ComplaintsforAudley Travel

• Initial Complaint

  05/06/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I'm contacting you regarding several issues with the trip to ********* that my wife and I recently completed. I have tried to resolve the issue with both our travel planner ****** Chess and his area director ***************. Neither of which is currently responding to emails that I sent them 5 days ago.1. Before we left for *********, ****** informed us that our special tour in ********* would have our evening event delayed one day and it was then canceled. He was going to see if that would result in a partial refund. He has not given us the answer to that question.2. On 17-Apr, in ******, our 3 hour ************* and ***** Island Wildlife Tour (by small plane) in ****** was canceled due to weather. We were notified of the cancelation by Audley so Audley was aware 3. On 22-Apr, in *********, our full day tour to ******* and French Island Wildlife Expedition was unable to complete half of our tour since weather interfered in ferry transportation to/from ************* Since our return, I haven't been able to receive any straight response from ****** on refunds related to the above issues. His responses have either been, "it's up to our local travel partners", and "it's in accounting". I haven't even been able to get him to tell us what we were charged for the individual excursions so I could check with my travel insurance company to see if they can reimburse me. Your company only charged us a total fee for the trip.Looking at prior complaints to the Better Business Bureau, I agree with the one that said "we didn't choose your local business partners. we didn't contract with your local business partners, we didn't pay your local business partners, we paid Audley Travel". I've looked at the website for the cancelled aerial tour in ****** and tickets start at several hundred AUS.

  

  Business response

  05/07/2024

  Dear ********, 

  Thank you for contacting us and bringing this information to our attention. 

  I am truly sorry to hear you have been unable to contact ****** or ***, your details have been passed to our Client Experience team to fully investigate this. One of our Client Experience team will be in contact directly to help you resolve the situation and discuss next steps. 

  Kind regards, 

  ***************************

   

• Initial Complaint

  01/26/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Business did not live up to their stated promise. They claimed trips are designed around the traveler requirements. Traveler can select preferred style of accommodations. Create the perfect trip.I asked for ******** expat communities in ********** where I might escape snow on a yearly basis.I asked for very nice accommodations with views. I was told hotels ,where I was booked by Audley, were 5 star. Definitely not true. I was booked in fair to poor accommodations. Only one hotel was close to my requirement.I was not scheduled near any expat communities or popular tourists locations.One location was actually frightening. I asked to leave on arrival. A driver was not available until the next morning. Audley felt I should pay for this night,I tried to resolve this with an Audley representative. I was told it was my fault because I accepted the trip. Virtually every part of the trip was not what I asked for. I believed the representation who made it look very different than it actually was. I believe I was lied to and the trip was misrepresented.I was told $3,020 would be returned to my credit card. I had no choice and my case was closed. I am 80 years old. If I could have gone online and planned this trip on my own, I would have. I hoped Audley would be able to book me for a wonderful trip that would be just what I hoped for. I was taken advantage of.

  

  Business response

  01/29/2024

  Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us. We want to express sincere apologies that your trip did not live up to your expectations. It is disheartening to hear that your vacation did not align with the tailor-made experience we strive to provide.
  
  We are sorry to hear that the communities you visited did not match your expat requirement. I understand that prior to booking, your specialist did discuss the locations you would be traveling to with you, but we are sorry to hear you did not meet many Americans along your travels as you had expected.  We apologize that the accommodations you stayed in did not align with what had been previously discussed and that you found one accommodation to be frightening. I am glad your specialist was able to find a new place for you to stay but apologize there was no option to get you there sooner. I understand that, along with absorbing the cost of the replacement accommodation, the compensation of $3,020 included full refunds for the other disappointing stays as well as a portion of the excursions you had cancelled during your travels, but we understand you did not find the compensation provided to be satisfactory. Your feedback has been shared with our product team and local suppliers that we work closely with to help improve services.
  
  We are sorry to hear you felt taken advantage of as that was never our intention. Every client,regardless of age, deserves the highest level of attention, and it's regrettable that we did not fully meet those needs.
  
  Thank you again for sharing your feedback as it is crucial for us to continue improving our services and ensuring that our team is better equipped to assist all travelers with the level of expertise and attention to detail that we aim to deliver.

  We have reviewed and discussed your complaint at length and feel the compensation offered is fair and addresses the issues you faced during and leading up to your trip. Whilst we appreciate this is not the level of compensation you requested this is our final offer and the refund has been processed to you. 

  Kind regards, 

  ***************************

  Customer response

  01/29/2024

  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,

  ******

   

   

  

  Business response

  02/05/2024

  Dear ******,
  
  Thank you for your reply, we are truly sorry to hear you feel this way. 

  As per my previous response, we have completed a full investigation into your complaint. Upon reviewing the call on June 2nd, prior to making your initial deposit on June 17th, with your specialist Rafa. **** explained we work mostly with 4 to 5 star hotels, but sometimes 3 star hotels as well. About a 1.5 minutes later into the call, you stated "I'm good with the 3,4,5 star hotels". **** sent you an email with initial itinerary and went through it step by step, discussing the excursions and each hotel you would be staying in including the 3 star accommodations, during your phone call on June 16th. This information was provided to ensure you had the full information to review, so you were able to make an informed decision on if you wished to proceed with the itinerary presented, including the full details of the accommodations you would be staying at. On the June 17 th you then paid the deposit to secure your vacation accepting the itinerary as detailed. 

  We are sorry you are frustrated by the situation, and understand you are not satisfied with the compensation we provided. We do feel it is a fair amount as you did agree to the itinerary that had been presented to you, and all information and clear detailed descriptions were provided verbally and in writing prior to you paying your deposit. 

  Kind regards, 

  *************************;

   
  

  Customer response

  02/05/2024

  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. 

  They have not addressed the original complaint.
  They are focused on my acceptance of a vacation that was not what I wanted. I trusted the company to do what their mission statement says. Had I known what I was given I would not have accepted it.
  I think when I made a phone appointment for a specific *************, this was an actual appointment. Apparently it was as not. It was cancelled without any notification.
  I should have known at that point to try another company.
  I was guilted into moving on.
  Audley now said I agreed to 3,4 and 5 star accommodations.
  Why then did I only get one hotel with 3 stars. None with 4 and5.
  I am incredibly disappointed with Audley travel. As an 80 year old, I am apparently not capable of reading between the lines, Which with this company was essential.
  *************************** 

• Initial Complaint

  12/19/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Itinerary # *******/4 My wife and I recently returned home from a trip to ***************. We started on October 2nd and returned the 29th. 1)I paid over two thousand dollars extra to have private access to the pyramids (5:30am before they open) and it was canceled by the tourism folks. We ended up with 15 minutes at the end of the day versus 2 hours in the early part of the day and a distant walk by ********** versus going to **********. We are due a full refund for this. 2)We booked and paid for business class from ***** and ended ** in coach. We are due a full refund for this. 3)On our Nile cruise the room was not what we were promised (as evident from the pictures we received prior to). We immediately sent pictures to Audley, but we were stuck with the wrong room. 4)In addition, we were supposed to be on a different ship and had to pay extra to be moved to this one. We were informed that the upgrade cost from our original booking on the other cruise was going to be refunded. We have the emails from our agent promising a refund and yet we did not get a full refund. We did not get what we paid for, and we are due a full refund for this. (See notes){From *****- in acknowledgement of the situation and validating why you feel that your room is not exactly like the renderings provided, we would like to refund you the cost of the upgrade that you paid for this suite, which is $372 per person}{From ***** - You had paid an additional $740 per person to upgrade to the Presidential Suite on the ***************. 5)Upon arriving at the ****** Resort we were taken to our room that was not what we were promised. We were told we would have a room with an infinity pool that overlooks the Red Sea. Not the back of building. Fortunately, the general manager of the resort took it upon himself to make our experience right. This is just another example of the lack of follow up Audley has. They do not actually verify accommodations and arrangements and leave them up to local contractors to deal with. What are we paying Audley for? I do not know 6)The local person that was supposed to know what was going on with us did not have our cell number, WhatsApp number or email so he could not communicate with us directly. When he found us through the hotel, he told me Audley did not provide it. And he did not have our flight confirmation number and flight information either. This happened in ****** as well.7)The fact that this room was assigned to us along with the previously expressed disappointments we experienced made it clear to me that Audley does not have any one person taking responsibility to verify accommodations and arrangements. They are not proactively involved. They leave it up to the individual local services they contract with. What are we paying Audley for?{*My wife and I used Enchanting Travel Services to go on Safari with 6 friends for 2 and weeks covering more than one country and a multitude of experiences, guides and accommodations that were extraordinary. The difference between their service and Audleys is they assign one person to reverify the arrangements of your trip every day and to take care of any last-minute changes before they impact your experience.}8)Upon arriving at ************ I was told we would have a view of the crater. The room that was assigned to us had a view of the main building and the pool was not private at all. ****** knew we were here for the view and asked the hotel to switch us. And we were informed that the room we switched to was much less expensive than our original room. As such we are do a full refund for the difference. 9)The next hotel was at the Sea of Galilee. We were originally booked for *************** and that was changed to the **************. This was a very nice hotel but absolutely did not accomplish what we wanted. It was much further from the water (we were told it was right on the hill behind ***************) and had no view whatsoever! We were sold on going here and this was not what we wanted as once again we did not have and could not get a room with a view as promised. It seemed that we were always given the worst rooms in each of the hotels we were booked in. None of the rooms met our expectations as I asked for in my conversations prior to final booking. Instead, we once again got the view of a building roof and to make matters worse we had to climb up and down two flights of a spiral staircases just to get to our room. And just to add insult to injury, despite being told that our meals were included, we were informed that we had to pay extra if we wanted meat. Really? Another broken promise and bad experience. 10)We are also owed a refund for the Mehane ******************* tour as well. We were told that a refund of $402 will be made to the card used to pay the final balance and this was not completed either.11)From ******** neither the driver who took us to the airport nor the young lady who escorted us at the airport contacted us at any time. We were getting ready to make arrangements on our own to get to the airport since we had not heard from anyone. They never called or communicated with us in any way. We quite frankly didnt know who they were, what their names were and since it was 11:15am Saturday morning and we had not heard from them and had no way of contacting them we were getting nervous and decided we may need to get our own taxi as a backup. Yes, he did show up the last minute, but it was unnecessary stress as was many moments during our trip. We spent over $60k with Audley and they simply did not deliver a carefree, stress-free experience. At almost every step along the way we were confronted with problems due to the lack of follow up from Audley. And their emergency call number team has no control once there is a problem and each time you call you get someone different so there is never any one person keeping tabs on your trip. Audley failed not only in the arrangements discussed in this letter but as a company that promises to take care of everything for you. The reason to use an agency is to make sure there is a responsible professional assuring all the details of your trip are taken care of. You pay them to provide you with great experiences. Unfortunately, that is not the Audley way. Disappointment, frustration, and confusion are the three words to describe the experiences we encountered during our trip. We did not come to Audley to add to our stress but unfortunately that is what we got. We are owed refunds for the failed arrangements as well as the horrible experiences we encountered that was their responsibility. After several communications they offered a refund of $2,105 which does not come close to what they owe us. That barely reimburses us for the extra money we paid for a private tour of the pyramids we did not get.

  

  Business response

  12/20/2022

  Dear *************************, 

   

  Thank you for contacting us regarding your recent trip to ***************. I am very sorry to hear you are not satisfied with our offer of a refund of $2,105.00. 

   

  Our Senior Client Experience Executive Specialist *********************** will reach out to you directly to discuss this further. 
  

   

  Kind Regards, 

   

  ***************************

  Customer response

  12/22/2022

  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.]

  Below is the email I received from Audley Travel letting me know that they will not follow up till after Jan 4th. As such this complaint has not been satisfied yet. I am not sure why they need to talk to a legal team to assess value for my refunds and losses but we will see what it all means when they follow up. 

  Thank you and Happy Holidays !!

  ***

   

  ***************************, Dec 21, 4:43 PM (1 day ago)
  
  
  Hello **********************,
  
  I hope all is well. We have received the complaint you filed with the Better Business Bureau, and I want to reach out to let you know that we are investigating this. We have reached out to our legal team for guidance to be sure what we offer is fair compensation for you.  Our legal department is closed for the holidays, but I will have a resolution for you by January 4th. Thank you for your patience while we investigate this matter and have a very Happy Holidays.
  
  Best regards
  
  ***********************
  
  Senior ************** Executive
  Audley Travel
  Email: **************************************************
  Direct: ************
  Toll-Free: **************

   
  
  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,

  ***

   

   

  

  Business response

  01/04/2023

  Dear *********************, 

  Thank you for your response and your patience, I hope you enjoyed the Holiday season. 

  We have responded to your complaint in full by email with our refund offer. I have copied the email sent from *********************** below. Once we have you response we will be able to provide the refund to you. 

  Kind regards, 

  ***************************

   

  Dear **********************,
  

  I hope you had a Happy New Year. Thank you for your patience during the holiday season while
  we worked on a resolution for you. We wanted to make sure that we researched each detail of your
  Better Business complaint and have our legal team review it to ensure our resolution is a fair one for
  you.

  
  As I mentioned in our prior correspondences, feedback from our clients is extremely important
  and is always forwarded to our appropriate departments. Audley is known for our high level of service
  we provide, and our booking process is tried and true. It seems that you had a different type of
  experience with another tour company, so moving forward, it seems that Audley may not be the right fit
  for you.

  
  We are offering a refund to you in the amount of $4,299 This will be our final refund offer.
  Please advise if you would like to move forward with this. I have outlined the breakdown of your refund
  below, along with responses to each part of your letter.
  

  1. We will refund you the $2,500 cost of the pyramid tour. This is a full refund of this tour.
  2. The difference in cost between business class and coach is $25 per person. We will refund you
  $50 to cover this difference.
  3. Your Booking confirmation invoice we sent you on August 25th
  , shows the extra cost of the Sun
  Goddess cruise, which is $342 per person, totaling $744.00 We will refund you the difference in
  cost for the cruise. Your original cruise was $740 per person and the Sun Goddess was $1,082.00
  per person. We will refund you the difference in cost which is $744.00.
  4. For the room at the ******, the only room option they have with a beach view is their Superior
  Deluxe Room, which does not have an infinity pool. Their only suite with an infinity pool is their
  Grand Suite, which has garden views. This information is clear on their website, as well as the
  quote and your final itinerary that was sent. Upon researching this, none of our documents sent
  to you or phone calls indicate that you will have a sea view room.
  5. At Audley, we have our privacy policy that we remain in compliance with. Therefore, we do not
  share your personal data information with our partners, unless otherwise requested by our
  clients to do so. Please view our full privacy policy on our website.
  ********************************************************
  6. At the ********* Hotel, you chose the Desert View Romantic Villa room, which includes a
  private pool, but the documents clearly state it is a dessert view and does not mention a crater
  view. Since you opted to change rooms and downgrade, we will honor a refund of the difference
  in cost, which is $260.00
  7. I do see in your itinerary that it does state that the ************** does include breakfast and
  dinner. We will offer a refund of $200 for the meat discrepancy.
  8. We will refund you $545.00 for the tasting tour that was cancelled.
  9. We refunded you in October $402 for the Mehane ******************* tour. The refund was
  refunded back to your card on file. Please check your bank statements.
  

  Once I receive an acceptance of this offer, I will forward this to our finance team to start the refund
  process. The process can take up to 28 business days, but I will expedite this as best as I can. Refunds are
  processed back to the original form of payment. Thank you.
  

  Best regards,
  ***********************
  Senior ************** Executive
  Audley Travel

  Customer response

  01/06/2023

  [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

  10/28/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  In June 2022, my wife and I took a tour of ******** and Ireland arranged by Audley. The tour itself was fantastic and we really liked the arrangements Audley made. However, there were a few mixups/cancellations that required us to pay out of pocket for things that should have been covered. Specifically:- Our tour of ************************** on 22 June was cancelled due to lack of staff. We were notified and promised a refund.- ********* Europa in ******* was unable to provide a "Superior" room due to a reservation mix up. We ended up in a lower cost room.- **** car rental was unable to find our reservation and we ended up paying 480 pounds for a rental car.I forwarded all of this information to our Audley contact in July and was told that we would be reimbursed. I followed up in September as well as October but this has not yet been addressed.We were pleased with the tour itself but it should not take 120+ days to get reimbursed for these out of pocket costs.

  

  Business response

  10/31/2022

  Dear *************, 

   

  Thank you for reaching out and I am pleased to hear overall you had a fantastic time. 

  I am really sorry to hear you have not received your refund and you have had trouble contacting your specialist. I have reviewed your file and can see we processed your refund on 10/13/2022 so you should have received it by now. I will send you a separate email with the details of the refund. 

  If you need anything else in the meantime please contact me. 

  Kind regards, 

  *************************;

  Client Experience Manager
  Audley Travel
  Email: ******************************************************
  Direct: ************
  
  Audley Travel, **************************************************************** 02114
  Web: www.audleytravel.com
  Tel: ************
  Toll free: **************
  
  Click here to read about our recent awards

  Customer response

  10/31/2022

  [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. 

  Unbeknownst to me, the refund was processed back the the event planner's credit card. I have followed up with the event planner separately. I appreciate Audley's prompt action on this.

  
  Regards,
  
  *************************

• Initial Complaint

  05/11/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Wife agreed to use Audley Travel for a booking to ***** and placed a $3600.00 deposit down. With COVID the trip was postponed and with its continuous problems of Covid we decided to cancel. When we asked Audley for a refund they refused and stated we had a travel credit. Not normally using a travel agency but now having them holding hostage our deposit we decided to travel to the ********. My wife researched and found a resort she felt was perfect but when she contacted Audley was informed they did not deal with this resort and directed us to what the agent said was the best of the best. He also mentioned he had traveled June prior and could vouch for this resort. Booked a villa over the water and paid the remaining $7998 more. Seeing how this was our trip for our 32 wedding anniversary we wanted to do things right and bought business class on Qatar airway spending over 8k. After a terrible first day and then worse second day at the resort we were ready to come home. Spent a total of 8 days with nothing close to what was promised. Contacted Audley to request compensation. Have dealt with ***** the agent and no response, ****** the client service agent and no direction and now ****** who is the head of the client relations department. Tell me that I have to wait as they are contacting their partner ( the resort) to see what they can do. Offers of **** and now **** have come in and as I have explained for the hassles and lack of service promised I now demand a full refund. ****** says the travel industry has changed and we will have to see what the resort is willing to do. Why? I paid Audley Travel $11,598 and not the resort. I was pushed to the resort as it was the only one offered by the agent. Why am I at the mercy of their travel partner? I did did not pay the resort I paid Audley. I am demanding full refund of all monies paid to this agency and based on the documentation provided I see that Audley does in fact refund money.

  

  Business response

  05/12/2022

  Dear *****, 

   

  Thank you for contacting us. We have spoken over the phone and as discussed we are working to get this resolved for you as quickly as we can. 

   

  If you need anything else in the meantime, please feel free to reach out to me directly. 

   

  Kind regards, 

   

  ***************************
  
  Client Experience Manager
  Audley Travel
  Email: ******************************************************
  Direct: ************
  
  Audley Travel, **************************************************************** 02114
  Web: www.audleytravel.com
  Tel: ************
  Toll free: **************
  
  Click here to read about our recent awards

  Customer response

  05/12/2022

  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. 

  ****** continues to offer differing amounts from **** now to ****. I paid Audley travel for a service that we did not receive as promised.  I continue to demand full restitution of the nearly ****** I paid Audley travel.  I would also like to know why I am forced to wait on Audley and their business partner (resort ) to come to a conclusion. I hired and paid Audley Travel 
  
  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,

  *****

   

   

  

  Business response

  05/12/2022

  Dear *****, 

  Thank you for your response.

  Further to our recent phone conversation. I just wanted to confirm we have now provided a suitable resolution to your complaint. I have followed up directly by email outlining the next steps. 
  

  Please contact me if you need any other assistance. 

  Kind regards, 
  

  ***************************

   

  Customer response

  05/17/2022

  [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

  02/06/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I purchased a trip in December of 2019 from Audley Travel for my wife and myself to visit ********* and ***********. The trip was scheduled for ***** in 2020. Due to the Covid 19 restrictions, the trip was postponed to November 2020 and then to ***** 2021 then to November 2021. As of January, this year the trip has not been rescheduled. Audley has had my payment of $22,234 for more than two years and I have requested that they refund the money. The person now assigned to the trip, ***********************, stated that due to the amount of the request it was out of his hands and passed to his manager. My emails to his manager, ******************* have not been answered.I am requesting a refund for the full amount paid for the trip which has not been provided.Itinerary Ref: MMR711173-B1 Conf No: 44753/24

  

  Business response

  02/07/2022

  Dear ***, 

  Thank you for reaching out to us, we are sorry you have not received communication from Lorne's Manager. This has now been escalated to our customer service team, and *********************** will reach out to you directly to discuss your options. Please look out for an email so we can arrange a suitable time to speak about your situation. 
  

  Kind regards, 
  

  ***************************

  Client Experience Manager
  Audley Travel
  Email: ******************************************************
  Direct: ************
  
  Audley Travel, ***************************************************************** 02114
  Web: www.audleytravel.com
  Tel: ************
  Toll free: **************
  
  Click here to read about our recent awards

• Initial Complaint

  01/14/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am submitting this claim because my prior claim was closed without my knowledge, I only received an e-mail today that it was closed - not about the original response - ID # 16412390- Audley Travel I am looking for a full itemized breakout of my entire trip - and I would like to see supporting documents from the vendors discussed in the previous claim as I can no longer trust what Audley employees say with out any additional support

• Initial Complaint

  01/12/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was going on a trip to ******** for my friend 30th birthday. I paid my deposit on May 5th 2021. Shortly after covid cases began to rise and the trip was constantly postponed. I was told that ******* was closed and that was the only way we could access ********, through *******. Months passed and the Covid cases started to die down. On November 12th 2021 we got word that ******* was back open and we would be able to fly out of ******* to ********. A couple of weeks later the cdc announced two new variants and the cases started to rise again. I have serious health issues and was already afraid to travel but when the vaccine came out and the numbers started to decrease, I felt a bit safer. But now I feel like the best thing to do is to not travel. I notified my friend that I would have to cancel. My friend informed me that audley only wants to offer me a credit instead of a refund. I have been in touch with *************************** at audley agency and I expressed to her that I wish not to travel at this time and would prefer a refund. She brought up the statement agreement and I understand that but this is a pandemic and this is out of my hands, I wouldve never expected for all these new variants to come out and for numbers to increase. I also stated that I have no use or need for a credit mainly because I never use travel agencies due to this issue and others. I only was using Audley on account of my friend and this being her trip. This has been a nightmare all together due to the pandemic and I would greatly appreciate it if Audley would just issue me a refund so we can both part ways. ************** also suggested I sell my credit to another member on the trip but I informed her that the trip is canceled as a whole now and the parties involved arent sure if they are going to use their own credit. Im not understanding the lack of customer service. I understand the pandemic is causing major losses for them but taking people money like this isnt right.

  

  Business response

  01/13/2022

  Hello ********************,
  
  We are sorry to hear about your experience with us and thank you for bringing this to our attention. During these unprecedented times, Audley has implemented a very flexible promise to our clients with fair options; however it is important to us that we can come to a resolution together. A member of our Client Experience Team will reach out to you in the next 24 hours to discuss this matter further with you.  

  Kind regards, 
  

  ***********************
  

  Client Service Executive
  Audley Travel
  Email: **************************************************
  Direct: ************
  
  
  To read my travel profile and view a selection of my travel photography please click here
  
  
  Audley Travel, ****************************************************************************************
  Web: www.audleytravel.com
  Tel: ************
  Toll free: **************
  
  Click here to read about our recent awards

• Initial Complaint

  08/30/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Prior to the outbreak of Covid I purchased a trip to the Galapagos Islands. Due to the Covid outbreak the trip was cancelled. I was told I could not get my money back and was given a voucher for further travel. Two months ago I booked a trip to ****** for my daughter, son in law and myself. On August 30th I noted that the Governor of ****** was advising no travel to ****** until the end of October due to the increase in Covid cases. I was not advised of this by the agency. When I called and asked about the trip I was told that travel to the Island is not banned but there are rules about regarding dining, masks and outside group meetings. I informed them at this time I do not wish to go. We are all vaccinated but feel that based on what we are reading this is the safest decision. Once again I was denied any money return and will be given a voucher. I am willing to have money deducted from the amount for any outstanding cancalletion fees. I would like my money returned

  Customer response

  09/11/2021

  [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,
  
  *********************************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩