Title Happy Bookvip.com customer review at Westgate Smoky Mountain Resort

A BookVip.com customer gives a review of their Gatlinburg TN vacation experience and quality of service with BookVip.com
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Testimonial

BookVIP is a paying client of Opinion Corp and utilizes its services to proactively identify and correct customer service issues.
ID
#616148 Review #616148 is a subjective opinion of poster.
Reason of review
Good customer service
BookVIP's reply to:

Bookvip - Vacation Package Review

Ms. Guenther,

Thank you for your valuable feedback as we take customer issues very seriously. I pride myself in BookVip offering the most discounted vacation packages and having an A+ rating Better Business Bureau for our customer service. The reason we can offer packages 70% off the retail rates is because the resorts subsidize the cost of these discounted vacations in exchange for your time during the resort preview. You booked a reservation on 10/21/14 for the Occidental Grand Xcaret for 12/11/14. The resort verifies each reservation before issuing a final confirmation number as the resort is paying the cost of the discounted vacation. We state on our travel receipt email the resort’s take approximately 3 to 7 business days to process your final confirmation as the need verify the terms and conditions they are set forth are not being circumvented. However, you decided to cancel on 10/23/14 and were never charged.
We will send over 300,000 families on dreams vacations alone this year! We have more actual customer video reviews than any other travel site. http://bookvip.com/sitereviews

Thank you.
Kind regards,

BookVIP Management Team
Management@bookvip.com
1-(888)-849-8450
author's review
ID
#553315 Review #553315 is a subjective opinion of poster.
Service
Bookvip Vacation Package
Pros
  • Agent was friendly
Reason of review
Not as described/ advertised
Preferred solution
just to warn others

I thought - Yeah! I'll listen to a 90 minute time share presentation and endure extremely high pressure sales to take my family to a beautiful all-inclusive in Cancun for $400 - no problem!!

I even thought I would book in a couple of extra nights full price.

When I went to make my reservation, I had already spent much time researching the resorts I was interested and narrowed it down to the perfect one for my family. I had talked to the book vip people 3 times to make sure that the dates my travel agent had given me for flights matched up with availability at the resort. .....Looking back now, I can see that the book vip people never told me any date was full, in fact they readily - without even looking it up it seems to me now, agreed to whatever dates I mentioned.

For the extra nights at the resort, booking them with vip would have cost me $300 extra per night. I thought that was high so I checked with the resort itself and it was $200/night. Book vip tried very hard to still get me to book the extra nights with them and took $ off but duhh!

At this point, I've booked my flights, booked 2 extra nights with the resort and went to book my 4 nights with book vip. First off they asked for my credit card # 3 times!! Which made me uncomfortable but I still went forward with the vacation for my 2 boys in mind. During the booking process, I was rushed through clicking "I agree" on a form of terms. Also was told at that time that there was an extra $20/night charge for processing ....still a great deal I thought.

About 2 or 3hrs later (and I am grateful it wasn't even longer than that as some people's experience has been closer to travel time,) I got a phone call from my booking agent with book vip, saying she was sorry but the dates I requested are not available and she had another resort that I could go to.

I was immediately refusing this "offer"; I had planned everything around this resort and had made triple sure that we would be able to stay there, - there was no way that I was willing to change it now. I insisted to speak with a manager and I was told that she would take it to the manager the following day and that I would be called back.

No call

So I called and no answer, I was put through to a customer satisfaction survey - twice.

....Then things started to make sense, I looked at my reservation confirmation and it does not mention the name of the resort, only that I agreed to have book vip book my vacation accommodations. They had my credit card info, a "signed" agreement from me and they could now make me stay in another cheaper place of their choosing, - one in which there is a bigger push to sell time shares at.

Now it made sense when I called, why the voice recording cautions you that resort you would like to stay at may be full.

In all the calls I made to book vip, I was put on hold once for 30 min (no one ever answered), told twice that a manager would call me back but NEVER did - until I finally cancelled my reservation completely.

You have 48 or 72hrs to cancel your reservation, and they are trying to stall until they bill your credit card.

I wrote them twice threatening legal action if my credit card was billed and in the end, I decided to just order a new card.

Once a manager called me back, she assured me that the dates I requested at the resort of my choosing were in fact available and she didn't understand what the agent I had spoken to was saying. I told her that I was cancelling because as I figured out, after allll of this time and energy spent dealing with book vip, I am better off paying the little bit of extra $$ (worked out to $400 at the resort I wanted to stay at) than deal with anything book vip could possibly have to offer me!

Oh and I want to also mention, that the resort themselves had never heard of book vip!

Also, I have been getting constant spam since they got my email address. I phoned today to ask to have my email taken off of their list and to tell them that they do not have my permission to sell my address. The rep replied - ok, we'll remove it.

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9 comments
#924386

Thank you for the review (every one of them by others as well)

I feel there is too much continuity here for these experiences to be user error, people misinformed etc.

I am thankful to read these this morning, disappointed as well that this is happening.

I entered an online contest for a chance to win a family vacation. I was surprised this morning to find a message saying I was one of the winners. Disappointed, it looks like I and my kids are not, in actuality.

Thanks so much for the review, as I will not be making that phone call to claim the 5 nights in Cancun, at a resort of my choice, having 18 months to book.

2 0
#966614
@PissedConsumer924386

Just heard I'm a "winner" too, a day after entering the contest — I've won things before and it's a certified letter and real phone call, not a sketch-looking generic email…. Seems best not to call the claim phone number.

0 0
#909850

Does anyone know the physical mailing address to bookvip? I'm having my attorney serve them legal papers to get a refund and need to know where to send it.

This company is TERRIBLE!!!!

DON'T EVER USE THEM!!!

0 0
#910215
@PissedConsumer909850

Got it from their webpage.

Company Address

12345 W Dixie Hwy,

North Miami, FL 33161

1 0
#905659

Unfortunately I was unable to pull out in the nick of time. they stalled me off and switched me around and finally booked me in a dump.

Got my money and refused to cancel the unacceptable accommodations. I booked with Expedia and will contest the charges VIP SUCKS SCAM

2 0
#900564

Thank you for the review. I will definitely NOT be using this company. They sound shady...

3 0
#894685

Hello Anonymous,

I am very sorry to hear about your booking experience has the definitely close to our high standards as we are the largest provider of discounted resort promotional packages. We book over 50,000 vacation packages a year and have an "A-" rating with Better Business Bureau http://www.bbb.org/shreveport/business-reviews/travel-agencies/resort-vacations-international-in-natchitoches-la-90048356#bbbseal

Please contact me directly as we are always looking to improve. Thank you

1 11
#915290
@Violet

Hello BookVIPOWNER!

Your days are numbered you crooked ***. Your whole company is crooks, scammers and false advertising in every sense of the term.

You will in fact be getting a class action lawsuit in addition to individual lawsuits. See folks, there are no owners that actually respond, these are automated or 3rd party damage control company putting this *** online. I book my VIP Vacation 2 months ago, today I get a call that the hotel cancelled and I would be getting moved. NO *** less than a month away from my family vacation and this *** is happening.

Oh the hotels on the BookVIP website, dont have any part of BOOKVIP, they use them to lure you in as bait, then you book, then they wait until they know you have all your plans, tickets, ect. and then BAM-------------they pull the switch and know your stuck and out of money and a vacation.!!!!!!!!

4 0
#939663
@Violet

I booked and I better not have this happen you myself and husband, my husbands dad is a lawyer and we will start a class action suit" so I'm not as worried as these other folks but ,I should have known to read reviews before I booked with you...so just a heads up, if I'm charged one doller more from what your site says, you will be sued ....

2 0
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BookVIP's reply to:

BookVIP is a scam and ripoff

Thank you for your valuable feedback and we take all customers issues very seriously. We are able to look up reservations by the last name of customer, their email address, or telephone number, however, we are unable to locate any reservation with the information given by you to this web site. You can contact me direct at James@BookVip.com. As an owner, I pride myself in BookVip offering the most discounted vacation packages and having an A+ rating Better Business Bureau for our customer service.

The reason we can offer packages 70% off the retail rates is because the resorts subsidize the cost of these discounted vacations in exchange for your time during the resort preview. The resort verifies each reservation before issuing a confirmation number as resort is paying the cost of discounted vacation. A majority of the issues occur when the resort finds the terms & conditions are being circumvented. We will send over 300,000 families on dreams vacations alone this year! We have more actual customer video reviews than any other travel site. http://bookvip.com/sitereviews

Thank you.
Kind regards,

BookVIP Management Team
Management@bookvip.com
1-(888)-849-8450
author's review
ID
#481314 Review #481314 is a subjective opinion of poster.
Service
Bookvip Vacation Package Booking
Reason of review
Problems with payment
Loss
$1200
New Reviewer

We planned a vacation with BookVIP.com and they cancelled our vacation that was confirmed by the Villa Del Parmar resort in Cancun, Mexico. We paid for a package and were also charged more for the package than agreed upon.

We then were told our reservation was cancelled by error and that they could not give us our original reservation. They then offered a terrible resort and to pay a minimal adjustment that wasn't what the resort was even being shown to be selling at. They harassed us repeatedly, would not let us speak with supervisors or their legal department as we requested.

We are now out a vacation and the $1,200.00 for airfare to Cancun because we have no intention, after this nightmare, to spend what we wanted to go there for which is a relaxing holiday.

They intentionally also called us several times a day and kept saying we cancelled our reservation. This actually caused us duress and it's criminal what they do. They are committing fraud by scamming people into a better resort and cancelling their reservations and trying to put people in a much less of a quality resort. The difference was night and day and we had not intention of traveling all the way there since they were so shady and dishonest.

Don't use these folks. We will be filing a legal claim and also requesting compensation for the damages caused due to the duress.

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12 comments
#918383

booked and charged for one package, told it wasn't available unless I paid $640 more, told them I need to cancel reservation. They said management will call you back.

I 've called four times, never recieved a call back yet, never recieved any sort of cancellation notification or confirmation from any one.

It took one day to charge my card, now it's been 4 days and I can't even speak to any one about the cancellation and every time I call they say oh yes, I see your reservation here. Bait and switch or just thievery?

4 3
#918450
@PissedConsumer918383

Hello Mr. Hurth,

As I explained in my email and voice mail.

We sincerely apologize on any confusion, however, I assure it was definitely not intentional. The resort classifies your oldest child who is 18 as an adult and not a child. The 1 bedroom room occupancy allows for 2 adults and 3 children under the special promotion and we had to get an exception on this hotel rule which were able to get approved yesterday. As an owner I definitely stand behind our product and services as we are the largest travel promotions company and have an A rating with Better Business Bureau.

We definitely go extra lengths to get special approvals and I apologize if it was not expedited and communicated properly. That being said, I have made sure your refund is processed tonight.

Again, thank you for the valuable feedback and feel free to email James@***.net

Happy Holidays

Best,

James

4 7
#911367

Same happened to me - just now. Booked, accepted, then tried bait switch to... Holiday Inn.

7 0
#910366

Did you ever get anywhere with the legal end? I am looking at filing legally as well and try to get back some of which they have "screwed" me out of.

3 1
#894253

Scam artists.you have been warned

8 0
#894691
@PissedConsumer894253

Hello John,

We book over 50,000 vacation packages a year and have an "A-" rating with Better Business Bureau http://www.bbb.org/shreveport/business-reviews/travel-agencies/resort-vacations-international-in-natchitoches-la-90048356#bbbseal

Please contact me directly at James@rvitravel.net as we are always looking to improve. Thank you

2 9
#878486

This is no surprize your *** commercial went on and on.

4 0
#849639

Mr. Colligan,

I tried to contact you.

We never tried to change the reservation and were called several times by parties asking for more money. Our reservation date was confirmed and then your agency cancelled it after we booked our airfare. We lost $500.00 in airfare when we had to change our tickets to use them to travel elsewhere.

We never tried to travel in a group, which both your staff and the resort told us, but we were only traveling alone....two of us, for a much needed vacation.

This is a scam and it cost us much.

We are looking to file complaints and sue for our lost travel and the emotional distress that your staff caused repeatedly harassing us over the phone and lying that we cancelled our reservation. We didn't and your staff it seems never did what they were required to do.

Additionally we asked for a stay at a comparable resort which was possible and they tried to put us in hotels that were a fraction of the cost and rated with two stars on many sites.

Your agency was a nightmare to work with and we've posted this because we travel often, know the ins and outs of such promotional deals and were interested in the property. Your unprofessionalism needs to be known to others.

We also tried to e-mail you and no response. Thank you

22 1
#822867

Hello Gammica,

I am one of the owners of Bookvip.com and you can contact me directly james@rvitravel.net. We are the largest travel promotions company and handle over a ten of thousands special promotion packages per year without any issue.

Like any company, we are not perfect and we are always looking to improve. The most difficult part in selling the discounted promotional packages are the terms and conditions that the resort sets as they are ones subsidizing the cost of the rooms for qualified customers to listen to their vacation ownership /timeshare presentation. Again, the rooms are discounted many times over $1000 in exchange of the customer's time and meeting the resort's qualifications. Where most issues occur is where the customer tries to circumvent the resort's qualifications and the resort denies the reservation or where rooms become unavailable due to sold out dates in which we always refund the customer.

One of the most difficult items we deal with is group travel as the resorts don't permit it with the promotion.

All of these terms & conditions are disclosed on the site as well. Each customer signs electronically the terms & conditions before we ever charge a customer.

Again, I appreciate your feed back and look forward to hearing from you

Sincerely,

James Colligan

Owner BookVip.com

7 22
#849570
@Violet

That's the same answer you used on another web site. You didn't address the problem!!!!!!!

20 0
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BookVIP's reply to:

BookVIP is a rip off and fraud. Don't book with them

Thank you for your valuable feedback. As an owner, I pride myself in BookVip offering the most discounted vacation packages and having an A+ rating Better Business Bureau for our customer service. The reason we can offer packages 70% off the retail rates is because the resorts subsidize the cost of these discounted vacations in exchange for your time during the resort preview. The resort verifies each reservation before issuing a confirmation number as resort is paying the cost of discounted vacation. A majority of the issues occur when the resort finds the terms & conditions are being circumvented. We will send over 300,000 families on dreams vacations alone this year! We have more actual customer video reviews than any other travel site. http://bookvip.com/sitereviews

Thank you.
Kind regards,

BookVIP Management Team
Management@bookvip.com
1-(888)-849-8450
author's review
ID
#481313 Review #481313 is a subjective opinion of poster.
Reason of review
Problems with payment
Loss
$1200

We recently book a vacation with BookVIP and it was for a timeshare in Cancun called the Villa Del Parmar. It was originally priced at $399.00 and by the time we paid it totaled over $600.00. We had a confirmed reservation and made our flight plans and then they cancelled our reservation without cause. They tried to put us in a much less desirable hotel, one with a room the third of the size and non-comparable. They told us they'd pay the fees, about a hundred dollars and a refund of $150.00 but that still did not make up for the dump they tried to put us in.

Additionally they kept harassing us and telling us we cancelled the reservation and that if we didn't accept the other reservation they'd cancel the contract. Well they violated their contract when they cancelled our reservation and we are now out money for our airfare.

Also our credit card was compromised by using them between the resort and them because those are the only two places we used our card.

Do not use this company. They are a scam and we not will have to take legal action and have no vacation.

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11 comments
#934164

A true nightmare after their website wrongly booked a non requested vacation on wrong days, I personally called fiesta Americana cabos to cancel my self as they owe me a favor, fiesta cancelled and these other people had no choice to reimburse me. Attention they are affiliated to Expedia, so their deals can't beat Expedia 's YES they are scammers

2 0
#930710

I am so glad I read the reviews before I went ahead and booked at this site. I am getting married and would have been devastated. Thank You for the heads up!

3 0
#918390

I booked and was charged with book vip for this same cancun package and then was told that the package wasn't availble unless I paid another $640.00. I said that I couldn't afford it and needed to cancel, so they said that management would call me back later that day.

No call. I have called several time and always got the same run around. Management will call you today. No call.

I have not recieved any confirmation of cancellaton or anything.

Classic bait and switch? Or just thievery?

1 0
#900565

Love how "James" gives the same generic response on the complaints. thanks for the heads up, you saved me a and many others a huge headache.

3 0
#897029

Thanks for the insights!

I will not buy from these scammers!

3 2
#894689

I am very sorry to hear about your booking experience has the definitely close to our high standards as we are the largest provider of discounted resort promotional packages. We book over 50,000 vacation packages a year and have an "A-" rating with Better Business Bureau http://www.bbb.org/shreveport/business-reviews/travel-agencies/resort-vacations-international-in-natchitoches-la-90048356#bbbseal

Please contact me directly at James@rvitravel.net as we are always looking to improve. Thank you

1 5
#916044
@Violet

Just stop with the "high standards" you aren't fooling anyone and it's insulting to act as if you're so innocent and can't understand that HUNDREDS of people have been scammed by you. I can't wait to see a class-action suit come out on you ***-bags.

1 0
#889213

thank you i was going to book , but i can understand that it could be a scam because they want to sell time share there in for the money for sure.

2 0
#866400

Thanks, I will look elsewhere for our vacation.

2 0
#822868

Hello Anonymous,

I am one of the owners of Bookvip.com and you can contact me directly james@rvitravel.net. We are the largest travel promotions company and handle over a ten of thousands special promotion packages per year without any issue.

Like any company, we are not perfect and we are always looking to improve. The most difficult part in selling the discounted promotional packages are the terms and conditions that the resort sets as they are ones subsidizing the cost of the rooms for qualified customers to listen to their vacation ownership /timeshare presentation. Again, the rooms are discounted many times over $1500 in exchange of the customer's time and meeting the resort's qualifications. Where most issues occur is where the customer tries to circumvent the resort's qualifications and the resort denies the reservation or where rooms become unavailable due to sold out dates in which we always refund the customer.

One of the most difficult items we deal with is group travel as the resorts don't permit it with the promotion.

All of these terms & conditions are disclosed on the site as well. Each customer signs electronically the terms & conditions before we ever charge a customer.

Again, I appreciate your feed back and look forward to hearing from you

Sincerely,

James Colligan

Owner BookVip.com

0 4
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