Vantage Deluxe World Travel

Could not contact them until they sent alternative email where I asked what was going on with my trip to Cairo which was to leave now, in about 10 days. Received blast email presumably to all their "good customers". It stated news of the hack but all is good (paraphrasing) except for 6 trips 4 of which were river trips in the Netherlands(?) with an equipment problem and 2 to Cairo of which one was mine. No real explanation as to why it was canceled. All were canceled but they would be getting in touch with me in a day or two...Still waiting! 1 and 1/2 months!!!

The other shoe then landed, I received a notice from Allianz Global Assurance on the 23rd of May that my insurance was canceled. The notice showed a purchase date of Jan 26th 2023...cancelation date Jan 30th 2023. Better than 100 days late and after trip was to depart. Called Allianz was told they only insure the trip once it is started and Vantage insured any cancelations before departure. I asked Allianz for return of premium paid to them they said they returned premium to...you guessed it..Vantage Travel....same for airline, ticket refund went to Vantage....So the company canceling the trip was also the company issuing the trip insurance...Nice racket! When you call as I have, at least 15 times, I get this perky little voice that says they are sooo busy taking care of their good customers but they will return my call with in 24 hours (still waitingx10)!!!!

I did get through once. the same little perky voice asked how she could help, after giving my booking number and customer number she again asked how she could help. I asked her if she had looked up the booking number and knows where it was to go? In a little less of a perky voice, she said "Cairo" to which I replied "Then you know why I called". She then informed me in a negative perky little voice that I have a bad attitude and she might hang up on me. To that I replied "Given how classy this company is, I would expect nothing less" and then.... CLICK!!!! She hung up on me! I never raised my voice, never cursed, and said nothing personal....She did make my point however!!!

I think They have blocked my number because I can not get through except that perky little voice telling me after about a 8 minute wait they would call me back within 24 hours! Don't know how They even get a 3 star rating, from what I've seen, most would give VANTAGE DELUXE WORLD TRAVEL a zero rating. There are no words in the English language that can adequately describe this organization. They are despicable low lifes. There are no curse words vile enough!

I probably lost my money but it is on me. I let a trip of life time cloud my judgement and good sense. I should have never trusted them and as a person of reasonable honesty I actually gave it little thought. Sadly, I have lost a little innocence and this will stay with me a long time. Bottom line I was a fool.... but I have learned and I can live with myself. Not sure how anyone at Vantage can say that....Just thought...They should change their name to ADVANTAGE TRAVEL as that is what they will do...take Advantage of you....DON'T LET THEM!!!!

Recently Vantage has been cancelling trips with almost no notice whatsoever. We have friends who were in the airport ready to leave for a Vantage cruise, only to receive a phone call that the cruise had been cancelled. You can read about it in the Palm Beach, FL newspaper. Other Vantage unfortunates have started a Facebook page (search for "Vantage Complaints") to record their trip cancellations and postponements and the ridiculous and demeaning behavior of Vantage's so-called "customer service," if you can reach them at all by phone or email.

Vantage has had our money since October 2019 and has done nothing but postpone our trip further and further into the future. We opted to choose a different cruise when Vantage postponed our trip to a date where we had another cruise already booked with a different operator. Now the ship which was supposed to carry us on that delayed trip is sailing with its sister ship to Caen, France, where we believe the owners (not Vantage) will impound the ships, possibly because Vantage is not making its payments on time for use of those vessels. It is quite likely that no one with a future tour or cruise with Vantage will ever get to travel, as every day sees more cancellations without good reasons.

I sent Vantage an email asking why this trip was canceled and I wanted a full refund for this canceled trip. On 5/16 at 4:38, I received a return phone call from Vantage indicating there was a vendor issue and I would be receiving a full refund for this trip. I also requested a follow up email to our phone conversation. I am now in the process of trying to get a refund and have just become aware of all the nightmare stories that are all similar to mine. Please, please DO NOT book a trip with Vantage Deluxe World Travel. It will only cause you nightmares, heartache and hassles. I would have given them 0 stars if possible.

Mind you, this is all automated processing with a push of button software. That they're charging monthly/weekly fees for. You still have to go in to a hard to navigate app and process everything yourself. And then of course look at all the reports and double check them. Because they do the percents wrong with paying the taxes. The first quarter, Paychex didn't even pay anything to state. Then when I received letter from secretary's office, after inquiring about my quarterly filing. Paychex finally started doing the state payments. I was supposed to be paying 2.7% to the state, but Paychex was only taking out 1.8%.

So now I owe the state, plus penalty. Every week I had to make a call to Paychex for some kind of mistake. And it would take multiple calls through a few weeks time to correct their mistakes. I was owed $181 credit from Paychex. But they kept processing invoice payments out my account for 5 weeks until finally I went to another payroll company. I would have to call Paychex after every payroll process letting them know, hey you charged me again this week, when I'm supposed to have a credit. They stated they see a credit is due, but hasn't been approved yet. It takes more than a month for approval to correct your mistake?

Every time you call, you get someone with bad attitude. Because they're so inundated with others who've they made mistakes with. Nobody ever accepts any responsibility. And they always say same thing: "I don't know why they did that." Like they're talking about another company. It's Your company and Your problem. So how are you going to fix? I called to cancel services. They hung up and didn't even put my cancel request through. I called again and they have no answer to the over $150 I am owed. Stating they don't know if I'll get refunded, since I'm no longer using Paychex. They can't credit any invoices. How about just putting the money back in the account you so easily withdrew from?

They also have not returned the tax money they took out of check payments since start of new quarter. And they haven't sent that money to the Feds. I don't know how this company is in existence without any fraud charges. They borderline do business that should have people jailed. I have to call Attorney General's office Monday to get my money back. And next I'm filing report with Better Business Bureau. And seeing if there's some kind of arbitration court.

Every time I contact Vantage, it is "We are so busy with so many claims and working as hard as we can". Last person told me there were hundreds and hundreds of claims ahead of ours. This is TOTALLY irresponsible. They still send me glossy brochures every day along with emails for vacations which really set me off. Spend some of the advertising money on processing refunds!!! We had been very pleased with past 6-7 trips but in the past few years, the company has really gone down the tubes. I will never travel with them nor recommend them to anyone.

Although their Tour Participation Agreement states that if they cancel a cruise a full refund of all funds paid to them would be promptly made, they have never offered a full refund but always tried to retain the funds and substitute another cruise. Contacting Vantage is time consuming and rarely productive. Wait times for their customer service numbers can be literally hours. Customers are expected to frequent their customer website to stay up to date on the status of their trips rather than receive proactive communications of changes from Vantage. Their customer website has frequent technical glitches, Chat has limited functions and after waiting to Chat you are directed to call Customer 888 number and wait endlessly. All communications with Vantage staff start from the premise that they are in the right and you are the problem.

We just returned from a very unsatisfactory cruise. The ship we were on, "The Ocean Explorer", is a small expedition ship with only 160 passengers, capacity, we were able to get to know a number of fellow passengers. There were 120 really pissed off folks. They were all told a number of stories why we were unable to end the cruise in Manaus. The stories ranged from: terrorist risks, bad covid outbreak, abductions, collapsed dock. All obviously lies! Many of the folks were previous Vantage customers who had good experiences with Vantage and could not understand what happened to the company. It appears they are engaged in a "Ponzi scheme", take orders and cash for next year's cruises to pay for this years expenses. If you challenge them for a refund on unfulfilled extensions they quote the terms of the contract, which says, "they are not responsible for any loss due to itinerary changes". This company is preying on seniors.

Vantage never notified me and the rude man lied to me. Vantage refused to give me a refund. Vantage said that the trip had been delayed only, for over a year, and they could do that because that was a “reasonable modification” of the trip. My health declined during the next year, and I realized that I would not be able to fully participate in the trip activities. I then asked for a partial refund to lower my cost to the deeply discounted price new passengers were paying. That would make up, in part, for my new health limitations. They refused. I finally had to cancel the trip for health reasons. I was approved for a full cash refund almost 5 months ago. They’ve had my money for two years!! THEY HAVEN’T PAID A PENNY TO ME.!!! They can’t even give me an estimate of when I can expect the money. I just hope I get it before they file bankruptcy!!