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We recently went on a trip to Costa Rica, (September 19-26th, 2012) and we can tell you that it was and interesting, harrowing, adventurous, crazy journey, and we survived to tell the tale.
We booked with a company called Jetsetvacations (also associated with Travel by Jen) for a package deal which included a rental car, hotel, canopy tour and hot springs (not the famous Baldi Hot Springs..a tiny hot springs at a neighboring hotel called Los Lagos) for 6 nights all for $800 pp all taxes and fees included. (We extended till the 29th on the day we were scheduled to leave) Sounds like a great deal right? Well it was not so.
When we arrived in San Jose it was 5-6pm and very visibly getting dark. By the time we got our car at Adobe Car Rentals, which is located about 15-20 minutes drive from airport, it was pitch black out!
We took longer to get on our journey because they had to see if they had an automatic car to give us, instead of the manual that we did not realize was booked for us. Wouldn't you know it they had one, with the gas tank only ¾ full, and for an extra $60 US it was ours!
We also had to pay a mandatory fee of $14 US per day and GPS fee of $10 US a day(you really need the GPS) and licensing fee of about $2US dollars. We then ended up paying 15$ US dollar per day extra because we were not sure if our credit card covered full Collision and Damage (CDW). Adobe pitched the spiel that purchasing the CDW insurance was the best option as it covered up to $5 million in damage (who knows now if they meant $5 Million Colones (their local currency 500 Colones is equivalent to $1US dollar) or $5 Million US?!). However, flat tires are not covered!?
The other catch is if you don't purchase the CDW insurance they will hold $800-1000 US dollars on your card but only $350 US if you purchase it. We thought it was wiser to get it better to be safe! In the end the car cost $380 US for the five days!
At this point, we were exhausted and overwhelmed, and then we were told (only after enquiring about how far our destination was) that we would had to drive about 4 hours to our destination...ok so we have GPS no problem...wrong!
Little did we know; as the car people gave us no warning of the potential danger we faced, and no I am not talking about the moped drivers that just whiz by out of nowhere or the people that just standing practically in the middle of the street with babies in tow or the horrendous cavernous potholes (now I see why the insurance does not cover tire damage!), I am talking about driving up a narrow mountainside with only forest cliff drop-offs, fog in which you can barely see 1 inch in front of you, and winding uphill roads...for 3- 4 hours!
Anyway, almost four hours later (on top of 7 hours of plane travel, adrenal stress overload and post-traumatic stress disorder syndrome)we arrived at Montana De Fuego, our first destination, alive so our vacation in our opinion was a success!
The next day we opened our curtains to the beautiful Arenal volcano...worth the near death experience!
Our room, at Montana De Feugo, was weirdly laid out (we were told it was an upgrade as they had given away our original room...I guess they thought we weren’t going to make it uphill either), and in one room I was awoken to a piece of the ceiling falling down on the pillow beside me because it appeared the A/C moisture caused the walls to ripple and the wood to become moist and brittle. The rooms were clean and the coffee in the room was the best we had on our trip.
The second hotel included in our package was Punta Leona. This was an average place, but the shower would not drain after we took a quick wash, but someone came immediately to fix it. The place was overrun with unfriendly Tico's, loud rambunctious children, and had pricey food and drinks. Not our idea of a quality, cost savings vacation.
However, we are not naive to think for the money JetSet Vacation offered for the package that it was going to be outstanding service and spectacular surroundings. We just think JetSet should be more forthcoming with what happens at these resorts, the cost, expectations of travel times; especially in off season.
The hotel staff at ALL of our lodgings was not overly friendly or helpful to us which we found strange as they were not even remotely busy, due to the low season, and as tourists we had expected a bit more catering. Everything was expensive whether you bought it at the hotel or the supermarket.
If we had been honestly and openly advised by JetSetVacations of the driving times we would have looked into staying longer giving JetSet more of our business or preparing ourselves beforehand for an extended stay by reviewing other lodgings thus saving ourselves headache and money.
Also, our trip would have went smoother if we would have been put up in a hotel in town until daylight so our drive to our first destination was not so harrowing or at the very least better if we could have arrived in daylight so that we could see the roads.
Although we read reviews on Tripadvisor and my partner had experienced Costa Rica 10 years ago on a resort, and we researched the hot spots to visit for nightlife adventure. No one tells you the real story. Staying on a resort the whole trip is not our ideal of getting to know the country, people and the places. So having firsthand insight would have been extremely beneficial.
Two full days out of the whole trip was done travelling to our various destinations and sights so a 6 day stay is not enough. In the end, we extended our stay by four more days which cost us at least $2200 US dollars more (your loss JetSet for not letting us know and we could have possibly extended with your company).
Would we book with JetSet Vacations again? No Thank You!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
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God how funny you are You travel to a third world country (yes it's a third world country) and expect an auto transmission (too funny) you were surprised at pot holes (remember third world) and you didn't know weather your CC or your auto insurance covered your rental car? 1, 000 is standard car/motorcycles hold on your card (even in the united states) Yes they should have put you up for the night BUT when they didn't you foolishly decided to drive a third world country at night (so silly) Maybe you should have called the hotel made arraignments to arrive the next day. ALSO you stated you wanted to see the natives two days travel should have clued you in to the conditions... Yes your lucky Costa Rica is a stable country only a few Marx's running around in the woods BUT you should have planned a bit better next time try the virgin islands or if you want to go third world and not die try Dominican Republic thanks for the review we laughed until we almost pissed ourselves
My name is Robert with Jetset Vacations and I would like to reply to the above poster.- I would like to preface my response with the fact that I have been to Costa Rica 13 times now and conduct several agent fam trips a year to educate both our call center agents and outside agents about Costa Rica. . We do offer a full call center, support and destination representatives in Costa Rica all at no additional charge for any customers who either need assistance or support both before travel and during travel.
This client booked a package online. Prior to booking, all details of the trip are laid out. - Including that the base package included a manual transmission. An option for upgrade to several different cars - both SUV's and Automatic cars as well as a GPS option with the exact wording (Highly Recommended) next to it. The details on insurance, both mandatory and optional are laid out several times on the package and several more times on the documents including theirs specifically as follows.
Car Rental Tips: In Costa Rica, there are two types of insurance offered. Supplemental Liability Insurance (SLI) is mandatory and payable directly to the car rental agency. It ranges from $12-$17USD per day. They also offer Collision Damage Waiver (CDW). Although recommended, it is not mandatory. many credit cards and US Auto Insurance Companies cover this. Check with them before you travel. If you are covered, you may decline CDW with the car rental company. They make commission off of this so they may be persistent but it is your right to decline CDW.
NOTE: Please be advised that the car rental companies may hold up to $1000 deposit against your credit or debit card for the duration of your car rental.
As for the flight times, etc, the client selected their own flights via an online booking engine. The flight was scheduled to arrive in San Jose at 4:05 PM. Sunset in Costa Rica was estimated to be between 5:30 and 6:00 during their travel period. The online booking was reviewed and was considered to be within the acceptable window. In cases where flights do arrive late, our company constantly offers clients options of overnights in San Jose, different flights, transfers with the car rental delivery to hotels, etc. In this case, the timing, based on the flight arriving at 4:05 PM, although close, was within the recommended window.
We encourage people to call our sales representatives. We offer a Toll Free Number and agents that have been to Costa Rica numerous times. In this day and age, people want to book things online, but we really do try to personally work with as many clients as possible. Our average call center booking is on the phone in excess of one hour with clients. Based on the delays, these clients did in fact drive during evening hours. At the end of the day, this we are sorry for and wish we could have changed that. Adobe is one of our most reliable and cooperative partners in Costa Rica. Every aspect of the rental being Manual and fees was disclosed along with the suggestions and tips and options to making the experience easier and more enjoyable. I am not sure what else we as a company could have done differently in this matter.
"Robert Phillips" the owner/complaints rep, fully tried to tell us we were wrong about all of the above as though we had not personally experienced it, and had explanations for EVERYTHING. He was not helpful at all, and did not offer any kind words, or compensation. We had even upgraded on the hotels (the only upgrades we ever saw on their website), but they were still very basic rooms with issues. Basically he put the blame on us for not reading information that was not on their website at the time, and not seeing a missing "page 6" of emailed documents to us. Then he wanted us to give him a signed letter to send to the hotels about our issues with them. Really?! Is that my second job now? To fix travel issues for this company?
Travel By Jen and Jetset Vacations is in business to offer cheap, packaged, unsatisfying vacations to a very expensive Costa Rica (a beer is $7 everywhere). They are not in the business of providing good customer service, and owning up to their mistakes as you can clearly see.
I aggree with the jet people in every area except landing at 4 pm and sun-set at 5:30 Is not an acceptable window to get off plane go miles to car rental (they should have been pickup at the airport if they weren't) do the car deal then WHAT... Your window suggests silly canadians travel a third world country at night in the jungle into the mountains AND THIS IS ACCEPTABLE.. I also have traveled and lived in this country and if you really have also SHAME ON U...NOON should be your cut off (window).
So I'm ### scared now. We leave tomorrow morning and get to costa rica at 830pm. Had ZERO clue we were In for a winding mountainous drive. And we were NEVER informed or given the option of a room over night in San Jose. Would've been great to know. Not to mention we have an 8am tour in the morning. Can't get a hold of ANYONE from jetset vacations to try and fix this. AND we weren't told we were In for a 2 hour drive TO our excursion. I'm already dreading this.
Oh God, I just booked a trip through them and am already having trouble. They told me I could change my flight reservation if I notified them in 24 hrs but when I tried to contact them they were closed. They also said they called me but I got no phone messages. They then blamed the airline and me instead of owning up and trying to help. In the end, they did not help me at all. I also did not receive the info I needed about my flight so that I could attempt to change it myself. It was terrible customer service. I had no idea that they are so bad. Wish I had read the reviews before I booked with them. Since it was their fault they should have absorbed the cost of the change. I booked through travelzoo and have taken numerous trips with them before and have never had this trouble before. Now I am really nervous. And this is just the beginning...
Book with Travel Zoo and you will regret that's what happened to me before. Travel Zoo took no responsibility and simply turn their customer away by been stealing our money. Never made business or purchase any deal since then.