Apple Vacations
Reviews and Complaints
SECOND CLASS ROOM IN MAUI
- No beach--looked at chain link fence 8 days
- Refunding procedure
- No solution provided
Preferred solution: Full refund
Upset and disappointed
My wife and I booked a trip to Mexico with a travel agent through Apple Vacations. We found out 3 days before we were suppose to leave that she was pregnant.
We were terrified of Zika and didn’t want to take a chance. We didn’t get the insurance because we knew it was a for sure thing. We were told to cancel ( per our travel agent) because it would be best. We canceled Our travel agent emailed customer care and they replied stating that they would try to help get a refund from the airline and resort and asked to send a doctors note which we did.
We haven’t heard anything yet. That was a lot of money for us. I’m willing to change the dates or get something. Please Help!
We also do not understand why we can’t talk to Apple Vacations about our trip.
We paid for it and our names are on the tickets. Just so unfair!
STAY AWAY FROM APPLE VACATIONS!!!!
Apple rep.
We visited the Occidental Nuevo Vallarta Resort from 11/14/17 to 11/21/17 and had Apple Vacations handle our RT from the airport to the hotel. That's simple enough and worked well except when we departed from the hotel an Apple rep.
presented me with a survey that I declined to fill out. He became verbally abusive and embarrassed us in front of the hotel staff and the taxi driver.
I did not take his name but it was on 11/21/17 at 9:50 am at the hotel entrance (steps). An upsetting experience and rather unusual for a company that promises professionalism and courtesy towards their customers.
Cancellation
I went to Punta Cana with my wife and 3 years old daughter, everything was great until we received a phone call on September 5, 2017 at 11:30 pm regarding flight cancellation. Our flight was on September 6, 2017 at 1:35 PM but we got stuck in Punta Cana and we ended up paying 3 nights of hotel and return flight.
My 3 days almost cost me as much as my original trip for 7 days. A. We ended up staying at the hotel 3 extra days during heavy rain/wind, literally we were stuck in our room or the hotel room.
Apple was able to get us $10 discount per person. We also paid more than $1300 for our return flights.
Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution
Deposits not given back
Lack of customrr service
Apple Vacations - RIU Bambu - Terrible Vacation
April 28, 2016
Apple Vacations
Customer Resolution Department
Dear Apple Vacation:
On March 16, 2016 myself along with Tammy McDaniel booked a vacation with your company. When calling your reservation department the customer service agent convinced us to book a 5 apple package. She stated We were guaranteed a 5 apple ( the same as a 5 star) resort. We were very hesitant but was assured time and time again that we would receive a 5 star accommodation or better. We are both frequent travelers and have traveled with other tour operation companies as well as thru travel agents and trips we have booked on our own.
I have to say that by far this was the worst vacation we have ever been on. We were given the name of the resort we would be staying at when we arrived at the Cincinnati Airport on April 16, 2016. The resort was the RIU Bambu – Dominican Republic, Punta Cana.
Upon arriving into the Dominican Republic and stepping off the plane, one couple was sent one direction and the other another thru separate custom agents – which is normal. After we were finished and thru customs Lynda and Kelly Richardson were charged $10.00 ($5.00 each) by the customs agent they went thru for some form the agent had. This was a scam the agent was performing upon arriving at the counter where the apple representatives were we explained to them what had just happened and they just shrugged it off and said "he should not have done that" and offered to do nothing in concern with getting the money back or making a report.
We took the transportation to the resort and upon arriving at the resort was told we could not check in until 3 pm. We waited and once it was time to check in we were given our room keys. Upon arriving at the room it was as we had requested with a King size bed. Then we discovered that the mattresses had mold covering them and evidence of bed bugs(Please see attached pictures). We immediately contacted the front desk and informed them of the situation and we also contacted Apple. The front desk sent a worker up to look at the room and then the worker used the phone and called the front desk back. We then spoke with the front desk again and they said :
Them: "You have problem with your room?"
Us: "Yes the mattress is covered in mold and bed bug evidence"
Them: " Oh ok well we move you to room tomorrow"
Us: "No we are not staying in these rooms for 20 minutes longer let alone over night"
Them: "Ok we move you to another room"
Us: " One that does not have mold or bed bugs"
Them: "Yes to a newer room"
We were then moved to another set of rooms which had 2 beds pushed together instead of a king size bed and were told we would not get a king size bed.
The rooms refrigerators were not restocked – as a matter of fact there was a ½ empty mountain dew bottle in one of the refrigerators indicating the rooms had not been properly cleaned/serviced.
The rooms which they moved us to had problems with the AC. (1) room did not cool at all and the other was barely working. We reported this to the front desk several times along with the apple representative’s (Claudia and Fransico). Maintenance came twice and said they fixed the issue and they did not – the AC still did not work and the workers left empty beer cans in the opening of the ceiling where the ac equipment is.
The Hot water took over 20 minutes to get hot in each room and in room 3212 on 3 out of the 6 days there was no water at all when the shower was turned to hot – nothing came out. The toilet continued to run as well. These items were also reported – nothing was done or repaired. The Television only worked in (1) room the other room had constant static and you could not watch it or see anything on it.
On Sunday while swimming in the ocean the room keys were in the pocket of Mr. Richardson and came out in the ocean. We immediately went to the front desk and notified them as well as the apple representative (Claudia) of this. We acknowledged that this was our mistake and said we would pay for it but we wanted the locks changed in the event the keys would wash up on the beach. We were advised that there would be a $100.00 charge which we agreed to pay. We tried to pay with our credit card and was advised it would have to be paid in cash so someone had to escort us back to the room to get cash. After paying the fee we sat in the lobby for the next 7 hours and waited for the locks to be changed we were told repeatedly that it would be 20-30 more minutes and given many different excuses from "they had to go to the hardware store and buy new locks" to "they had to call someone in to change the locks" and several more excuses. Finally we were demanding that something be done now or they move us and they finally got the locks changed – 7 hours later.
We decided after talking with Fransico to book some excursions. We thought this might give us a break away from this disaster of a resort we were staying at. This only led to more dysfunction. Out of the 3 excursions and $1000.00 spent only 1 excursion turned out to be worthy. The first excursion was a Polaris/lagoon excursion. The tour guide was assigned to 3 couples (All apple vacation customers) and he was not knowledgeable of the Polaris vehicles at all. He even advised us to put our vehicles in 4 wheel drive but was instructing us to do it wrong. His vehicle could not make it up the hill and we waited 10 minutes for him to get up the hill before he finally told is to go around him and to wait for him on top of the hill. We waited for him for another 10 minutes on the top of the hill until 2 of the apple vacationers had do go down the hill and help the guide get his vehicle up the hill and advise him that he did not have it in 4 wheel drive (He is supposed to be the guide???) We then arrived at the spot where we were going to park the vehicles while we walked to the lagoon and was advised at that point there was nowhere to change into our swimsuits – therefore 2 of us did not even get the opportunity to swim in the lagoon we had to watch the others. The time that was supposed to be spent at the lagoon was not given to us – it was a lot shorter. We requested to use the restroom and was told there was no restroom and would have to wait 45 minutes till we were back at the starting point. We saw a restroom and was advised we could not use it due to the fact that it belonged to the Segway Tour – excursion. We told the tour guide we were using the restroom and we did.
All of the tours were late arriving back to the resort and caused us to miss dinner reservations as well as other events that were scheduled. We thought that by booking these excursions thru Apple that things would have been handled more efficiently and more information would have been provided. It was not.
There was a constant foul smell on the property of sewage, the towels supplied in the rooms also smelled.
We had no room service and not one time was there ever a waitress or server at the pool or beach bringing around drinks. Anytime you wanted a drink you had to make the hike from the pool or the beach back to the bar and by the time you arrived back at your spot the drink was gone.
On the third night there we were looking for someplace to get something to eat as the buffets had not opened yet. We asked the front desk and they advised is to go to the sports bar that they had food in there available for us. We arrived at the sports bar to find 2 male workers behind the bar doing shots of liquor. Upon asking them about the food they laughed and said "There’s no food here" We then told them the front desk told us to come there for food and they said "Oh no, no food here!! And then one male worker began to hump the other male worker and laughed about it!! We immediately left the bar and did not go back in there for the duration of the stay.
This resort may have been a 5 star resort when it was first built 20 some years ago but it is far from a 5 star resort today. At most it is a 3 star resort and just short of a glorified holiday inn.
We have stayed in many resorts in many different regions from the Caribbean to Alaska and have been on many vacations from all-inclusive to cruises and we have never experienced such a terrible vacation.
Upon arriving back in the states we contacted Apple Customer service to let them know of the terrible experience we had. We first spoke to Kelly who told us we would have to put everything in writing and there was nothing she could do for us. We asked if she could note the account with the events that happened and that we would be following up with a letter. She said yes and as we got a 1/4th of a way down the list of items that occurred she stated she could no longer list anything else as she ran out of room to write. I informed her that I wished we didn’t have any more items to tell her about but unfortunately that was not the case. She then transferred us to a supervisor "Patricia" who stated that the vacation was an "economical priced vacation" I’m not sure how Apple Employees are trained but at my company the managers and all employees are trained to provide excellent customer service at all times to all clients whether they invest $1,000.00 or $10,000.00 with our company a customer is a customer and a happy customer will return and be a client who will return again and again if they are treated correctly. We have over the course of time spent far less as well as far more than what we spent on this vacation and none the less have never been as dissatisfied with a vacation as we are with this one. And for your employee to imply that this was an "economical vacation" was insulting within itself. Yes the vacation was $2,000.00 a piece however it was also a week away from work for a much needed relaxing vacation which was not delivered.
I asked Patricia what the process was once this letter was submitted. She stated they would contact the resort and get their feedback on these items and speak with them about compensation. I asked her what about Apple vacation? Does apple take any accountability or responsibility for their actions? After all Apple was the one who guaranteed that we would be placed at a 5 star resort and was the one who placed us at this place – and told that the 5 star resorts were luxurious! Patricia asked if we had requested from the apple representative’s to change our resort. When we were down in the lobby to speak to Claudia about one of the many issues we were having she was first speaking to another apple customer who was requesting to be moved to another resort and Claudia stated that in the many years she had worked for apple that they did not move customers to other resorts.
We looked this resort up once We arrived back in the states and was even more angry as most sites do not list this resort as a 5 star. Most rate it as a 3.5 star or below. This makes me question if Apple even takes the time to check these resorts out – not as apple employees but as a regular customer would be treated?? If you did you would clearly see this is not a 5 star resort and lacks customer service along with many other items.
We are sending this letter along with the pictures and request that Apple Vacations contact us regarding the above issues. We look forward to speaking with your company. We have forwarded a copy of this letter along with the photos to the Better Business Bureau.
Sincerely,
Lynda Richardson
Tammy McDaniel
Enclosures
- This experience
Preferred solution: Full refund
DON'T HAVE YOUR VACATION RUINED BY APPLE VACATIONS
Apple Vacation & Royal Lahaina Resort Maui
Stay away from Apple Vacations & Royal Lahaina Resort in Maui. Once they have your money customer service ends.
We paid through Apple & Hotel a promotion that offered breakfast to be included and is in the paperwork only for this not to be honored. The resort has overbooked on our last day and will not extend our room even though we are willing to pay. So, instead of enjoying our last day we are getting to sit in a hot non air conditioned lobby for the next 6 and a half hours sweating until our 7pm pickup to airport and 8 hour flight. They have offered no assistance, nor do they care at this point.
They made us check out at noon so they consider us an inconvenience. We have spent a large sum of money for this trip now to be treated as vagrants.
Stay away from both companies. Customer service means nothing.
First off our apple representative carol
30th bday from ***
As of two weeks ago we received an email that our claim was submitted to Beach Punta Cana insurance and they are awaiting a solution. The email also said that they will contact us one week later to give us an answer.
It is two weeks later and they stayed quiet, I reached out twice to them asking if insurance made any decisions and I didn't hear back from anyone.
I tried to call Beach Punta Cana directly to speak with someone from their attorney office but nobody wanted to connect me. I only got to talk to someone from their call center and I was dismissed.
We received a letter and emails from Apple Vacation and Dreams Palm Beach refusing to give us a refund. Apple Vacation based its decision on false opinion of Dreams Palm Beach staff manager who said that they follow "the highest hygiene protocols onsite".
It is most likely a lie since when we walked in to the first room, pillows still had a sweaty yellow spots on them from the previous guests. That would never be allowed in the US based hotel. Probably the entire crew would be fired.
We are very upset and unsettled about this situation. We demand our many back.
- No refund for wasted time and money
- No solution provided
- Service
Preferred solution: Full refund
Cancel flights left us stranded no body to talk to
still waiting for a reply gave them all information needed they offered me $400.00 in travel vouchers but I am still out of pocket $1900.00 for air line tickets home.
- Place was very nice
- Service after sale
Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution
Poopa Cana*****VACATION NIGHTMARE******
I just wanted to give you a review of our trip. The hotel sucked!!!
Stocked minibar was ***! There was no alcohol in our rooms and no matter how many times we asked, they would never bring it. Room service, Internet and anything else you might want were extra. The people who worked in the hotel were extremely rude and most of them didn't even speak English.
For vodka, the only brands they had that weren't their house were Stoli and Absolut and I am pretty sure they were just pouring their house brand into those bottles. All of their liquor was really weird. It was almost like it was a type of liquer and not the actual thing. I don't know how to explain it but it just wasn't the real thing.
The people that worked at the hotel treated us like Absolut pieces of garbage. It didn't matter to them that we spent our money to be there and that they are supposed to be in the hospitality business because hospitable they were NOT!!! I even asked to speak to a manager several times and was just told by the employees that they would do what I wanted for me, avoiding getting the manager. Finally I would not take no for an answer and was finally supposedly given to the manager on the phone, not that that mattered because he was confrontational and no more helpful then his employees.
He actually told me that he would need to speak with our trip representative and he would get back to me. He never did get back to me. We were all sick the entire time. Some days not even able to get out of our hotel rooms while others we only had to spend half the day in the room.
The food was terrible. We were told of we left the hotel and it was not somewhere that they took us, not to use our cards because so many people had skimmers and it was very dangerous. We were also told that the beach at our resort was not private and that people had been getting robbed a lot while they were in the water. All around a really bad trip.
I have never experienced anything like it. One of our rooms had two double beds when we requested a king, the phone in the room didn't work and neither did the safe. We asked to switch that room and were told we had to wait til the next day at 3pm to do so. Another of our rooms, the safe stopped working and so did the air conditioning.
We had to wait in the room until the finally came up and fixed it. We were on the fourth floor and had to walk up and down the stairs more than 7 times because the elevators just weren't working at all. Crazy!!! Now we are home and all of us were sick for at least four days but one of us just got admitted into The hospital yesterday.
His urine was black and his blood pressure was up to almost 300. Within less than an hour of him being in there, his kidneys started failing and he was rushed into ICU. They were able to stabilize him. He was diagnosed with Hus.
The doctors said it was definitely something he contracted from the food at that hotel. He will be kept in the hospital for at least the next three days. So insane. I am so happy he went to the hospital.
He didn't have any other symptoms other than the color of his urine and feeling weird because his blood pressure was so high. I just wanted to let you know all of this because i noticed that our vacation was booked with Apple vacations and I thought this would never happen with booking a trip with them. I also thought maybe I should contact them and let them know. And last but not least, I wanted to let you know to NEVER EVERE EVER let any of your clients book a vacation at this resort!!
It was terrible and had my friend not gone to the hospital when he did it is very likely that he would have died.
I just wanted you to know this to prevent others from going there. My friends and I will NEVER return to Punta Cana and it's a shame because I know so many people who have been and loved it, but this "resort" (if you can even call it that), ruined it for us all.
Preferred solution: Full refund
Apple Vacations - Vacation Package Review from Newark, New Jersey
My birthday vacation turned out to be a birthday nightmare that was sold to me and my sister's by Apple vacation travel we were deceived by the booking agent that represents apple she said it ifa resort was a beautiful place to stay ok we took her word because she said that she stayed there once we arrived to our rooms we noticed only two beds we requested three ok we requested a room change third before never happened .there was mold in the bathroom disgusting. We also had no washcloths we had to use the cloth napkins off the dinner table the workers were rude as h-!! We ask for help from management that never happen one of our rooms was totally flooded with water and construction going on from sun up to sun down all day long long story short NEVER BOOK A DREAM VACATION WITH APPLE.
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Regarding changing locks; didn't they use plastic cards for keys and just rescan a new plastic card, or were the keys the old metal keys?
Also, why didn't you just ask for a different room, rather than wait 7 hours for the new locks?