aliced

Well, there was a flurry of activity with Vantage Travel back in April when their website was declared "hacked" by them, which lasted some days, but see this morning that they have officially ceased operations! Yikes! We have put down $3,700 for a Christmas Markets on Danube trip in December, but the clever (sneaky and fraudulent IMHO) way they take trip insurance payments leaves almost no recourse available from their "deal" with Allianz Travel except for less than 1/4 of the trip insurance premium. Most of the insurance premium is for Vantage Trip Cancellation Waiver etc, and of course their going out of business is not one of the covered conditions for reimbursement. How handy! This plus $1400 airfares and $1000 deposit puts our lesson-well-learned, that being: NEVER book air flights or trip insurance with a tour company or carrier. We'll see if our personal travel agent has any ideas whether they'll be taken over by another carrier, but it'll take several months if not years to clear up all their claims for trips cancelled or changed by them, as this forum has already seen. Friends we were travelling with had already paid in full! Guess we'll be joining the class action suit filed in Boston....... And as I learned in Latin class 100 years ago: Caveat Emptor

janisj

What a shame

Its shocking - I've cruised with Vantage a few years ago for Christmas markets and really enjoyed it. I had wondered why their avalanche of glossy catalogues and brochures (almost weekly) had stopped arriving in my mailbox about a month ago . . .

Good luck

janisj

some other details here https://www.travelagentcentral.com/y...ses-operations

burta

So sorry for your misfortune, but really, how could you have predicted this might happen. After all, Vantage was a well-thought of agency. I wish you well, and hope for quick reimbursement of your money.

jacketwatch

Do not book with vantage travel!!!

This was posted around 2 mos. ago.

Sorry you were left in the lurch so to speak.

aliced

Yes, read that, but there are "do not travel with..." for every cruise line or air line at some point, depending on an individual's experience. My friend who is an avid world traveller and then some as well as being a travel agent had travelled with them on land and sea, so decided to join them based on her great experiences. C'est la vie.....

jacketwatch

True. Things can change. Our friends son decided to hold a formal wedding at a resort in Punta Cana where they had stayed several years back and then it was good. However there was a change in ownership and things really went downhill. We went there and wow! it was terrible.

The bride and groom eventually got acceptable compensation though nothing for the 50 or so members of the wedding group including us.

eliztravels2

Register a complaint with the credit card you used to book. I think it is called a 'charge back': the credit card pays you and then go after payment from the vendor. You are probably legally entitled to reimbursement through your credit card if you do not receive the goods you paid for. With Visa, I have been successful in getting back fees from a gym that went out of business, a deposit from a small travel company which shut down during covid, and most recently, a subscription to Amazon Prime (US) that I had inadvertently signed up for and did not use.

Be persistent, and good luck.

eLiz

aliced

Thank you, Eliztravels2, we shall do so. Allianz formed a deal w Vantage wherein most of the insurance money went to Vantage pre-trip for cancellations, and they have owed many customers from that fund for some years. Appealing to our CC can't hurt. Lesson learned: never book insurance through tour company nor airfares.

aliced

Eliztravels2, can't thank you enough for your tip on getting our monies back through our credit card company -- refunded this morning! The 'charge back' worked for us. Fodors Forum has helped us so much in so many circumstances, sooooo grateful!!

jacketwatch

Great news!