UTOvacation Omdömen 

Beware of this company! They cannot be trusted!! We had booked and paid for a trip to China for April 2020 with another couple, which was cancelled due to the pandemic. We were issued travel vouchers and planned to use them for a trip to Peru in Sept, 2024. They had agreed to extend our credit which they did not. I was unable to speak to anyone when I called to question and resolve the issue, and was always directed to Emails and Chats which got nowhere! The other couple's credit expires in June though all of their current trips are outrageously expensive. This has been a horrible experience and loss of money! They refuse to be accountable.

Our Inquiry to UTO via email: We originally booked a 12 day trip to Thailand and China departing on March 2nd, 2023. Unfortunately, China was not allowing visitors at that time, so through no fault of our own, we needed to cancel the trip and then try to reschedule. Since then, we have checked your site hundreds of times but every time we tried to book a comparable trip, it was marked as temporarily unavailable. We have had no luck whatsoever in booking any comparably priced trip since then. Our travel credit (already paid $1792.00) expires on June 20th in less than a month. We have already spoken/chatted with both Becky and Joyce but have not been able to get any help from them. So, we are hoping you can help us with our dilemma. It would be acceptable for you to either issue us a refund of our already paid $1792 or extend the time we have to try and book a future trip by at least one year. Additionally acceptable would be for you to find us an available trip to Asia for approximately $2392.00 total cost, for 2 people, we were committed to paying, under the terms and conditions of that specific trip. Finally, we would be open to paying an additional $2200 ($4000 total cost) if required, including airfare, if you can find us a comparable trip to Asia for both of us. Any dates would be acceptable. Thank you very much for your help!!!

UTO Response from Joanna in customer service: There is a travel credit in your account ready for your use. According to the Terms and Conditions, the travel credit is not refundable. In addition, we are not able to extend any credit expiry date since our suppliers do not give any exception to credit extension after the pandemic. Please be reminded to use the credit to book for any trip with available dates before its expiry date June 20, 2024, and your departure date can be afterwards.

Calling TICO first thing when they open tomorrow to see if they can help!
TICO
Travel Industry Council of Ontario
460 - 55 Standish Crt
Mississauga, ON L5R 4B2
905-624-6242
1-888-451-8426

Here is a copy of the Terms and Conditions of our trip at the time the trip was booked:
Trip Cancellation and Eligible Refunds 
Please ensure you have read the Trip Cancellation Policy in full and have not scrolled past or by-passed this section. 
UTOvacation reserves the right to cancel or modify a tour prior to departure date. An alternative departure date will be offered for no extra charge should there be any travel restrictions, lock-downs imposed by governments, health organizations, travel bureaus. A full travel credit will be offered for future trip rebooking or rescheduling if there are extreme cases happening which are all beyond our control including but not limited to any global pandemics, regional epidemics, wars, or any other acts of god.
All passenger cancellation or change requests must be confirmed in written form by email or fax including your reservation number, full name and date of travel, cancellations will only be accepted in writing. 
Any cancellation of issued flight tickets before outbound departure (all the segments are unused) at the originally issued place would incur a penalty charge of CAD/USD 350.00 per ticket. No refund will be issued once travel has begun. 
Cancellation terms will be applied based on the date that the written cancellation is received and based on the following dates prior to departure. 

As you have read from everyone else, our story is not any different. In June 2021 we got hooked in with this advertisement from Travelzoo: China Price Buster 10 days with flights depart from LAX for $299. Incredible price, right? Me and my two other siblings with our spouses purchased it thinking we will be leaving on 10/29/22 for China. NOT! It was canceled due to COVID and the total amounts were converted to credit. The same trip now cost $5,999 and without flights would cost $2,999. Even if we want to use the credits for other trips we couldn’t do it because all of their tours are in the thousands. After reading Yelp, Google, and Trustpilot reviews the only option for us is to forfeit or paying thousands more to go on the same trip with this scammer. Unfortunately, it seems like they have gotten away with lots of money from so many others including myself.
I have filed my complaint with the BBB and you’ll be glad to hear that UTOVacation is no longer a BBB Accredited Business and currently shows that they have been Revoked on their profile.
The BBB recommended to contact the licensing body for UTO o file a grievance. Here’s the info provided to me:
TICO
Travel Industry Council of Ontario
460 - 55 Standish Crt
Mississauga, ON L5R 4B2
905-624-6242
1-888-451-8426

Please spread the word and file as many complaints and grievances as you can to the different agencies so that other consumers don’t fall into the same trap as we have.

In Nov 2019 I purchased from UTO Vacation a 10-day China tour for a trip departure in Oct 2020. Due to Covid-19 my trip was first re-scheduled to May 2021 and later re-scheduled again to Oct 2022. In June 2022 UTO emailed me to advise that due to ongoing China travel restrictions that my second re-scheduled tour would not occur in Oct 2022. Unlike the first two above instances, UTO did not offer to reschedule even though many Oct 2023 tour dates were showing available on their website. Instead UTO Vacation insisted that I take a travel credit for another tour, even though they were actively selling scheduled dates to new consumers for my tour. They force these travel credits on consumers in a manner to circumvent honoring the tours that consumers already purchased from them. These travel credits apply to different itineraries, price ranges, meal plans, and exclusions.

There is sufficient evidence supporting a class action that during the 2020 – 2023 period UTO Vacation continued to market, sell, and book dates for the same – identical - tours with new customers while refusing to reschedule already paid tours even after China re-opened. They don’t even dispute this behavior and there’s been a very clear multi-year pattern starting from the Covid period:
1. They used Covid as a smoke screen to justify not working with customers to get their China trips rescheduled even after China re-opened. Instead they continued to sell and book new revenue from new prospective customers all throughout China's travel ban while refusing to assist existing customers to reschedule their tours.
2. UTO Vacation changed their Terms & Conditions and then arbitrarily applied the T&C to earlier booked trips that contained different provisions. Their whole scam of imposing travel credits on customers appears to have been added to their T&C later on and then retroactively applied to customers that weren’t subject to that provision. Their prior T&C indicated that UTO Vacation provides alternative travel dates at no extra charge for tours
Thankfully at least their BBB accreditation has been revoked.

I purchased a trip to China that was canceled due to covid, and the amount was converted to credit. However, all trips are now thousands more so I'm faced with either just forfeiting $1600 or paying thousands more to go on the same trip with this questionable company! After reading similar reviews, it seems like they make tons of money 'graciously' converting deposits and payments to credit, but making people ultimately pay much more or forfeit their credit. So much for the "UTO Worry Free Plan". Unfortunately a $1600 lesson to travel with a more reputable company.

This is a horrible company. Our 8 day vacation was 7 calendar days. Instead of flying from Dallas to London on a 9 hour direct flight, they flew us to Istanbul doubling our flight time both ways. You won't get your itinerary until 30 days before your travel when it's too late to cancel. If you call them they will tell you to chat. When you finally get someone on chat, they will tell you to email. When you email, they won't answer but will send you a text asking you to call their main number. Horrible company..please don't use the. We left late at night the first day and traveled all day the next. On our last day our flight was first thing in the morning. Our trip was so short because of how they booked it, we hardly got to see anything.

Please beware of this company. Do NOT book with them. They are a bait and switch company based in Canada! They post trips for a certain price, then cancel because they claim that not enough people booked for that trip. They do not give a refund and then they try to reschedule you for dates to their convenience, whether you're available or not. Once you are considering rebooking, they tell you that now you have to pay Uber a $1000 more to book the new trip. Because that one is more expensive. They now also book you from a fully guided tour into a "semi guided tour" Which is essentially you make your way from the airport to the hotel? Somebody will meet you at the hotel to help you check-in. And that's pretty much it. You're kind of on your own until the next city. The tours are not provided. They tell "Oh, you can book these tours on your own", but yet they charge you for them in the original booking price. Please look at the reviews on the BBB Or all of the different travel websites like tripadvisor or just do a simple, Google search and you will see how many people have complained of this bait and switch and have been swindled out of thousands of dollars. I myself was scammed out of over $6000!

I've booked a trip for Oct 2023 to China-Japan and paid in 2022. UTO canceled the trip in 10 days before departure with the promise they will give me a refund in 6-8 weeks. The money never came. I'm still fighting for my refund. DO NOT USE THEM! They are scams...

Supposedly booked a 5 star beachfront hotel in Phuket and were severely disappointed. We ended up checking out of our hotel early, after only a couple days due to the fact that the beach was not swimmable; it was so dirty and polluted the hotel staff did not recommend swimming there. On top of this, there was nothing close by and it would have cost as much in taxis expenses to go to a clean beach every day than to stay at a different hotel.

We also paid for a 3rd person, full price for each person, to be told the ONLY difference is we get a portable cot in our room. Wow. Ripoff. I feel like UTO has been deceptive in its descriptions in its advertisements of the trip. We were extremely unhappy.

Like many of the other 1-star reviews. China trip cancelled, rebooked with my credit but the credit was never applied (as I was told it had been). Went to check the trip information and was told I still owe $2,000 and I couldn't use my credit because it expired two weeks prior. Would make zero concessions and were unwilling to help in any way. 3 years later and $2,000 wasted.

Too bad there is no zero rating. Check Canada's BBB rating on this company before you book. Tour was originally for Thailand/ China in 2020 but cancelled due to Covid. We're given travel credit & rebooked it Oct. 26, 2023 BUT now for more money. July 5, 2023 UTO informed us when we called to make final payment that our trip was NOT processed and had been CANCELED due to late final payment. The company DID NOT send any notification/email that they were going to cancel us. We AGAIN rebooked this time for Turkey for more money land only tour. At the time of booking, Turkey required a visa so we paid UTO $220 ( $110 per person) for a visa service. Feb. 2, 2024- I emailed UTO to inquire if there are other requirements they need to complete our visa (we have submitted ALL they need) and they responded that yes they have all they need. March 26, 2024- Not trusting this company anymore, after researching it on my own, I found out that Turkey no longer required visas for US travelers as of Dec 2023. NO correspondence were received from UTO regarding this important info even though they know Turkey do NOT need a visa for US residents and we had paid for it. I requested a refund for the $220 visa service we paid but UTO said we cannot get a refund but we have the option to use the $220 for optional activities. The choices given were either more expensive than our credit for the visa or we will lose money for a cheaper activity so we chose the lunch that'll cost (surprise!!) exactly $110 per person thinking maybe this is a special type of a lunch w/ a show. At the restaurant we found out our travel mates paid ONLY $35 usd for the SAME lunch we paid $110 usd PER PERSON!!! Buyer beware on this company! File a BBB complaint and save the next customer.

If I could give a ZERO it would go to this company. It is the worst on so many levels. Shady business and you know you are hitting a nerve when a representative of the company calls and tells you "to do the right thing" and take down a negative review. We gave up as and lost our money as we did not trust travelling with them. (UTO-Ugly Travel Organization)

Last minute travel itinerary and hotel assignments which were not anywhere near the airports I booked because they never told me which was closer. Taxi prices for a 1 hr ride are killer! Hotels in cheaper areas but some had transportation nearby which is good because most days there was no included tour-another great expense to add. Lots of walking so bring comfortable shoes! Our guide Noriko was great-she helped us to navigate transportation and book independent outings. Final cost with all the add-ons was much more than original price. I will never book with them again.

UTO vacation canceled twice my tour to china and Thailand,they do not make refunds,all the tours that they are offering are extremely expensive,while I just spent a week in Madrid and Barcelona,for a$1.000 dollars,UTO are offering 6 days in Barcelona for over $6.500 dollars

I booked a trip with 3 others. 2 of my companions failed to send their passports on time. We were all canceled. Credit is worthless when the only thing it can be applied to is trips that cost 10-20 times what the original trip cost. There are disclaimers for everything they do- not responsible for emails that go to junk (and they use multiple addresses, so even though I mark them as safe, another comes through from somebody else.) I was the only one to receive correspondence. I was baited for months with "sold out" tags on similar discounted trips. They were working on coordinating more. Now, my $800 trip is $8000. And it's several thousand less at any other reputable agency. It was odd that the passports needed to be turned in 30 days before the final payment. It was odd that the people who didn't send their passports in weren't notified. We are stuck with credits that are worthless. Run.

Every hotel we had was a long way from the cities and had subpar food. We paid a mandatory tip and assumed it would be for our travel guide, who was fantastic, they told me not to worry about where the tip goes. 240 for two of us. We also paid for 2 visas as it was required last July. By January we didn't need one. I called twice and they said they would check thier "agencies". No reply. Very unethical company. By the way their add ons are more expensive than doing it yourself. The plus is our trip to Turkey was wonderful because of our excellent tour guide.

Son estafadores, primero dijeron que se cancelaba el viaje luego me dijeron que tengo 1 día para subir los pasaportes y comprar vuelos y reagendar todo y ahora dicen que fui yo quien no quiso viajar. No pierdan su dinero

Beware! I booked a trip to China in 2021 which was cancelled due to COVID. I was given a travel credit. Since that time, all trips (except one) are unavailable which the company informed me sold out the day after Thanksgiving. My travel credit will be expiring in September of 2022. They've refused to extend. I look once/week to rebook without success. None of the trips they advertise are available. The rest are ridiculously expensive. In short, this company will be stealing my $1400 since I am unable to rebook without any ramifications in the US since they're based in Canada. I've even tried every other destination - same thing. Trips are "Sold Out" and none of the advertised prices are available. Instead, the prices are insane.

We originally booked a 16 day trip to Thailand & China back in August 2019 for a future date in October 2020. In March of 2020, the world shut down due to Covid-19. UTO advised us that they would be offering travel dates in 2022 as China once again opened their borders to those of us holding a tourist visa. We contacted them via phone and Live Chat to follow up and they advised us that they were still working with the air carriers to get a group rate for their air and land packages. Not once during our conversations did UTO advise us that our trip had been cancelled (June, 2022) and that the money we deposited had turned into a travel credit. Ironically, the travel credit only appeared in our booking months later (Feb, 2023) with an expiration date of April 14, 2024. The rep told us that an email was sent to us back in June 2022 and when we said we never received it and if they could resend it, the rep told us that they weren't able to. We have submitted a complaint to tico.ca and had a follow up call today with one of the complaints officer. She told us that they have forwarded complaints from others to their legal counsel and that while it takes time, they will be the ones making the final decision regarding UTO's unscrupulous practices. Months ago, most of UTO's air and land Asia trips were displaying "Currently Unavailable." Now within the last couple of months, the new wording is "Temporarily Sold Out" including the initial trip we booked back in August of 2019 at an exorbitant discounted price. It could take several months before we learn the legal counsel's decision but meanwhile if you have had a similar experience, please take the time to submit a complaints form online to tico.ca and include any documentation you may have saved including your Live Chats with UTO's rep. It's the principle of doing business with this travel agency that has left us bewildered and mystified. Another important lesson we have learned is when you have the ability to do a Live Chat versus a phone call, you have proof along with a record of the conversation. We are hopeful for a satisfactory resolution.

They canceled my trip without notification and would not issue a refund. Since it was purchased over 2 years ago the credit card will not dispute. Very disappointing, beware!