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I purchased a vacation package to China for 7 people from UTO vacations. After giving them two deposits, they cannot deliver on the promised vacation. They are refusing to refund my money, and instead are trying to get me to change my dates. I don't want to change my dates. It is hard enough to get 7 people to coordinate a trip. They are trying to say that they are entitled to keep $299 deposit per person, but it is they who cannot deliver on the trip.
Desired outcome: I'd like my $2000 deposit back
We had booked a trip to China/Thailand for this month, but were told a while back that we had to confirm before the deadline they had given us or cancel and take a credit. We decided to take the credit and rebooked a trip to Thailand for April. We were told that we must upload our passports 180 days before departure, but the website would not allow us to do it beforehand. We had to make our final payment 180 days before departure, which we did, but when we tried to upload our passports, we were told it was too late. We have only been able to get through on the phone once and were told there was no supervisor we could talk to and that someone would get back to us in three days. That was a week and a half ago and still no response. Every other time we call we are directed to the chat room online and then hung up on after three minutes. We get the same person in the chat room each time, who tells us that we missed the deadline and so our trip may be cancelled or we will be charged more “since we did not upload our documents in time”. She says the tour department needs to look into it and will get back to us, but no response so far. We see many complaints online with the same situation, where customers are told they must pay $299/person more or forfeit all of the money they have paid. Interestingly, they already have our passport info on our invoice, but are unable to book our international flights without our passports, which we can’t upload on their website. They claim there is no problem with their website and that we should have been able to upload our passports, but there are many complaints about this that show they are preventing customers from uploading their documents so they can charge them more. There is something very wrong going on here…..
I copied some complaints from TripAdvisor as additional evidence in addition to mine and I complained to competition bureau of Canada.
https://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/frm-eng/GH%C3%89T-7TDNA5.
I also complained to TICO, which is UTO’s supervisory authority.
I urge you all to do the same. When you do, please print complaints from this list, save as PDF, and submit as evidence.
We report UTO vacation for deceptive marketing practices. Tours are advertised at a bargain
price and then they intentionally use all tactics to not provide the service but keep customer money.
Competition bureau is a law enforcement government agency. Investigate deceptive marketing practices is one of their responsibilities.
I am also a UTO scam victim. I complaint to
https://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/frm-eng/GH%C3%89T-7TDNA5.
We want to report UTO vacation for deceptive marketing practices. Tours are advertised at a bargain price and then they intentionally use all tactics to not provide the service but keep customer money.
Competition bureau is a law enforcement government agency. Investigate deceptive marketing practices is one of their responsibilities.
Please let’s all report it.
BEWARE. It looked like such a good deal. We booked in Nov 2022 for a trip in Nov 2023 with UTO vacations. Per documentation (we have copies) last payment was supposed to be May 2023. One month (April) before last payment I contacted them to get status on visas process. They claimed they had sent an email in February (that email was never received) and was told that I was dropped by the list and couldn't go to the trip (I have the chat conversations). They didn't even had the courtesy to send an follow up or send email to let us know we have been dropped.
They did the same to me. Who can organize a class action law suit?
They did the same to us! Tge sent an email requiring us to fill out a form and upload it, which we did. Months later we tried to pay our balance but were unable. When we contacted them, they said we were dropped from the list because we didn't fill out a poll in that same email. I never saw a poll but I did fill out the necessary documentation. No follow up email was sent as a reminder and no one ever contacted us to tell us we weren't even allowed to go on our trip anymore. Now they have $1600 of our money that I can't get back.
I complaint to
https://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/frm-eng/GH%C3%89T-7TDNA5
We want to report UTO vacation for deceptive marketing practices. Tours are advertised at a bargain
price and then they intentionally use all tactics to not provide the service but keep customer money.
Competition bureau is a law enforcement government agency. Investigate deceptive marketing practices is one of their responsibilities.
Please let’s all report it.
Same experience...
I can't emphasize enough how bad my experience with UTO has been. They've let me down at every step. I booked a trip with excitement, but it turned into a complete mess of broken promises, no communication, and a total disregard for customers like me.
First, they suddenly canceled my trip without telling me. I was left feeling frustrated and stuck. But then they told me they'd find me a similar trip if I took down my negative review. I agreed, but they didn't keep their word.
Instead, they stopped talking to me altogether. I had no idea what was happening with my trip or if there were any other options. When I asked for a refund, they ignored me.
I had no choice but to dispute the charges with my credit card company. Oddly enough, UTO brought back my trip, but only long enough to win the dispute. After that, they canceled my trip again, without warning.
What's even more troubling is that UTO lost its accreditation with the Canadian BBB, which means they're not trustworthy. I'm not the only one who's gone through this nightmare.
This whole ordeal has been a huge disappointment, and I wouldn't recommend UTO to anyone. They've shown they can't be trusted, and other people have had similar bad experiences. Be cautious and look for better travel options.
Complete Scam - Stay Away
Complete Scam , after two years they just continue to lie and tell me that they will rebook us, then charge more and more each time. DO NOT rebook any trip they just squeeze more money each time, and never deliver.
each time i uploaded my documents i was told i have to do it again.
then they cancelled the trip and told me i did not respond to the email in a timely manner.
From Suki
We cannot accept passport copies from other orders.
From Suki
I am afraid there is nothing I can do for you at this moment.
From Suki I have already let our supervisors learn about your comments. Is there anything else I can do for you today?
Date of experience: June 02, 2023
Would give 0 stars if I could. Booked a trip to Japan and China which they cancelled. They did not follow their own Terms and Conditions and would not rebook me at a different date or refund me. Would only give credit (and every trip was conveniently way more expensive).They are suspended by the Better Business Bureau because they violate their own terms. DO NOT BOOK WITH THEM! IT IS A SCAM!
I paid in full of a China Japan tour in 2019 and my experience is similar to yours.
I have been trying to reach someone from your company for over 2 months with 5 unanswered emails and 4 unanswered calls. I have been trying to reach you regarding the $598 credit I have with your company. I have been trying to move this to a 2024 trip with no success. I find this very unethical and have no idea how you are running a company by ignoring your customers trying to give you business. Your lack of response feels as though you have stolen my money. I have no interest in traveling with your company due to the extremely poor customer service and communication. I am requesting a full refund for this $598 credit. I would like an immediate response to this request.
We have started worrying they went bankrupt after getting no response to emails and phone calls about changing names due to my elderly mother being unable to travel.
Is it legit to require mandatory tip before service is rendered? Nothing is refundable including the tip. That seems a bit fishy.
I just noticed that today, seems totally fishy!
I noticed that today, seems totally fishy! Up front and a specific amount!
They do that on cruises now too. Don’t like it much since that gives them less reason to do a good job, but I think it’s legit
This company is a total scam.
Booked trip to China, canceled because of Covid.
Transferred deposit to a trip to Peru. Days after collecting final payment they wanted and additional $599 per person for fuel surcharge on tickets that cost a TOTAL of $430 at the time of travel.
Their rules and conditions are insane and getting your money back is out of the question.
They make their money on taking deposits and making it impossible to travel, looks to me like a PONZI scheme.
UTO Vacations are Bait and Switch at its worst! China Thailand trip. Booked in June 2022, final payment due Sept 2022 but trip not available due to travel restrictions. Only option is to cancel and lose all money paid or drop the China portion that’s not available and pay twice as much for half the trip. Worst part is they’ve been doing this to people for years! Advertising a trip they can’t deliver and knowing the customer will lose all deposits or pay more than twice as much for a lesser trip. They actually have a policy that they say doesn’t allow for refunds on pre-existing trip issues! They sell a trip they can’t deliver and then have a “policy” to protect themselves and steal your money. Check out their Better Business Bureau complaints! This has been going on for years! The trip still being advertised! Liars and Cheats!