Apple Vacations
Rip-off! Dishonest unorganized travel arrangements! And/or Elk Grove and/or Illinois

Wednesday July 28

Rodney of Black Tie Travel told us that we would be able to pick up our documents at the airport. We asked at the airports here on the U.S. And in Cancun, Mexico. When we passed through immigration and customs in Mexico, we proceeded out to the lobby where we saw information areas all around. We voluntarily approached these areas and began to inquire about Apple Vacations because Rodney had also informed us to look for an Apple Vacations representative at the airport. We asked the individuals at these information stands where we could find an Apple Vacations representative.

One individual answered that we could find them outside the airport, but we had to listen to him first before leaving. We paid him $40 total because we were taken advantage of (we now know) for not knowing what to do. After we gave him this money and he guaranteed us that we would get our money back, we left the inside of the airport and proceeded in the direction that he told us that we would find Apple Vacations representatives.

After we found them, they began asking us which hotel we stayed in. We did not know this information at this time. We told them our names, and informed them that we were told that we would have documents waiting for us. They did not know what we were talking about either. They looked on their list and saw our names and where we were staying. They laughed at us saying that it was surprising that we did not know where we were staying. They also told us that everyone who comes have some voucher to hand to them. We had nothing.

After getting our bags packed on the van, we proceeded to our hotel/resort. After making a couple of drop-offs down the highway, we finally arrived at Copacabana. Our bags were gotten off of the van and checked by a bellman. We proceeded to check-in at the hotel. The clerk asked us for another voucher. We had nothing to give to him but our ID's verifying who we were. We then asked him to verify that we were registered. He looked us up and told us yes, but we could not check in without the voucher. He pointed to his right in the direction of another AV's rep who we needed to go talk to. We walked over to him and had to wait until he finished with another couple's concern.

There was a group of people waiting for an orientation that should have started at 4:30 and it was now 5:00. He apologized to them and asked them to sit until he could finish. At the time, my husband and I did not know what the orientation was, but we found out later after we inquired the next day. The representative listened to our complaint and initially he told us that we needed the voucher. We explained to him that we were told that the documents would be at the airport and that we came with nothing but our birth certificates and government ID's. He, too, looked on a list and sure enough, our names were on there.

I explained to him that we had been traveling since early that morning (we caught a 5:30 am Metro bus to the airport in Houston). Our flight was supposed to arrive in Cancun within the noon hour, but was delayed. At this point, we were tired and frustrated and wanted to get to our room. He proceeded to the front desk clerk and we followed. The AV rep spoke to the clerk in Spanish, winked his eye and went away. The front desk clerk began to check us in. He said that we should have had a voucher, but the rep promised to give him another one. He saw on our check-in card that printed that we had a honeymoon code on it and acknowledged that fact with us. We agreed. He then asked us for a copy of our marriage license. We did not have this either, because we were not told to bring it.

We asked if we were supposed to have it as well, and he said, Yes, but it is okay. We said no, it is not okay, and insisted that he tell us why he asked us for it in the first place. He then said that it was to give to workers like housekeeping so that they would know to give us extra special treatment and to get discounts. When he checked us in, he placed our key/towel cards, tv remote, and a Apple Vacations catalog along with an orientation flyer in our bag. We did not see this flyer but until later that evening.

Thursday July 29

On the next day my husband went to speak with the Apple representative and there was someone new there. Rodney had contacted us by now because he had heard of the bad experiences that we had gone through already by now. He left a message on our voicemail that he had spoken to Apple directly and that they would have some more vouchers produced for us.

By the time I had arrived in the lobby where the representative was, he had spoken to my husband already and when I sat to ask him some questions, he interrupted me and said, I informed your husband of everything. He showed me a book and that Kenneth (who was on a phone call using the house phone) had one of these books in his hand. He said that he had spoken to Kenneth about everything and that there was nothing for me to worry about. He said that everything was taken care of.

I did manage to ask him about the $40 at the airport if there was a way that we could get that back and he said that he would have to speak to his home office first to see what they could do. Little did I realize that he was just brushing me off so that he could sale tours to the people that were waiting in line behind me. Every time we went to these representatives with concerns, we had to wait in line. We had no idea that we couldn't go anywhere without paying.

Friday July 30

On Friday, we spoke to the hotel assistant manager, Angel, concerning our not having a copy of our marriage license. I explained to him that we came with much of nothing stating what we had or where we were going to be and that we were not told to bring a copy of the license. He explained that he would speak with the front desk about it and assured us that they would contact us regardless to let us know what occurred. Also, when we got back in our room to get dressed for dinner, our iron that we had brought back from home was missing.

I called down to the front desk to ask them about it and they said that housekeeping was gone for the day and that they couldn't get us an iron that night. I explained that we needed our iron because I needed to iron and that they needed to do something that night. They brought us a hotel iron and said that they would bring our iron the next day. No one had contacted us about the honeymoon special by dinner, so we asked once again in the lobby before we went in the dining area to eat. This young lady said that they would have our fruit and wine down that evening. That never occurred, either.

Saturday, July 31

On Saturday, we spoke to two Apple representatives. The first representative, who was there alone, continued to acknowledge our concerns but he didn't do anything. He asked us to wait until the second representative got there around 11 am. While we were talking to him, another couple who was waiting in line to purchase a tour interrupted and asked if he was the only representative there to assist people. He said, Yes, give me two minutes and I'll be right with you. Well, it took a little longer than two minutes, but after we finished with our concerns with him about wanting to go on a free tour that was on the flyer that we had gotten, our $40 we paid to some guy at the airport, and our honeymoon special we bagan to get up to walk away.

Immediately, the other couple sat down to commence business with him and the representative starting apologizing for my husband and I. I got angry and turned back to confront him by saying that we paid our money to be at that resort and to come to him whether it be for concerns or for tours just like that couple did. I told him not to act like we were the culprits there, we were on our honeymoon where we were supposed to be enjoying ourselves, but we were getting everything but. We went back to our room and prepared to wait until the other representative got there.

When we went to speak to him, we asked about all of our concerns. He told us that we could not get the free tour with Apple unless we purchased another tour. He also told us that there was nothing that they could do about the honeymoon special that that was something special that the hotel did. He also told us that he had spoken to his home office and that they informed him that we could get back our money when we go back to the airport. He told us that we could go back to the information area and request our money back. To reassure us, he went further to say that the federal police would be around there and that the guy would have to give us back our money because he would not want to get in trouble with the federal police. The pitiful thing is that we believed him. We asked him how to get to the markets and he showed us the map and gave us some advice about doing so. Then we left.

Sunday, August 1

When we got to the airport on Sunday morning, my husband tried several times to go through immigration and to explain that he wanted to go to information to get our money back. They would not let him through. Now that we think about it, it was tough enough getting through this sensitive area. We would have had to go back through immigration and customs and then he would not have been able to go back through there, but he would have had to walk outside of the airport and find his way back around.in other words, it was next to impossible. The last representative boldly lied to us in order to convince us to leave.

Wednesday August 4

We had no idea that we had to pay anything extra to be taken on these tours. Paying while we were there would have been something acceptable, but paying to go so much as shopping was outrageous. We requested a vacation in Cancun and we were sent to the Riviera Maya to a resort that was about 50 miles from the airport with a shopping area (Playa Del Carmen) just about midway between. Our intent was to be able to speak and intermingle with the natives and we did that only one day when we decided to take control of things ourselves. It cost us $14 cab fare each way to get to Play Del Carmen in order to do just that.

We went on ahead and decided to do this because Rodney told us that we would be reimbursed. The all-inclusive except motor sports was not even true because we could not go parasailing without experience. They asked us if we had done that before and we answered no. We asked for someone to help us and they said that we had to pay $40/hour for the assistance. There was a fee that had not previously been stated (before we made the trip) attached to everything to do there. We were this far away from home and basically restricted to this one resort for 4 days. We wanted to have adventurous fun for our honeymoon, but were unable to because everything had a price attached to it that we could not afford. We are not at all satisfied with our vacation / (once-in-a-lifetime) honeymoon.

Torrey
Houston, Texas
U.S.A.

Company: Apple Vacations
Country: USA
State: Pennsylvania
City: Newtown Square
Phone: 8007273460
Site: www.applevacations.com

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