In March we contacted Prestige Service Travel in order to book a Sandals honeymoon. We are not experienced travelers and hired a travel agent to help with the details of traveling out of the country. Their website brags they are the #1 seller of Sandals vacations. They also have a "Human Interaction Guarantee" that states they will answer all questions accurately since they know travel is stressful.
We asked what documents we would need to travel to Jamaica. I was told a copy of my birth certificate and a driver's license would do. They photcopy part didn't sound right, so I brought my original birth certificate, with the raised gold seal and all the authorizing signatures. This is the only birth certificate I have used my whole life - I had in fact just gotten my marriage license a week before, so I had no idea there could be a different one.
When we went to check in at the airport, Delta immediately said we could not go since my certificate was hospital-issued not state-issued. This was the exact kind of thing I had worried about and was the reason I hired Prestige. I thought they are supposed to be EXPERTS on travel, and were supposed to give me all crucial details neccesary to take the trip we paid dearly for. (Although, I had also contacted Delta prior to the trip and was not informed by them either.)
Prestige took absolutely no responsibility for having advised us improperly. They told us we could try to reschedule it, but if we cancelled it we would receive a $3500 refund, and be able to use the plane tickets for up to a year. Since there was no way we could get two weeks off of work again anytime in the next six months, we agreed to the $3500 refund.
We contacted Delta who said the tickets are refundable less a $150 penalty, but that since the travel agent booked them, only the travel agent could rebook them or get the refund. Prestige insists they are non-refundable and are unwilling to help rebook them.
We waited six weeks for our promised $3500 refund (we paid them over $5200) and after many unreturned phone calls and frustration, they returned $2700, $850 less than they promised when we agreed to cancel.
Now they won't return calls. We saved for and dreamed of our honeymoon for years, and all we have to show for it is the bill and bitterness from having trusted Prestige. From the looks of it, they have a pattern of completely incompetant, heartless, unscrupulous business practices. I wrote letters to the president and vice president of Prestige six weeks ago and got no response. I am sorry for anyone else who has been a victim, and I hope others out there will be forewarned. Perhaps we should get a class action lawsuit together.
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