The Beginning of a Nightmare: How I Got Taken on Spring Break
Mar 31 '00
Two years ago, I decided to go on Spring Break to Cancun, using Sun Splash Tours. I had a great time, spent very little money, and stayed in a wonderful hotel. Everything went so well that I decided to use Sun Splash for my trip to Cancun this year. That was a mistake.
On the day before our flight was to leave, Sun Splash contacted one of my friend's parents, and said that our trip was delayed two days and if we did not want to go we could cancel for a full refund (less deposit) by faxing them a cancelation notice. My friend's mother frantically called the rest of us to let us know. By the time we were informed, Sun Splash had left for the day.
Sun Splash made canceling hard. They did not leave a fax number, and said we had to cancel by noon on the day we were originally going to leave. The office did not open until 10 am, which gave us only two hours. Apparently we were not the only ones having problems, because their phone lines were jammed. I spent my entire day skipping classes trying to get ahold of Sun Splash to no avail. I did, however, reach someone's voice mail, where I left a relatively pleasant message (despite my frustration) with my phone number and a plea to call me back. No such luck.
Of the six of us who planned to go on the trip, two successfully canceled their trip before the noon deadline. Three of us, myself included, never got through to anyone to even get the fax number to cancel. The last girl did get through. She expressed her concern that she did not want to be charged for two triple rooms (which we originally paid for), when there were only four of us going. He said he would not change the price for us, and promised to give us two rooms. More on that later.
So four of us were going, even though our plane was now leaving two days later. Sun Splash informed us that Tradewinds, the airline who we were booked with, had canceled all flights for some unknown reason. We later found out from Tradewinds that Sun Splash had in fact overbooked the flight, and that a flight did take off on time. We were just the lucky ones who got bumped off the flight due to the fact that it was overbooked.
Our trip was not extended, even though it was cut two days short. We were, however, getting the money for the hotel for the nights we missed back. Thank God. We did finally get to Cancun, and we were relieved, thinking all of our problems were over. We had arrived and were promised money back. We were annoyed, but appeased, until we tried to check into our hotel.
Sun Splash over booked hotel rooms as well as flights. Our two rooms we were promised were taken from us. Instead, we were forced into one room in the basement. We had a window with bars on it, and no balcony, like we were promised our room would have. Our ceiling had mildew on it, and there was a huge puddle on the floor from the bathroom, all the way to the farthest bed. This room was not satisfactory.
When we complained to the hotel staff, we were informed that the rooms in the basement had not been used or cleaned in months because they were condemned. Apparently, Sun Splash paid them to open up the rooms to cover the fact that they had over booked the hotel. We took someone else's hotel room, and had a non-wet, non-moldy room. Unfortunately, someone else was stuck in our God-awful room.
The hotel was completely booked, and we knew we could not get our second room (even though we had paid for two triple rooms, and were promised those rooms despite the fact that people had canceled). We had one room that was to our satisfaction, so we figured we'd save our arguments until we came back to the States. We decided to get out of the hotel and have a good time.
In our search for a good time, we signed up for one of the package deals through Sun Splash. We signed up for the Booze Cruise, the Foam Party and the Dos Equis Pub Crawl at a reduced price. The Booze Cruise and Foam Party went without a hitch, but when we went to the Pub Crawl, no one had heard of it. We fought and did get our money back for that while we were still in Cancun. If we had not made a stink, we would have been taken for that money also.
Sun Splash also sold $99 tickets that supposedly got people into clubs for free, and got them free alcohol. They discontinued this the week we went, because the people who bought these passes were told by the clubs that they were phoney. Sun Splash also had a $30 fuel charge for the flights, which they waived for us. The people who went the week before us had to pay cash for this fuel charge and were not given receipts. Because they did not accept checks or credit cards, there was no paper trail. We talked to Tradewinds Airlines who said they never charged Sun Splash a fuel surcharge. This was another scam set up by Sun Splash.
When we returned to the States, we were excited to see a large envelope from Sun Splash. We figured out that Sun Splash owed us each $120/per night lost, so that would equal $240. Instead, our checks are for only $40 a piece. Some refund for the nights we lost at the hotel. We got refunded the price of a quadruple room (which is what they put us in) despite the fact that we had all paid extra to have triple rooms. They also only paid us for one night missed, since we did spend two hours in the hotel before check in on the second night. For two hours we got charged $120. If we had known that, we would have never checked in. They told us they were paying for two nights before we left. When we got back, it was only one night. I guess by this point we weren't surprised anymore.
I am still waiting for the rest of my money back. The state of Connecticut is investigating Sun Splash and Island Tours (who are the same company). I have already contacted an attorney for the state of Connecticut, and I will be getting this money back. I just feel bad for all of the other college students who were taken for a ride be Sun Splash. I will never travel with Sun Splash again, and I hope that they lose their business for what they tried to do to us and so many other college students.
Don't book your trips through Sun Splash (obviously) or any of the other similar companies without serious investigation. Every year at Spring Break you hear the stories of all the companies who take the money and run, or give students the old bait and switch. I wouldn't recommend any of these companies. I think your best bet is to book your trip through a reputable travel agent. A reputable travel agent is much easier to find that a reputable company that specializes in planning Spring Breaks. Ever wonder why these companies are only in business for Spring Break? It's because they make a lot of money on the backs of college students, and only have to plan trips for one month out of the year. Your travel agent won't make that much of a killing off of you.
Good luck, and buyer be ware when planning Spring Break.
By the way, if you are interested in seeing my opinion of Cancun(not including my views on this company), see my review "The Weather Is Here, I Wish You Were Beautiful" at:
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-A87-884B66B-389B1D0B-prod1
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Epinions.com ID:
magenta321
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Location: Connecticut
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I am cool and that is it, and everyone else is full of...
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