Original Letter Sent by Letter M

On April 16^th to April 23^rd, 2005, my partner and I travelled to the Dominican Republic and stayed at the Bahia Principe, San Juan resort. I am writing to inform you that first, and foremost, we did enjoy our stay, however, we were disappointed at how this vacation was misrepresented on your site.

The following are points I would like to discuss with you, some of which may or may not be within your control:

To begin, the transportation from the airport was deplorable. After disembarking the plane, we were greeted by SunWing representatives and then airport personnel came and took our bags—against our wishes. The airport representative then demanded $10 US for this service. Upon arrival at the bus, whilst SunWing representatives stood by and watched, more airport personnel arrived to carry our bags and stow them, and then demanded $5 US from us. I did not ask for, nor require this service, and the SunWing representatives did nothing.

Secondly, the bus did not have a washroom. After we were hustled from the plane, there was no opportunity to relieve ourselves or freshen up for the 1 hour drive to the resort. Furthermore, the bus driver and SunWing representative would not turn on the air conditioner and the windows would not open. So here we are, wearing pants, sweater and jacket, sweating through our clothes. Failing the air conditioning, bottled water was not offered for the 2 hour drive to the resort. Whoever told you that it was a 1 hour drive has never driven it.

Upon arrival at the hotel at 12:30 a.m., we were told there was food and water available in the Lobby. We moved our bags to our room and went to the Lobby for food and water and there was none available—this was ½ hour after arrival. Front desk “pretended” to not understand what we were asking for and were very ignorant to us. Assuming that this was a 24 hour resort with meals—we searched for open restaurants and found the ONLY 24 hour outlet—a dirty little shack on Peublo Principe that served only hotdogs, undercooked burgers and fries that were left out in the open for the flies to feast upon. We ate that, and the next day we were ill. The “24” hour all inclusive was misleading, as technically, yes, food was available 24 hours, however, it was substandard and definitely would not meet health requirements here at home. However, we were hungry and risked it, unfortunately. My partner became so ill, that I had to go to the Pharmacy only to meet a women who could not speak English, would not tell me what to take and told me it was $60 US to see a doctor. I expected that much, however, did not want to see a doctor, I wanted advice as to what over-the-counter medicine he should take.

The fourth irritant was that this “24” hour resort closed its pool at 8 p.m. After a hot day and dinner, a quick swim before taking in the Peublo Principe would have been nice, however, we were told we could not swim. Nor were we allowed to swim at the beach.

The fifth irritant was the beer. The beer they provided was disgusting, however, we were delighted to find out that Presidente was available on the resort—a domestic beer, which was excellent quality. However, we had to pay for this beer, contrary to your claims that domestic drinks were included. Obviously this is not the case.

Finally, the only way to get service on the Peublo Principe was to wave $1 US bills in the air. I expected to tip, however, I did not expect that it was required to get service. I expect this is beyond your scope, but something you may wish to bring to the hotel’s attention.

Finally, the advertising regarding the Bahia Principe was misleading. The services at the hotel were lacking and the quality of food after restaurant hours was substandard. This hotel is definitely not a 4-star. Although we did enjoy our stay, the organized tours were fantastic, the dining experience at the a-la-carte restaurants, with the exception of the Mexican restaurant, was excellent, we felt we were deceived by misleading advertising on your part.

Given this, we hope that SunWing Vacations will see fit to address this situation in such a way that we may enjoy our next vacation in 2006. Seeing as how the price at this date for stay at the resort is $669 and we paid approximately $889 each, two travel vouchers worth $200 each towards our next vacation would be satisfactory. However, we will never stay at Bahia Principe, San Juan again, nor recommend it to anyone.

Yes, we did receive your complaint on May 5. As we are a Tour Operator, we don't deal with the public directly.

A copy of your letter was sent to your travel agent so she could be made aware of what was happening with her clients. We told her we needed approximately 4 weeks to investigate and respond.

Thank you. However, since the letter was addressed to you, a reply to me from you would be in order. Secondly, my issue is not with the travel agent, but with how Sun Wing represented the travel package on a Sun Wing website and how Sun Wing treated us whilst on the resort.

My travel agent did her job to the fullest of her ability and is not in control how the product is promoted by Sun Wing.

To me, this sounds like a 'passing off' of responsibility, however, I will be very interested to see what your response was to her.

Thank you for informing me of your actions, and my frustration could have been avoided had the recipient of the letter (Sun Wing) informed me as to what they were doing. So far, poor customer service on your part.

We are a Tour Operator and do not have a license to deal with the public directly.

When we first received your letter we sent it, along with an acknowledgment to your agent to advised we had received it and that a response would be forthcoming in approximately 4 weeks.

We are sorry if you feel it is poor customer service, but your travel agent was paid a commission to be the intermediary before, during and after your vacation.

I just got off the phone with my travel agent, and claims that she received no such decision letter from you. The only letter she received was a copy of my letter to you.

So, since Sun Wing has failed to provide adequate cusomter service regarding this matter, and the misrepresentation of information on your website--which I printed off before I booked the trip with the travel agent, I shall do two things:

Your customer service is poor, and not only do you misrepresent the products that you sell, you misrepresent the concerns of your customers.

I shall in the future deal with XXXXXXXX as they were more than sympathetic to my concerns regarding you.

If your travel agent received a copy of our letter when it was first received, why did she not call you to say she received an acknowledgement from us and that a response would be sent in the coming weeks? Our letter specifically said "please advise him of this acknowledgement".

We have no reason to be dishonest with you, our response was sent via courier on the date indicated. We will fax it over to her right now.

Before referring your letter to your legal counsel, please refer to the terms and conditions in the Sunwing brochure to learn exactly what Sunwing as a Tour Operator is liable for.

She maintains that she never received such a letter. If such a letter was received then you would have no problem as to sending me your decision, and tracking number of said couriered letter. If such a letter does exist, then I extend my apologies regarding that matter.

Second, no such "Terms and Conditions" were ever provided to me, by your representatives or my travel agent, or even on your website--unless there is a link from the main page, then I stand corrected. I am almost certain, that alleged food poisoning, inadequate washrooms facilities on the bus, and paying for domestic beer are typically not advertised on your site claiming

24 hour all-inclusive. Had we been treated properly upon arrival by the Sun Wing representatives, some of these could have been over-looked.

If this proves to be a huge misunderstanding on our part, I do apologise, and will, if necessary submit a letter stating such officially. However, given that you do indeed have a customer service link, email and can book trips online through you, I am sure that a letter that I sent to you could be acknowledged directly to me by you. As I stated earlier, the travel agent can only sell what packages are made available to her--misleading or not. The letter I sent to you was to inform you of the inadequacies of the hotel and some of the problems associated with it--some which I did acknowledge are out of your control.

However, in the spirit of compromise, before seeking legal council I wish the following:

1. A copy of the letter courierered to the travel agent with tracking information.

2. A copy of the Terms and Conditions, given that none were provided to us by either you, the travel agent or the hotel upon arrival (which is a little late given that we would already be there).

If I am provided with these above items, then I believe there would be no need for legal council.

I faxed your agent the letter yesterday, along with a detailed response from the hotel.

In the travel industry, we use a courier service called WATTS, your agent can back this up. Each envelope does not have a way bill. They pick up envelopes from us and hand deliver to the agent.

With all due respect, if you felt this letter was owed to you much sooner than now, why did you not follow up in a more timely manner? Instead of the interrogations as to when and where the letter was sent and the legal threats, a simple call or email months ago could have solved this. Here at Sunwing, we don't allow files to be dragged on and left open for months at a time. As soon as a response is received from all parties involved, it is sent out.

Regardless of whether we sell online or not, you booked through a travel agent and all correspondence must be sent through the agency.

The terms and conditions are located in the back of the Sunwing brochure and on our website. The travel industry is governed by the Travel Industry Council of Ontario. Their Travel Industry Act states that a copy of the terms and conditions MUST be provided to the client at the time of booking by the travel agent. By booking a package with Sunwing or any Tour Operator, you are agreeing to these terms and conditions.

Nonetheless, we considered this file to be closed and our position remains final. We respect your decision to pursue legal counsel.

And finally, a very indignant Vice President responds. No commentary necessary, I believe his attitude reflected in the tone of this letter only furthers the example followed by the so-called customer service representative. (And note dear reader, Mr. Elliott of Sun Wing, gives you permission to make up your own mind.)

Dear Mr. Schrnur,

Thank you for notifying us of what you have posted on the web with regard to your recent vacation.

This phenomenon has become a common means of expressing views and opinions. Unfortunately, anyone can publish statements and opinions on a website including exaggerations, unreasonable claims, misrepresentations and even complete falsehoods. Whether these can be substantiated or supported by real facts seemingly becomes irrelevant and inconsequential. The reality is that any individual can publish virtually any statement or accusation whatsoever, in an attempt to leverage a company into "making it go away" ! However, more often than not this has little or no effect. In the end the true nature of a company, its people and its way of conducting business become well known to its clients and a matter of public record. Companies must stake their very existence and entire future on this.

In this case, we not only feel that your statements are unreasonable but that we have been both fair and equitable in dealing with your claims. Furthermore, we are more than willing to stand behind our reputation of honestly addressing any concerns brought to our attention. We are very proud that the percentage of complaints we receive is amongst the lowest in our industry and that our Customer Services staff is dedicated to dealing with complaints in a sensitive, balanced and professional manner.

Nevertheless, we can neither defend our company nor our staff against those who choose to act in an inappropriate manner. Fortunately, a lack of courtesy and poor choice of language is something with which our staff rarely has to deal.

We recognize that you will undoubtedly have the final word on your own website and fully expect you to respond again in the manner in which you have demonstrated to date. However, since you have elected to present your perspective in the public forum, we trust that you will immediately publish verbatim and on an equal basis, our final response to you.

Our experience has shown that when presented with professionalism and civility, most people very quickly understand right from wrong. If you choose to publish this reply we will be pleased to allow the reader to be the judge of this matter as well as your own conduct and behaviour.

Yours truly,

Lawrence R. Elliott,
Group Vice President,
Business and Corporate Affairs
Sunwing Travel Group
27 Fasken Drive,
Toronto,Ontario,Canada M9W 1K6

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Inquiring About	customer_service
First Name	Chris
Last Name	Schnurr
Subject	Letter dated May 11, 2005
Comments	I mailed a letter to your customer service department on May 11, 2005, stating my concern over how the Bahia Principe, the food and level of service was represented to us. I have not received any response from you acknowledging my concerns. I suppose, that Sunwing does not value their customers that support its operations. Considering that my partner and I spent over $2000 over and above our $1000US we spent at the resort, I suppose Sunwing considers our investment minimal and not important. Unless I receive a response from our letter within 15 business days, we will no longer do business with Sunwing, and contact our travel agent regarding your treatment regarding our concerns. Furthermore, no less than 4 people on my floor at my work have dealt with you, and I will personally encourage them to book their trip with another carrier. So our minimal $2,000 investment now turns into a potential $15,000 loss for you and your resort suppliers. Thank you. Chris Schnurr
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