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**Hopefully the final update 11/12/2020**
Mr. Bateman tried to flag this review because he didn't want people to know the truth. Fact of the matter is we reached a resolution and I updated my reviews to reflect that we reached a solution. It wasn't enough. He wanted them deleted because he didn't the people to know how shady this business is. He harassed me by contacting my business site since I ignored his emails. He called me a liar and said I didn't do what I said I would which was completely false. Then he tries to bribe me by offering me what I originally asked for to remove all existence of my reviews. The public needs to know the truth. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!
**Another update 11/11/2020"
DO NOT use this service. Not only did I have to write legitimate, truthful reviews on multiple sites about this company just to get 50% of my deposit back due to a global pandemic and being unable to travel as well as losing work and not being able to afford daily living. Now I am being harassed by the owner of the business asking me to take down all of my reviews because he gave me only 50% of my deposit. Our agreement was that I would remove the negative review and I did so by updating what I had previously written stating that we had come to terms. But now he won't leave me alone. This is as un-professional as it gets. STAY AWAY!
**Updated review 07/16/2020**
After much back and forth and going through the Better Business Bureau, Mycostarica.org and I have reached an agreement to refund 50% of my deposit.
Original review post below:
I wanted to love this company but I've only come into terrible customer service with them. I booked in February 2020 with full intentions on traveling in August 2020 until Covid-19 happened in March 2020 and shelter in home and travel restrictions were put on everyone across the world.
I even sent in to get a passport renewal in February for this trip. But the passport agency froze, as with the rest of the world. People out of work and not allowed to leave their homes due to worldwide pandemic.
I contacted Costarica.org to cancel our upcoming trip and to get my deposit back because of the global pandemic. They did not want to release my deposit stating that I had signed a contract and was responsible for it. If a global pandemic wasn't happening, there would be absolute reason for me to go on vacation, but here we are in July 2020 and cases are still rising with a lot of countries not allowing for essential travel.
The resort in which we were supposed to stay at isn't even open to the the public. There are 14 day mandated quarantines that are happening. I have lost my job due to Covid. I can't plan for future leaisurelt travel because of all this.
It is absurd that I have lost all my deposit money. I fought with my credit card company to try and get my money back. All Costarica.org has compromised to do is give me a credit, but the catch is I have to use that credit and travel by March 2021.
In these uncertain times, you would think that organizations would look out for one another. I would have most definitely traveled using Coatarica.org once the fate of the world is more stable, but they are forcing me to travel with them in uncertain times when most things aren't even known if they are going to be open.
I've lost my deposit money because there is no way that I am willing to travel in a global pandemic and the unsurety of not having work.
I wish Coatarica.org could have recognized this and worked with me, but they did not.
**Another update 11/11/2020"
DO NOT use this service. Not only did I have to write legitimate, truthful reviews on multiple sites about this company just to get 50% of my deposit back due to a global pandemic and being unable to travel as well as losing work and not being able to afford daily living. Now I am being harassed by the owner of the business asking me to take down all of my reviews because he gave me only 50% of my deposit. Our agreement was that I would remove the negative review and I did so by updating what I had previously written stating that we had come to terms. But now he won't leave me alone. This is as un-professional as it gets. STAY AWAY!
**Updated review 07/16/2020**
After much back and forth and going through the Better Business Bureau, Mycostarica.org and I have reached an agreement to refund 50% of my deposit.
Original review post below 03/21/2020:
I wanted to love this company but I've only come into terrible customer service with them. I booked in February 2020 with full intentions on traveling in August 2020 until Covid-19 happened in March 2020 and shelter in home and travel restrictions were put on everyone across the world.
I even sent in to get a passport renewal in February for this trip. But the passport agency froze, as with the rest of the world. People out of work and not allowed to leave their homes due to worldwide pandemic.
I contacted Costarica.org to cancel our upcoming trip and to get my deposit back because of the global pandemic. They did not want to release my deposit stating that I had signed a contract and was responsible for it. If a global pandemic wasn't happening, there would be absolute reason for me to go on vacation, but here we are in July 2020 and cases are still rising with a lot of countries not allowing for essential travel.
The resort in which we were supposed to stay at isn't even open to the the public. There are 14 day mandated quarantines that are happening. I have lost my job due to Covid. I can't plan for future leaisurelt travel because of all this.
It is absurd that I have lost all my deposit money. I fought with my credit card company to try and get my money back. All Costarica.org has compromised to do is give me a credit, but the catch is I have to use that credit and travel by March 2021.
In these uncertain times, you would think that organizations would look out for one another. I would have most definitely traveled using Coatarica.org once the fate of the world is more stable, but they are forcing me to travel with them in uncertain times when most things aren't even known if they are going to be open.
I've lost my deposit money because there is no way that I am willing to travel in a global pandemic and the unsurety of not having work.
I wish Coatarica.org could have recognized this and worked with me, but they did not.
Dear Candie,
We hope this finds you well in these challenging times that we are all facing with the COVID pandemic. I'm glad that we have reached a satisfactory resolution to your cancelled trip. We are very sorry that you feel that you have not received the best customer service from our agency, we have always been available for you and have done our best to find a satisfactory resolution to your trip cancellation. Part of that resolution that we offered originally was a FULL 100% CREDIT of the deposit you made to plan your trip, valid for over 1 year from the time of your cancellation. We have since extended the validity of these credits giving our guest even more time to reprogram their trips and enjoy Costa Rica at a later date.
Our main interest is for all of our clients to experience our beautiful country at some point, and that is why we have gone above and beyond our Payment & Cancellation Policies and are giving our guests an option to reschedule their trips. However, we can understand that the global situation that we are going through due to COVID-19 can make one uneasy about traveling right now, so instead of the credit for a future trip we agreed upon a 50% REFUND of your deposit.
We are a local Costa Rican travel agency with a full team of travel professionals that specialize in planning in custom vacation packages for our guests - offering 24/7 phone support before, during and after their trips. There is a lot of work that goes into planning, booking, cancelling and then rescheduling a clients vacation - yet we charge NO FEE for our services, earning only a commission for making bookings. While nobody could have predicted COVID-19, we try to inform our guests about the inherent risks of travel and always recommend purchasing some sort of travel insurance to protect their investments. As outlined in our Client Agreement, the 25% deposits we collect to plan and book our vacation packages are generally non refundable, as they cover the salaries and office expenses required to provide these vacation planning services.
On behalf of all of our team, we hope to be of assistance to help you plan your trip to Costa Rica at some point. So many people in this peaceful paradise depend on tourism for their livelihoods and we are all here waiting for you whenever you feel comfortable to travel again.
Thank you for working with us to find a mutually agreeable resolution to your cancelled trip.
Jason Bateman
General Manager
My Costa Rica (CostaRica.Org)
I was looking for a quick getaway from the city and contacted Big Bear Getaway. They immediately responded with many choices for excursions and lodging. I highly recommend them!
We went for Labor Day weekend 2019 and luckily just got out in time to miss hurricane Dorian. Thencheck in process was a breeze! We rented a car and didn't know they didn't have a separate parking lot for our car. Luckily there is a small parking lot in the front of the resort for the spa and they let us park there. We even had a bellman rush down the long driveway to help us with our luggage. It was very friendly and our check in process was quick and smooth. Because the storm was heading in we weren't able to take advantage of dining on the pier or going to the private island. But you can't predict Mother Nature and it was not the resorts fault. We did take plenty of advantage of the "quiet pool" with swim up bar. The entire staff was beyond welcoming and attentive. Plenty of choices in restaurants and good food to eat. Overall we had an amazing experience and I would highly recommend this resort to those visiting Nassau!
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Dear Candie,
First of all we apologize for having reached out to you again, it was never our intention to bother you - but rather part of our continual efforts to reach a mutually agreeable resolution for your cancelled trip. We respect your wishes and will certainly cease all communication per your request, although please be aware that you can contact us at anytime if can be of any service whatsoever. Throughout the pandemic we have never closed our office and have always been available to our guests despite having a reduced staff. Our every intention is to do the best we can for our clients and we feel that this is evident in the over 900 positive reviews we have received from some of the 15,000 guests that we've helped since we began operations in 2004.
We are also very sorry to hear about the continued hardship you are experiencing due to COVID, the pandemic has affected so many people across so many industries and we are hopeful that things will return closer to normal someday soon. It is understandable that people are hesitant about traveling right now and that is why we have given our guests the option to reschedule their trips any time through May 2022. In your case, we offered the same consideration - first a full credit valid for up to two years and finally we came to an agreement that you would prefer a 50% refund of your deposit in the amount of $435 instead. Part of that resolution that we came to entailed that you would then update the negative reviews you had been posted online to reflect that we had reached an agreement that you were satisfied with. We politely reached out yesterday when we realized that that had not been done, despite having refunded the agreed amount to you immediately. We take our clients' satisfaction very seriously and we contacted you to see if there was anything else we could do to make things right and even offered you a full refund so that you would amend the reviews to reflect our resolution and make them less critical of our agency.
If this year has taught us anything, it's that life can be unpredictable and things can happen that are beyond all of our control. Now more than ever it's important to have some sort of travel insurance to help protect you should your investment need to cancel your trip for whatever reason. In fact, Costa Rica now requires it for entry into the country as described on the Tourism Board's Official Site. Travel agents perform a service when they plan vacations, make reservations and later cancel them per clients' request. As outlined in our client agreement, the 25% deposits that we collect to book our trips are non refundable as they represent the services provided and the costs incurred in maintaining a full time staff and office. While we can make every attempt to help our guests by offering to reschedule their trips if they feel uncomfortable about traveling, ultimately people need to understand that there is work involved in vacation planning and that travel insurance should be purchased to protect their investments. Although we always send information to our guests about possible companies they can use to purchase travel insurance that would protect their trips and are very clear as to what our Payment and Cancellation Policies are, perhaps we need to try to emphasize how important this is. We apologize if we did not make this clearer to you and if we let you down in anyway.
Sincerely,
Jason Bateman
General Manager
My Costa Rica
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Original Response)
Dear Candie,
We hope this finds you well in these challenging times that we are all facing with the COVID pandemic. I'm glad that we have reached a satisfactory resolution to your cancelled trip. We are very sorry that you feel that you have not received the best customer service from our agency, we have always been available for you and have done our best to find a satisfactory resolution to your trip cancellation. Part of that resolution that we offered originally was a FULL 100% CREDIT of the deposit you made to plan your trip, valid for over 1 year from the time of your cancellation. We have since extended the validity of these credits giving our guest even more time to reprogram their trips and enjoy Costa Rica at a later date.
Our main interest is for all of our clients to experience our beautiful country at some point, and that is why we have gone above and beyond our Payment & Cancellation Policies and are giving our guests an option to reschedule their trips. However, we can understand that the global situation that we are going through due to COVID-19 can make one uneasy about traveling right now, so instead of the credit for a future trip we agreed upon a 50% REFUND of your deposit.
We are a local Costa Rican travel agency with a full team of travel professionals that specialize in planning in custom vacation packages for our guests - offering 24/7 phone support before, during and after their trips. There is a lot of work that goes into planning, booking, cancelling and then rescheduling a clients vacation - yet we charge NO FEE for our services, earning only a commission for making bookings. While nobody could have predicted COVID-19, we try to inform our guests about the inherent risks of travel and always recommend purchasing some sort of travel insurance to protect their investments. As outlined in our Client Agreement, the 25% deposits we collect to plan and book our vacation packages are generally non refundable, as they cover the salaries and office expenses required to provide these vacation planning services.
On behalf of all of our team, we hope to be of assistance to help you plan your trip to Costa Rica at some point. So many people in this peaceful paradise depend on tourism for their livelihoods and we are all here waiting for you whenever you feel comfortable to travel again.
Thank you for working with us to find a mutually agreeable resolution to your cancelled trip.
Jason Bateman
General Manager
My Costa Rica (CostaRica.Org)