Sorry you didn't enjoy it. Where did you stay?

Kaf, have you done a research before making reservations with Jen? Reviews on TripAdvisor and Yelp are mixed, and I would not use this company based on those reviews.

They are not registered with BBB, but there are 7 filed complaints.

Also, did they tell you which hotels they offer - and did you check reviews on those hotels?

It's always a good idea not to trust a travel agency completely, especially when doing business with them for the first time.

Reply to all: We travel often, and I always do all my own planning & research. This was a last minute decision. I asked the travel agent a million questions, and thought I had it covered. They basicly just lied in my opinion. So, would never again use this travel agency.
Costa Rica is a beautiful country. The people are all very friendly and helpful. The gulf of Nicoya was beautiful, and the 2 days there at Tango Mar Resort were really great. A top notch place.
Rest of the time the agency had us running all over the country to stay in totally out of the way hotels with few services, and impossible trips to make and still arrive in daylight.

Yea we have heard quite a bit of complaining on the Trip Advisor forum about this company. Bummer to hear about your experience.

Sounds like at the end of the day they do not know CR very well. Thanks for posting your experiences.
Cheers

"Travel By Jen" and "Jetset Vacations" are the same company.

Booking with Jetset Vacations in not a problem, and the transaction is not the issue. They don't mind taking your money while giving you cheap, packaged, but ultimately unsatisfying vacations to Costa Rica. They are not in the business of providing good customer service, or owning up to their mistakes.


Google Jetset or Travel By Jen and the internet is full of complaints from unhappy customers who were duped into lack luster vacations. We recently booked a 7 day trip to Costa Rica from Sept 19th 2012 for one week. What Jetset does not tell you is the details.

Here are the details:

---Your flight will be from 10am - 5pm. You will get your Adobe rental car (standard) included. Driving an automatic is extra $, but to fully insure your car you will pay $380USD over 7 days (including a necessary GPS). So check with your credit card company first to see if you have auto insurance coverage and how much for total loss on a vehicle. Also, if you don't fully insure the car for total loss, they will hold $800USD on your credit car vs. $300 if you do.

---Once you get your car, the sun will be setting by 6pm. So you will be driving at night. We had to go to Arenal. That is a 3 hour and 45 minute drive with 75% of the way up and down a winding mountain in complete darkness with, pot holes, speed bumps, and FOG that you can't see beyond 10 metres.

----At all the resorts you will be staying at Tico's and their families have the run of the place at any time, but mostly on weekends. They will show up by the hundreds, with children in tow, speaking Spanish only, and using all the common areas that you will be using. That is the restaurants, pool, beach, beach chairs, and anything else you may want to partake in as a guest. This is exactly what happened in Punta Leona (close to Jaco).

We wrote an email to Jetset, and got a response from Robert Phillips. In several emails he fully tried to tell us we were wrong about all of the above as though we had not personally experienced it. He was not helpful at all, and did not offer any kind words or compensation. They have been reported to the BBB.

The BBB is the equivalent of a toothless advertising agency. Complaining to them is pointless. Better to ask for a refund, or whatever it is you want, with the implied threat of inundating every travel forum you can find, over and over again.

By the way, being irked that locals stay in the same hotel and speak their own language and dare to bring "children in tow" and use the same facilities and common areas is a bit offensive, UNLESS you are stating that non-guests use the facilities. In that case, you have a valid complaint about the availability of the resources you paid for. But you are not making that clear (or how you know that they are not guests, if that is the case).