Complaints

This profile includes complaints for SmarTours's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  SmarTours

  500 7th Ave Fl 8 New York, NY 10018-4502

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  smarTours LLC

  PO Box 619 Old Greenwich, CT 06870

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/09/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On Monday, February 6, 2023, I had a phone conversation with a "*****" from SmartTours, a travel agency. The purpose of the call was to book a ************ trip. SmartTours offers the option of adding on a flight for about an extra $1K. During the phone call (SmartTours recorded with my consent) I specifically and in multiple ways clearly expressed that I was making my own flight arrangements. We had an extensive discussion about this and I provided details about my flight. I also indicated I lived in *************, **. When the time came to pay, "*****" read off what he would charge me and did not include the cost of any flight through SmartTours. So I authorized only the payment of the tour with some optional excursions, not the $1K ******** Flight option (and again, I live in **********). Nevertheless, I received an invoice from ST indicating they charged me the $1K. I phoned ST and emailed ST multiple times. No one disputed the facts as recounted in my emails or in the recorded calls. While another staff member "******" apologized and told me he would send me an email within ***** minutes confirming that ST would refund/not charge the $1K, no such email has been received. ST continues to have the benefit of $1K that was never authorized - that I expressly made clear multiple times that I was not authorizing because I made my own flight arrangements. Having a conversation with a customer in which you recount other charges, the customer authorizes those charges, and then you include an invoice with a surprise large charge is an unfair business practice and amounts to a fraud on unsuspecting customers. I would like a refund of my $1K. ST should consider conducting some kind of internal staff training. In the past, I have been so happy with a previous tour that I"ve referred them to friends and colleagues. This has been disappointing. I am hopeful ST will just help me resolve this. I just don't have an extra $1K lying around unfortunately!

  Business Response

  Date: 02/09/2023

  Thank you so much for your feedback, *****. We sincerely apologize for any issues you have experienced during the booking process. We appreciate you taking the time to provide us with your honest feedback and let us know how we can make things better.  Our team has corrected the error and a supervisor has reached out to you to via phone to discuss. We wanted to do our best to make your travel experience as smooth as possible, and we completely understand that our efforts were not enough to meet your expectations. We hope your tour to ************ is everything you've dreamed of and more and we will strive to provide the best experience possible.