ComplaintsforRailbookers Group

• Initial Complaint

  05/13/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  i purchase an vacation in february of 2022 .I try contact to schedule for a trip i was promise two trip and i had for 24 month to go to any where in the ************* for a get away .Every time i try to call i was getting to run away so i final get thru to someone and was told this was a timeshare account and we had to stay with the trip a whole day with timeshare .So i thought about what was told to me and i call back and ask for my money because i do not want to stay a whole day with an company to try to sell a propertly i do not need this is for a vacation not to make me misery .So when i call back i was send back and forth 7 time saying i had to cancel with this department then i had to cancel with someone else .So a woman got me on the phone with ********* and she told me to ask for the supervisor to get my money back if i didnot know about this when i purchase it .So i did when the supervisor finally he answers after 30 minutes waiting then he got on the phone very rude (talking about he has me on a recording saying it was okay for the timeshare (that was false ) when the lady had me on the phone when i set up my vacation and when she told me i had to go to a timeshare in order to schedule for my vacation i was lost and very upset because this is not what i sign up for .So he try to tell me i agree to this in February when i agree to this vacation and had me listen to a call when i made my reservation in February of 2024 he tired to say it was in the beginning when purchase the ticket in 2022 and he lied on me going back and forth saying he try to help me and he didnot he just wants to keep my money that all .Can you please help me with this please Thank you

  

  Business response

  05/15/2024

  Hello *******,

  Thank you for the email. We are having difficulty finding your reservation with us. If you could please provide your full phone number as well as the Railbookers/Amtrak Vacations six digit reservation number, it would be our pleasure to look into your inquiry.

  Thank you

• Initial Complaint

  05/10/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On April 24, we booked a small package at ****************** (**) for an Amtrak ticket and two hotel rooms. The company AAA uses is called Amtrak Vacations (phone number **************). They charged us $4200. I asked for an itemized bill, and the AAA agent said they "don't do that." When I recently called Amtrak to confirm my reservation, they informed me that I paid $2,716 for the ticket. My complaint is that the company website says "As Amtraks national tour operator, we have access to rates and availability you wont find anywhere else. The implication being that savings will be passed on to the customer. However, in this case we were greatly overcharged. I am writing to register this complaint, but also in the hopes that I can be reimbursed for the overcharge.

  

  Business response

  05/15/2024

  Hello *****,
  
  We understand your frustration as pricing is something that we are all cautious of when we are booking a vacation and for us selling the vacation. The pricing is all packaged together as we are an aggregator of rail, which is just one component of the packaging, and tour services so that you do not have to book with various companies for your trip. Instead, we take care of all of that for you as you know.
  
  I sincerely apologize for the confusion and frustration you may have because of the differences that you have analyzed for the vacation you have taken but we would not be able to provide any compensation in regards to reservation #******. We thank you again for your business and support.
  
  Best Regards,

• Initial Complaint

  04/29/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Reservation #****** Date of transaction is November 7, 2023. Amount paid is $1737.90 Rail Brookers Group trading as Amtrak Vacations provided one way train ticket to ***** November 19 at the coat of $814.50 I am requesting cash refund of the cancelled returned trip in the amount of $923.40. I do not want voucher. Original receipt and itinerary did not stipulate refund by *******. Amtrak reservation line advised me my ticket is cash refundable. I had the impression i was dealing with Amtrak not knowing there is a travel agent trading as Amtrak. Not a good business practice. Travelers should be advised they are dealing with a third party I was contacted by Rail Brookers Senior Guest Relations ****************************************** in November 27, 2023 assuring me my request for cash refund is being investigated. I have not heard back from ******************** since November 27, 2023. ******** contact email is ************************ Tel *************. Please see supporting documents of email correspondences with ******************** plus ticket invoices showing total $1737.90 paid, amount used and balance refund of $923.40 due back to me

  

  Business response

  04/30/2024

  Hello,

  We understand your concerns. After reviewing your reservation and speaking this morning, we have reversed the Future Travel credit to a refund back to the credit card on file. 

  Best,

  Guest Experience Team

  Customer response

  05/01/2024

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does satisfy my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint #********. I understand that by choosing to accept the business response that my complaint will be closed as resolved. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *************************

• Initial Complaint

  02/05/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Please do not use them. None of the costs are itemized and as soon as we paid for our trip, Railbookers (RB) started to make changes to our itinerary and inflate prices.Train schedules conflicted with each other.RB booked us in a hotel that was closed and forced me to pay extra to rebook another hotel.I asked them to refund the cost of that hotel so I could book on booking.com for a third of the price and they wouldn't.I had to pay 3 times more for booking another hotel and it was their mistake.I wanted to see the Black Forest and RB shortened my stay in ******** with most of my time being spent on trains getting there. I wanted to see Jungfrau and booked the tour out of **********.The agent booked our tour the day I was departing **********. We could see that we would not have enough time to get back from the tour to catch our train. We also discovered that she had booked us in a hotel in ******** that was miles outside of the city Center. The agent was sorry she had not caught that. I asked her to issue us a refund for the Jungfrau tour which she said was over $900. The agent then cleverly used upwards of $900 in refund to change yet another hotel that she had erroneously booked outside ********************** We were glad to have caught this in time otherwise we would not have seen both the City and the Black Forest, which was the reason for our visit to ********. Again, we asked for a refund to book ourselves and saving us this anguish. She declined and said we will lose our money and threatened us with punitive penalties. ***** train SBB said the ticket was changeable and had RB bought separate tickets for all our 1 day journey in *********** instead of a 3 day pass we would have saved upwards of 490 Euros. I wasted upwards of $7800 for a trip to ******** to see the Black Forest, to ********** to see Jungfrau and finally to Como for ****************** and none of these were fulfilled.

  

  Business response

  02/06/2024

  Hello ********,
  
  Thank you for reaching out regarding reservation #******. Per our earlier conversation, we are very sorry about the difficulties experienced but unfortunately, we would not be able to provide a requested refund for the Swiss Pass that you purchased out of pocket as our records indicate that the new Swiss Travel Passes was emailed on December 24. Per our protocol,we have emailed quotes and invoices with the various changes that were made throughout the booking process and a Future Travel Credit in the amount of $225.00 was processed and sent due to the stress that you incurred regarding the Swiss Pass.
  
  A chargeback to your credit card was filed on your behalf in the amount of $2000.00. We have been notified recently by **************** the chargeback has now been reversed as you are no longer disputing the charge. Although we are unable to provide a full refund for a vacation that has been taken, after reviewing your concerns, we have processed a refund to the card on file ending in ****, in the amount of $2000.00 as a courtesy for the dissatisfaction you experienced on your recent vacation.
  
  We thank you for your valued business and support, and we look forward to having you travel with us again in the future.
  
  Kind regards

  Customer response

  02/06/2024

  Better Business Bureau:I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ********. Please add your rejection comments below; if you do not provide any details, your complaint will be closed as Answered. 

  [You must provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.  If you do not enter a reason for your rejection, your complaint will be closed as Answered.]
  
  Businesses and Customers should be civil, courteous and polite in their responses to complaints. It is important to remain professional and productive when participating in the BBB complaint process.
  
  FAQ
  
  Regards,

  ********

   

   

• Initial Complaint

  01/02/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On/about 10/30/2023 I began communicating with Amtrak Vacations via ***************** to plan our family vacation. We would be spending about 7k dollars in total.The agent I was communicating with was very responsive and explained to me if we need anything to reach out to him via email as that is the best way to reach him. He explained we could add excursions and and upgrade our rooms- whatever we needed.On 11/2/2023 I paid the $300 deposit. That would be our last mutual communication.I emailed 4 more times over the course of the next 2 weeks; I called and left VMs.By my 4th communication I was stating in my emails how I was very concerned about the lack of comm- that this was feeling sketchy.Because I was not getting any response whatsoever, I reached out to my bank and had the charges reversed and my credit card canceled preventing them from attempting to charge me anymore money.Well, the bank decided in their favor and now Im being charged $300 for 2 weeks of nothing- absolute nothing. I dont think its fair or tight, given the facts I received nothing from Amtrak Vacations that Im being charged.This is not a matter of a change of heart- my ensure prove I was very much wanting to book with them but I was ignored. Why on Earth would I feel confident or comfortable, for that matter, giving them thousands of dollars when they wouldnt even respond to me after spending 300$.? Im truly hoping they will do the right thing and give me back my money. After all, no work was done on their part. Nothing was booked for our family. Reservations were not made and I was completely ghosted by the agent To this day, Ive received no responses to my multiple emails.

  

  Business response

  01/04/2024

  Hello *****,
  
  Thank you for sending in the attachment regarding the chargeback. I have been informed by our accounting department that you may be notified of the resolution before we obtain an update on our end in regards to the chargeback.
  
  Per your request, we have looked in your inquiry and have found that we have provided the phone number to call ***************) with any questions you may have regarding your reservation. Having said that, we can make a one time exception to our protocol and process a refund to your bank details in the amount of $300.00 once the chargeback has been officially resolved on our end. I have asked accounting to alert us as soon as they are notified.We are very sorry about the difficulties experienced.
  
  We would just need the following bank details as we are not able to send a check:
  
  Name of Bank
  Name on Account
  Account Number
  Routing Number
  
  Thank you again for bringing this to our attention, and we sincerely appreciate your patience with us as we worked to resolve this issue. 

  Kind regards

• Initial Complaint

  11/22/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I originally booked a rail vacation bought the travel insurance and then was unable to go. I was told no refund given just a credit. I had rebooked a trip this last July but once again was unable to make it. I just got off phone with Amtrak which you are hold at least an hour and told they cannot find my credit voucher which was originally in the amount of **** but after last cancellation was told it was only ****. I don't understand how this is possible besides the fact they hold your money hostage and refuse to refund the actual amount paid considering I never set foot on a train.

  

  Business response

  11/28/2023

  Hello *******,
  
  Per your request, we have looked into your inquiry and our records  indicate the following:
  
  Reservation ****** was cancelled and a Future Travel Credit Voucher for ****** was given in the amount of $3,148.61. From that voucher $3,136.40 was used for reservation ****** and the Future Travel Credit voucher ****** is now $12.21.
  
  Reservation ****** was then cancelled and due to our terms and conditions, the ******************* in the amount of $298.00 is non refundable. The Future Travel Credit for ****** was processed in the amount of $2,838.40.
  
  As a courtesy and one time exception, we will include the $298.00 (non refundable insurance amount) back to Future Travel Credit ****** and the travel credits are now as follows:
  
  ******: $12.21
  ******: $3,136.40
  
  Kind regards,
  
  

  Customer response

  11/29/2023

  Better Business Bureau:I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ********. Please add your rejection comments below; if you do not provide any details, your complaint will be closed as Answered. 

  [You must provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.  If you do not enter a reason for your rejection, your complaint will be closed as Answered.]
  
  Businesses and Customers should be civil, courteous and polite in their responses to complaints. It is important to remain professional and productive when participating in the BBB complaint process.
  
  FAQ
  
  Regards,

  *******

   

   

• Initial Complaint

  11/18/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  We booked an Amtrak vacation from **********, ************** to ***********,** for Feb. 26- Feb. 29, ****. The package we booked included trip insurance. Amtrak changed the train trip to a combination train/bus trip. We would go from **********, ************** to *******, ******* and have a 10 to 12 hour bus trip from ******* to ***********. That was also the same for the return trip. Because we do not want a bus trip, we decided to cancel the vacation. Amtrak is telling us that we will forfeit the cost of trip insurance. Our feeling is they created a trip that we did not book, therefore, we should not have to forfeit the cost of trip insurance. The only reason we are canceling this trip is because of the changes they made.

  

  Business response

  11/20/2023

  Hello ******,

  So sorry to hear about the change in your itinerary. For reservation #******, our records indicate that on Nov.14th we sent the following email to inform you that we had made a one time exception to our protocol and included the cost of the Trip Protection ($198.00) in the Future Travel Credit that was sent. The amount of the Future Travel Credit (******) is $2,180.00 which is the full amount that we received, including the $198.00 cost of the insurance. 

  14 Nov 2023

  12:50:10 Sent From: Reservation System
  Email with attachment sent: 14 Nov 2023 12:50:11
  Sent By: KKnight
  
  From Name/Address: *********************** <**************************************************>
  To Name/Address: ******************************** <*****************>
  Subject: Amtrak Vacations - Passenger Invoice for Reservation #******
  Attachment(s): INVOICE_US - /INVOICE_US - ****** - 6233bdb5.PDF, /70D2BADA-CFEB-46DE-9086-ECF01FA96479.pdf
  
  Dear *******************************,
  
  Attached please find your Future travel voucher for Amtrak Vacations Reservation #******.
  I reached out to management and requested to have the total of the trip issued as a Future travel voucher. It was approved. Attached is the updated Travel Voucher.
  
  Thank you,
  
  ***********************
  Phone: ****************

  Thank you

  Customer response

  11/20/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does satisfy my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint #********. I understand that by choosing to accept the business response that my complaint will be closed as resolved. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *******************************

• Initial Complaint

  11/08/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Please see uploaded attachments. Included is complaint letter, invoice proof of purchase, pictures of black mold. My family and I did not return on Amtrak Vacations ************* My family and I purchased airlines tickets to return home from *************, ** to ************, ** I've spoken with Amtrak Vacations Customer Relations Representatives: All Representatives stated, "They were escalating this to a manager so I could receive a cash refund." They also stated, "I would receive a phone call within 48 hours". No one from Amtrak Vacations has contacted me.**** 10/12/23, 10/26/23, 11/6/23 ***** 10/30/23 ***** 11/6/23 Amtrak Vacations Reservation # **E310 Date: September 12, 2023 Amount Paid: $2,384.72 Expected Refund: $1, ****** Incident Report # ********* Reason: Interrupted Trip Amtrak Vacations Refunded: 10/12/2023 $677.28 Transaction POS # ******

  

  Business response

  11/09/2023

  Dear *****************************,
  After reviewing your concerns, we will be processing a refund to your credit card in the amount of $336.72. We are very sorry about the difficulties experienced. Please allow ***** business days for this amount to show on your account.
  We thank you for your valued business and support, and we look forward to having you travel with us again in the future.
  
  Kind regards, 

• Initial Complaint

  09/23/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On July 28, 2023, I purchased an Amtrak Vacation - Reservation #****** and Trip Protection. The terms of the trip protection included a future travel credit for the full value of the reservation, $6,948.24.24, less the cost of Trip Protection, $598.00, for a total credit of $6,350.24. The Trip Protection provided that the "Future Travel Credit will be valid for 2 years and may be transferred to family or friends with notice from the original passenger(s)." (See page 5 of attached July 28, 2023, invoice). The transferability of the credit was of importance to me because of my age (71) and health issues. On September 15, 2023, I called Amtrak Vacations to cancel my trip because of a health issue. I was told that the terms of the credit had been changed "in the last month or so" and the credit is no longer transferable, and was advised to, "Read the Terms and Conditions" on Amtrak Vacations website. Following the cancellation, I received a new invoice for the Travel Protection alone and a Travel Voucher for $6,350.24. Regarding transferability, this new invoice (attached) contains the same language as the original invoice - includes the ability to transfer the credit to family or friends. Notwithstanding the plain language of the two invoices, the Travel Voucher itself states that the credit is non-transferable. Amtrak Vacations advertised and sold me Travel Protection that included a transferable travel credit. That is what I expect to receive. If the new Terms and Conditions make a transferable credit difficult to administer, I should receive a refund in the amount of the Travel Voucher. In addition, I recommend that Amtrak Vacations edit its website, the Terms and Conditions page still includes the following, "Customers will have the flexibility to apply their credit to travel on any one of our 3 brands: Amtrak Vacations, Yankee Holidays, and Railbookers. This banked credit is transferable and is valid for 2 years."

  

  Business response

  09/25/2023

  Thank you for contacting us regarding the Future Travel Credit. After reviewing your concerns, we can make an exception to our updated policy and allow the Future Travel Credit in the amount of $6,350.24 to be transferred to friends and family. We apologize for the inconvenience.

  We thank you for your valued business and support, and we look forward to having you or your friends and family travel with us again in the future.
  
  Kind regards

• Initial Complaint

  09/13/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Trip for 4 was booked, confirmed train and hotels confirmed. After initial booking ******* advised 1st two nights weren't confirmed, of more. Now a week before leaving we find out Hotel Atlantic of for isn't booked.

  

  Business response

  09/15/2023

  Dear ******,
  After reviewing your concerns, we will be processing a refund to your credit card, ending in ****, in the amount of $200.00 due to the stress and inconveniences involved with the booking. We are very sorry about the difficulties experienced. Please allow ***** business days for this amount to show on your account. We have reviewed the reservation and have confirmed that all of the rail tickets are first class. We apologize that a document was sent indicating that two segments were standard. We have also confirmed that the additional costs for the hotel changes were paid for by Railbookers and again we apologize for the hotel changes that were made. We recognize and empathize with the added stress you personally experienced and thank you for your understanding and patience as we investigated this case.
  We thank you for your valued business and support, and we look forward to having you travel with us again in the future.
  
  

  Customer response

  09/15/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does satisfy my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint #********. I understand that by choosing to accept the business response that my complaint will be closed as resolved. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *************************

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