Sunmed Holidays - Totally...
First of all, I must say that my trip to Portugal was fantastic. There was one glitch that happened and Sunmed did not go to bat for me. When booking, the agent, Maria, asked my wife if the car rental should be standard or automatic. I can not drive standard, so there was no option. Maria said it would be $300. I was ok with that, there was no other choice. She sent us all the vouchers, when received, the car voucher simply stated 'group Y.' I had no idea what that meant, but also, blindly figured that all was fine. We paid the package price and thought all was in order. At Hertz, in Porto, the car they had ready for us was standard. We explained that we had arranged otherwise. So, we paid Hertz to upgrade which was now 330Euro plus tax, coming out to $608 CAD. Figuring we would work this out with Maria when we returned.
When I called her, lets just say she ran me around. She feigned that she didnt know who we were at first, had explained that the summer was very busy for them this year. (Glad business is good, and she finally figured out who we were.) She denied any conversation with us about the kind of car. (How did I know there was a $300 upcharge?) I furthered to say that mistakes happen, and that I would be happy in splitting the difference from what should have been charged to what I had to pay in total, I asked her to call it even at $150. (About 2% of the value of the whole trip.) She said she would have to speak with the owner, Rafael, and would get back to me. I waited all day and then called her back. I was suspecting that Maria thought I would forget about it and go away.
I was correct in my assumption. She said she had not found a 'good moment' to talk to him, (in six hours since I spoke to her.) At this point, I told her that I would speak to him myself, and to put him on the line. After an extended wait, Rafael came on the line. I wanted to make sure that he had the full story as I figured that Maria was covering up her mistake. Rafael went on to explain that "everyone calls in to get a refund" and that he "is not authorized" to give a refund. I asked him "who is authorized?" His answer was "me, and I'm not doing it." He said that we should have called him from Portugal when the problem arose. We were picking up the car at 10AM which meant that in Toronto, the time would have been 5AM. Sunmed opens at 10AM EST. Just another line of smoke and mirrors as far as I'm concerned. I tried to explain to him that he should do the right thing and that he was not customer sensitive. He then had the nerve to simply hang up on me.
My advice to everyone is to go to any other travel agent. The trip we had was fantastic as mentioned, but the same vacation can be arranged by many other different agencies. I would never let anyone I know deal with these inconsiderate individuals. I know that everyone has to make a buck, but I also feel that one should be responsible for mistakes that you cause. Sunmed Holidays is happy to take your money. After that, customer service ends abruptly. Do not give them your business.
First of all, I must say that my trip to Portugal was fantastic. There was one glitch that happened and Sunmed did not go to bat for me. When booking, the agent, Maria, asked my wife if the car rental should be standard or automatic. I can not drive standard, so there was no option. Maria said it would be $300. I was ok with that, there was no other choice. She sent us all the vouchers, when received, the car voucher simply stated 'group Y.' I had no idea what that meant, but also, blindly figured that all was fine. We paid the package price and thought all was in order. At Hertz, in Porto, the car they had ready for us was standard. We explained that we had arranged otherwise. So, we paid Hertz to upgrade which was now 330Euro plus tax, coming out to $608 CAD. Figuring we would work this out with Maria when we returned.
When I called her, lets just say she ran me around. She feigned that she didnt know who we were at first, had explained that the summer...