Reviews

Review Details

• Review fromLai C

  Date: 11/09/2023

  1 star
  * ***** **** * **** ** * ******
  My mom passed away last week. We have a trip booked to leave tomorrow night from JFK to Portugal. Since they are totally unreachable on weekends, I called UTO this morning to ask if it is possible to get credit to use for a later date, understanding that it may be too late to get a refund. The representative told me it is too late to get credit. I explained to the representative that my mom did not schedule her death and asked her if there was anything she could do to help me. I was going to send her my mom's death certificate if needed and she said NO. No credits, definitely no refunds. I told her hotel rooms usually have a 24 hour cancellation policy and so are the tours. We even paid gratuity in advance, and they won't even credit us for that? Who's keeping that money?. She just keep dismissing me and telling me that's the policy and there is nothing they can do to help and it doesn't matter who I talk to.

• Review fromIvy B

  Date: 06/09/2023

  1 star
  ** *** **** * **** **** **** *********** **** * **********
  They will take your money, gouge you for as much cash as they can, and then ghost you so you can never get it back. Please don't make the same mistake as me!! **** ******* ***** ** ** **** ****

• Review fromElsie L

  Date: 23/08/2023

  1 star
  VERY long agreement that they will hold you to in order to keep your money. Booked in 2022 for Japan Nov 2023, haven't heard anything since paying (no communication what so ever). Finally got ahold of someone, and they said since we didn't upload our passports we forfeited our trip. No email, no voicemail, often don't answer phones- so really poor customer service. Don't do it.

• Review fromCecil W

  Date: 16/08/2023

  1 star
  I purchased a trip to China. Paid in full up front and got a seemingly great land and cruise deal with multiple cities, high speed trains, finishing up the 10 day adventure on the river. The itinerary was exciting and the price was too good to pass up. Well you know what they say. As others have said, you get what you pay for. I bought my tour in 2022. The trip was targeted for fall 2024. As most people know now, international relations with China have deteriorated dramatically. UTO sent out a note saying that China was now a do not travel destination for US citizens. They even went so far as to warn that people were being jailed on trumped up charges risking their well being by going. UTO recommended buying trip life insurance if you were going to go. !!! Given the unlikelihood of these circumstances improving in the next year, I contacted UTO and said I'd like my money back or a travel voucher for the amount I paid. I'd then use the voucher to choose another tour to a safer destination. I talked with Adrienne and agreed to a voucher that would be good for a year. As long as I booked another tour in a year's time, I could use the amount I'd already paid. No worries. That correspondence is below. I wanted a refund, but they wanted to impose fees that were basically equivalent to the entire tour's price. I got the credit. It showed up in my account. I was happy and was even checking out other tours to see where we might end up. This was on July 24. On July 27, I got this note from David at UTO:
  Hi Teresa Ceceil:
  Did you leave us a review after we provided you with a flexible plan? We will change back your credit to your originally booked trip. We will not be able to offer you any flexible options in the future. Good luck! David Best regards,
  UTOvacation Customer Care Team
  P: 1 855 526-12XX Ext. 196 | F: (416) 251-77XX
  A: 50 East Wilmot Street, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3Z3
  W: utovacation.com
  UTOVACATION
  Had to abbreviate because of length restrictions

• Review fromAnne N

  Date: 25/07/2023

  1 star
  *** ******* ***** *********
  My daughter booked us a hotel through UTO vacation. We told the company months ahead that we had to change the booking dates . We requested that the dates be changed where we would arrive 3 days earlier and then leave three days later. The company also requested copies of our passports in January which was 6 months before the hotel booking. I called the company and told the representative that one of the travelers was getting a passport renewal. The representative stated that the passports could be uploaded anytime before the trip. The company sent an email in May requesting our passports. I did not see the email. When we contacted the company to find out about changing the dates the representative informed me that we would have to pay 199$ each to change our dates. I told them we would keep the dates then we were told that we would have to pay a tipping fee of about 80$ each and another 99$ each because we did not submit our passports . In addition, I have no idea why a company would want us to submit copies of our passports to an unsecured website just to stay at the hotels. ** **** ***** *** ******* *** ***** ** **** ** *** ** **** **** *** ******** **** ** *** ****** At this time we have not received any confirmation for the hotel and no contact from UTO vacation. ****** ** *** ********** ********

• Review fromJyoti P

  Date: 11/07/2023

  1 star
  This has been the worst experience ever!! Original trip was scheduled for China, however sure to COVID it was cancelled but would not issued a refund. Received only reach credit for future i had uploaded the picture of my passport directly in my account as per their email( HUGE MUSTAKE!!). Long story short i ended up paying extra$299 late permanently as they could not find my original documents!!! They don't understand English very well so that is also an issue they just keep repeating that they did not get a copy of my passport. I received an email from then in Dec 2019 starting my application was complete. Now they are saying that means all payments are made not all documents received!!!! How is an application completed with all documents!!!! BE VERY CAUTIOUS WHEN BOOKING VACATIONS WITH THIS COMPANY. DEFINITELY NOT CUSTOMER FRIENDLY. They never called me back when they said they would after looking into the matter. When i called the agent said there is no note to give a call back!!! Extremely inefficient staff from the manager to supervisor( not sure if she really was a supervisor) to agents answering customers questions.....Talked to Jeanine, Jessica, Jasmine, Jani.... Notice how well names start with "J"? Their standard upcharge no matter what is $299 and they are very creative in coming up with different scenarios to upcharge $299 for each. It's all about how they can get your money. **** **** **** **** ****** ******* **** **** ** ******** ******* *** **** *** **** *** *** **** ****

• Review fromHelen W

  Date: 08/07/2023

  1 star
  **** ******* ** * **** You take peoples money, won’t return calls or return money. ****** **** **** *** ***** *****

• Review fromJulie O

  Date: 08/07/2023

  1 star
  **** **** *** ****** *** ****** *** ** ******* **** **** * ** *** ***** I like many others booked a trip to China that got cancelled due to COVID restrictions. They will not refund even one bit of my $. I asked to see other possible trips and they quote trips 3-4 times the original price. I hope I can save at least one person from doing business with this ************ firm. ****** **** **** **** **** *** ****** ***** **** ********

• Review fromEzra R

  Date: 30/06/2023

  1 star
  ** * ***** **** * ***** * ****** **** ** ** *** *** ***** ********** * **** *** ** ******** * ***** ** ****** **** ******* this company is a total **** *** ****** ** *** *** ** ******** ************ We bought a trip to Japan through UTO in June 2021 as a "deal" planning to travel in February or March 2022 as our honeymoon ******* ******. They kept requiring us to continue to make deposits throughout the process and eventually we were in for well over $2,400. We were able to postpone a few times and rebook for April 2023 trip to Spain and Portugal and use our deposit toward that trip. UTO ended up charging us more money than it was worth to do so, and we had to "add" everything including our own hotel accommodations in Portugal, eventually spending close to $10,000 with UTO for a 5-person trip ********** * *** ******. In the process we had a son and needed to bring him on the trip. Adding our son was a complete nightmare. UTO responded to our request with: "Since the booking is made by the airline company directly, we are unable to change the gender for the baby." UTO is a booking agency, so when we followed up with the airlines (we were booked on different airlines I suppose to save UTO costs), they said it was booked through an agency and they cannot make changes even though they incorrectly put "female" on the round trip flight. We did not want an international issue with passports not matching the booked plane tickets. UTO failed to advocate on our behalf to the airlines, and the airlines refused to help us because everything was booked through UTO. UTO wanted us to buy an additional round-trip flight for $2,500 for a l** child, when the airlines all confirmed that lap children are only around 10% of that cost. **** ******** *** **** *** ******* *** ***** **** ******* ** *** ****** *** ***** ******* *** ** * ****** *** **** ****  ****** **** book everything yourselves so you can control and make changes!!. My wife and I spent countless hours. ** *** *******

• Review fromAlisha E

  Date: 19/06/2023

  1 star
  Booked a trip to China in 2021 for October 2023. I called to make final payment in February of 2023 and was told to wait until China opened up for visitors who would be staying more than 7 days. After no communication, I called back in June to be told we could go on the trip since we didn't make our final payment on time. It seems the trip to China was never actually going to happen. Their "fix" was to allow us to use the money we had already paid as a deposit toward a MUCH more expensive trip. ****** *** ***** ******