Vacations Made Easy VacationsMadeEasy.com Booked us the wrong type of hotel room, then would give us a refund. Internet, Internet

My husband and I contacted Vacations Made Easy for help finding a whirlpool suite for a romantic weekend getaway.  We booked the room with Ashley over the phone via the number posted on their website.  She said she would charge a $7 convenience fee for an order over the phone, instead of online.  We stated we would just hang up and order through the website to avoid the fee, at which time she offered to waive the convenience fee.  

She booked the room for us, and we were excited about our weekend plans.  We decided to call the hotel directly to find out the check in time.  The person who worked the front desk at the hotel informed us that they did not even have ANY whirlpool suites in their entire hotel.  We immediately called Vacations Made Easy to cancel the reservation.  We were told there were no refunds, and that all we could have was a voucher for a future purchase.  We did not want a voucher, as it was obvious they do not know what they are doing over there, and didn't need the hassle.  

We were told to call back to talk to a supervisor (Tori), because IF we did get a refund, she was the only one able to authorize that.  The remainder of our weekend was spent leaving message after message for Tori, who never once returned our phone calls.  

Concerned, I decided to contact the hotel directly to cancel our reservation, as I did not want to be charged for not showing up.  The person at the hotel (Comfort Inns) was VERY nice and understanding of our situation.  She cancelled our reservation and gave me a confirmation number stating that the credit card (submitted by Vacations Made Easy) would not be charged anything, due to the misunderstanding.  She suggested we contact Vacations Made Easy and explain this to them, and perhaps they would be more willing to give us a refund.  

Multiple phone calls to Vacations Made Easy later, with no returned call, we decided to stop calling and just dispute the charge with our credit card company.  In fact, at one point, when we called them, the phone would ring once and automatically disconnect.  We were no longer able to get through using that phone, and had to start calling with a different phone, just to get a representative who would tell us that Tori was "on another call" or "not in", and we should leave a message.  

Finally, two days AFTER our reservation date had passed, Tori called us back.  (We had not had a chance to contact our credit card company yet, so we heard her out.)  She stated that since we did not show up for our reservation, and they had "no record" of any attempt by us to cancel in advance, we would not be given a refund.  (Which is funny to me, because if you had no record that we tried to cancel, then how did you know to return our call??  Our multiple messages stated our intent to cancel and please return our call so that we could do so.)  

In any event, my husband discussed the fact that their card was not charged, and the reservation was cancelled in advance, and would they please issue us a refund.  Tori became very rude and stated that there were NO refunds and that we would only be eligible for a voucher - EVEN THOUGH they had provided us with an inadequate room, which was NOT what we had asked for.  At this point, my husband told her that we would be disputing the charge with our credit card company, due to fraud and improper services rendered.  Tori stated "do whatever you think you have to do."   (I encourage anyone to do this, as well, because the credit card company actually charges the vendor a $25 minimum "charge back" fee if they find the customer is valid in their complaint, but the vendor neglected to issue a refund.)

We filed a formal complaint/dispute with our credit card company and were issued a full refund about a month or so later.  We had to be patient, but we did get our money back (thank God) and will never be doing business with this shabby company again.  I have also made sure to post on my Facebook as well as here and anywhere else that will allow public complaints about the way this company does business and the rude way that we were treated.  

I hope I helped anyone who may have been considering doing business with this company.... DO NOT DO IT!!!