Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/14/2025

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  ***** ******, co-owner of ************ - a Franchise of Dream Vacations - has been responsible for booking various trips for clients, utilizing her agent discount to secure better deals. Several families have previously utilized her services without any issues so had no reason to question the legitimacy of what she was doing.**Clientele:**- Seven families, in addition to a fraternity.**The trips booked include:- A cruise for a multigenerational family vacation.- A 60th birthday celebration.- ********************* Spring Break of Penn State Students - Winter break vacations, with scheduled departures **tomorrow**.- **Financial Obligations:**- ***** owes the families a total amount per family ranging from **$800 to $42,000**.- **Current Stance:**- Dream Vacations corporate representatives have stated that they do not have the funds to cover these obligations and are not liable.-***** ****** has also asserted that she is unable to fulfill these financial commitments at the time.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 02/15/2025

  The Franchise Owner, ***** ****** is a franchise owner of Dream Vacations.  Our franchisees are independently owned and operated.  While they are licensed to use our trademark, they are responsible for all of the financial and customer interactions.  Once we found out she took payments via a cash app. from this customer, her franchise was shut down.  The client made a payment with franchisee ***** and her personal cash app. and Corporate Dream Vacations had no involvement and as stated, she, as the franchise owner is solely responsible for her customers financial and customer interactions.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/18/2025

   
  Complaint: 22944771
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  This is completely unacceptable. We only trusted this small business because it had a large company name supporting it. Dream Vacations was clearly listed on their website, their Instagram, their Contact Us form and even their email addresses.

  We have secured an attorney who will be representing the multiple families impacted by this, and will be holding Dream Vacations, responsible to achieve a resolution.

  There is also a Shame on ******** Story in the works that will publicly hold Dream Vacations accountable for not helping to fix this situation once it was identified for the families impacted.
  

  I urge you to reach out today to the families involved to offer your unwavering support in terms of a financial refund as the least you can do.  There have been additional hardships both financial and psychological incurred. The faster you come to a resolution you will stop further damages.

  Sincerely,
  
  ********* **********

  

  Business Response

  Date: 02/18/2025

  Again, as stated prior.  The franchisee in question, Quest Queens was individually owned and operated.

  While they are licensed to use our trademark,they are responsible for all of the financial and customer interactions.  They bear all responsibility financially with the clients as payments were made directly from the clients to the franchisee via Zelle or Venmo and they never sent payments to any vendors.  Dream Vacations corporate was unaware of these actions and as soon as we found out we terminated the franchisee's agreement.  The client should go to the franchisee and seek to be made whole.

   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/24/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Mid February we used them to book a cruise, airline, ground transport and hotels. They booked a Turkish Air flight for my cousin and me, with my shortened first name *** instead of ********. This will not be on my passport. They refuse to cancel the flight without signed waivers regarding their error, they agree we do not have a working relationship going forward and Turkish Air will not allow us to cancel the flight and refund the fare, though it is not til August 15, 2023. At this point we have no agent nor can we proceed on our own cancelling the flight, etc. We have been dealing with *************************** ***********, ************************************* Need help please.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/24/2023

  
  Please find below an overview in this matter, I will also be attaching some supporting documents - please let me if you need anything more.
  
  Points of Fact:
  On Feb 12 at 1:27pm ******** completed the booking form incorrectly with the name of *******************************. The question she had to answer was " Lead Traveler - Full name as it appears on your Passport
  On Feb 13 at 1:47 ********* completed the booking form correctly
  On Feb 14, ******* Airlines flights were secured at their request as they were the cheapest tickets available
  
  On April 10, I got involved via email as our previous conversations via the phone were being misunderstood and construed. We started our email correspondence, where it is documented that we tried to rectify this matter through many channels. ***** and I reached out several times to *******, to ******* Airlines and even to some number that were provided by the customer (which I believe were a scam)
  On April 19 ***** agreed to assist ******** by sending a check in the amount of her original flight cost for $1333.00 
  It took several emails back and forth with ******** to confirm her mailing address (as it was originally supplied to us incomplete) and she refused her ID for the first 5 email requests.
  After having her proper address and ID, On April 21 Both ******** and ********* were sent forms to start the cancellation procedure - they refused to sign.
  I spoke with ********* today (April 24, 2023 at 10am) on the phone. She informed me that they had purchased new flights on ***** Airlines and that she is expecting a refund on hers as well. I explained to her again (as listed in several other emails) and on the cancellation form, that there is no reason or cause for her to cancel her flights and that a refund or credit is not possible. This now leaves them out of pocket for *********'s fare should they cancel
  I reminded **************;again that flights are still current with ******* airlines and there is still space available for ******** on the same flight.
  The cancellation forms that were sent also included a section of termination of the client, explaining that all hotels, transfers and excursions would be cancelled and a full refund supplied by the operator. The cruise booking will be reverted back to the cruise company and the will be cancelled with no refund or credit for ********* and a good will gesture of $1333.00 was offered to *******
  This offer expires at 4:01pm today, Monday April 24, 2023
  Documents attached:
  A copy of the booking form completed by ******** (I have blacked out some information for privacy reasons) Should you need the original, it is available.
  A copy of what the cancellation forms required for each
  Please let me know if you require anything else. Our next steps, if needed, will be to proceed with a lawyer and remove the offer of $1333.00.
  
  Thank you
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/24/2023

   
  Complaint: 19967081
  
  I am rejecting this response because: The Dream Vacations has indicated there MIGHT have been availability for me to fly on the plane with my cousin.  The booking forms indicated we were traveling together and the risk of flying to ****** alone was not acceptable.  Hence, THEN we booked on another airline after learning this.  Again, the agent needs to cancel the hotels with a full refund, since they won't t communicate directly with us.  Same for the airlines. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/29/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  This issue started with a travel agent in **********, ** under "Dream Vacations/ boat beach travel" but all documentation I receive from the cruise line shows CruiseOne, **** out of ***************, ** and same address. We booked a European river cruise with a ********************************* as a group of 6 people. Due to covid this booking was changed on three occasions. On the last booking we were giving four dates that were available to choose from . I made it very clear what my only option (date) was the first week in October. A September date was not possible because of a family wedding that could take place that month (cancelled prior year due to covid) and that October was the only date that our upgrade cabin on the boat was available, which we already paid in full for. But instead our travel agent ********************** booked it in September because he believed the weather was better since he was going on this cruise with his guest too. The travel agent being part of our group was his making, not ours. To make a long story short, ********************** booked the September 10th cruise knowing that I and my wife were unable to travel that month. I think the appropriate action at this time would be a full refund. After 5 months of correspondence and ********************* pitting my friends against me and my wife, I finally received a credit which does me nothing since the whole idea of the cruise was to travel as a group with my friends. I demand a full refund. I had no control over booking this trip and the travel agent ignored my wishes and did not even notified me or my wife of the new booking and or down grade of our cabin with this booking. Instead, telling us how unreasonable we are. I would like to know who he works for or who he represents. I also found out he wanted us as a group so he could get his guest as a free passenger with a promo the cruise line offered as "eight person group booking and the eighth person is free". So far I can not find a business identity in DE for Mr. ********

  

  Business Response

  Date: 07/29/2022

  First- I will reply to this, but ***** is an individually owned and operated franchise and is his own company.  He sent me the below details.  At this point it is the vendor, Scenic Cruises not refunding the money, not *****.  The client can do a chargeback on his credit card if he wishes, but we are unable to get a refund at this point.  They will not refund the money.

   

   

  Below are the facts as I know it:
  
  In May of 2021, the group proactively decided to delay the 2021 cruise to 2022.
  On 5/20/21, I informed ***********************, who has been acting as the coordinator and central point for the team, that there were no dates that had the exact 1 for 1 match of the cabins to move to.
  The desire of the group was to maintain the same itinerary, so I provided the following dates 8/4/22, 9/10/22, 9/17/22, 10/1/22.
  Again, none of these dates had all the required cabins so there was going to have to be a compromise and flexibility on every one of them in the part of folks involved.
  This was understood and agreed upon by the group.
  Per my conversations with *****, he indicated that there were different date preferences from the group and that nobody could agree on any of the dates.
  As a result, ***** discussed with the team that in an effort to come up with an unbiased compromise, the group decided to put the dates in a hat.
  The current date of 9/17 was chosen, and ***** informed both the Dillons and ***** of this date.  ***** can you please confirm that you did this?  I did not notify the team as I understood that you were communicating this so there was no need to keep telling folks of the date.
  Since the date chosen did not have the cabin that the **** family wanted, I did put them on an upgrade list and was able to offer an upgrade to which they declined.
  Nowhere in my communication with *** was I made aware that he did not agree with the date nor was he not aware of the date.
  On 2/20/22, 9 months after the cruise date was set, *** notified me via Marys email address that they regretfully would not be able to attend due to a conflict that was not known at the time of the change.  He went on to say that **** and him were going to either have to work with the group to change the date to a date without a conflict or go by themselves at a date later in 2022.  He indicated he would work with the Dillons and Fields to work through this.  At this time, *** was well aware that these were his choices.
  The Dillons reached out to Scenic for a refund at the end of February and at that time Scenic indicated that this was not possible.  They had the following choices:
  Go as planned
  Change to different date at the prevailing rates
  Cancel and receive a Future Cruise Credit.
  In a dinner meeting with the Dillons, Fields and ****************** and **** offered to pay the difference in cruise fare for the group if the date was changed to 2023 however there was no interest from the others to do this.
  
  After this, although well aware per above of the facts and best effort made by all involved, I have been receiving countless emails from *** regarding how unfair this process was, how he was not aware, how his cabin was not available, etc. and I now am reaching out to all of you for assistance. Between the cordial email on 2/2/22 and now, the tome and stance of *** and **** has changed multiple times from email to email.  Originally, he was ok with the penalty, he then wanted to team to change, he then indicated he didnt want to go alone with **** as just going with the 2 of them would be any fun so he was willing to lose the money to now requesting a full refund. *** has contacted Scenic multiple times and been told the same however the accusations and emails have not ceased.  In addition, based on the facts above, I cannot push for the refund as:
  There was nothing done that was negligent as no matter which option was chosen, someone would not be happy. 
  There was awareness of the team of the date and an upgraded cabin was offered and declined.
  The cruise has been scheduled well in advance of the conflict being known
  The original request was to change the date, which can be accommodated as the group proactively changed the dates ahead of cancellation to have the best chance of getting most of the cabins needed.
  Scenic has been more than gracious by protecting the prices on the bookings that we proactively changed ahead of their cancellation.
  My communication has been primarily with ***** unless it was specific to one member of the group.  This has been going since the inception of the group and nowhere was I ever made aware that this was an issue nor was I requested to make individual communications so that is how I have continued.  In addition, should anybody had specific questions or concerns, they have been free to reach out to me directly but that was very rare.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/01/2022

   
  Complaint: 17642778
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I have a had time with the idea that ********************** own and operates his own franchise when all documents from Scenic Cruises has your business name and address on them that pertains to this particular cruise. I believe that ********************** is located in ********** ********. So is he working for Cruise One in ******* as the documents dictate or is he a franchise owner or is he associated with Boat and Beach or ******** Brothers as other documents I retain show. I would think twice about representing me in a franchise! As for his explanation of what took place is partially correct. The problem is he left out a lot of details that would not make him so credible. I have always been personally in touch with Mr. *************** back in 2019 when this trip was first booked. We have had many discussions about accommodations and dates. I also have retained all his e-mail to me and mine to him concerning the trip and this issue. Scenic Cruises has never denied me a request for a refund but always informed me that I would have to go through my agent. And ********************** was getting a free guess pass for a promo that Scenic offered on group booking so he could have his guess tag along. He did not want to lose that status. There were a lot of details that **********************, as a travel agent did not update me or my wife on. If he did to someone else in the group, I had no knowledge of that until it was too late. You would think he would have contacted me to be sure I received all pertinent information, which he did not, like changes in accommodation that I had originally requested. 
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/02/2022

  Again, the money is with the vendor and they are not refunding.  You will need to deal with them and/or *********************.  Each franchise is individaully owned and operated and he controls his own business.