Review Time
Buyer beware about Gate 1 travel insurance company, Arch Insurance. And beware of Gate 1 for selling it and collaborating with them on denying my claim. I have used Gate 1 in past and totally loved and recommended. Never had to use the insurance before though. You can look up Arch's BBB complaints, and I see some here also. I have appealed several times and am very angry, not only about my issues, but all the others who are being billed by Arch...and Gate 1. I have never written a bad review on a company before. Update: Gate One sent me an email in response to this and just said - yes, Arch insurance had denied my claims. Thanks, I already knew that ! Help me get the money owed!
Deceiving Prices offered . They do not take responsability of errors , even after receiving confirmation of booking . Worst customer service even if you are a long time customer. Be careful when you book with Gate 1 . Book your tour with trust worthy company .
I took a Gate1 tour, represented as a 15-day tour with a Friday departure, which was January 27, 2023. I also paid for two additional nights at the Frangipani Royal Palace Hotel & Spa for which I was charged $159.00. Because the tour was advertised as beginning on January 27, 2023, it was my expectation that the two additional nights I paid for provided accommodations for January 25 and 26. Even though I requested this in approximately July 2022, I was not told until weeks before the trip (after I made flight reservations) that Gate1 used my money to pay for January 26 and January 27, because Gate1 had not reserved accommodations for the beginning of its own advertised tour. The Frangipani was run down and did not have a spa, as advertised and was extremely overpriced. Because I found out at the last minute that I had no place to stay upon my arrival on January 25 (because Gate1 used my money to pay for January 27 without my consent), I was required to make separate reservations; Frangipani charged me $100. Not only did Gate1 fail to provide accommodations for January 27 (Day 1), there were no activities for January 27, the day the tour was supposed to begin. Additionally, there were no activities scheduled for January 28 (Day 2), the second day of the alleged 15-day tour. There were additional days "at leisure" or pay an additional charge for activities. The alleged 15-day tour was, in fact, only 9 days of scheduled activities. Gate 1 admits that “[f]or any escorted tour, Day One is the date of departure from your gateway city; in this case it would have been January 27[,]” but then makes the incredible claim that I opted to arrive early for two pre-tour nights at the hotel, as if this changed Gate 1’s advertised start date of its tour. Gate1 admits that “[a]t no time, did we book or charge you for the night of January 25," the night for which I paid. EXACTLY! At best this is deceptive advertising. This was my first and last tour with Gate1. Travel with them at your peril. You’ve been warned. If there were minus numbers to rate Gate1, I would give them no less than a -5. I’ve also filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission so, hopefully, if there are enough complaints, it will investigate Gate1.
Not worth the discount! Don’t make electronic payments from your checking account. Gate 1 duplicated a $500 payment for a total of $1,000 out of my checking account. I’ve emailed via their “contact us” format and received no reply. Talked with more than one Gate1 representative via telephone. It will take a minimum of 2 weeks for them to return the money (if they follow through). February 6, Gate 1’s reply to this review are the exact ways I’ve reached out. Not sure why using the “contact us” link for a third time, or telephoning the number for a third time will improve their response.
My previous review: I was formerly a big fan of Gate1 travel and always recommended them to friends and family. I have gone on 3 trips with them and was looking forward to many more. I was booked to go to India on February 22 and was very excited about the trip. I had paid in full but did not take any trip insurance. At the time I made my final payment, there were no health issues and I was ready to go. Unfortunately, on January 20, 2023, my previously healthy brother was diagnosed with melanoma and I had to cancel the trip as I am his primary caregiver. I did not want any money back - but rather was hoping I could just apply the amount I had paid to a future trip. Unfortunately, Gate1 was completely inflexible and told me I qualified for a refund of only 50%. I recognize that all of this could have been avoided had I taken out the insurance. But I honestly felt that the company could have bent the rules and helped me out, but that is not the case. Fortunately, there are lots of other travel companies and I will be taking my travel dollars and spending them elsewhere. In the short run, Gate1 may have saved less than $2,000 by not giving me a full refund or applying the funds to a future trip but they will lose at least $50,000 in potential revenue. I will note that the person I spoke with on the phone was very sympathetic, but ultimately it made no difference. I am very disappointed in what I previously thought was a great company. Instead of singing their praises, I will make sure to tell people NOT to use them.Update: The Gate1 people did in fact, call me and rectified the situation. By that time I had received the refund for 50% of the trip. The person I spoke to reviewed my account and saw that I had been a loyal customer and agreed to apply the remaining portion to a future trip, so I am not out of pocket. I felt it was important to provide the follow-up here and tell the whole story. Looking forward to travelling with Gate1 again!
My $3000 Peru trip was interrupted due to nationwide strikes/civil and political unrest which happened after our arrival where we were held against our will in the Urubamba sacred valley for multiple days and were awaiting the National Military to take control of the region and reopen local airports which had been overtaken by protestors. Our original airport we were supposed to depart from in Juliaca did not reopen until the following week as strikes and riots were more violent in that region, so we had to make alternative arrangements to fly out of the Cusco Airport once it reopened so that we could get back to Lima International Airport in order to fly to the US from there. This took 4 days of negotiating with local strikers involving the mayor and local police at times which did not work and finally we had to depart under the cover of night, physically remove road barriers, bribe strikers to let us pass and not throw rocks at our bus in order to make our flight. We made it through luckily but some other busses that left the area after us that evening did not and were held hostage by strikers 30 minutes outside of Cusco city. It was a treacherous trip which caused me and others on the tour much duress, many sleepless nights and was far from anything that could be considered a vacation, which is what I thought I was paying for. I also had to change my flight back to the US because the new flight departure time from Cusco was later than the original one from Juliaca and I could not make my original flight. I arrived in the US a day later than originally scheduled and had to cancel travel I was supposed to make for a job interview. We were told by our tour manager that we would receive a refund and it would be better if we had insurance (I did). After 7 months of trying to get this matter resolved with Gate 1 (including contacting the president directly) and their sham Arch insurance company, I was given back $270 and an insulting $200 credit which I will of course not be using. Please be wary that you will be offered ZERO coverage and protection in the event of an incident while traveling and should consider that money gone when booking whether you take the trip you paid for or not.
We bought an insurance from the Gate 1 Travel for the Egypt trip, Dec. 8 -20, 2022. Due to missed a flight (both Gate 1 wrong info, and us did not know the changes), it costed us more than $800 additional, but the Arch Insurance denied all the claims. We know that now, never to buy any insurance through or from Gate 1 travel.
We loved it! We did a tour of Thailand and had a wonderful time. The hotels for first class our guide was wonderful and we had a great experience. We are taking our second tour with them next month to Morocco. I noticed a lot of negative reviews, but I have to say we had a wonderful time and had no issues. Somebody was there to meet us at the airport on arrival and everything went very smoothly.
I’ve taken many trips over the years with Gate 1 prior to Covid. All were exquisitely memorable and wonderful experiences! However I booked one trip where they paid for my travel because it was included. I learned from that one experience to always book my own travel. Fortunately I chose to book different return flights from China. My travel partner was stuck 3 days in the airport while I had the best experiences getting to my destination even though my flight cancelled due to a flat tire, the airline placed us in two hotels with meals and arrived in less than two days. I also learned never book travel insurance through Gate1 the hard way. Note that even if you use outside insurance they give you a hard time providing documentation. Post Covid our flights cancelled to Fiji due to a cyclone. Our travel insurance company paid us in full after 30 days. Do your homework. Protect yourself while traveling.
I have traveled 18 times with Gate One, have referred dozens to them, feel they are a terrific value ,BUT….Their discovery tours you pay more for, and get a higher level of service.Booked Patagonia trip for 2, in March, called them in October with airline question, was told, all our flights were cancelled. Really? When were you going to tell me?Spent total of 5 hours overs 2 days trying to rebook. Asked for manager, too busy, they’d call me back, never did. I tried repeatedly to get manager involved, never could. I had to pay $3200 for new flights. I paid for the trip in September in full. So I paid for flights twice!!!!!! Many emails even to owner of gate one, no resolution.At the very least I am owed $950 x2 ( the original difference if booked land only price), so $1900 due to me for buying flights twice.Gate one has asked me to be patient, well, now I need money back!!! Not patience left!!!!Stop avoiding me, do the right thing for a loyal long term always happy customer. This need’s resolution now!!!If they treat someone who travels with them this much, this way, would you be confident booking with them????
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