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Southwest Vacations a Fraud

Steffen101
Explorer C

So I had a Vacation set up with Southwest Vacations and because of the world at large, the destination I was going was not open.  So once I found this out I called to see about a refund.  Southwest had already changed my flight status prior.  So I get a hold of Southwest Vacations after waiting over an hour on the phone.  Told them my destination was not available for the 4th of July and what will you do.  They told me they would give me a vaca worth 25% more if I took at a later time.  I said NO, then they told me they could refund my vacation to me and I said Yes, but they did say the Southwest Airlines portion of the package would have to be a credit.  Even though I did not want this I accepted. ($5,000.) back to my credit card in  7-10 days.  The agent went off and said he wanted to confirm the airfare portion was cancelled.  He then told me Southwest Airlines would refund the money for the Airline portion, I said great.  Blah, blah and I have to wait.  10 days pass and no refund.  Get back on the phone waiting, ugh, and now they exclaim 60-90 days for a refund.  Really with today's technology?  Well now it comes out, Southwest Vacations is nothing but a front for Apple Leisure Group out of Chicago.  They took the Southwest name and logo and Southwest Air only gets the flights.  This is an absolute fraud.  Good luck trying to get to them, they hide behind their people and answering machines.  I contacted Southwest Customer Relations and they told me they refunded the money to Southwest Vacation which is APPLE LEISURE 2 days after I cancelled and sent them the refund.  I am 62 days and no refund.  Southwest Airlines is doing nothing to help me but give me double talk and apologies.   Apple Leisure I am afraid will go belly up and I will receive none my money.  Shame on Southwest, a company that I held in high regard to find this out.  I will never use your services again, I will never recommend your services you are a fraud.

10 REPLIES 10

Re: Southwest Vacations a Fraud

bec102896
Aviator A
Solution

Sorry to hear of all the troubles your going through while dealing with southwest vacations. Your not the first complaint I have heard of from that company the best thing to do is keep contacting southwest vacations until you get your money back.  How do I contact Southwest Vacations®? 

Re: Southwest Vacations a Fraud

joelle010380
Explorer B

Hello Did you ever get your refund?? I'm fighting the same thing and I can't seem to get my money back even tho it was sent back to Apple vacations in December

Re: Southwest Vacations a Fraud

jksobonya
Aviator A

I think you might have misunderstood. Per your own words: "but they did say the Southwest Airlines portion of the package would have to be a credit."

 

You are not getting money refunded - you are getting travel credit for the flight portion - as well as  the land/feature portion of your vacation, I believe. This is standard policy for Southwest Vacations. If you had Travel Protection, you might be eligible for a credit card refund for the land/feature portion of your vacation but this has to be requested within 60 days of the cancellation (or you will also get a credit). 

 

Did you check your Southwest Vacations balance and see that a credit was applied? 

 

You can read more of the policy here:

 

https://www.southwestvacations.com/package-terms-conditions/ 

 

3. Modification, Cancellation, Refund and No Show Policies

If your plans change, your right to a refund is limited and subject to penalties and fees as noted herein. You must immediately notify your travel agent or Southwest Vacations to cancel or make changes to your vacation package.

 

If you decline Travel Protection and cancel your booking, any refund due for the land/ feature portion of your booking (after applicable penalties) will be in the form of a travel credit from Southwest Vacations. If booked with Wanna Get Away fare and you cancelled your flight at least 10 minutes prior to travel, the air portion of your booking will be refunded in a Southwest Airlines air credit, which may be used on a future Southwest Vacation. Anytime and Business Select fares are refundable back to the original form of payment or choose to convert the air credit.  Contracted group bookings will be refunded in the original form of payment. If you purchased Travel Protection and are eligible for a partial or full refund in original form of payment, the land portion of the refund due will automatically become a travel credit if not requested at 60 days from the date of cancellation. Travel credits are valid for 12 months from date of issue and must be used for travel prior to expiration date, are nontransferable and nonrefundable, have no cash value, and are issued in the name of the passengers on the original reservation. Standard change and cancellation policies apply to bookings made with travel credits. Travel credits will be held on the original booking.

 

Southwest Vacations does not charge any modification or cancellation fees for the air portion of your vacation package. In case of a modification, Southwest Vacations will apply the value of the reusable air to the new air on the modified reservation. If the reusable air value cannot be applied to the reservation, it can be redeemed by the same passenger for future air travel which must be completed by the expiration date. Redemption information will be provided at time of modification/cancellation.  Once booked, any modifications or cancellations to the hotel, rental car, or features/excursions on an existing reservation are subject to supplier penalties up to the full component price. You may avoid supplier penalties by purchasing the Southwest Vacations’ Travel Protection option. Certain excursion operators only allow a refund if canceled upon notice to them. Contact the excursion company for the applicable notice provision and to arrange a refund. Many hotel reservations are nonrefundable and nontransferable, and you may be charged 100% cancellation/change penalties.

 

All modifications and cancellations must be communicated to Southwest Vacations no later than ten (10) minutes prior to scheduled departure to allow time to process the modification and avoid “No Show” forfeiture of your funds. Modifications made within 24 hours of departure must be communicated through your travel agent or by calling Southwest Vacations’ 24-hour traveler assistance line at 1-800-775-7105. If you booked on Southwest Vacations website or through the Southwest Vacations contact center, contact Southwest Vacations directly at 1-800-243-8372.

 

All changes and cancellations are subject to availability, limitations, restrictions and fees imposed by Southwest Vacations and hotel and feature/excursion suppliers. Once travel has begun, there will be no refunds for any unused or partially used non air travel component for any reason. There will be no refunds for any unused or partially used Wanna Get Away fare for any reason. Anytime and Business Select fares are refundable back to the original form of payment or choose to convert the airfare into Travel Funds

 

All refunds must be requested within 60 days of the date of cancellation. If you booked through a travel agent, your travel agent must submit the electronic refund request. If you booked on the Southwest Vacations website or through the Southwest Vacations contact center, please email your request to refund@southwestvacations.com. Acceptance of a refund constitutes a waiver by passenger of all rights and remedies under applicable law.

 

Customers who fail to cancel reservations for a Wanna Get Away® fare segment at least 10 minutes prior to travel and who do not board the flight will be considered a “no show”, and all remaining unused Wanna Get Away® funds will be forfeited. All remaining unused Business Select® and Anytime® funds will be converted to reusable travel funds for the originally ticketed Passenger only.

 

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--Jessica

Re: Southwest Vacations a Fraud

bwallet
Frequent Flyer A

That terms and conditions portion doesn't say anything about if Southwest modifies the flights. Is there a statement in there about that?

Re: Southwest Vacations a Fraud

awindram
Explorer C

 Yes, we can all read the policy, but when an agent on the phone tells you that they are going to make an exception and  issue a refund the customer should be able to trust that.  Southwest Vacations is the most dishonest and incompetent company I have ever worked with.  

Re: Southwest Vacations a Fraud

rlwilson399
Explorer C

Same thing happened to me. Some one should warn people before purchase a vacation. I hope someone starts a class action - I will join.

I am surprise Southwest lets them use their name! What a ripe off.

Re: Southwest Vacations a Fraud

chgoflyer
Aviator A

Complaints about Southwest Vacations are frequent. Unfortunately, Southwest Airlines apparently receives enough ancillary income (and flight bookings) from them to offset any concerns about damage to their brand.

 

If one does decide to book through Southwest Vacations (which I don't recommend) they should be sure to carefully read all the fine print.

Re: Southwest Vacations a Fraud

SthWstVaKScam
Explorer C

Something similar happened to me. Southwest cancelled my flight a couple of hours before I was sue to fly out and couldn't get me on another flight until two days later, which wouldn't work for us.  I called Southwest Vacations and notified them that the trip had been cancelled(at the time I still believed they were genuinely Southwest Airlines) and they argued with me stating that the flight was only delayed. I had to send them the email that Southwest Airlines sent me cancelling(not delaying) the flight.  It took over 10 calls and hours on hold but they finally said they would REFUND me, I confirmed it was a refund, not a travel credit. 

 

I have been calling to get it resolved ever since.  It's been over a month now.  So far all they have done is issue credits (not the refund they promised) for less than half what I paid for the trip. No one ever knows what is going on with my account. There are always long holds and I have to be transfer.  I am given different information each time as well.  Most recently they told me I had to send an email to customer service... which was returned to me because the inbox is full(customerservice@southwestvacations.com)!!! This is the worst experience I've ever had with any company. 

Re: Southwest Vacations a Fraud

CupCrusher40
Frequent Flyer B

Yes Southwest great on flights but separate hotels website may be little faster/cheaper.