Complaint Review: Great Value Vacations DH Enterprises & Associates

Great Value Vacations (GVV) took $4,000 dollars from us.  We did not get to take the trip(s), they refused refund of all monies (less insurance), and disregarded our concerns about severely diminished tourism expectations because the destination Country – Greece  –  was significantly diminishing or restricting venues to the unvaccinated.

·     This trip was our 2nd attempt since the original 2019 booking and purchase of a 14-day trip to Scotland/Ireland which was impacted by COVID and I was forced to cancel the trip after it was declared a pandemic in America two days prior to actually leaving on March 14, 2020.  They claimed I canceled the trip before the pandemic was declared and took my insurance monies.

·     This 2nd, significantly shorter 6-day trip to Greece - to replace the 1st trip which GVV stated was “no longer offered” or, they demanded more money per person to book a single trip to either Scotland or Ireland - is also severely impacted by this continuing pandemic.  Neither of us are vaccinated and will not be. 

Impacts:

·  One of the airlines we were to use went belly up. 

·  A large portion of Greece is not open to unvaccinated.  We would not be allowed into restaurants thereby forcing us to sit outside the entire time to eat all of our meals regardless of time of day, weather conditions or public safety concerns for two, single females alone in a foreign country. 

·  Many tourist and shopping venues are closed to unvaccinated or have such a variety of covid coverage requirements and testing’s which we cannot, first off – spend the money on painful testing continuously - or second - anxiously spend each day wondering if we can meet various testing requirements for each and every establishment we may want to visit.

·  Due to the significant loss of tourist events and features including spending the night in a castle that were included in the original Scotland/Ireland trip, the only single “tour” event offered in this 2nd Greece package caused me to spend many many days and hours trying to search and get info on other various tourist attractions with little solid, clear, helpful, and accurate info that can be considered reliable other than “no entry” or “restricted”.

·  This trip would never be the one-shot, life-long memory we excitedly wished, planned, and saved money for while being forced to shift around due to the pandemic.  If we are so restricted and/or forced to remain outside, unable to freely shop, or get into other tourism venues simply because we are unvaccinated then, as such, we have no hope of assurance in meeting all of the different requirements including paying for and being forced to take up to 3 types of testing requirements and procedures in order to meet every body’s demand’s in all countries and venues that would result in a care-free, exciting and happy vacation.  We, as the unvaccinated, face significant uphill battles every which way we turn.

·  Please note, the amount shown below does not include the airline ticket and fee’s, 8 days of airline parking fee’s, an 8-hour vehicle trip in cost for gas, perhaps a quick McDonald’s drive-through breakfast purchase on departure day that I would have to pay in order to fly across the country to California in order to meet the departure schedule to Greece.  Nor does it include the monies we saved and set aside just to splurge and freely spend shopping, sightseeing, or for the fun of  eating, or other entertainment while on vacation.

All of above, with the exception of the shopping funds, would be very detrimental to us on this $3,615.03 short trip thereby adding to the total ruin of the entire vacation.  My sister exists on a less than average income level and I live on a fixed, retirement income.  So, both of these trips were our one-time-shot during our lifetimes.

We are out of options with GVV to “postpone” and get travel credit for yet a 3rd trip because the insurance is whittling away the original bucket of funds or, trip packages and pricing have risen significantly to the point that even if we gather the monies to take a 3rd trip, it would still be impacted by this pandemic and - once again - for the 3rd time find ourselves unable to fit into or meet all the demands and requirements.  And, for what it’s worth if anything, the insurance policy on this Greece trip which I never verbally told them I wanted to purchase and was therefore astonished and upset when it appeared on the trip documentation and which they then used against us, is not the policy I actually purchased for the Scotland/Ireland trip.  I find their stated reasons for refusal to refund my money less the insurance costs unrealistic, ridiculous and unreasonable for ANY ordinary persons.  This policy was 100% worthless to me, but certainly benefited them 100%.

· There was still a small balance of monies (<$200.00) with GVV from the first trip that I am unable to use unless I want to add more thousands of dollars to it and book yet another trip, be constrained again by our unvaccinated choices, so, I have already swallowed that loss.

GVV informed me to first cancel this trip with them which was done on 02/08/2022 at 4:22 pm and then file a claim with the insurance –  in the hopes that it will be honored and approved for refund.  Full details of the cancellation are shown in Email to Air Ops document also attached.

· On 02/22/22 at 1:58 pm I received a telephone call from a man who stated he was with "Great Values insurance" and who was adamant that "YOU (meaning me) have to tell us you are cancelling!"  He repeated this exact same statement two times, getting louder and more abusive in tone each time.  I then verbally - again - confirmed that we were cancelling the trip which was fully explained in the cancellation document I filed with Trip Mate, Inc. on February 10, 2022.

After close to 2.5 years, we were exhausted from the stress and finally admitted defeat in continuing to try to see if we "fit" into this vaccinated-crazed world in our unvaccinated conditions.  We are deeply saddened, weary and crushed by trying to slot ourselves into boxes we simply don’t fit into and now I have to suffer the complete loss of $4,000 it took me two years to save not including the fun spending monies saved for and anticipated.

My request for a full refund from the original $4,000 trip which was whittled down by the insurance monies leaving a balance of $3,615,03 was denied in an email letter dated March 9, 2022 by TripMate Claims Administrator for reasons stated in their denial letter and shown below:

·      We were not being hijacked, quarantined or required to serve on jury duty.

·      Our primary place of residence, destination or employment was not under fire, flood, burglary, other “natural disaster”, under strike, or we have lost or laid off from employment.  COMMENT:  Is not COVID being hailed as a natural, health impacting if not deadly natural disaster?

·      We were not involved in a traffic accident on the way to the airport; the airlines were not under any mechanical breakdowns causing cessation of services.

·      We are not military being called to emergency duty for national disaster other than war.

In the end, GVV stole all of these funds from me and titled them as “penalties assessed due to your trip cancellation”, caused me great distress and loss.  They ignored our concerns on the request for refund claims of the diminished tourism venues we as unvaccinated would be subjected to in Greece.

 IN CONCLUSION GVV does not consider the pandemic as significant for cancellation, does not consider our safety sitting outside after dark in an unknown country significant, nor do they care that the potentially dangerous, constant but varied COVID testing methods in the venues they sold to us significant, or that our hugely reduced experiences while on vacation are so severely constrained by the pandemic to the point as to eliminate a large portion of enjoyment during the trip.

They simply manipulated us so that they could utilize their penalties assessed tactics and keep the full $4,000 plus whatever interest they have collected on those funds over the last 2.5 years they have had the money.

I have filed a claim with the BBB respectively seeking their assistance to investigate this thoroughly and to not just base findings on what GVV states as their policies.  The fact that they assessed penalties against me for the full original $4,000 while we still have nothing should in itself, be a red flag that something is not right with this company and their insurance mates – especially considering the severely shortened, constrained and limited “vacation” we would have been subjected to and to which they disregarded.