Costco Travel

When we purchased the packet we were told we had time to make changes, but when we tried to make adjustments we found out that this was the furthest from the truth. The last manager that I had contact with in reference to these issues advised that they would forward it to upper management.

Purchased the tickets on February 3rd, 2023, by February 21st we were asking to make changes to travel and were hit with a roadblock. Every time they told me that it was not possible, I reached out to their vendor and they advised that it was and that Costco needed to contact them.

Please see the communication that I had with the last manager (which is still ongoing). I have removed the contact information.

Sent on April 24th, 2024

Good Afternoon Kristen,

I was just following up, it has been 3 weeks since you sent the message.

Thank you

On Tuesday, April 2, 2024, 1:14 PM,

Hello Robert,

I wanted to reach out and let you know that my management team is reviewing this, and I will follow up with you shortly.

Thank you,

Kristen| International Supervisor

Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2024 8:04 PM

Subject: Re: Confirmation # 43588****

Good Evening Kristen,

I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to express my firm disappointment with the service I have received regarding my recent attempts to amend my travel arrangements.

Despite my concerted efforts to rectify the situation, I have encountered significant obstacles, resulting in unnecessary inconvenience and financial strain.

To provide context, despite my repeated attempts to adjust the dates of my rail transportation, I was met with persistent challenges and unhelpful responses from your representatives. Despite the assurances provided in previous communications, I found myself unable to make the necessary changes within the stipulated time frame, leading to considerable frustration.

Moreover, the lack of clarity and consistency in the information provided by your team further compounded the issue. Contrary to what was initially communicated, I was only informed after the expiration of the specified period that I could seek assistance directly. This discrepancy reflects poorly on the training and effectiveness of your staff in handling such requests.

Notably, the dismissive attitude displayed by a supervisor named Chris during a previous interaction was particularly disheartening.

Their apparent unwillingness to explore viable solutions beyond the status quo was both discouraging and unacceptable.

Furthermore, the repercussions of this service failure extend beyond mere inconvenience. As a direct result of my inability to adjust my travel dates, I have incurred substantial additional expenses amounting to three thousand dollars for my reservation to Disney. This significant financial burden could have been mitigated had I been afforded the opportunity to modify my arrangements in a timely manner.

In light of the above, I am formally requesting an escalation of my concerns to upper management for their urgent attention and resolution. It is imperative that steps are taken to address the systemic issues underlying this disappointing experience and prevent similar occurrences in the future.

I appreciate your prompt attention to this matter and look forward to a swift and satisfactory resolution.

Sincerely,

Robert

Help Rail Europe

From:help@***.com

Wed, Mar 13 at 2:03 PM

Hello Robert,

I am sorry for the inconvenience this scenario might have caused you.

Please be informed that your London to Paris journey tickets were only exchangeable 14 days prior to the train departure date and are now non-exchangeable as per the fare conditions stated below:

Exchanges: If ticket not used, exchangeable up to 14 days before departure.

Thereafter, no exchange allowed.

However, you can get in touch with your travel agency and advise them to refund and rebook new tickets with the correct/desired train departure date for you.

Your tickets are refundable as per the fare conditions stated below:

Refunds: If ticket not used, refundable up to 14 days before train departure date. 50% refundable from 13 days up to 7 days before train departure date. Thereafter, no refund allowed.

On Saturday, March 16, 2024 at 05:58:22 PM EDT, Kristen wrote:

Hello Robert,

I apologize for the delayed reply, I am off on Thursday and Friday. I see that you called in today and made some changes to your hotels.

I wanted to reach out in case there is anything else you needed from me; I am happy to give you a call.

Thank you,

Kristen| International Supervisor

From: Robert

Sent: Friday, March 15, 2024 1:36 PM

To: Kristen

Subject: Confirmation # 43588****

Good Afternoon Kristen,

We spoke earlier in the week about my trip. Can you please give me a call as soon as possible?

I need to make changes to our hotel reservations. In addition, I would still like to file a grievance about my whole experience outside of you.

Thank You

Robert

This is not a travel agency its not even good at copying countless other outlets that are travel oriented. I am a paraplegic and have global entry and pass id for a reason.

So when the Costco travel agent misspelled my name and did not check my passport I nearly missed my first flight as the incompetent agent I called from the airport struggled for over 30 minutes to correct my name in their system just so I could board the first flight. Sadly her changes did not involve filling in the KTN or passid on the corrected ticket. This caused me to be rejected for pre check at TSA. That resulted in TSA tearing my power chair to pieces and finding nothing in it.

So much stress that Ihave never experienced booking several trips with other websites. Dont bother with the Costco incompetence. There are way too many competitors that do a much better job with their customers.

Its nice to shine when everything is going your way and collect good reviews. The value of a true travel agency or website outshines the joke that is Costco travel when things go wrong

I have sent the following email to the manager. She contacted me once since returning from vacation to advise upper management was reviewing, but this has been going on for over two months.

I am writing to express my firm disappointment with the service I have received regarding my recent attempts to amend my travel arrangements.

Despite my concerted efforts to rectify the situation, I have encountered significant obstacles, resulting in unnecessary inconvenience and financial strain.

To provide context, despite my repeated attempts to adjust the dates of my rail transportation, I was met with persistent challenges and unhelpful responses from your representatives. Despite the assurances provided in previous communications, I found myself unable to make the necessary changes within the stipulated time frame, leading to considerable frustration.

Moreover, the lack of clarity and consistency in the information provided by your team further compounded the issue. Contrary to what was initially communicated, I was only informed after the expiration of the specified period that I could seek assistance directly. This discrepancy reflects poorly on the training and effectiveness of your staff in handling such requests.

Notably, the dismissive attitude displayed by a supervisor named Chris during a previous interaction was particularly disheartening.

Their apparent unwillingness to explore viable solutions beyond the status quo was both discouraging and unacceptable.

Furthermore, the repercussions of this service failure extend beyond mere inconvenience. As a direct result of my inability to adjust my travel dates, I have incurred substantial additional expenses amounting to three thousand dollars for my reservation to Disney.

This significant financial burden could have been mitigated had I been afforded the opportunity to modify my arrangements in a timely manner.

In light of the above, I am formally requesting an escalation of my concerns to upper management for their urgent attention and resolution. It is imperative that steps are taken to address the systemic issues underlying this disappointing experience and prevent similar occurrences in the future.

I will never use Costco travel again and suggest that anyone traveling overseas avoid using this agency.

They booked my wifes name incorrectly on the airline ticket and never became aware of the issue until I found out the morning of our flight. The hassle this caused cant be described in such few words.

They were totally unable to help and I had to spend 8 hours with the airline to fix their mistake. We missed our flight and an entire day of our trip.

I tried to work with costcos customer service to get some sort of compensation for our trouble. After emailing back and forth and spending hours on the phone explaining to multiple agents what happened over a period of 2 weeks they offered me a $50 shop card I felt offended and honestly a little disrespected.

They have terrible customer service. Terrible agents, and everything is lip service.

I would have saved money, time, and a whole lot of headache had I booked this trip myself. Never again!

We trusted Costco. The name, the brand, the overall vibe of Costco.

However, we will not book travel again with them ever again. No reason to go into the plethora of issues that began as soon as we landed in Cabo, but trust me, we really needed to get a hold of them and quick!

We called the number provided on our itinerary at 6:00PM (was a weekday) and even though the contract said they were open until 7:00, we got the "we are closed, normal hours are" blah blah blah...

So the 6+ hours of frustration we had trying to fix many issues with the hotel were just wasted time. A really expensive waste of time.

We won't be back.

Used Costco Travel's search engine to find an all-inclusive dream vacation to St. Lucia.

Except their programming was wrong and the resort selected was NOT all inclusive. The phone number provided by Costco Travel for out of the country issues was not in working service. Upon return from vacation (with a large unexpected expense for food and, to be fair, the first ever vacation that I've lost weight on), we contact Costco Travel to have them tell us that we should have read the small print. Wow ...

for a company that prides itself on customer care, this was not that. I will never use them again, and I will scream loud and far for all to hear me - they shouldn't use them either!

I'm really disappointed with Costco Travel. I don't want to give even one star.

Their handling of the issue has left me frustrated. When I spoke to a supervisor, it was clear she needed better customer service skills. I know her name, but I am not going to mention it here. Within just three days of booking, the price shot up, and despite my polite inquiry about a possible adjustment, they refused.

I even asked about using Costco gift cards, but that was a dead end too. Spending over $7,000 on this trip, the $200 difference might not seem huge, but who would be happy that the price went down and you're not going to get that money back within only 3 days of booking. Their poor handling of the situation has left me thoroughly dissatisfied with their customer service.

It wasn't just about the $200 difference anymore; it was about their way of dealing with the customer. I won't be using Costco Travel again.