travel1948

Beware of potential problems booking and paying for a vacation with Vantage Deluxe World Travel. They will cancel your trip that was already paid in full, not notify you in a timely manner, and not reply to your concerns. Vantage cancelled my vacation (that was paid in full) in May 06 and didn't notify me until Sept 06. Over the past year and a half I have sent this letter (below) to them over a dozen times (by USPS, email, and over their website, etc.). They have never responded.

15 Sep 06
Henry Lewis
Chief Executive Officer
Vantage Deluxe World Travel
90 Canal Street
Boston, MA 02114-2031

Dear Mr. Lewis,

Ref: Customer ID: XXXXXXX, Invoice # XXXXXXX, Brazil & the Amazon River Cruise, departure date of the trip 11 Mar 07 (actually 8 Mar 07 with pre-trip extension).

We booked the referenced trip on 25 April 2006!!! Yesterday morning (14 Sep 06) we received a call from Cory Cowen (Vantage employee on ext. 7506) indicating that our trip was cancelled since they changed the vacation to a “President’s Small Ship Cruise”, etc. He indicated we could use our money (that we paid for referenced trip) for another trip or get a refund. I asked him what additional compensation I would get due to fact that Vantage cancelled my trip and for my inconvenience, etc. Basically he said that he didn’t have the authority to offer anything. He did say that if I had a specific trip in mind he could ask his supervisor about compensation. He stated that compensation (if any) would not be very much, and definitely not what I would expect (around $300 or more per person), etc. At this late date, most of my March 2007 choices were already “closed out” and I already have other trips booked for most of the other months, etc. However, I did give him a European river cruise to check on. He said he would “run it by her (his supervisor)” and get back to me in a couple hours. Needless to say he never called back.

After some further research I found out that Vantage had actually cancelled my vacation 4 to 5 months ago. I located a couple old catalogs that list the President’s Brazil & the Amazon River Cruise for the date of my trip as being “sold out”. I called Cory back today and after some “useless discussion” I decided on a refund. He did admit that Vantage had cancelled my trip approximately 4 months ago. He thought it appeared to have been done in May, but had no real explanation as to why I wasn’t notified then.

I would like specific answers to the following questions:

1. When the determination was made to change my trip (actual date) to a “President’s Cruise” why wasn’t I called and given the opportunity to book it (and keep my vacation)?
2. Why did it take Vantage 4 to 5 months to notify me that my trip was cancelled? Wasn’t someone responsible for notifying me in a timely manner?
3. Since booking I had called/emailed Vantage several times asking about the status of my air. The last couple times was this month with Lauri and Susan. Susan never got back to me as she promised and Luari never really adequately answered my questions. Basically I got “sluffed off” and was told that “Your flights are being blocked with the airline on a Group Block and once we have the space all finalized it will be put into your record”. I have no idea what “blocked on a group block” means, etc. However, why didn’t they tell me the trip was already cancelled?
4. I’ll be 58 in November and I can remember when a company would actually value their customers, treat them right, be honest with them, and try to “do right by them when a mistake was made”. Does Vantage really not care about customer satisfaction, repeat business, and/or word of mouth recommendations? We’ve been on over 60 cruises and (since retiring 2 ½ years ago) have taken approximately 8 vacations (over 2 weeks each) per year. This would have been my 2nd vantage trip. I’ve been on 3 Grand Circle trips and will probably book more. In talking to other people on the various vacations, the topic of what other vacations do you like and/or have you taken always comes up. I can honestly say that due to the way I have been treated I would never recommend Vantage to anyone.
5. Why does it take up to 4 weeks (per Cory) to get my refund? Why can’t someone expedite the paperwork?
6. I mentioned to Corey that if I wanted to book another Vantage trip at a later date I would lose my “on board booking credit” and “past traveler discount”. I asked if he could extend these discounts. He said that he didn’t have the authority to do so. Can you give me any reason why would I ever want to book another Vantage vacation?

Note: When I was on my original Vantage trip last March 2006 (Norwegian Crown, South American Explorer) a Princess Cruise ship (Star Princess) caught on fire and they had to cancel several cruises. I was booked on that ship for a transatlantic cruise departing 30 April 2006 and my cruise was cancelled. Before I got home from the Vantage trip, they had already credited my charge card with a full refund. In addition, I had a voice mail message from my travel agent notifying me of such. Also, Princess Cruises offered to fully reimburse me for my nonrefundable air and a 25% (of what I paid) credit for a future Princess cruise. Consequently I’m booked on a Dawn Princess cruise this December. I didn’t expect Vantage to offer a 25% credit on another trip; but I did expect something of significance (i.e. a couple/few hundred dollars per person or maybe an additional 5% off) in lieu of the of the “take it or leave it” offer to rebook any other trip (that still happens to be available) at the full “book rate”.

I can understand Vantage making a management decision to change the Brazil & the Amazon River Cruise to a President’s Cruise. However I can’t understand why I wasn’t offered my cabin on that cruise, at least notified of the change in a timely manner (like last April/May) when the trip was actually cancelled, or told that it was cancelled when I called in (several times) to check on my air schedule. It is really disappointing to see such a “we really don’t care about the customer” attitude from Vantage Deluxe World Travel. I actually thought that they were a better company than that. I guess I was wrong.

Sincerely,

pat

Aren`t Vantage and Grand Circle owned by brothers? They and OAT are all connected, and there have been complaints about this, as all three corporatations have done this.

clarasong

anyone contemplating a Vantage or GCT excursion owes it to themselves to do the research first. They are brothers, have the same shoddy business practices,and rely on volume to cover up. Biggest complaint against them, and what put GCT out of the BBB in Boston was 'lack of response' to customer complaints. We have had terrible experience with them and will tell anyone who is willing to listen to be very cautious.

flgirl0817

travel1948,

I'm so sorry for all of the problems that you have had with Vantage. This year I book their Best of Africa tour and while making the airline reservations their customer service people were horrible, non-responsive and rude. I looked up the email for the Pres., Director of Marketing and Sales Manager and wrote a very strongly worded email. The following day I received an email from their Vice President, received a phone call from a "Manager" and was given a $250 voucher.

Since then I have returned from my trip, which was wonderful. Everything from start to finish was excellent. I would not hesitate to use them again in the future.

I also have heard negative comments about the OAT customer servcie people. It's a shame that there is no customer service anymore.

Brian_in_Charlotte

I'm also sorry about the problems you have had, but to be blunt, your letter would likely not get you the result you want at even the most responsive company.

Complaint letters to management should be concise, to the point and have a very specific ask at the end. All of the extra stuff (if the reader actually takes the time to read it all) comes off as whining and gives the impression that it was perhaps written by a crackpot. And I wonder why you continued to send the same letter to them over and over again. Did you think, well maybe the 9th time's the charm? They're probably posting them all in the breakroom.

Next time you write a letter like this, state the problem in a non-argumentative tone in one paragraph, state your ask in a couple of sentences, and if you feel like pushing it, finish with a friendly but clear intimation of what you might do if you don't get what you are asking for.

But of course if management is a bunch of crooks as mentioned above, then you're likely wasting your time anyway.

suze

Sorry, but I always read with a grain of salt, complaint letters against a specific company from someone who's never even posted or participated on the Fodor's forum previously.

happytourist

Go to consumerist.com and learn how to send an email carpet bomb to the management.

hav2travel

We have traveled with Vantage twice---once on a river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam and last year on a 23 day tour of China. We can't say enough positive things about our experiences, the specific tour directors, accommodations, and the general experiences. Each trip was with a different couple and they also had the positive experiences. Should our health be good enough we plan on traveling with Vantage again.

clarasong

Vantage and GCT...when they are good, they are pretty good, but when they are bad, they are horrid. Most of the complaints, historically, have been 'bait and switch' maneuvers, and/or cancellations, bad public relations, non compliance, etc. Put it all on a credit card next time. We did and were not sorry, after a terrible experience with Grand Circle...and we didn't lose as much as we might have.

hav2travel

Last August we took another Vantage experience and this time we sailed from Budapest to the Black Sea with side trips to Bulgaria and Romania. This was a wonderful trip which I particularly appreciated since most of the crew were Romanians and I learned Romanian when I was in the Army over 50 years ago. The trip was enjoyable although one could see what the Russians did and many buildings were still a mess--particularly in eastern Bulgaria.
In our 3 trips with Vantage we have had the opportunity to see other cultures. When one travels with the outlook of [ I am different from you let me appreciate who you are ] then the trip and that education can be very rewarding.
We are contemplating another trip with them this year with Vantage.