Gate1Travel
Reviews and Complaints
Very Unhelpful When Problems Arise! Beware!
Please be warned, this company was not helpful when we were stranded, they would not help us meet up with the tour group after our fights were cancelled, they wanted us to deal directly with the airlines even though we were having so many problems rebooking two consecutive cancelled flights. They seemed really helpful when we were buying the tour and answered all our questions, seemed friendly, BUT, once we set off on our trip they were very unhelpful when we encountered problems.
Worst customer service I've ever experienced. Please do your research before booking with any travel company, especially this one.
We ended up canceling our dream Italy vacation because of their lack of help when we needed them most, fortunately we bought our own insurance so we got our money back, but our other family members who did make it on the trip said the accommodations and meals were sub-par, and they felt ripped off. Beware.
- Very poor customer service
Preferred solution: provide customer service, don't leave people stranded, train your staff to actually help
The worst company of my life.
Stiff , unreasonable %35 - %50 penalty 2.5 months before departure
under all sold out condition. Terrible policy.
Terrible company. Terrible president and customer service.
Money is king for them not people they work for.
others... They do not care about people. The king in this company is money. I should read this review before any booking with Gate 1 Travel.
Unfortunately , I was too much relying on the human decency. "Beware of using Gate 1 Travel. First, you are required to put down a deposit which you are told is to hold services. Should you decide to cancel, you are not given the deposit back as the company will tell you that they paid a penalty for the canceled service.
This is not the case. Gate 1 banks your deposit - sometimes a year in advance of travel - and collect interest and pays NO cancellation fee to its vendors. If you are booking a tour, beware. Many times in the past, the owner, Dani Pipano is aware the tour will not be running or that MAJOR attractions advertised will not be available - however, employees are not allowed to tell the passenger instead are required to wait until just 14 days before travel to tell you that you won't get to see what you've paid for.
The logic is: you'll go anyway because you've purchased other services in conjunction w/ this trip. Ie, it will cost you too much to cancel. If you complain enough, you will get a credit for future travel. Your trip is ruined and Gate 1 thinks $50 per person toward future travel will make a difference.
The owner is currently looking for ways to cut costs - its a major campaign of his. He is downgrading hotels, cutting costs on contracts so that vendors are not as willing to cooperate and systematically letting go some of his more seasoned employees, replacing with new graduates with no background. These new employees are diligent and eager to learn - but it can be at your expense. With very low pay, you get very low commitment - this is who is booking your trip of a lifetime.
The company employees about 3-4 FULL TIME people who read complaints all day. Most are answered - however, even 2 employees at 8 hours a day.....do the math. There are a LOT of complaints. Do your homework - don't accept what it says on the website.
Don't accept hotel changes and last minute substitutions....you are getting bottom of the barrel and its not right. " I would not recommend this company to my friends of family.
- Stiff 35 50 penalty 2 and a half month before departure
Preferred solution: Full refund
11 Days (sort of) Southern Italy
Haven't even gone on the trip yet and already some bait and switch concerns. The trip is advertised as "11 day tour" but they count the travel days on both ends as part of tour!
Very disingenuous. Then they advertise the price - land only is $1899 but there's only one trip at that price. Trip I booked was listed at $1999 but has now gone to over $2200 even after $200 deposit. I just returned from 6 week tour thru Spain, Portugal, France, Switzerland and Italy partly using 2 tours with less cost and almost 2x the amount of time.
They also use American hotels rather than local accommodations which any monkey could plan their own trip using Hilton (boring). I leave in over 6 months and only booked with this company since my friend I'm going with wanted to use them, but I do not have great hopes of this going well....
- Only using them cuz my friend wants to
- See above comments
Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution
Gate1travel - Tour Review
Gate1travel - Tour Booking Review
Do Not Use Gate 1
Seem's we should have done our research. We have been receiving the ol' runaround since September 2016 for our upcoming February 2017 Iceland trip.
We can not make it during the date offered and we also were sold the "Cancel at anytime" insurance. Apparently the person on the other end of the phone sold us a third party insurance from TravelEx and after fee's we were told they could gladly give us about $98 bucks back. Yay, thank you Gate 1. After we called the first time they told us they understood and we could expect a refund.
We received an email stating we would not get a refund. We called again, same story but they apologized. This went on for 4 months. Now it's at the point were their fine print kicks in and it's leaning toward their favor.
They get to keep at least 90% of what was paid.
The insurance can not be refunded even though it's non-usable and Gate 1 wins again. It's a tuff lesson to learn but I suppose we have learned there will be no trip, no money and Gate 1 will keep on stealing peoples hard earned money.
- Lack of follow up
- Agent attitude
- Customer service
Preferred solution: Full refund
Bait and Switch
On December 22 I made a reservation for the “13 Day Chile and Argentina with Patagonia’s Glacier” trip with a single supplement and business class airfare leaving from JFK on February 1rst. I paid for the airline portion ($2.873.16) and a $300.00 deposit for the trip.
I was informed that Gate 1 needed to get confirmation from the airlines about availability on that specific date and that they would call me in the morning of the following day to confirm. I did not get a call. I called that afternoon and was informed that my trip has been cancelled because there was no availability in one of the hotels (nothing about the airlines and I was not informed when I caledl to me the reservations that there was a question about hotel availability). When I asked why none one had called me, I was told that there were “about 300 people they had to call and that I was on the list”.
Needless to say, my trip was cancelled and was not able to rebook at another time because of my schedule. There were no apologies about not having been called and they seemed rather infuriated that I was upset over the way things were handled. On Wednesday December 28, I called Gate 1 again to book the “5 Day Iceland’s Northern Lights” trip leaving on January 30th with two optional tours, for two people. I was informed when booking and on the website that “One or more of the services that you have selected may not be available” and was again informed that I would be called within three days to let me know if everything was available.
I paid the requested deposit of $400.00 and was told that I needed to pay the reminder balance on line. I also got an email informing me that I needed to pay the full balance of the trip by the 28th. I called Gate 1 twice to get information on their offer of saving 5% of the cost if I paid in cash or by check. They informed me that because the trip was just over a month away that I would not be able to take advantage of that offer.
When I pointed out that on their website it says that the check should be received “within 5 business days following the due date”, I was still informed that that explanation did not apply to me because I was too close to the departure date. I made an online payment of the full balance on that same day. I got a call the following day to inform me that there was no hotel available for the price that I have paid. I was also quickly told that there was another room available for that trip on the same hotel but that it would cost me an extra $200.00.
I told them that it seemed to be that it was a “bait and switch’ situation. That if they were telling me that I needed to pay in full in order to ensure my reservation, why are they telling me now that there is no room available at the price they advertise but at a higher price. I spoke to one of the representative on the phone and asked to speak to a supervisor, she refused to transfer me until I repeatedly requested to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor told me the same information.
I then requested to speak to her supervisor and was again told that it was not necessary. I continued to request and she hesitantly gave me the name of her manager, Ryan Devlin and told me that he was not available, I insisted once again and she told me to leave a message on his voice mail. Mar Devlin called me back and proceeded to inform me that Gate 1 buys a block of rooms at the hotel and that once that number of rooms is used, they cannot get more rooms. But that sometimes the hotel has “extra” rooms they can use.
When I asked him why the date was still available if the rooms were already used, he said again that sometimes the hotel provides extra rooms for them. I then asked why are they requesting full payment when they know they have used all their allotted rooms and are not sure if any extra rooms will be available, and why is the travel date still available on the website if they know they have sold all the rooms available. I told him that it appears to me to be a bait and switch situation because you’re telling me that the room at the advertised price, for which you requested full payment, is not available but you are quoting me a higher price at the same hotel. That to me is a bait and switch….
I asked to provide me with the room at the price that they advertised and he refused, so I cancelled, once again, my vacations plans with Gate 1.
I am really upset and frustrated at the way both reservations were handled and at Gate !’s inability to make good on their advertised product. They are advertising a product that is not available and charging you for it and then attempting to raise the price when they cannot deliver on their promise.
Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution
Broken shoulder - not only lost the trip but the money too!
We were supposed to be going to Vietnam on Dec 28th. On Dec 3rd I fell and broke my shoulder bone.
I spent 4 nights in the hospital and had a surgery. I have a medical leave from work until Jan 14th. When we get in touch with Gate1, right after the broken shoulder, they said we do not have the insurance that will give a refund and the penalty is 90%! They said their providers will not give them a refund since it is 30 days before the trip.
Now I am asking the whole world, when someone is hospitalized and have a medical report, the penalty will be 90%! Is it acceptable customer service? What kind of business are they running not to care about medical report, doctor and university hospital? They made us write an email asking them for the 10% refund and accepting the 90% loss.
They will ask their vendors if they can book the same trip for another date. We begged them that we do not want the money but would like to postpone it until Jan 14th! We had 3 trips with GateOne . This was our 4th and have the 5th one paid for a trip in May.
I wish I can cancel the 5th trip but they did not agree to that one as well. I WILL NEVER DO ANYTHING WITH GATE1 AGAIN! They have very bad public relations, terrible rules, very difficult to understand cancellation and insurance policies. Maybe when one dies they will say you can get your money back in the grave!
So be CAREFUL with Gate1!
They DO NOT CARE ABOUT MEDICAL REPORTS, Doctors, University Hospitals AND SPECIAL CONDITIONS. I will never give my business to an institution like GATE1 again!
- Doctors and hospital report can not postpne the trip
Preferred solution: Full refund
Horrible Company with horrible ethics
Preferred solution: Price reduction
Can't get any worst, I hope
2 reviews
1.0 star rating 10/14/2016
I've been a long time customer of Gate 1 Travel for many years, I've gone on over 10 tours with them over the last 5 years. But there's something different about the company that has happened within the last year or so.
It seems to be more concentrated on profits and less on the enjoyment and personal safety of the customer. A prime example was my latest booking to Russia and the Baltics, the website indicated the price for the trip on my particular date was 3249.00. However, when my reservation was made over the telephone with a Gate 1 Travel CSR it ended up being 3449.00.
After realizing the error, I tried to correct the problem directly with Gate 1. The phone bank supervisor, Caroline, handled the call in a very unprofessional manner. Stating Gate 1 can charge any price it wants and if I authorized the charge on my credit card that they would leave me stranded on the road and take my deposit.
Obviously not something you want to hear from a company that is responsible for you safety halfway across the world. My advice to anyone here, would be to research the destination tour fully. Gate 1 often sub-contracts out the tours to local ( and sometimes dangerous) companies just to earn a pretty penny. Save yourself the inconvenience and dangers of traveling abroad and go with a more competent and customer friendly agency.
- Website
- Misleading sales
- Threatening
- Customer service
Preferred solution: Price reduction
Russian River Cruise
- Itinerary
- See previous email
Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution
Gate1travel - Tour Guide Review from Oslo, Oslo
Customer service
- Experienced was not there the 2nd time
- Second time booked tour
- Will be the last
Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution
The representative refused to recognize my name or the quote (even though we had spoken many times) - acted rude and *** - what a bait and switch organization
Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution
Never again
- Poor customer service
- Information supplied
Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution
Thank You for Your Reply! We are processing your message.
Your comment is successfully posted.
I have read a number of Gate1 reviews doing my research for a proposed holiday and I think the adage ' you get what you pay for' seems to sum up the Gate1 experience comments.
If a price seems too good to be true do your homework is my advice. So after reading many reviews I will follow my own advice and look elsewhere.
Thanks for your review. You probably saved me a headache. I will look elsewhere.
Scotty
Fairfax, VA
It is always unfortunate when winter storms effect travel plans and we do understand how disappointing this can be. While our staff does their best to provide the options available we are sorry if you felt they were not helpful. We are glad to know that you did have travel protection but certainly regret if any part of the trip did meet your traveling companions expectations.