Chris E.
Mar 18, 2016
Unless you enjoy agony and suffering, steer clear of this agency... a lot like sliding down a razorblade slide into a pool of rubbing alcohol.Stationed overseas and planning a honeymoon is hard enough, but my fiancé came across a travel agency she thought might be a good direction to take. After numerous emails from Advantage Travel Agency, which did not include my fiancé in the U.S., even though I requested it several times, as well as horrible grammar/sentence structure - which darn near required a Little Orphan Annie decoder ring, I started to give up on Sandi Flickinger's ability to assist. Please note, Sandi was not only the event coordinator, but also the owner of the business.Nevertheless, I continued to try to work with Sandi as I had already started lining up dates, invested many late nights (I am 5 hours ahead in time zones) trying to coordinate the ultimate getaway. Understand I was even able to find the resort via online and presented the question many times of why her price was $300-$400 more than what they offered - she never answered and I should have known then to run.Then came the shady part that really made me nervous and concerned if this was a scam or much more. After many back and forth emails, we were able to line up Honeymoon getaway... mind you this took time because I had to catch my Fiancé up on what transpired since Sandi was still neglecting to include her on our email correspondence. Additionally, though Sandi was ready to take my credit card info, it still took a lot of work to get the final price and itinerary. So, I phoned her, provided both names, addresses (Explained that my address is a U.S. military overseas address), and credit card data, only to then be told there was an issue and Sandi was unable to use my credit card. I had to revalidate my address twice, since she didn't understand how to use a military address, even though I explained it twice, the first while we were talking on the phone. Then she emailed me (and only me) and told me that she was still unable to use my credit card and would put the down payment on her company card. At that point, I became suspicious/weary of her motives. I asked twice what the issue was and she never responded - she went ahead and booked the getaway, utilizing her card, without authorization from me and asked me to send her a check in the amount she put on her company card. This is where is got bad.Because of the unsettling concerns I had about this overall situation, I decided to write and let her know I was uncomfortable with the lack of customer service she provided us. Throughout the message, I restated the areas that she lacked on as I had in the past, and concluded that since she was unwilling to respond with why supposedly my credit card would not work and she felt she had to use her company card, only to be reimbursed by check from me, that I required immediate resolution or our deal would be terminated. She amazingly, finally, responded to both my fiancé and I, stating that if emails are not being received that it was our fault, even though she simply was not including my fiancé. She also stated that she strived to do a good job, yet still the email format was like a 4th grader wrote it in crayon like a phone text message, i.e. punctuation, grammar, etc, and stated that there was some sort of issue with my credit card. Mind you, my credit card has never had an issue online or overseas no matter my duty station/location. Lastly, she stated that if we wanted to cancel, to let her know.So, I talked to my fiancé and we decided to do just that. When I phoned Sandi, her husband answered and was very defensive and states that I have been demanding, rude, and I am expected to pay the insurance cost... even though I never authorized the payment to be made on Sandi's card. What's more, he decided to tell me I better stick with the military as this will protect me, "If you want to stay safe, you better stay in the military". Now, I am not sure if that was a threat or not, but the simple fact of bringing emotions into a professional situation, telling me I was out of line when I am the one preparing to spend $4000 I think is a little off.In the end, I hope you take my tragic, epic mess into consideration as I would not recommend Advantage Travel Agency to my worst enemy. In fact, as I have reviewed other online comments, I see that I am not the only one who has been so unfortunate. Good luck out there and stay clear of Advantage Travel Agency, McPherson, Kansas... as Sandi's husband stated, it'll be safer that way.
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Jill Y.
Sep 19, 2013
Worst Travel Agency Ever! I went to a bridal show and they reeled me in..bad mistake. I'm not originally from Kansas, so I didn't know who to talk to about arranging our honeymoon. I have done a little bit of travel, so I knew what type of service to expect. First, every email she wrote to me was incorrectly typed and very improper. I had to finally tell her to type the body of her email in the Body, not the subject line! Furthermore, I feel that if you are working in the business field; never the less, the owner of a shop you should always be professional! Nope, not with her. Every time she typed 'you' it was 'u'. That just erks me. I had to do all the planning, collecting information and looking for the best deals. She knew we were going on our honeymoon and still didn't offer the best deals for us. So, after all this fuss and no help from her, all I asked was that our seats be together on our plane ride there and back-Nope not even that! Thanks Advantage Travel Agency..for nothing. I recommend a different place or simply go through the coordinating agency; in our case it was Sandals. Finally, after it was all said and done I half expected her to say "ok, you're all set, have a great honeymoon..or something! At least call me by my first name! We just did business together! My rant is done. I recommend a different travel agent.
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