We just recently booked a trip with Vantage (Holland and Belgium in Bloom) for April 2007. This trip will be our first with this company. The port charges per person and the 'estimated' fuel surcharges per person are $461 for a total of $922 per couple! These charges are quite high and we were surprised at them but presumed that was the actual cost and every other tour company would be charging the same.

Grand Circle Travel offers almost the same identical trip and their port charges and fuel surcharge is $165.90 per person for a total of $331.80 per couple!

Viking has a similar trip, too and their charges are $84 and $35.

As you can see we are paying $590.20 per couple more for the privilege of traveling with Vantage Deluxe Travel!

I called Vantage customer service to voice my displeasure and I was rudely informed that there was nothing that could be done. I do believe that port charges and fuel surcharges are a reality, but to 'pad' the bill and make a profit from these charges is outrageous to say the least.

We are seriously considering canceling this trip and absorbing the $125 per person cancellation charge. We do not like being over charged! Therfore, we wanted to let others know that before they book any trips, make sure that when comparing trips and prices, they also find out what the 'taxes' are. We have traveled with GCT and have had most enjoyable trips with them and of course much less money in taxes were charged to us.

carol

P.S. we take at least two international trips a year and this is the first time we felt we were being extremely over charged.




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Vantage and Grand Circle are owned by brothers. We have had the same experience...

You are being overcharged. Get a refund and go elsewhere.
M (SMdA, Gto.)

We realize that we are being very over charged (after the fact, unfortunately)but wanted to post this to make sure others do not find themselves in the same situation. I think we usually accept those charges when making reservations as being true and that the company is not making money on taxes. It is our misfortune that we trusted Vantage and now realize that they are not dealing in an honest business way.


It is a shame that we cannot easily find out exactly what port charges and fuel surcharges are so that we can be better and wiser consumers.

We do know that the companies are owned by brothers; Allen Lewis and Henry Lewis and apparently in competition with each other.

The only thing that I can do is post this everywhere so that others will not be taken advantage of.

I would really like for an executive with Vantage repsond to this post and appologize for making a profit from taxes and refunding them to their customers/travelers. With what they are charging per person, they surely are making a very large profit at the expense of their 'valued' and trusting customers.

As you can tell, I am very insulted by this and we will never travel with them. I also will do my best to post this information anywhere that I can so that other travelers can be warned. Bad but true publicity has been known to do wonders in resolving issues. Unfortunately, this shouldn't have to be the way to get results. This would not be necessary if someone in authority would take our phone call but that is not to be, therefor, I will do whatever it takes to get the word out that Vantage is over charging on taxes!

Am I reading this to understand that you did not know what the surcharges were before you booked? Or were they one amount and then later changed?

If the latter, I would think you could cancel and not have to pay any cancellation fee, and your credit card company would probably support this if you have proper documentation.

When we made the reservations we were told what the port charge and estimated fuel surcharge was. I told the sales rep that the taxes seemed to be very high in comparison to other trips we had taken with other companies. She assured me that the taxes VANTAGE were charging were a standard item and travel companies all basicaly charged the same for similar itineraries. After making the reservation and accepting their word, I still felt uncomfotable about being charged a total of $922 per couple for a 12 day trip. That is when I started my investigation and found other companies to be charging much less for trips/tours that were very nearly the same.

We traveled with GCT on their tour, Eastern Europe to the Black Sea which was a 13 day trip and our total charge for taxes was $319.40 per person. This was still lower than VANTAGE's taxes for a 12 day trip.

Well, I think it's a scam, as the price of fuel is actually going down, and therefore, they can predict very acurately what the cost of fuel will be and should build it into the cost of the trip. Adding charges after the fact is an old game.