I would be VERY careful.

They say their Florida Headquarters are located in 318 Indian Trace #440, Weston, FL 33326
Phone: 1.954.880.9229 - Fax: 1.954.919.9043

Why don't you try calling them?

It seems weird that I couldn't find anything about TopDestinations, Inc., which they say they are "a division of".

Have great time in South America.

I would also avoid them. They are very friendly and all when they first answer the phone but don't let that, or fancy websites, sway you.

www.latinamericaforless.com is the legit company

www.gotmyfare.com LA based good for cheap budget

seen mixed/negative reviews

ALWAYS pay with credit card NEVER wire money to anyone

one poor guy lost $10k not long ago...

Happy Hunting,

this website had a package featured on www.travelzoo.com, so does that make a change in its legitimacy do you think?

Its just advertising. That's how I ran across them also.

My husband and I took a tour last year to Peru with LatinAmerica4Less. The transportation was provided by Grayline. We arrived at 4 am in the morning and we were met at the airport and transported to our hotel. The rest of the trip continued to be flawless. They did exactly what they said they would do. It's a no frills tour, but still great for the price. We are now going to The Galapagos and have booked the trip with them.

I just came back from Peru and Ecuador with them. The rep did not meet us in Quito and we had to take our own taxi to the hotel. I don't think anyone else in the group even knew the name of the Hotel. Fortunately I did. I would not use them again. They use Gray Line Tours in Peru and RTA in Ecuador. RTA was excellent in Guayaquil but poor in the Galapagos and no show in Quito.

We just got back from Machu Picchu and used LatinAmerica4less. I CAN'T STRESS THIS ENOUGH.......DO NOT TRUST THIS TRAVEL AGENCY. THEY ARE VERY DISHONEST, FRAUDULENT AND WILL SAY ANYTHING TO GET YOUR MONEY. We arrived in Peru and nothing was as stated in our itinerary. We called LatinAmerica4less numerous times with no response. We were stranded in Peru and no where to turn. BEWARE, BE VERY AWARE OF THIS TRAVEL AGENCY!!!!!

In Argentina all travel agency should be registered and they should have a registration number to prove it. Anyone can go into the GOV official site and fill in the number and check if they are for real.
Of course the internet is an easy forum to post not legally registered agencies. If everything goes well no problem but if something goes out of track...prepare for the worst.

This is frankt's first post, so I am slightly skeptical. Frank can you give us a few details of exactly what was not "as stated in our itinerary".

I have a trip to Machu Pichu on June 11. They promised a final itinerary 30 days in advance and vouchers 2 weeks in advance. Neither has come, but I hope they do in time for the trip.

I also found the trip on travelzoo. I just discovered that the BBB rates this company F. Maybe one should not necessarily trust the travelzoo top 20 without further investigation.

We have booked through LatinAmerica4less for our trip in November. We have had wonderful communication from them by phone & email. Our Itinerary is very comprehensive including the baggage weight allowances for all our flights. They were very flexible with the Itinerary we added extra days in various stopovers & they allowed us to book some of our Hotels ourselves as we were using Starwood points at some places. We have been provided with phone numbers of contacts incase of any problems.I must admit I am a little nervous after some of the comments here. I checked the BBB ratings before I booked and again since reading this & the rating is an A not F which is of some comfort.

Didn't realise there was LatinAmerica4less & latinamericaforless we have booked with www.latinamericaforless.com & it has the A rating.

rehaber and dinoted, can you please specify if you are refering to "latinamericaforless" or latinamerica4less". they are two different companies and I was thinking of using "latinamericaforless". thanks

I have not used this company but I did make some enquires (not for South America, this company has packages in different regions) , after a few emails, I called to continue to work on my itinerary, that's when I got a red flag and choose not to use them. The person, forgot his name, said he'd be in at such and such a time in the email. I called the FL office (where the sales rep was supposed to be according to his email) , and I was told this person does not work from the FL office, but was in another country. I think it was Costa Rica. Next, I got my inbox full of emails from the person I had been in touch with requesting my telephone number. Needless to say, I didn't use the company or give them my #.

Based on the reviews that I found online I can said that they don't provide very good customer service before departure, but there are not complains for the service that they have provided during the tours, some of them said that the itineraries have too many activities, another ones complain about wake-up times, etc, just one looks very furious with them.

I have made several research and find out that they are a California corporation, IATAN approved and they are registered on the California Seller of Travel with a CST#2060302.

I have called them several times and more than 15 agents have answered the phone, they probably are located on different cities and countries between US and Latin America and I'm pretty sure that some of them are home based agents.

Having said that, I was looking for deals and that's why I booked with Latinamerica4less.com, if you are looking for 5* service, you better go to Abercrombie & Kent, Travcoa, American Express, etc. but I have booked the Four Countries in South America with them, called a couple of times and finally got my vouchers for August 20th. I'll keep you posted.

Thank you, Mauri73, for that comprehensive, summary information. I look forward to your future posts. Have a fine trip.

~MarnieWDC

We went to Machu Picchu this past May using LatinAmerica4less as our travel agent. WHAT A TERRIBLE MISTAKE THAT WAS ! ! ! ! ! ! This travel agency is VERY DISHONEST & FRAUDULENT. After we arrived in Peru, all of our hotels were changes (downgraded), arrived by an old bus vs the backpacker train that was on our itinerary. We were to stay an extra half day to explore Machu Picchu further and were told we had to leave very early while dark. No extra half day as promised. Numerous telephone calls and e-mails to LatinAmerica4less while in Peru. NOT ONE TELEPHONE CALL OR E-MAIL RETURNED ! ! ! ! ! ! ! RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN FROM LATIN AMERICA 4 LESS.

Hope to see posts from dinoted on their experience from the June trip and Mauri73 after their August trip for an update!

I just left a post on another thread. To say the least, the customer service with this company is some of the worst I have experienced yet. My travel companion and I have had the same experiences with the lack of returned calls or emails. I am supposed to leave tomorrow night for Peru. I am doing a one week trip with the company but I booked my return flight 2 weeks after the trip ends to do some traveling on my own. I am very glad I was able to do that because at least if this isn't what I had hoped, I'll have some real travel time to enjoy after. Wish me luck!

I just returned from a trip booked through LatinAmerica4Less and the trip was great. There are two companies: LatinAmericaForLess and LatinAmerica4Less. LatinAmericaForLess has reviews on the BBB but LatinAmerica4Less does not. I was told by someone on the trip that sometimes companies have to pay a fee to be listed and if they don’t pay they are not listed. The hotels we stayed at met our satisfaction. Two of them had many amenities but the Galapagos motel only had a swimming pool which suited us because we were only at the hotel for 5 hours a day to sleep, bathe and eat (no time for amenities). Someone else paid an extra $200 to stay at a better hotel but did not get to use the amenities paid for (they were gone all day). The Galapagos discovery trip keeps you so busy that you do not have time for Hotel amenities (so paying for better accommodations is not worth it). We toured the old city of Quito, went to the Equator, visited 2 islands in the Galapagos (snorkeling too) and toured Guayaquil (7days total including travel time). I was not disappointed but was very tired and we got an average of 5 hours sleep (maybe) a night. Be prepared to Go! Go! Go! The price was right and I would recommend it. Our Hotels were Hotel Quito, Red Booby and Grand Hotel Guayaquil (each trip could differ). One guide also told us that in the future restrictions on visiting Galapagos could make the trip much more expensive. Word of warning, when we flew AeroGal they lumped our luggage tickets together as 1 group (39 people)and we had to sort through them and make sure each person had their baggage tag in the Galapagos airport. Also, while in the AeroGal airport we each had to fill out a form declaring we were not bringing anything to the Galapagos that could damage the ecosystem. Be aware that each form had each person’s name and information on it and we had to sort through those and make sure everyone had the correct form with their name and information, a little chaotic when you are not prepared for this to happen. We were able to sort this out pretty quick and we gave all the baggage tags to 1 person to hold until we reached Galapagos, as we had no idea what number belonged to what bag and person. The baggage thing turned out okay (it was an adventure).The whole trip was very fast paced, blink and you could miss something. I loved every minute of it. P.S. My husband and I both got a little cold that hit us the last day but it was a travel day and did not affect the trip. Have Fun!!!

I just returned from the Four Countries in South America, it was great! Very well organized. I think that Latinamerica4less needs to improve the customer service but nothing to say in reference to the tour package, the hotels were fine and the local representatives that they use excellent If I need go again to Latinamerica I will use them again.

Booked and paid for a trip to Panama, leaving this Friday. Just got a call (Tuesday) and was told the company is bankrupt. Not only was my trip not planned, but they said they aren't giving me my money back. They are still advertising and accepting bookings. STAY AWAY.

4less - not forless

GUEST1

I Guess you can call your credit card company now.

Out of curiosity I called their 800 number and "all agents are busy, leave a message."

Hi All,

I just wanted to stress that Latinamerica4less and Latin America For Less are two entirely unrelated companies.

Before booking any trip online, we advise you to check your agency's rating on the Better Business Bureau, as well as look for genuine travel testimonials and reviews on third party sites.

Happy travels!
Matt Barker
Latin America For Less

We booked a trip with latinamerica4less.com in April and made all the required payments. At 6 AM this morning, 3 days before the schedule departure, I received a phone call from latinamerica4less.com stating that their company was not in business (bankrupt). The lady gave me all the information necessary to file a dispute with the credit card company to try and get a refund. The last 2 weeks have been hell with this bunch. We never received our e-tickets and the hotel vouchers only arrived yesterday. I'm sure they are worthless too. A call to the airline showed that they had booked the flight the day after the reservation, but canceled it the next day. They booked it again on October 14, but never paid for it so it was automatically canceled. Every call to them in the last 2 weeks resulted in a promise that "tomorrow the tickets will be e-mailed." So, save yourself some stress and follow the advice of Matt Barker from Latin America For Less.

I would urge you to go elsewhere.

This company needs to be put out of business by people not using them. I have booked a trip to Peru and the Galapagos through this outfit and it has been a nightmare:
1. They promised to send a complete itinerary three weeks before departure. Not done, though I called them three times. They never return phone calls or emails.
2. I depart this Saturday, the 23rd. I finally received vouchers Monday evening after SIX phone calls and three emails. No boarding pass with the vouchers, only an itinerary for my flights, hotel names and numbers.
3. They have another passenger's name on my hotel reservations in Peru, but no one at LA4L is answering phone calls or responding to emails.
4. I have been left "swinging in the wind" by this company, even though they charged my credit card six weeks ago on 9/6/10. There is no customer service in the States. They are incommunicado.

I just hope the tour companies in SA do a better job than these people.

Please go elsewhere. Do not book through this company unless you want your vacation to be one more source of stress. Not what I had in mind.

Regards to all.

I suggest you check with the airline ASAP to make sure you have an actual reservation in their system. The air vouchers may not be worth the paper they are written on. And I would probably check with the hotels as well. Hope this trip works out for you.

Tidyproroma, you should read the few replies above yours. They ARE out of business.

Check your airline tix ASAP!

If they are good you might contact Gray Line and see if anything is booked under your name. I think LA4Less uses them as the local provider.

All,

I just wanted to post and let everyone know that I am experiencing THE SAME EXACT set of events as gigiweb2.

I booked and paid for the trip.
Got fraud alerts for unauthorized charges in COLUMBIA (gee, how did that happen?)
Investigated reservations and found out they were made and canceled the next day.
Started getting cold feet and began to email and call - no responses to either channels of communication.

The only thing is that I haven't received any phone call saying that they're bankrupt. Does anyone have any proof of that so I can show it to my credit card company? I would REALLY appreciate it...

All this work and saving for a honeymoon just to start married life $5k in the hole with no honeymoon? ANY help is appreciated.

Thanks, all.

STAY AWAY FROM LATINAMERICA4LESS!

You may need to get the documentation from the airlines and hotels, etc., that were listed in your itinerary...assuming you HAD an itinerary. Eg when you found your reservations were made and canceled, who told you that? Document your phone calls, time date person you spoke to. YOu may not get anything from LA4Less but your documentation of paying and having nothing booked should be all you need.

Do file an immediate claim with your credit card company to get things started.

Same thing happened to me. Paid for the Costa Rica trip back in Mar & Apr. Supposed to depart Oct 30. No vouchers, e-tickets .. anything by Oct 15. Called and spoke with agent "Helena" whom I had been in contact with at several points over the last few months. She said travel packet would be sent on Monday (Oct 18). Rec'd nothing, called Tues., Oct 19 and called several time since -- goes directly to voice mail: "All agents are currently busy". I don't expect anything from them. We've been SCAMMED! Would like to share info with other SCAMMEEs to try to recover funds. Anything regarding bankruptcy, etc. to help with claim with credit card co. Will pursue contact w/ BBB & Cal. State Attorney Genr.

Thanks for the helpful information so far, all!

I had contacted my credit card company in hopes that they would be able to handle everything, but they said that they can't do anything because my trip is in November and I have no proof (besides web postings) that the company is out of business...

Of course, I can't get official proof because the reps have stopped responding to emails and phone calls and the website is down as well.

I gave the credit card company all I had so far including proof and a POC for my reservation cancellation.

Any other thoughts or ideas? GUEST1, was there any hardcopies of anything saying LA4L was going bankrupt? Or just a phone call?

Thanks again for all your help here! I feel better that I'm not the only one going through this...

Their website listed that they were a member of ASTA. Maybe you could go to ASTA for help. Perhaps they could at least provide some type of document verifying that LA4Less is kaput.

BTW you can still see what used to be on LA4L by using the Cached feature/

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:aAm4R4POY84J:www.latinamerica4less.com/+latinamerica4less&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Just a heads up for everone

LA4L the bogus company just went

out of business effective TODAY..

Cancelling all trips notifying customers

to contact their credit card companies.

If you wired money to them odds are you are SOL

unless you had insurance.

The GOOD company www.latinamericaforless.com

is open and doing their usual EXCELLENT business.

Hope this Helps,

Received a call from LatinAmerica4Less on Friday, October 22, 2010 at 8:00 a.m. (Pacific) informing me that they have ceased operations and could not provide the travel we booked and paid for: ($6400+)for Rio, Buenos Airs, Aguazu Falls, Lima and Machu Pichu. Was scheduled to depart 10/29 but never received travel documents. The trip was booked and paid on August 3, 2010...on my AMEX card. AMEX is investigating and will notify me of results within 6-8 weeks (maybe sooner) if I will get my $$$$ back! Also notified the Calif. Attorney General's Office, Seller of Travel. Attempted to file a claim with the Calif. Travel Consumer Restitution Corp. but LatinAmerica4Less is not a participant, thus I can't file a claim for reimbursement. The owners of this corporation, TopDestinations, Inc. need to be arrested and charged with fraud and embezzlement!

On September 23rd, our scheduled departure date, the letter confirming the phone call that latinamerica4less was going out of business arrived. It stated their regrets that after 9 years in business, due to unexpected financial difficulties, they were going out of business. They listed all the resources for trying to get our money back. If you paid cash, you are supposed to call them or e-mail them. I dare you to try and get through!

The name of the topdistination president is Alejandro Vazquez. Maybe the Florida AG would like to talk to him....

Travel Zoo posted this info, maybe it will help with the credit card companies

http://www.travelzoo.com/hotels/LatinAmerica4Less.html

Hi All:

I too have been stiffed by LatinAmerica4 Less. I have several questions:
1. Is the governing jurisdiction Florida or California?
2. Has anybody exercised the binding arbitration condition of their contract?
3. Has anybody filed a criminal complaint?
4. Has anybody filed a civil lawsuit?
5. Does anybody understand whether there is a problem with simultaneously filing claims with one's credit card and travel insurance while also filing a civil suit?
6. Has anybody retained a lawyer?
7. Is there any interest in a class action lawsuit?
8. Is there any interest in establishing an e-mail group to discuss strategy? I would be happy to serve as focal point at schers@verizon.net.

Mark

gigiweb:

Can you list the resources for getting your money back for those of us who just found out via this forum that they're closed? I was to leave on November 21st and hadn't yet received my e-tickets and wasn't getting a response from anyone and I keep calling and emailing and no one responds.

Thanks!

- Faye

LatinAmerica4Less recommended filing a claim with your travel insurance (if you bought insurance) and with your credit card company. But it's not clear to me yet what they will cover.

You can write to the company and demand a refund. I doubt that will do much good.

You can file criminal fraud charges with the Broward County sheriff. I'm hopeful that this will put pressure on the company to declare bankruptcy or resolve the claims. But you can't get blood from a stone.

Your contract had an arbitration clause that theoretically requires adjudication with the Los Angeles Better Business Bureau. You can demand such arbitration from the BBB. However, I'm not sure whether that was an error in the contract. Their business was registered in California and is now suspended.

For a $300 filing fee, you can file claims in the Broward County Small Claims Court for up to $5000.

We could find a lawyer who would file a class action suit on behalf of all stiffed customers. But the lawyer would probably take 1/3 of the yield.

I'm a bit leery of the court options. The owner has already been involved in about a dozen civil cases in Broward County. So he has significant experience with the legal system.

I hope this helps. And I'm open to better ideas.

Mark

MarkScher's reply about how to get your money back is exactly what they told me. My husband called and left them a message asking how to get our money. They actually returned his call (surprise) and told him the same thing. They also said that they no longer had credit from the card company(s)?? and without that credit, they could not operate.

I contacted ASTA on the October 21st. to see if latinamerica4less is actually a member, and ASTA confirmed that they are. They also said that they were unaware of them going out of business.

I have filed formal complaints with the Attorney General in both Oregon (where I live) and Florida. I'm still confused about California and Top Destinations. I will file a complaint there too if there is a connection. Anyone sure about it?

I spoke to my travel insurance company and they give you 30 days to make a claim. They will hold and not process the claim until I hear from my credit card company. Right now I am so frustrated because dealing with my card company is like dealing with latinamerica4less. After I get through all the robots, and actually get to talk to a human, I am not allowed to speak to any of the people handling the claim to get my questions answered, and the agents only have limited information.

If MarkSher wants to start an e-mail group, that would be ok with me. Right now, it is just a waiting game.

I booked a trip for 4 people to Costa Rica on Oct 7. We were scheduled to leave on Dec 4. After reading of their financial problems, I called them, left a message. They never called back. I contacted the airline, LACSA, asked them if they had a reservation for me on Dec 4, and was the ticket paid for? Here is their reply:

LACSA 671 04DEC LOS ANGELES SAN JOSE 1225A 940A

wed Oct 27:
From:
"edesk" <edesk@taca.com>

Dear Dxxxxx,
Thank you for contacting us.
It is a pleasure to greet you.
Regarding your concern, we kindly inform that the reservation code 2SG247 has been located. Nevertheless, since the payment was not completed there is no an issued ticket and without it, you can no complete the travel.
If you have any query, please contact us .
Sincerely,
Ingrid Rivera

I have since called my credit card company twice, and have mailed documention to the credit card company about Latinamerica4less, including this thread.

I suspect that the answer to all your woes runs something like this.

1) Get the name and at least a good physical decription of the principals of latinamerica for less.

2) Draw up a list of those countries without an extradition treaty with the US. Failing that, try Paraguay, the whole country's economy is set up on a similar business model to your erstwhile travel agent.

3) Purchase an airline ticket with an established travel agency or or the really advanced, purchase one direct from an airline servicing the country in question.

4) Upon arrival in Asuncion, Kinshasa or wherever, engage a private detective.

5) Purchase a car battery, two lengths of copper wire and an alligator clip. If you prefer, substitute a hand cranked magneto for the power source.

6) Find your man and connect Tab A to Tab B, folding along the dotted line.

You may still not yet your $$ back but it should be a fun holiday.

Best of luck!

My son and I were to depart 18 Dec for Peru. I checked here today and read the news. Have had same result calling LatinAmeric4Less. Called LACSA/TACA, on which were supposed to fly, and gave them the record locator on my itinerary. It was real but the reservation had been cancelled; they couldn't tell me when it had been cancelled. I've begun the claims process with credit-card and travel-insurance companies, but both will want proof that LatinAmerica4Less has gone out of business. What are the rest of you using for proof?

You may try your luck with this:

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B15E3EKRYJL4ODE4YzI0Y2QtOTg3MC00MGMxLThmODktNGNiMzJiYzk5NTE4&hl=en

A big thanks goes out to the original poster!

Ahhhhhh!!

Does anybody have the name of the travel insurance company that LatinAmerica4Less used for their trips? I purchased the gold package, but of course that is all that I know. I don't even have the name of that company to even contact. What a mess.

Was supposed to leave on Sat Nov. 20 from JFK airport for the Nature and Culture Trip to Rio, Iguassu Falls, and Buenos Aires. Has anybody else who was going on that trip been able to find a comparable trip with the same dates? Please let me know asap if possible.

What an upset to us all

TravelGuard is the travel insurance company. I started my claim with them MOnday evening. I also filed a claim with my credit-card company.

TravelGuard's claims line is 800-826-1300. Hope this helps someone. They'll cover your loss up to the amount of coverage you chose, less whatever reimbursement you get back from your credit-card company.

I have booked a Great South American experience with LatinAmerica4less.com and supposed to leave on Dec 25th. Same as many of you I have received by E-mail a letter informing me they will not provide the package I purchased. I have filed a dispute with my credit card company. But my credit card has cancelled it as my credit card shows Top Destinations as the company that took payment and letter shows LatinAmerica4less as ceasing its operations. They argue that they are two different companies. Is there any way I will be able to get my money back? Did anyone have the same problem? How can I fight this?

Yes, they're two different companies, but one was dba (doing business as) the other and should therefore accept full responsibility. Check your invoice/receipt that you signed and it directly connects Top Destinations to LA4L; make sure you forward this to your credit card company too since they can only work with what they have.

I would send email to info@latinamerica4less requesting more information about this and even tell your credit card company to call them and do the same. They should be able to confirm this.

There's no reason why other people would be able to receive a refund and you can't. We're all in the same boat.

Go to LatinAmerica4less.com and print out the screen that shows the site is offline. Send that to your credit-card company. In the LatinAmerica4Less logo at top left, it says "A TopDestinations, Inc. Company". Connection.

Also, whois.com shows TopDestinations, Inc., as the registrant of the domain name latinamerica4less.com. Another connection.

Did you sent an email to them? I did it to info@latinamerica4less.com and got a letter with the Topdestinations and latinamerican4less names on it. They answered my email 3 days after, but they did it and they also sent me copy of the original invoice where it say Topdestinations. I was able to get a full credit from my credit card company, they will probably argue that you need A, B, C etc o like in my case they said that I purchased that more than 4 billing cycles ago, doesn't matter, if latinamerican4less didn't provided you with the services, the credit card company should cover you any way.

To dora1102

I am curious, is your credit card Visa, Master, or American Express? I have American Express, and I am STILL waiting for them to make a decision. Absolutely no communication from them other than a letter saying that they are "working on it". They have not asked me for any documentation or clarification on my claim.

You can file a complaint with the state of Florida so they can investigate the company. The on line form is under the "Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services" for Florida.
If they get bombarded with complaints I think it will help all of us.

Hi All,

Thank you for all your responses. So far no lack with my credit card company. I was told that they will be able to file a dispute after the date of the trip if I do not receive any vouchers for hotels, tours and flights to dispute charges based on services not rendered.

MGrant Could you please share what did you say for LA4L to sent you another letter indicating TD as well? I have received it an invoice from TD but letter that was sent only mentions LA4L and my visa dispute department does not want to pursue it saying they do not have a case as TD got my payment and letter says that LA4L will not provide the service. For them they are two different companies and they say TD may still be in business. If anyone knows how to get LA4L to issue another letter showing both TD and LA4L please let me know!

I sent an email asking for a letter explaining if they are or not Topdestinations and after 3 days I got the same letter advising that they are ceasing operations and it mention that Latinamerican4less is a division of Topdestinations.

I feel sorry for those guys, I have traveled with them 4 times without any problem in the past. I appreciate that they called me and sent me copy of the invoices, that help me to get the credit from my credit card right away.
For what I understand the credit card companies should have some deposit in warranty and that's why we need to made the claim directly with the credit card company, then they will deal with the travel agency.

To MGrant,

Thank you for your reply. I will sent them an E-mail and see if they will reply to me.