Buyer Beware: One Stop Travel - DO NOT STOP FOR THEM!!

I was on Plum District last year and saw a “great deal” for a trip to Disneyland.  It included 4 one day passes to the park, a three night stay at a reputable hotel and a $100 dining certificate for roughly $650.  I did some number crunching for the hotels they let you choose from as well as the park passes and felt it was a really good deal.  I purchased the voucher and was told the remaining payment was due by sometime in January.

I made the final payment and anxiously awaited our travel information.  None of us have ever been to Disneyland and we knew that the kid’s heads would explode if we took them there for Spring break.  It was three weeks before we were set to travel and I hadn’t seen any travel information, so I gave One Stop Travel a call.

The woman I spoke to was less than friendly.  She proceeded to ask me for my information to pull me up in the system.  Once she did, she said “you’re paid in full”, as if she were shocked.  When I told her yes, she basically asked well then why are you calling?  I explained that we were to travel soon and I hadn’t received anything. She promptly said “you get it two weeks before you leave.  Anything else?”

Wow…really?  They really should stop answering the phone by saying “Customer Service” because it’s pretty much non-existent.  I thanked her for the information and got off of the phone.  Cut to a few days later…

We received an envelope in the mail.  There was a photocopy of a reservation confirmation for our hotel, a printed “certificate” to Dining Dough for our $100 meal certificate and …wait for it…a check made out to me for $372 with the note of “Disney Tix” in the memo line.  Wait, what??  You send me back a check for the value of the passes so that I can purchase my own? This is unreal, but it gets better…

I went online to price out two adult and two child one day passes to Disneyland. The cost is $384, not the $372 I was sent.  So I call One Stop Travel and the conversation went a little something like this:

Rep: How can I help you?

Me: Yes, I purchased this travel voucher for a Disneyland trip and it stats that I will get 4 passes to the park.  When I went to price the passes the amount is greater than the check you sent me.  I can’t buy 4 passes with this.

Rep: Well there’s a maximum amount that we can send out.

Me: That’s fine, but my voucher clearly states that I get 4 passes to Disneyland as a part of my package.  I can’t purchase four passes with what you sent me.

Rep: Please hold.

I was then inundated with hold music I’m convinced was designed to make anyone on hold for more than 45 seconds run screaming.  I am much stronger than the average disgruntled customer, however, and I held on.  The rep returned to the phone:

Rep: It’s $12.00

Me: Excuse me?

Rep: It’s a $12.00 difference between the check that we sent and the price of the passes.

Me: Yes…yes it is.

…

…

Rep: We will send you a $12.00 check for the difference.

Me: Thank you.

I mean, really?!?!  She came back on the phone as if to say ‘it’s only $12, why are you bitching about it?’  I’m bitching about it because I want what was promised to me!  In the immortal words of Riley Freeman “you gon’ PAY what you OWE!!”  The quality of the materials I received was less than stellar.  I can completely imagine someone in their basement taking people’s money and going on to shady booking sites making reservations.  I’ve never even heard of Dining Dough!  I went on the website to see where our certificate would be valid, and it’s chock full of places I’ve never even heard of before!  It turns out it's a part of Restaurant.com, which I have heard of...so I feel a little better about that.  Eating local is fine; it’s just a crap-shoot when you have two picky children and a pregnant woman who has no idea what she’s going to want from one moment to the next!  I’m going to be pretty pissed off too if I go to one of these places and they say “oh, you have to spend the whole $100 in one visit.  We don’t give any money back”.  I probably just jinxed myself by putting that out into the universe…I’ll have to let you know.

Trying to be all ‘glass half full’, we probably would not be taking this trip if I hadn’t seen the deal on the Internet and I’m sure we’ll have a great time and make the most of it.  We leave in 11 days and the kids have no idea.  We keep torturing them with stories of driving around the block 15 times and living in the backyard for four days.  Messing with them is fun.

The moral of this story?  Stay AWAY from One Stop Travel!  They don’t deserve your business!  Let's be clear, as far as I can tell they haven't cheated me out of any money...that's not the issue.  The issue is that they do business like a shady company, their packages aren't as advertised and they have poor customer service!  I don't recommend them and I will NOT be using them again.