Vacations Made Easy review: vacations made not-so-easy 4

I booked through them last minute for a hotel near Chicago (8 minutes away from the zoo and other fun things.) I was already on the road driving and almost to my destination when I received my vouchers, which lo and behold, were for a hotel 50 miles away in Bluff Park! The hotel where I arrived had no problem calling their "sister" hotel and canceling my reservation, but when I called vacationsmadeeasy.com to inquire as to why I was charged for a king size, jacuzzi room and my tickets said STANDARD, non-smoking preferred for the same price... they had no answer. I was then told that it was Choice Hotel policy and not their policy regarding the cancellation for the room I did not want over 50 miles out of town. It was not the room I had reserved, nor was it even in the town I asked for!

I gave the representative the phone number for this hotel when he was told it was not in his system (which was how I found it in the first place - I searched for "Chicago hotel jacuzzi" and was led to their site) so that they could attempt to "pay" for this hotel instead. He put me on hold to attempt calling while I was standing at the desk and then switched over and told me the line had been busy and he could not get through. He further informs me that I am not staying at a Choice hotel, despite the fact that this hotel was able to call and cancel my room so easily due to them both being Choice hotels, and that they don't do same day cancellation policy. I have went to sleepinn.com and looked for hotels in the Bluff Park area and was informed that they are working on currently working on servicing the area... this hotel was chosen for me by vacationsmadeeasy.com and NOT one of the ones we had discussed. I remember the exact description and how far away it was from everything... 8 minutes from some places... and was extremely stressed and disappointed to get here and realize that I had to pay for not only my hotel now (that I THOUGHT was taken care of), but I also now have to attempt to deal with their fraudulent practices.

My money has not been taken out of my Discover account yet, but has been put on hold by this company. Their policy of keeping "100% percent" of a refund is disgusting whenever they apparently set up vacations at a hiked rate or even SEND THEM TO THE WRONG PLACE and then say that their hands are tied. Avoid at all costs. It was cheaper for me to go through the hotel!

RIP OFF! I booked a trip using vacation made easy...Only to find what was easy...Was the way they made off with my money! First of all they charge me twice for the booking of my hotel... Sure one was returned after contacting the company several times and my bank but since it was a weekend trip it took time for the money to be placed back into my account which took away from the money I had set aside for my family's vacation. Then the hotel that I had book through vacation made easy had never heard of them (this is what I was told by staff members). They too had charge my card at check-in. So let's say that lodging expenses through VME is $500... With a double charge that's $1000...Plus the hotel charge of $270 (by the way VME is going to charge you almost double the amount that the hotel would charge) that would be $1270.

Then there's the DC After Dark tour. That left us in the dark... The voucher that VME provides has no address on them, this makes it difficult (impossible) to redeem the vouchers for tickets. Oh yes, the ticket price VME charges are hike-up. For a family of four two adults and two children they charge me $110 later I found that had I gone through the tour company that it would have been less than $60.

Customer service for VME is a joke. But what do you expect out of a company that is in the business of scamming people out of their money. When I called they were of little assistance, most often I was told I would be transferred to someone of a higher ranking who could help me, then the call would be dropped. One of their employees could not control herself from laughing at my ordeal.

The following day we were supposed to go to Virginia to hear the President speak...an event that we all look forward to but non more than my 8 year old son. We missed out because we were at the hotel until one o'clock trying to get these issues resolved. I eventually ended up having my card cancelled fearing that this was an even bigger scam. I went to my bank for help to recover my lost when I got home.

VME were able to keep all funds with the use of five words " We didn't do anything wrong" as long as the deny any wrong doing they keep everything. For what VME charged me for a semi-nice hotel that sat just of the interstate in Maryland with limited amenities and WiFi was a joke and could not be picked-up, I was able to get a oceanfront suite in Virginia at a hotel with five pools, movie theater, kids center, multiple restaurants, and in the middle of all attractions for just $22 more.

Vacations Made Easy will take your money, send you to the wrong hotel, give you cryptic information, and then "lie" when you call asking to speak to the owner when the owner is actually answering. In 2010, I booked a trip to Chicago with them with under 24 hrs left to go. When I got to the hotel, there wasn't a room for us, so I had to pay again. The hotel Matt booked was over 50 miles away from the one I selected. He claimed to be someone called Jordan on the phone, saying Matt wasn't available. I disputed it with our credit card company and since 24 hours had elapsed before I could speak to Matt and he claimed he provided us with a hotel we requested (even though I had printouts of the hotel chosen due to Pitchfork and wanting to be near there, his email gave no address, just check-in time and length of stay), his claim stood and I only received a voucher which I never used. This company is a scam and I cannot believe it is still around! Please read some person's story on the BBB's site about the Nashville flood and how they were treated during that.

i tried booking on vacations made easy first the hotel was overbooked and then they sent me to another hotel that charged me 890 yes eighthundred ninty dollars they got my money and tyhey never let me check in at the hotel so now the company put a block on me calling and wont refund my money what do i do