Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  03/23/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My sister, her 2 children, my husband and I have been trying to go to Jamaica since Spring Break 2021. We booked and paid for the vacation by January 2021 as required by our travel agent (Jessica ******* Due to Covid - our travel agent suggested we not travel at that time. We re-booked for Spring Break 2022. She then told us it would cost an additional $1000.00 per person. She said she could cancel our earlier reservation and get our money back and we could re-book. We agreed. She then needed our new reservation to be paid in full before we were reimbursed for our first trip. We did that on Feb 1, 2022. We never got any money back from the first cancelled trip - only a trip credit. When we got ready to go on our second trip - on our way to the airport in Dallas, I fell and busted my head open with a brain bleed and could not make the trip. My sister's daughter had also tested positive for COVID and they all 3 had symptoms and decided not to go. Now our travel agent is not helping us file any claims for this second trip. I am out approximately $10,000.00 and still haven't been able to travel. I called the owner of Honey Bee Travel and she told me to book my own trip next time and was no help at all.

  Business response

  04/12/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/03/31) */ All communications with clients are documented with emails and text messages and kept in our CRM under client profiles. The clients of a contracted travel agent, chose to cancel their trip in 2020 BEFORE the resort Sandals could state whether they would remain open, close temporarily, etc. Due to the clients choosing to cancel and reschedule their trip, Sandals, only gave them a credit on their airfare. Upon rebooking, the clients made the selection in writing that they understood cancelation policies and Selected any refunds to be done so in credits. This option is the cheaper of the insurances offered and secures that the money invested minus the insurance is credited for future use. Moments before the plane departed, the clients reached out to agent to cancel their trip. The agent was departing herself on a flight that very moment for a family emergency and instructed them to contact the number on their paperwork for cancelling. The did so for the first booking and waited until the day after to do so for the second family booking (waiting after the plane had departed) to cancel. Because clients chose to get a credit and didnt cancel in time for 2nd booking, they made the agent very uncomfortable when threats were made that theyd get their money one way or another. They then contacted myself, the agency owner, calling several times to reach me. I explained that after 2020 Covid disaster, that I work full time outside my home now because of all the money we lost due to everything being cancelled. She stated that she has been told she will only get a credit for her trip and then she informed me that she had driven past my residence several times waiting to catch me and that I should be ashamed of myself for pretending to have an official business address when it is simply my home. I informed her that i had an office in downtown Amarillo until the end of 2020 because we simply couldn't afford to pay for a location that we were not allowed to meet clients in. I also informed her that we do not see any money and get paid until clients come back from their vacations. Her irritation grew and she informed me that she would get their money one way or another. At this point, I asked her if she was threatening to sue and she responded with, whatever it takes to get my money. So i rudely told her that she is the one who selected the credit refund and that her agent is nothing more than a full time teacher with nothing to her name and that she is a contractor of ours and not an employee. I also told her that all the emails and texts are documented for purposes such as this and that it shows who exactly is to blame. I did not remain professional because of my concerns of her comments of stating she had been driving past my home, where I have 4 children and I lost my cool and did not respond well. However, in times like these when inflation is rising at alarming rates, the idea of a client driving past my home on more than one occasion raised red flags. Because of all of this, the agent has released herself from being their agent and will not get one penny from all of this and the client will go directly with supplier for any questions and or help booking.

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