Etween march—july 08 i contacted a travel agency who listed ASTA and other affiliations on his website. He also confirmed in at least 2 emails his affiliations with these agencies. We could not reach an agreement because he could not get for me the accommodations that were acceptable to me.
On july 15 he sent me new itineraries, dates, fares, cruiselines, airlines that we agreed on immediately and within days sent him the payment for the full airfare of 13,212 business class nonstop 4 tickets on egyptair departing dec 19—jan 3, plus another 4,000 which represented 1,000 pp for deposits for cruise, hotel, and land which included a special guide that was being flown in to cairo to be with us for our entire stay in cairo. Payment was acknowledged the next day and i was told that he was issuing international air tickets and sending to me.
I was operated on july 29 and in recovery for a few weeks but on august 28 i wrote him i had not received air tickets. He responded by saying that the tickets had been 'prepaid', and he could 'issue them in seconds' but they were tied to the egypt domestic air tickets which are not booked until closer to the travel dates and if he issues the international the domestic would be cancelled. I suppose it makes no sense, but he went on to guarantee the intrnational air, that i should be patient, that he has been in this business for 35 years, and has excellent relations with egyptair. I reconfirmed in writing if he was only talking about having a problem with the domestic air tickets and he confirmed emphasizing that it was only domestic and not international, which were guaranteed.
I continued checking with him during september and he kept insisting i 'be patient', that this was normal, and that he would get the ticets. However the second payment for the balance due on hotel, cruise and land was due on october 18 and i realized this on 10/22 and wrote him a mail saying i wanted to make the second and final payment, assuming that all was in order since i had not heard from him, and he responds he has not been able to get the international air tickets and i should telephone him.
Upon doing so, he tells he will be unable to get the tickets but has gotten me alternate air tickets, albeit on different dates, different hours, with layovers, overnight stays, and much higher rates. He sends me the itinerary billing me an additional 10,000 US for flights that leave l day early, and return 3 days later, where we have to wake up at 3AM to catch a 5PM flight, breaking up our family of 4 taking different airlines etc., and then billing us extra for the extra days we have to stay in cairo, the cost of the hotels, local transportation, and the difference in the airfare!!! He also says if we don't accept immediately these plans he will cancel the trip and return us our deposit less his cancellation fees, and the nonrefundable deposits he made for hotel & cruise.
We did not accept his alternate suggestions but did give him several extensions in an effort to work it out; also when i checked with the hotel i found out there were no cancellation penalties; the cruiseship was 100% of the deposit. When i pointed this out to him he returned saying he would do us the favor in waive his cancellation fee (!!!), the hotel fee but he couldn't be expected to pay the cruiseline.
We kept insisting if the trip was cancelled due to his breach of agreement that the full deposit should be returned.in addition, he had recommended in the beginning we take out travel insurance and this resulted in an additional $1,985 payment that we made. And another thing, despite we had contracted a special private guide which he confirmed would meet us at the airport and spend the entire time with us while we were in cairo, he then returns saying he would only be with the tailend of the trip, that is for 2-3 days maximum.
He finally returned saying he could get the original air however on economy and not business class, despite we had told him since March we would only travel business class. He says if we don't accept this, he will refund deposit less the entire cost of 2 rooms in the cruise ship for the entire period of the cruise!
We told him we wanted him to cancel the trip in that he was unable to comply with the original agreement upon which the deposit was paid but we would only accept the full payment reinbursed of 17,212 in that he was in breach of the agreement.
I then checked the affiliations placed on his website and which he confirmed to me personally and he in fact is NOT a member of ASTA as he so claims and therefore fraudently misrepresenting himself.
So far we have not heard from him and i am contacting everyone and all regulatory agencies to file complaints against this unethical fraud.
It is even more complicated than i have outlined above. I have all email documentation to backup my account above.
Furious in ny
Mexico and NYC
Mexico
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