Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  06/20/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Big ********************************************************* (Big Five), owned and operated by *********************************, ******, ***, reneged on an agreement with 7 clients causing a loss of about $8,000 each. This is submitted on behalf of 7 clients and we request some monetary compensation. Efforts to resolve the dispute have been through communication with:- Big Five and their attorneys - Virtuoso, a global network of luxury travel advisers of which Big Five is a member.A trip to ******* for 13 people was scheduled for the week after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Seven of the ******************************************** the region. The other 6 wanted to make the trip despite warnings and concerns. ************************, discussed the concerns with the entire group and seemed sympathetic. The discussion was held via Zoom and recorded. ************************ proposed for those hesitant to travel to POSTPONE, not cancel, the trip provided they re-booked within twelve months and with the understanding costs such as pre-paid fees and taxes would not be recovered. All 13 considered the proposal a win-win and extremely accommodating. Six took the trip as scheduled and 7 followed **************************** advice to postpone and reschedule. Big Five finalized a new itinerary in March 2024 and advised that each traveler would only receive a $1,142 credit toward the new booking with no accounting for the rest of the money. To think $7,000 or $50,000 collectively, was spent on fees and taxes, was inexplicable. ?We did not expect to lose 86% of the money. ?Requests for an accounting were unanswered and effort to resolve the dispute led to Big Five advising they would no longer rebook the trip and our business relationship concluded. ************************ now says those who forfeited 100% of their money in accordance with the signed contract. Yet when he suggested postponing which is video taped he never mentioned we'd forfeit most of the money.

  Business response

  07/09/2024

  Please see attached. 

  Customer response

  07/18/2024

   
  Complaint: 21880657
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  The response from Big Five's outside counsel does not address the issue and therefore is not acceptable.  On behalf of myself and the six individuals named below we request Big Five and its outside counsel work toward a resolution since the owner of Big Five created this problem by reneging on an agreement he proposed and we accepted.  A summary follows:
  
  *********************************, owner of Big Five, nullified the written terms of the contract cancellation provisions by verbally stating that those who did not wish to make the scheduled trip to ******* in October 2023 could postpone, not cancel the trip, provided it was rebooked within twelve months and with the understanding costs such as pre-paid fees and taxes would not be recovered.  Furthermore, the contract contained an addendum which states:
  
  "At Big Five, we don't have or need a policy stating that you can postpone your
  journey after booking.  Since we began in 1973, we have been through downturns
  and upswings alike and have allowed guests on a case-by-case basis to postpone
  journeys up to 12 months from original travel date without penalty.  A computer
  is not generating an algorithm to decide your cancellation policy or how lenient
  it will be - a human being.  We will always do the best we can to help accommodate
  you, our traveler, in large part due to the excellent relationship we have with your
  travel advisor, while ensuring we protect the local tourism industry in the countries
  we serve so they are there to serve you when you do actually travel.
  
  We considered the postponement offer, with no penalty, to be that case-by-case situation referenced in the addendum.  The offer was acceptable and all travelers agreed to the accommodation.  When it came time to re-book ************************ reneged on the agreement saying we canceled our trip and forfeited 100% of our money.  Had ************************ never offered an accommodation, there would be no dispute.  And some who postponed, may have taken the trip despite the travel safety concerns.  ************************ made this offer via a Zoom meeting on October 19, 2023 which was recorded.  The following was transcribed from that recording:
  
  ****:  .....the difficulty is 5 of us want to go um and ah 6 or more do not.  And is there any accommodation that can be made so that half can postpone and five of us can go?
  
  Ashish:  Absolutely! The 6 of us. Absolutely, here is how that works, ok.  The six of you that go, your costs are not impacted but the 5, if you, that postpone to go later some of the items that are total costs, not person costs they're going to end up being, costing you each more because of divided by 5 not divided by 11.  So that is something that is very important to account for.  So for the 5 who don't want to go, no problem, we can postpone you and the 6 of you can go but I just need you to understand the ramifications of, that those you don't go, it is not us doing it but I can't control what increases the country will have next year with taxes and anything else and also single item costs "
  
  ****:  But I guess my confusion was when you keep saying it has to be a collective decision.
  
  Ashish:  Well it was more just me saying it so nobody loses money or gets impacted negatively by it, it was just a suggestion that was why I was saying it.  But it is decided
  
  ****: Oh!
  
  Ashish:  But if you want to break the group up and 6 of you go and 5 of you don't go, okay, fine, but I just need I, I always like to be very very clear about this just so there is no surprises about this.  The 5 of you who don't go, it is going to have an impact on, on what your costs may be when you go, cause there is going to be 5 of you not 11 of you that go later on. The six of you that go right now we already paid out all the funds for this we already paid out all the different parties for this so they already you know whatever each activities that already, have been paid out guides, drivers and everything else have already been paid out, so for the six of you that are already going there is no impact.
  
  When Mr. ****** said ABSOLUTELY THEY CAN POSTPONE.  We understood this to mean since we were not cancelling we would not lose 100% of our money, but if we postponed, we would only lose some money.  The percentage or amount was not stated.
  
  Four months later, in February 2024, Big Five proposed an itinerary and travel dates and advised that the funds remaining from the postponed trip were $1142 per person, which could be applied to the cost of the re-booked trip. The $1142 represented 14% of the $7,940.00 paid per person, significantly less than expected based on **************************** representations.  We were out $6,798 each or $47,586 (86%), collectively.  So to now say the $1142 was a booking discount offered as a courtesy is disingenuous.
  
  Furthermore, to give Big Five the benefit of the doubt, we made two requests for a line item accounting of how our individual payments of $7,940.00 were dispensed in 2023 and to whom. Both reasonable requests were ignored. Because Mr. ********** said "I can't control what increases the country will have next year with taxes and anything else and also single item costs," we believe it is reasonable to know how our money was dispersed and what refunds Big Five received from hotels, restaurants, the government and other vendors. These refunds should have been applied to our re-booked trip as he lead us to believe in the Zoom call on October 19, 2023.
  
  Efforts to resolve the dispute led to Big Five advising they would no longer rebook the trip and our business relationship concluded.   We were betrayed and hoodwinked and feel this can not go unchecked.
  
  Thank you.
  
  ***********************
  
  Cc:  ***********************, ***********************, *******************************, *************************, ********************* and *************************
  
  

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