EUROPEAN TRAVEL

Description of Work: European Travel (aka European Tours), ET, came to our attention via a college's planned "Trip of a Lifetime" visit to ancestral lands 7/7-7/ 23/2012. To commemorate my father's 100th birth year, 2012, I wanted to visit 4 towns: where he was born, cities he/grandparents lived/were schooled in & where grandfather ministered. Upon receiving the itinerary, I inquired IF a detour could be made to visit these towns. They contacted ET who quite readily said yes. Only after our detour adjustments to the itinerary were received, with same overall tour dates & adequate time to visit 4 towns, 3 of us (sister & cousin) made a $500 deposit each upon registering late Jan/early Feb & full payments were submitted for credit card charges by the printed deadline of March 1. All monies were paid to ET. ET became our prime contact. Then problems started. Late March, an ET em said "minor" changes are being made though initial itinerary is intact, . Early April, ET sent an em with significant changes, more cities up front, less time for detour, confusion on return date (the day was the same, but the date was one day shorter - I honestly thought it was a typo, for who would change dates without notifying fully paid customers?). Within 2-3 days, I em my request for clarification. It then took numerous ems & some phone calls (though none were that productive), getting some replies but incomplete - and the return date confusion was not addressed. The fact that we had paid for certain dates and allowable time for detour appeared to be of no concern to ET. My sister & cousin were also trying to get replies to their specific needs, with minimal success. All along being assured by the college that "you will not be disappointed (in visiting your 4 towns)," in my one prolonged phone conversation with our ET contact, she finally agreed that we would have adequate time for the detour (in retrospect, that "agreement" could well have been to end the conversation). Meanwhile, my sister em us that she had noticed her $500 deposit had not been applied to the total charged, so was asking for an adjustment. Initially, thinking that was a fluke, I didn't check my records. Fortunately, I later found the same for me & alerted our cousin who also found she had same 'snafu." ET did make the adjustment, but IF my sister had not found ET's error, nor each of us also asked for correction, would it have come? And why hadn't ET alerted us once the error with my sister was brought to their attention? Due to this and the growing unprofessionalism all 3 of us were experiencing - not solely with the itinerary changes, but connecting flights & detailing charges since we all had different amounts to pay, I checked with the BBB, and found that ET had earned an F. Then, just 1 week pre trip, we received the long-promised, final itinerary, verifying not only 1 day shorter tour but shortened time to visit 4th town, town of father's birth. I immediately contacted college who contacted ET. ET's immediate reply forwarded back was the detour itinerary "is flexible." How? Not encouraging. Landing ahead of the group, I asked ET's in-country tour planning expert about the 4th town. Was told it was "tight but doable," and no, he didn't put us overnight in the #3 city to be closer to 4th town as he "would never send anyone there, it is very radical." Now, in country, experiencing the time it takes to travel, the 3 of us started thinking of ways to make town #4 more possible. All suggestions made to ET's in-country tour expert were "too late," though I had proposed 1 crucial one prior to the deposit in Jan. We considered skipping town #3 due to ET's in-country tour expert's negative comments. We finally decided to leave for the detour 1.5 hrs earlier than had been planned, breeze through 'radical' town #3 as it was enroute to towns #1 & 2 on day 1 so day 2 would only have town #4 to see. Turns out, town #3 was neither radical nor uninviting & was interesting enough to not just breeze through. So, visiting town #3 proved to be important, but did shorten our subsequent visits to towns # 1 & 2 that day. We also offered to depart earlier than the 5AM schedule on day 2 of detour, but were told by detour guide that such was not necessary, plus driver needed rest from long drive and faith fasting on day 1. (We only later found out that he was under the false impression that we were no longer still planning on going to town #4. Where did that come from?? Not us.) As we started driving early day 2, I observed & commented that we were going back the way we came, not to town #4. Driver made a u-turn and started driving faster than had done all day prior. I'm wondering, what's going on? About 15-20 minutes later, detour guide said "going to town #4 is not possible IF want to make our flight back" to the city where next day we leave for home. WHAT?!? After we paid for specific dates & detour time allowances; and more than 3 months of inquiries, promises & verifications once the April revised/confused itinerary came, with all the emails, phone calls BEFORE the tour, the town that triggered this trip is not doable? The combined shock & depression was nearly overwhelming & words are not adequate to express. The detour guide said that "every travel agency would state that truth!" Well, not every - not ET! even with all the prior opportunities to do so. We were left with no choice but to turn around to catch our flight so we could fly home the next day. With nothing else left to "compensate" for this huge disappointment, we agreed that a partial refund was in order and would be requested post tour. August was devoted to em requests for ET to pay a refund to each. My sister also contacted ET's in-country tour expert re the inadequate time to visit town #4 who replied he "should have been given better information" and would get back with her. He never did. She & I separately contacted ET. Their reply, only to me, was filled with excuses, denials, twisting of facts, telling us how much others had enjoyed the trip and saying they did all they could to make the trip great, etc. My reply to ET, challenging many points, never got a response. However ET must have forwarded it to the college for they replied, concluding with words to the effect that he was in 100% agreement with your post-trip refund reasoning....that both he & ET have learned from their experiences with us. So, not only did we miss town #4, the birth town of our fathers, the town in which our grandfather had ministered for several years where an American Missionary magazine article had featured them in 1910, but in our effort to see that town, moving up town #3 (which we also may have missed had we listened to ET's in-country tour expert) to day 1 of the detour, lost time for towns #1 & 2, but all the effort we had made to get some truth after April's "minor" changes were made to the itinerary dates and flight times we had PAID for - let alone missing a full day of sights because "the group" didn't care (we were never consulted, only learning post-trip that we must have been regarded as 2nd class participants in ET's only reply for refund in August) and several sights throughout the tour were missed due to poor planning or management of stragglers in the group, & at least 2 key sights were barely seen due to mismanaged time - I learn that the college & ET benefitted from our experience! The college also said they would work with ET to try & get the refunds. I've heard nothing from either about that since August. Sept was devoted to contacting the BBB. ET did not reply to them until Dec (>2 mos late) with the excuse that they were only following the college's direction, yet ET never said any of that to us during all our efforts to get info. In the bulk of their reply, they were verbatim with words already sent to me in Aug, error included. News flash: they also accused us, as a trio, of owing them $1,110.00!!, an accusation so false it doesn't warrant comment, but there it is. That information came as BBB forwarded ET's Dec., delayed reply. I advised BBB that we all paid what we had been billed. However, as our requests for itemized billing pre-trip evolved into pleas, and such was never received, we had long ago given up asking, paying the total amount each was asked to pay. BBB said they would keep our complaint on ET's record. Oct was devoted to hoping ET's travel association, ASTA, would have some impact on a member. After sending a preponderance of copied ems and letters to ASTA, ET replied, again past deadline, again mentioning their claim of $1,110 due them and again using verbatim wording from their August reply to me, error included. ASTA gave me no option to reply & has kept ET as a member in good standing since they did formulate a reply (however weak & false said reply is). Meanwhile, BBB had referred me to the Calif Atty Gen'l/Sellers of Travel office when ET failed to reply in Sept, so Nov & some of Dec were in communication with them. To date, I've heard nothing back from CA's AG office other than they've contacted ET. So, ET feels they did their best, and too bad for any collateral damages. Regardless, I want your members to be aware of ET's lack of service, lack of notification when significant changes are made - tour dates and detour allowances, lack of professionalism, apparent lack of caring for paid-in-full customers and record keeping (lost refunds/outrageous new monies due) and lack of owning up to/dealing with complaints.