Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/22/2024

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  UnresolvedMore 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.

  I reached out to a travel agent about booking a trip for my 1year anniversary. My husband found her in the Outlet Mall here in Niagara Falls around April 2024. We met up with a woman by the name of Jennifer G****, and we explained to her how we wanted to go to Tokyo for our anniversary. She explained to us that she'll look into it and get back with us in a few days. A few days later my husband and I met Jennifer in the Mall and she explained that a Guided tour trip to Tokyo for 10 days would be about $10,000. We explained to her that, that was a little too expensive on such short notice being that our anniversary was in July. We came up with a budget of $7500 and decided we would go to Thailand being that it was cheaper than Tokyo. Jennifer came up with a 10 day guided tour going to Bangkok, Chang Mai, and Phucket, which she was going through a company called *********. She explained that the airfare would be seperate but our total pay would be $6,344.80 for trip. We made our payments each time with my debit card and any business that I ever did with Jennifer was either in person or on the phone, being that there was a lot of money involved and it's just not good to do business through a text. The tour guide started reaching out to me from Thailand asking me for our flight info so they could pick my husband and myself up from the airport. Jennifer stated to us we would receive everything after we made our final payment. When made our final payment on 7/07/2024 and were told to wait til that Monday to receive all info, Monday came then it was 2 weeks before we leave. My husband and Jennifer had an exchange of texts because of the false info she keeps giving us. She blocked us and canceled the trip we lost out on $4500 being that they would only give us back $2900 for canceling on short notice. We've reached out to her Corporate and that was also the solution to take the $2900 and sue Jennifer because shes an independent contractor.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/30/2024

  ******** ******* and ****** ****** did meet me in Gift Town within the Fashion Outlet Mall. At that first meeting they shared they had worked with many agents prior to me that did not meet their expectations and/or budgets. ******** shared that most of their trips she now plans on her own because of the issues. I spent many hours and days on putting them together a trip to Japan for their first anniversary that was within their budget. However these all had age restrictions on them that they did not fit into. They were upset and thought this was prejudice. These rules are set by my suppliers, not me. I am only given the information that they provide. I called into the companies seeking answers as why this was the case. They stated because they market to college students for these types of trips. ******** and ****** they gave me other places that they wanted to visit: Dubai, Thailand, and a few others. Most were still out of their budget. I had a supplier called ********* that just started with our host agency. I looked up information for a trip to Thailand through them and was able to come out below their budget. I met them at Gift Town to go over the contract and have them lock in the trip with a down payment. I shared that airfare could be bought through Toronto usually cheaper than other places within the USA. ******** looked at ****** strange and stated they could not do that. I reminded them at that time I told them before they proceeded to leave that this trip did NOT include international airfare ( I stood at the candle table near the door and have a witness to this) and that they still needed it. This would put them near budget or a little over, but close. All payments that ******** and ****** made were made directly to the supplier, not myself. They made several appointments with me and never showed up. Also promised me several times that the trip would be paid off early. However it never was done until AFTER the final due date passed and ********* gave them a two week extension to pay. They complained about the local fee of $420 to be paid at the time they landed to the guide. This was reviewed in the contract that they were given a written/printed copy of and it was emailed to them several times. All receipts were provided to them by either a copy or by picture explaining that they were paying ********* directly, not me, and had to be signed by them every time a transaction was made. They were reminded several times before final payment of when the final payment date was, and they argued about that, even though this was all stated in the contract that they had in their possession. International air was NOT included in the contract, only domestic, in country/Thailand was included. And as I stated before ******** and ****** were made aware of this. They also wanted the dates of when they were going. I shared this via text message, in which it did NOT state their international flights several weeks before final payment was made. They never asked me or inquired if the international flights were included. Three weeks before final payment was due they stated they wanted to cancel and then two hours later, wanted to keep the trip. ********* luckily did not cancel the trip and I was able to proceed. ******** at that time shared that she was happy to have me as her agent and apologized because of her husband and her actions were crazy at times. I stated after they made final payment over the phone that they should receive all documents from ********* within 12-18 days prior to their trip, per the contract. I never gave anyone any false information. They did not remember, nor read the contract that was in their possession. I never block anyone. I was in a hospital with my father-in-law, driving, and had a doctor's appointment myself when they called. My phone was off or out of signal. They called me over 30 times in one day and then another 20 times the next day. When I did speak to ****** he shared that ******** was out hunting me down and was upset. There was nothing I could do more for them since they did not have international air, except to postpone or cancel the trip. They went into Gift Town and threatened the owner and her husband with a punch and a knife. At that time they were escorted out of the mall and warned to not come near them or myself. I was told by the police that ****** has a criminal record and may not even been able to go to Thailand because of it. That is why ******** told me no on Toronto, Canada, because criminal cannot be there. After that my superiors at my host agency took over the case. ******** and ****** stated to them that they wanted to extend the trip and get international flights. My host agency reached out to me after a few days and told me they then wanted to cancel. So I canceled the trip. *********'s policy, as all travel suppliers are, within a certain amount of time you can only receive a portion of your money back for canceling the trip, but they were given the option to postpone and not lose any. At this time they are still to have no contact with me or come near me since they were told by Officer ******* to refrain from all contact. They were aware that this did not include international travel many times and never pursued more questions or finding it on their own. Full contract was provided to them and the option to download the app for ********* was explained to them several times, in which they did not pursue. Unfortunately, I do believe they would of never been able to go to Thailand because of ******'s criminal past that was well known by the police officers that responded to Gift Town. I was informed by the police department they are scamming the system, in which ****** has done before.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/31/2024

  I am not sure what my husbands criminal background has to do with anything. He has a passport obviously because why would we book a trip out of the country with no passport. Also, Jennifer never gave us anything but the trip itinerary. After the idea of going to Tokyo was shot because it was so expensive is how we came up with Thailand and our budget was $7500, not $7500 and still pay airfare. It was $7500 for everything in total. Tokyo was almost $10,000 for everything in total and as I stated that was a little pricey being we were trying to go for our 1 year anniversary and it was a couple months away. I asked her in a text message when she sent over Thailand 10 day tour was flights included and she stated yes but it’s only economy, she never stated once to myself or husband that that almost $7,000 was just for the tour radar because we would’ve chosen something different. I honestly believe she messed up someone instead of apologizing and trying to fix it she acted like she did nothing wrong and still try to make us go over budget meaning now the trip would be almost $12,000 now and for that we could’ve just went to Tokyo being I always wanted to go there. After we made our final payment even before when we made all our other payments Jennifer NEVER EVER stated to us we still had to pay for flights. When the tour guide reached out to us each time we were under the impression that once we made our final payment all info will be sent to us. When we came to her location yes it was a little intense because she had taken our money and blocked us and the only info we knew about her was where she was located. After the last payment she was just nasty as if she waiting to be that way. Trying to bring up someone criminal background because she messed up is crazy that has nothing to do with the money we spent and that was years ago. I have proof of our messages the few we have cause as I stated I made sure to do business in person so there was no misunderstanding and yet there still was.