (hotelbeds is listed on the voucher that you provided). The woman refused any assistance as the package was brought from europeandestinations.com company. So, I was left in a foreign country, without any knowledge of local language or a place to stay, in the middle of the night.
That is when I called up (using taxi driver's phone) europeandestinations.com number listed on the voucher 1-877-267-2247 and talked to one of their customer representatives, who wanted me to call after a few minutes. I explained that I did not have a phone, and it being way past midnight in Mallorca, there was no general or tourist information bureau. But she said that she needed to make a few queries before she could help me.
Eventually I found a machine for international calling cards and for the next almost 3 hours, I was trying to get in contact with the europeandestinations.com company and a place to stay, while totally baffled that I had booked my tour well in advance to avoid this kind of stress and mismanagement.
Eventually, their customer representative told me that I could myself try to get a room either at Lido Palace or Hotel Linda and that your company would reimburse full hotel expenses. But she did not assist me getting the actual room. She said that I would have to make calls myself and find a room, and bring back invoice.
So, I was left on my own to now look for a hotel room, with no contact information for either of the two hotels. So, till around 3:30 am, I was struggling to find a place without any phone directory, local language and any other assistance. I can surely say that this was the worst experience of all my travels.
Eventually, a local who knew a bit of English found a phone number for Lido Palace and booked a room there as per your representative's directions. But then I found that this hotel was on the other end of the island in Camp de Mar- farther away from the location where I had initially booked my place keeping in mind the activities and taxi fare. But now, I ended up in a place that had nothing for my taste and I had to cancel all plans to visit the famous Mallorca caves as they were now half the island away, while my taxi bill ran up.
In addition to putting up with extreme stress and discomfort, I basically had nothing to do on my holiday, except to cancel plans for the world famous caves. So, in addition to the reimbursement for the hotel bill, I should also be reimbursed for taxi fare and phone.
After getting back to US, I called up their rep, sent emails, and asked for what all I needed to submit. I followed all the instructions and submitted all documents for reimbursement totaling 559+ Euros, including $669.81 just for the hotel ($650.30 hotel + $19.51 transaction fees.)
After much patience, and many emails, the company declines to refund me in full and by some vague calculation came up with $392.92. I have told them that that it unacceptable.
So, not only the company www.europeandestinations.com defrauded me into paying for a hotel that does not exist; it left me stranded in a foreign country in the middle of the night; and then misled me again by lying that I would be refunded my FULL hotel expenses.
I have been very patient and reasonable with their reps and clearly that was a mistake to begin with.
I need to know what action I can take against the company and how. I would appreciate any guidance in this regard.
Traveler
utica, New York
U.S.A.
6 Updates & Rebuttals
Traveler
utica,New York,
U.S.A.
And more nonsense from europeandestinations.com
#2Author of original report
Mon, August 02, 2010
I am not sure what part of the above details www.europeandestinations.com reps do not understand! I had booked hotel Lido Palace as THEIR agent told me to! Why else would I book something on the other end of where I had booked all my other adventure/exploration activities (not through europeandestinations.com thankfully- and I had to cancel all those plans!)? It is a scam and I would suggest stay away from it! What's worse is that I did (both at the time of buying the package- and they booked me a hotel that DOES NOT EXIST, and then when left STRANDED in a foreign country) exactly what they told me to! Since then I have traveled to many more places and book my trips with local agents, who speak proper English, have full first and last names, and do not aim to scam people. Yes, it means paying a couple of hundred dollars more, but in the larger scheme of things, that's nothing! Again, stay away from these extremely rude, unprofessional people, who seem to make defrauding people their business.
Also,
1) not sure what else these people are claiming to have reimbursed? Beginning to amuse me now!
2) When you buy a package, they dont give you the break down of individual items, and that's where they can claim absolutely anything and basically scam you, saying x, y, z, cost 1, 2, 3. Stay away!
Traveler
utica,New York,
U.S.A.
The reply from www.europeandestinations.com is another run around and nothing else!
#3Author of original report
Mon, August 02, 2010
I am not sure what part of the above details www.europeandestinations.com reps do not understand! I had booked the hotel Lido Palace as THEIR agent told me to! Why else would I book something on the other end of the island- the opposite end of where I had booked all my adventure/exploration activities (not though the europeandestinations.com thankfully)? It is a scam and I would suggest stay away from it! What's worse is that I did (both at the time of buying the package- and they booked me a hotel that DOES NOT EXIST, and then when left STRANDED in a foreign country) exactly what they told me to! And this is the nonsense that they deliver! Since then, I have traveled to many more places and book my trips with local agents, who speak proper English, have full first and last names, and do not aim to scam people. Yes, it means paying a couple of hundred dollars more, but in the large scheme of things, that's nothing! Again, Stay Away from these extremely rude, unprofessional people who seems to make defrauding people their business!
Europeandestinations.com
Washington,District of Columbia,
U.S.A.
Problem solved
#4UPDATE Employee
Mon, May 18, 2009
EuropeanDestinations.com and its supplier regret the incident and took every step to make things right. As a travel provider, EuropeanDestinations.com works with several internationally recognized suppliers of hotels and other properties in Europe. Unfortunately for our client, this was a very rare instance where the supplier did not perform its duty of informing us that the property was closed. Our supplier took steps to ensure this wouldn't happen again and we made it very clear that this type of slip-up was unacceptable and was not to be repeated. To our traveler's point, the supplier had paid what was due for the part of travel that was not honored due to the property's closure. The reason this client did not get the exact amount she requested was because she had stayed in a property that was ranked much higher than the one originally booked. It is our reimbursement policy and we see it only fair to compensate our client for an equivalent property. EuropeanDestinations.com had also given her more towards her additional expenses than the actual expenses she had encountered. For added peace of mind, we also have a local number of our supplier if any problems should occur. To other prospective travelers who are using various travel companies, it is important to know that sometimes events are beyond the control of the travel provider (for instance, airline delays, public transportation strikes). We try to make all the details work in each reservation and 99% of the time we are extremely successful, as indicated in our customers' feedbacks. This was an unfortunate case and we resolved it to the best of our ability. As any organization, we are always striving to improve our operations and we are taking every suggestion for improvement to heart. For further information, please contact our Customer Service: [email protected]
Europeandestinations.com
Washington,District of Columbia,
U.S.A.
Problem solved
#5UPDATE Employee
Mon, May 18, 2009
EuropeanDestinations.com and its supplier regret the incident and took every step to make things right. As a travel provider, EuropeanDestinations.com works with several internationally recognized suppliers of hotels and other properties in Europe. Unfortunately for our client, this was a very rare instance where the supplier did not perform its duty of informing us that the property was closed. Our supplier took steps to ensure this wouldn't happen again and we made it very clear that this type of slip-up was unacceptable and was not to be repeated. To our traveler's point, the supplier had paid what was due for the part of travel that was not honored due to the property's closure. The reason this client did not get the exact amount she requested was because she had stayed in a property that was ranked much higher than the one originally booked. It is our reimbursement policy and we see it only fair to compensate our client for an equivalent property. EuropeanDestinations.com had also given her more towards her additional expenses than the actual expenses she had encountered. For added peace of mind, we also have a local number of our supplier if any problems should occur. To other prospective travelers who are using various travel companies, it is important to know that sometimes events are beyond the control of the travel provider (for instance, airline delays, public transportation strikes). We try to make all the details work in each reservation and 99% of the time we are extremely successful, as indicated in our customers' feedbacks. This was an unfortunate case and we resolved it to the best of our ability. As any organization, we are always striving to improve our operations and we are taking every suggestion for improvement to heart. For further information, please contact our Customer Service: [email protected]
Europeandestinations.com
Washington,District of Columbia,
U.S.A.
Problem solved
#6UPDATE Employee
Mon, May 18, 2009
EuropeanDestinations.com and its supplier regret the incident and took every step to make things right. As a travel provider, EuropeanDestinations.com works with several internationally recognized suppliers of hotels and other properties in Europe. Unfortunately for our client, this was a very rare instance where the supplier did not perform its duty of informing us that the property was closed. Our supplier took steps to ensure this wouldn't happen again and we made it very clear that this type of slip-up was unacceptable and was not to be repeated. To our traveler's point, the supplier had paid what was due for the part of travel that was not honored due to the property's closure. The reason this client did not get the exact amount she requested was because she had stayed in a property that was ranked much higher than the one originally booked. It is our reimbursement policy and we see it only fair to compensate our client for an equivalent property. EuropeanDestinations.com had also given her more towards her additional expenses than the actual expenses she had encountered. For added peace of mind, we also have a local number of our supplier if any problems should occur. To other prospective travelers who are using various travel companies, it is important to know that sometimes events are beyond the control of the travel provider (for instance, airline delays, public transportation strikes). We try to make all the details work in each reservation and 99% of the time we are extremely successful, as indicated in our customers' feedbacks. This was an unfortunate case and we resolved it to the best of our ability. As any organization, we are always striving to improve our operations and we are taking every suggestion for improvement to heart. For further information, please contact our Customer Service: [email protected]
Europeandestinations.com
Washington,District of Columbia,
U.S.A.
Problem solved
#7UPDATE Employee
Mon, May 18, 2009
EuropeanDestinations.com and its supplier regret the incident and took every step to make things right. As a travel provider, EuropeanDestinations.com works with several internationally recognized suppliers of hotels and other properties in Europe. Unfortunately for our client, this was a very rare instance where the supplier did not perform its duty of informing us that the property was closed. Our supplier took steps to ensure this wouldn't happen again and we made it very clear that this type of slip-up was unacceptable and was not to be repeated. To our traveler's point, the supplier had paid what was due for the part of travel that was not honored due to the property's closure. The reason this client did not get the exact amount she requested was because she had stayed in a property that was ranked much higher than the one originally booked. It is our reimbursement policy and we see it only fair to compensate our client for an equivalent property. EuropeanDestinations.com had also given her more towards her additional expenses than the actual expenses she had encountered. For added peace of mind, we also have a local number of our supplier if any problems should occur. To other prospective travelers who are using various travel companies, it is important to know that sometimes events are beyond the control of the travel provider (for instance, airline delays, public transportation strikes). We try to make all the details work in each reservation and 99% of the time we are extremely successful, as indicated in our customers' feedbacks. This was an unfortunate case and we resolved it to the best of our ability. As any organization, we are always striving to improve our operations and we are taking every suggestion for improvement to heart. For further information, please contact our Customer Service: [email protected]
