*i have now emailed this and posted it for two weeks, sunwing has yet to acknowledge, tico has even emailed this to managers at sunwing and not even an apology...*
Attention Sunwing and future Consumers,
I am writing this letter for two reasons. First and for most I believe Sunwing has to be held accountable and take financial responsibility for their lack of customer service. Secondly future Consumers should be aware of the risk they are taking using Sunwing.
I am generally a laid back roll with the punches kind of person. I am an avid traveler. Myself and my family travel every 3 months out of the country. Never have I experienced such insulting services as Sunwing has provided us.in other situations I have had good trips and bad luck on trips but never have bothered to complain. I am a tolerant person and can handle that fact that s*t happens.in this instance it is without a doubt necessary to take action.
Our experience with Sunwing goes as follows
In March we booked with Sunwing a vacation from Toronto to Varadero, Cuba. With in 24 hours of booking I find that the hotel they booked us with is closed for fumigation of bed bugs. When I contact Sunwing to explain I dont feel comfortable being booked in a hotel that is currently being fumigated. I ask to switch to hotel that was listed at the SAME price but with better reviews. Sunwing charges us 100 dollars to switch. I dont agree with this charge, Sunwing refuses to take responsibility for misrepersenting the hotels condition and would not change the reservation without this fee. I ignore the lack of customer service telling my self to be thankful and we will still enjoy our vacation having peace of mind we are in a clean hotel. The Sunwing rep at our hotel was often late or hard to find. Departure day we waited in our lobby for the bus to the airport for 2.5 hours and it did not show up. The front desk finally informed us our plane had been cancelled. Another 2 hours later a Sunwing rep showed up and said we would be departing the following day at 2 oclock, she WAS aware our flight had been cancelled early that day. Had we been informed we would have enjoyed the day instead of packing up our room and preparing to leave. The following day we arrived at the airport to find out that there was NO plane there and no one knew when one was comingwe were stuck there 8 hours until we finally were sent home. On the plane we were promised vouchers that we never received. Upon returning home our travel agent and I contacted Sunwings customer service department to bring to their attention their lack of communication and customer service. Sunwing never acknowledged the complaint.
November our family began planning for our 4th vacation of the year. Last minute. I came across Sunwings facebook page. I noticed 60% of the feedback was negative and engaged in several conversations regarding my first experience. Sunwings media team fed everyone the same generic answer regarding their troubles. Most people had ALREADY contacted Sunwing and the media team urged people to contact them again. Should these issues not be resolved the first time? Sunwing could clearly see my name and others and if they truly cared about customer service they could have EASILY contacted us.
December we planned to take our five year old on his first vacation out of Canada. Having only two weeks to book and wanting to stay at a specific resort we had been too in the past we were lead into Sunwings hands again. Being an optimist we booked Varadero hoping the past was a string of bad luck. The morning of departure we noticed on Sunwings web sight our plan was delayed leaving from 4pm to 7pm. Wanting to reconfirm as we were traveling from London to Toronto to catch the flight. Plus traveling with an ADD 5 year old and did not want to be stuck in the airport long than needed, I called Sunwings head office in Toronto. The lady I spoke with ASSURED me and even double checked that our plane WAS leaving at 4pm. Arriving at the airport we learned it was in fact slated to leave at 7pm, the Sunwing rep stated our plane could not come in due to rain in Varadero (there was no rain in Varadero at all that day and all other airlines had NO problem leaving for Varadero). We were offered a 5 dollar airport voucher for food.insulting, how does a 5 dollar voucher for a family of 3 even come close to accommodating this inconvenience? Sitting in the terminal we learned we were there with the Sunwing flights that were to leave for Varadero at 6am and 12pm. So the original story of OUR plane didnt come in did not jive. Finally boarding a plane at 9pm with no communication of to what happened we were greeted by irate and rude flight attendants. People were politely explaining their stories of what happened through out the day looking for an explanation to this severe inconvenience and were met with responses such as well Im having a bad day too and this has nothing to do with me Im in overtime and could take this crew off the plane but Im staying to get you there Do you think Im happy about this situationI have to turn around and bring home MORE pissed off passengers. Completely rude and unprofessional. Next we taxied out to the tarmac where the plane pulled over because they forgot paper work from a mechanic and were held for another hour. Then after a family finally got pushed over the edge from the stress of the situation and rudeness of the flight attendants they were kicked of the plane. The plane was turned around completely, luggage completely unloaded from the whole plane and reloaded we finally were taking off at 12:45 am. The whole time we were stuck in the aircraft we were refused water or any food and treated with total disrespect. Never did we ever receive empathy or a truthful explanation for the days events. We finally arrived at our hotel at 4:30 am, missing the whole evening and partial next day as we needed to catch up on sleep. Leaving us with only 3.5 days of the 5 we paid for!!! Departing Cuba we were given a paper for each family member.informing us of the change in flight time leaving Toronto to Cuba 5 days ago. (As if we didnt notice our 10 hour delay in Toronto airport!) Plus a 75 dollar voucher each. It must be used in the year, only refundable buy spending more money with Sunwing but can not be used together. A RIDICULOUS gesture. One: I will NEVER use Sunwing again never mind 3 times in the next year. How they can even suggest that I invest more money into their company is beyond me?! Two: one of the vouchers is in my five year olds name which makes it obsolete considering he cant book a vacation alone!
Future consumers investigate the many complaints regarding this company. You are NOT guaranteed to get what you pay for. Be aware that Sunwing is also famous for NOT providing the hotel you booked changing last minute or when you arrive in your destination. I know a couple who was tossed into a new hotel even with their wedding planned at the original hotel booked! Sunwing did nothing to compensate. Sunwing treats their guests like herds of cattle and sweeps disgruntled vacationers under the rug. I highly recommend Nolitours they are very reliable and always pleasant.
Sunwing you owe us a refund. Copies of this letter will also be filed with the Better Business Bureau and TICO. I sincerely hope that Sunwing will start to become more accountable for the customer service they say is SO important to them.
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