Complaints

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:10/28/2024

  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.

  I booked the PRIVATE WINE TOUR 12pm - 5pm with a single vehicle/driver, as advertised on the website. I have a 2 yr old & access to a vehicle at all times was my sole reason for booking. No where on the site under private tour did it disclose that we would have limited access to the vehicle. The driver arrived at our ****** at 11:40am. I walked out to greet him as he was stepping out of the car. I asked how much time we had to load as I needed to move a car seat over and load my child's cooler of snacks and drinks. The driver said we had to leave by 11:45am, as he would be driving a second group around and needed to pick them up after dropping us off. As he was sharing this, all group members had joined us ready in the driveway (no one was late and no one asked for more time as the tour company has claimed). I immediately informed him that a shared vehicle, being dropped off and having our personal items moved around to include my toddler's carseat would not work for us, & I requested a full refund as the website had not disclosed limited access or multiple groups being run simultaneously. He tried contacting the office manager many times, but received no answer. When the manager finally called, she said that we were late (our entire group was waiting in the drive so this was false), that a private tour was fully provided to us & that we refused the tour. She stated the wine tastings had been prepaid by their company & that a refund was not possible. We visited one winery that day & asked about the prepaid tastings - no prepayment/payment that day was made by **** for our group. The other 2 wineries confirmed this also. MORESO, the original website at time of booking was further updated within 24hrs after speaking with me on Saturday & hearing my concerns to disclose limited access & use of vehicle during your tour. Pictures shown (typo included) in attached documents along with full experience with driver, manager and owner as all refused to help resolve.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/28/2024

  This complaint is for the wrong business. We are Absolute Charm Vacation Rentals, not Absolute Charm Wine Tours. 

  Business Response

  Date: 11/07/2024

  This guest is lying. We showed up on time to pick her group up and she stated she needed an additional :15+ minutes to load all of her baby times, cooler, and more items. We told her if we wait for :15+ minutes to load up all your items, we are going to be late to our winery reservations. Wineries will cancel you if you are :15 minutes or more late to reservations. Thus, we needed to load promptly, not slowly. Our driver alerted her via text the evening before the exact time he would be there to pick up. He arrived exactly on time. We don't mind guests loading items, but she had a surplus of items and was not completely ready when the driver arrived. We had no issue with the extra items.

  We offered her to have the vehicle completely private, and she DENIED our services the day of the tour. No one would have been in her vehicle. No one would have moved her 'items'. However, the guest still decided to cancel and deny our services the day of the tour. 

  We have a 10-day cancellation period. She cancelled the day of, the time of, the tour. She does not qualify for a refund. HOWEVER, we LOVE happy customers, so we ultimately openly offered her to come back another day for FREE. We also offered a 50% refund (against our policies). ******* unfortunately denied both of those options. Additionally, she already submitted a chargeback through her bank, so there is nothing else that we can do for her on this matter. 
  

  What we did tell her she was not allowed to do, would be 'sleeping or changing diapers in our vehicles' as she stated her child was sick. We cannot compromise our drivers to sickness to allow the child to sleep in the vehicle while they are supposed to be enjoying the wineries and tastings they paid for. That is something we would not allow for the SAFETY of our drivers. We updated our website to reflect. As we have been open since 2018 and not ONE other guest has overstepped/been late/wanted to sleep or change diapers in our vehicles, we had to make it absolutely clear to those who may think that is acceptable, is not. Here are the updated policies that were made on our website: "We are on a time schedule with wineries and reservations and cannot be late. Additionally, the vehicle will not be available for sleeping or resting in between vineyards." We truly thought this would be common sense, that we cannot be late, and we cannot sleep in the vehicles but turns out, it is not common sense after all. That is the ONLY reason that we updated our website. 

  Had she stated she had a SICK child, wanting to sleep in our vehicles, her initial booking would have been denied by us as we cannot compromise our drivers safety.

  Additionally, she is lying that she did not get ahold of the office. Her matter was handled immediately. Her wineries and private tour with child was completely scheduled and no issues on our end. Yet, she still decided to cancel the tour. Yes, at the moment we were running a bit behind with her and all of her loading up her items, however, we could have absolutely still made it to all of the wineries reservations on time and no troubles had her group gotten in our vehicle and started the tour. However, ultimately they decided not to. 

  Additionally, we pay our drivers and wineries in advance. As you can see in her statement that she provided to you, she illegally and fraudulently called our business partners acting as Absolute Charm Wine Tours to obtain information. They would have not given her our information, however, you can see this guest continues to overreach. Not only did she illegally and fraudulently act as Absolute Charm Wine Tours, she obtained all of our employees PERSONAL information and MASSIVELY harassed our cell phones with repeated phone calls (back to back to back to back to back calls) and rude text messages demanding a full refund. She harassed our personal phones after her issue had already been taken care of by our customer support. She went to the next measures of harassing us on our personal phones and illegally acting as us to wineries after she was aware of our cancelation policies. 

  As you can see with the attached emails, website screenshots, that we have a solid 10-day cancellation policy that guests agree to before purchasing the tour. Again, she cancelled the day of, the time of, the tour, in person. She does not qualify for a refund. HOWEVER, we LOVE happy customers, so like we said before, we openly offered her to come back another day for FREE. We also offered a 50% refund (against our policies). ******* unfortunately denied both of those options. Additionally, she already submitted a chargeback through her bank, so there is nothing else that we can do for her on this matter any longer. 

  ******* has not only illegally and fraudulently called our business partners acting as Absolute Charm Wine Tours, harassed our PERSONAL phone lines (even after she had been helped by our customer service team), she has also wasted a lot of our employee's time dealing with her even after she decided not to go on the tour and she understood the cancelation policy. She has also tried making fake online accounts to try to leave multiple demeaning reviews to hurt our business. Her review is not going to hurt or scare us, we think future potential guests will be able to tell she is lying and that perhaps she may be unstable. 

  As you can tell, we have never had a complaint before, and we maintain a high 4.9 rating on ****** with over 200+ glowing reviews. We would appreciate the assistance on removing this complaint as it is totally false. We willingly provided her a PRIVATE tour, no one touching her items, no one in her vehicle, (she was allowed to come to the vehicle in between wineries, sure no problems) the problem for her that she wanted to be able to change dirty diapers on our seats, and sleep in the van in between wineries with a sick child, and that is what we do not allow, will not allow for safety of drivers. We would have never allowed it had we known that's what she was looking to do. However, we would have still gone on with the tour for her that day. She would have had to just change her baby in the wineries bathrooms (sanitary for all), and hold her sick baby at the wineries (safe for everyone involved). 

  ******* ultimately decided to not go on the tour. Thus, cancelling the day of the tour, which she is not eligible for a refund. Even though, we tried to offer her to come back for FREE :) on another date (perhaps when she was not as overwhelmed and her child was not sick?) or a 50% refund (against our policies). Which she denied both options. 

  If any additional information is needed in this matter, please do not hesitate to reach out. We are happy to provide anything you need. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/10/2024

  Complaint: 22475223
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Absolute Charm Wine Tours is lying.  Their entire response is full of malicious and obscene slander, and each accusation made of me is toying with defamation.

  -My child was not sick, nor had she been sick.  I would have NEVER taken her out and about around ************** had she been sick.  I have plenty of photos and videos that show her in great health.
  -I never requested to sleep or change diapers in the tour vehicle.  Changing diapers in a public vehicle is unsanitary, additionally, it is not private, as there is a driver, possibly people in the parking lot and potentially cameras recording as the vehicle is a place of business.  I would never expose my daughter to such an environment or to any potential predators as changing diapers puts children in a very vulnerable position.  Plus, all the wineries have private bathrooms (many with changing areas), and my daughter is almost fully potty trained and tells me when she needs to use the restroom (not that that is anyones concern or business).  Also, I would NEVER, under ANY circumstance, leave MY BABY in a vehicle to sleep while we enjoyed wineries.  EVER!!!
  -I never requested more loading time, or any additional time for that matter.  I asked the driver HOW MUCH time we had to load before we had to leave (no itinerary was sent to me, in fact, the only info I was given the evening before our tour was that he would arrive at our ****** at 11:40am). All group members were standing ready in the driveway within minutes of the driver arriving.  As soon as the driver disclosed that he was double booked and would be driving a second tour around in between our stops, I immediately informed him that was not what was advertised on the website, not the tour I purchased, that it unfortunately would not work for us and I promptly requested a full refund due to the misleading information I was provided with verses the service that was actually being provided.
  -I did not have a surplus of items to load.  I had to load my daughters car seat and one cooler (already packed and ready).  It surprises me to hear that Absolute Charm Wine Tours is pretending to know what all I had to load given the fact that nothing was ever placed or loaded into their vehicle.
  -Ive left 3 reviews one emailed directly to Absolute Charm Wine Tours email (as they emailed me requesting a review of our experience), one on ****** and one to BBB.  I have not created any additional accounts, left any fake reviews,  nor have I attempted to reach out to the business or owner since the Monday morning after our weekend in ***************  I am happy to share internet data and web history to prove their statements are a blatant lie.
  -I never pretended or claimed to be Absolute Charm Wine Tours or associated with Absolute Charm  Wine Tours when asking the three wineries about prepayment/tour scheduling.  I visited ************ in person, along with all of our group members, and spoke to them directly using my own identity and sharing the situation we had experience. ************ stated they had no prepayment for the tastings and no reservation scheduled for our group.  The other two wineries I reached out to by phone again, using my own identity and NOT claiming to be a part of Absolute Charm Wine Tours.  Each stated no prepayments had been made.  Frankly, after seeing the malicious lies that Absolute Charm Wine Tours  is willing to create, I 100% believe three wineries over ANY person associated with Absolute Charm Wine Tours.
  -I never obtained personal information or harassed any of the employees I called the office phone number (as it is advertised on the website), and I called the owners direct line (which is also PUBLICLY advertised) as the office did not answer when I called to follow up Monday morning, and I was hoping to speak with ******** as two adults, to share our poor experience and to eliminate the middle man, as the office manager said "she had no authority to resolve the issue at hand", but ******** refused to take any of my calls.  The ONLY time I attempted to reach the owner, ********, was that one Monday morning, as that is when the office said shed be available.  She refused to take my calls.  I havent reached out to her or the company again since that day (all text message threads are attached, as that is the only communication I have had with her).  I'm not trying to "scare" anyone, as Absolute Charm Wine Tours has accused me of - but I will fight for what is right, for the truth and for justice.  Their injustice, fraudulent, slanderous and criminal behavior is unacceptable and repulsive. 
  
  Bottom line none of these lies that Absolute Charm Wine Tours has chosen to blast have any relevance to the matter at hand.  I requested a full refund from the tour company, as the tour I booked in advance online advertised a private tour with vehicle and driver from 12pm 5pm (BEFORE THEY CHOSE TO UPDATE THEIR WEBSITE AFTER MY COMPLAINT).  Nowhere on the site did it disclose that the driver/vehicle would be double booking itself, that youd have limited availability to the vehicle in case of any emergencies, that the driver would be moving personal items around to allow another group to load (which the Absolute Charm Wine Tour driver specifically said to our group more so, that he does it all of the time and that it was no big deal) or that wed be dropped off/picked up.  Had I wanted any of this, I would have called an **** or Taxi.  The driver is the only individual that we spoke with in person the day of the tour, as we stood in the ****** driveway ********** manager did not return the drivers calls or my calls until over an hour or two later (phone records to prove), and I did not reach out to the owner, ********, until Monday mid-morning (all text message threads attached),  so it is baffling that Absolute Charm Wine Tours is making up so many false and fraudulent accusations when there was so little communication from them to begin with.   Additionally, there are three other adult witnesses that were present as we spoke with the driver that can fully verify the TRUE conversations that were had.  Absolute Charm Wine Tours could easily correct this issue of false advertising and right their wrong by offering a full refund as I have requested.  However, they choose not to, and instead create even more hateful, false and defaming statements, showing their true nature, character and ethical conduct.
  
  Regards,
  
  ******* *******

  Business Response

  Date: 11/13/2024

  The facts are we arrived on time to pick up this group for a private wine tour. The guest ultimately decided not to go on the tour. We have a 10 day cancellation policy as stated on website. We did not cancel the tour, the guest cancelled the time of the tour.

  The guest did say her child was sick and wanted to be able to nap during the tour in the vehicle. We do not allow that. However, would have still loved to have them for a tour, just no napping in vehicles. The tour was not double booked at the end of the day and the guest decided did not take the tour. We are not false advertising. We do not allow napping or we cannot be late to reservations, common sense details that needed to be made clear in writing hence website change. 
  

  Again, against our 10 day cancellation policy, we offered the guest to come back another date for free, guest denied. We also provided an offer for 50% refund, guest denied. 

  Guest filed a charged back with her bank for 100% the money, so there is nothing that we can do for this guest further. 

  Screenshot provides guest making an additional fake ****** account to make more reviews under tressstewart1, the day after ******* ******* left a review. 
  

  Thank you

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/16/2024

  Complaint: 22475223
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  We are honest people, and I do agree with Absolute Charm Wine Tours on one fact the driver did arrive on time.  That is where it ends
  
  Im not sure if the driver is blatantly lying to the company regarding our conversations, or if the entire company is simply making these accusations up, but our group was on time also.  Moments after the driver greeted us in the driveway, he informed us he would be transporting a second group in the same vehicle during the same time frame as our wine tour.  He even stated hed personally move each groups items to the side as the opposite group was being transported.  The website never advertised this.  The website advertised a private tour with one vehicle and driver for one single group(our group) during the allotted timeframe of 12-5pm.  This is the only reason I booked this tour.  As soon as the driver disclosed hed be simultaneously transporting two groups (double booked), I informed him that would not suffice and immediately requested a full refund since we would not receive the true service advertised/we booked.  He tried to reach the office multiple times but eventually left to pick up his other group as no one answered his calls while he was at our Airbnb.  My child was not sick, nor did I ever say that she was.  I also did not request for her to nap in the vehicle (nor should I have to continue to state this, as it is an outlandish merry-go-round). I did agree to the privacy policy, HOWEVER, it was based on the website advertisement and what the site stated wed be receiving once the driver informed us he'd be dropping us off and picking up another group, this cancellation policy immediately became null and void as what Absolute Charm Wine Tours planned to deliver the day of was NOT the service I booked.  Further, they would not have felt such a strong need to update their website within hours of our poor experience if the customer was not in the right, ultimately showing an attempt at their intent to deceive.  Had Absolute Charm Wine Tours returned any of my calls prior to the day of our tour OR had they reached out by phone or email to update us that the booked tour as expected had changed and that our driver would be dropping us off at the wineries and then leaving to transport another group in the meantime, leaving us with limited access to the vehicle and our belongings, I would have cancelled right then and there.  However, they never returned any calls/voicemails and did not contact us to share an update on this tour change but rather the driver nonchalantly told us the day of our tour, after arriving to pick us up and ONLY AFTER I questioned how much time we had to load.
  
  As previously stated, I am requesting a full refund from Absolute Charm Wine Tours.  The free tour credit they are offering will not work for us, as we have career responsibilities and are simply not close enough to frequently visit ************** any chosen weekend.  A 50% refund simply isnt sufficient, as we were not provided with the service THAT WE TRULY BOOKED AND THAT WAS ADVERTISED BEFORE THEY CHANGED THEIR WEBSITE.  If the company can offer a 50% refund, then they can certainly approve a full refund prior to the cc dispute being finalized in order to reach a resolution and dissolve all disputes, however, they continue to choose not to right their wrong.
  
  Additionally, a screenshot of ONE review is not multiple, which further proves Absolute Wine Charm Tours accusations are false and exaggerated.  Also, Tress is my husband and was a member of our group that day.  He is entitled to write his own personal review, as are all members that were part of our group that day.  If Absolute Charm Wine Tours bothered to know their clients vs just being interested in taking their money and making malicious accusations of innocent people, theyd be aware of who was part of the group that day.  He posted his review then saw the inaccurate response from Absolute Charm to my ****** review and immediately deleted the review as his posted review echoed mine and was going to get the same response and false accusations from Absolute Charm. If anything, he did Absolute Charm a favor. No fake account whatsoever.  Again, we are honest people. Everything we have shared regarding poor experience has been 100% truthful.  
  
  Regards,
  
  ******* *******