Archive for 2009

New airline regulations issued during one of the busiest travel days of the year, immediately caused confusion, cancellations, and delays at many airports.

While TSA’s posted Guidance for Passengers gives the general information needed about the new in-flight restrictions, specific details have been posted on several airport and airline Web sites.

One airline is telling travelers heading to the U.S. that there will be “extra screening of passengers and hand baggage at the gate immediately before boarding.” Another posted notice that, under the TSA-imposed rules, “during the final hour of flight customers must remain seated, and will not be allowed to access carry-on baggage, or have personal belongings or other items on their laps.” And Canada’s West Jet notified passengers that these and other new procedures, such as the limit of one carry-one bag per passengers, are scheduled to be in effect until at least December 30. Airlines flying to the U.S. are instructed to turn off any in-flight entertainment systems with embedded maps or GPS programs showing the plane’s exact location. Pilots and crew members are also told not to make announcements identifying landmarks below.

The TSA website said it will “continuously review these measures to ensure the highest levels of security,” so travelers could very well see changes to the rules rushed out over the weekend.

Do what you can to minimize delays: go online to get a boarding pass and to pay for checked luggage, and double-check to make sure all items in your carry-on bag meet TSA requirements. This is not a good time to argue that your 6oz bottle of toothpaste or shampoo should be allowed through security!! Make sure to get to the airport as early as possible.

Bottom line…Be ready for anything! For more information please visit:

http://www.tsa.gov/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/us/27security.html

The Better Business Bureau recently published an article in the October publication of the BBB Alert on falling victim to “friendly fraud”.

Businesses are increasingly becoming victims of “friendly” fraud – fraud carried out by customers to get items free of charge. The Better Business Bureau warns small business owners to be on the lookout for “friendly” fraud and offers advice on how to protect against this growing online threat.

According to the Wall Street Journal, many companies – for example, the travel site Expedia – are currently seeing up to a 50 percent spike in “friendly” fraud since 2008. The most common types of “friendly” fraud involve cases in which a customer falsely claims they: *never received an item ordered online, *received the wrong item ordered online, or *had their credit card stolen and were charged for items they didn’t order.

The customer should then demand a refund from the business or demand the merchant to issue a chargeback on their credit card. When friendly fraudsters are unable to coax reimbursements from a business directly, many then issue chargeback’s to their credit card companies. Creditors will investigate the situation, asking for the business owner’s side of the story before deciding whether or not the business is at fault. Defending a business against “friendly” fraud is no easy task, but there are steps to take.

The Better Business Bureau offers the following advice to small business owners: *verify the buyers billing address before sending merchandise, *use a shipper that tracks delivery, *deactivate or deny access to products, *clearly state your return policy on your Website, *be prepared to make your case to the credit card company, and *analyze sales records.

For more advice on defending your small business from fraud, visit www.bbb.org

Or to read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124329230494652391.html

Sundance Vacations employees including Sundance Vacations President John Dowd recently attended the Best Places to Work awards ceremony in Hershey, PA.  Sundance Vacations was named one of the Best Places to Work in Pennsylvania for 2009. The company finished among the top 30 in the statewide employee poll for large-sized companies (251 or more employees).

“Sundance Vacations provides a stable career for hundreds of PA employees. Despite the current recession, great things are happening at Sundance Vacations – including making the Inc. 500/5000 list of Fastest Growing Companies this year, said Sundance Vacations Founder Tina Dowd. “We’re honored that our employees have also named us as one of the Best Places to Work in PA. We’ll be celebrating these achievements and many more at our annual awards gala in two weeks,” added Dowd.

Congratulations Sundance Vacations employees!!

Sundance Vacations Brookfield Sales Director Sean Agnew attended the Wisconsin BBB Business to Business Expo

Sundance Vacations recently attended the Wisconsin Better Business Bureau’s annual meeting in combination with a Business to Business Expo event. Over 77 local and nationwide businesses across the state of Wisconsin showcased their services and products in a trade show held by the Wisconsin Better Business Bureau. Everything from free massages to a gourmet chef cooking samples was made available for all attendees.

Center Director for the Sundance Vacations Brookfield sales office, Sean Agnew, got to dive into his new surroundings by essentially promoting the Sundance Vacations wholesale vacation product. “No matter what displays or giveaways were available the most exciting thing talked about throughout the event was the inexpensive vacation product that Sundance Vacations offers,” explained Agnew. Agnew encouraged attendees to make an appointment and come in to the Sundance Vacations Brookfield sales office. Out of all the great refreshments and snacks at the Wisconsin event the only thing Sean said he couldn’t find was cheese! Go figure.

Find Sundance Vacations on the Wisconsin Better Business Bureau site: http://www.bbb.org/wisconsin/business-reviews/travel-agencies-and-bureaus/sundance-vacations-in-brookfield-wi-6000212/

No SCAM here.

We go to crazy efforts to maintain the highest levels of honesty among the Sundance Vacations staff members.  This means silent monitoring for the telemarketing staff, secret shoppers for our lead generators and videotaped presentations for our sales staff.   Everyone who knows us also knows that we like to get feedback both good and bad about their Sundance Vacations experience.

A few nights ago we got a call from an acquaintance.  “I just got a call from one of your telemarketers and they told me I won a free cruise from Sundance Vacations.  I thought you should know,” she said.

“Yeah, thanks.  Can you tell me who it was so I can fire him or her.  They are definitely not allowed to say won,” thanked John.

“Not allowed to say won?  But what about the free cruise”, she asked in surprise? “They shouldn’t be able to tell people they are getting a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas from Sundance Vacations.”

“Let’s start from the beginning.  It’s important that you be specific.  Did one of my staff members use the word won,” John questioned?

“They said I was picked for a free cruise from Sundance,” clarified our friend.

“Did you specifically hear the word free?  Didn’t they tell you that you’d be responsible for some taxes and fees?” asked John.

“ Yeah, they said $200 bucks a person and that I had to come to your office to listen to a presentation.  So you mean to tell me the person was telling the truth?  If I come over to your office, listen to a sales pitch, I’ll get a free cruise to the Bahamas,” she asked incredulously?

“No, not a fee cruise,” he keeps correcting her.

“Ok, whatever.  So you don’t care if I make an appointment to get the free cruise? I don’t have to buy anything?”

“No, of course not.  But stop saying free cruise,” he reminds her.

This conversation illustrates the exact problem that we face each and every day when communicating verbally with millions of travelers.  Sundance Vacations is truthful and honest in those communications but today’s very causal listeners are apt to paraphrase for ease of repeating just as our friend did.

Searchers can find seething comments claiming to unveil Sundance Vacations as a scam.   Unaware, consumers read a slanderous or false post and then unknowingly add to the misconception by typing, “ I knew this was a scam.”  In this next example a poster writes, “I researched the program and found out that my “free” and “won” cruise will cost over $800 dollars if it happens at all.”  Unfortunately, by “research” the person is referring to anonymous, inaccurate, unofficial, casual, paraphrases found on the Intranet.

When trying to judge for yourself whether Sundance Vacations is a scam these are the facts that you can consider. 

Sundance Vacations has been in business since 1991.  That’s an 18 year business history.

Sundance Vacations was awarded the Torch Award from the Northeast and Central Pennsylvania Better Business Bureau in 2005.  The Torch Award is given to a company that demonstrates ethical behavior.  During the Torch Award process we were “secret shopped” by the BBB director at that time.  He visited our office and personally congratulated Sundance Vacations on honest communications through-out his entire test.  Some bloggers will say that we somehow bought the Torch Award.  That’s just a slanderous lie.

Sundance Vacations is a member of the Better Business Bureau in every state that we operate in.  We maintain a high grade with the BBB.  We are not complaint free.  Any organization that interacts with more than a million consumers every year is going to generate some unavoidable complaints.  We address every complaint that we become aware of and solve them to the customer’s satisfaction.

We have won awards from our industry trade groups.  We are the recipient of several “Call Center of Distinction” awards from the Association of Teleservices International.  Again, this involves secret calls to our telemarketing staff to determine if they are staying on script.  Nay-sayers would also claim that we are somehow cheating in this achievement.

We have been named one of the Best Large Company’s to Work for in Pennsylvania for three years in a row and one of the Best Company’s to Work for in Illinois.   We employ hundreds of employees nationally.  Again, I’m no expert but being an educated businessperson I believe that keeping a scam secret from the authorities would be pretty difficult to do.  In 18 years wouldn’t at least one employee have blown the whistle, like at Enron. 

The fact is, THERE’S NO SCAM HERE.  Sorry to disappoint.  Any consumer who reads the frequently asked questions on the Sundance Vacations website will have a great experience with the wholesale vacation company.  

The Sundance Vacations Haunted House “Sundance at Sundown” was a HUGE success. The Haunted House was held at the company’s corporate headquarters on October 22^nd, October 23^rd, and October 24^th.  Sundance Vacations participated in USA Weekend’s annual Make a Difference Day event. The MADD is a day dedicated to giving back to your community.

The entry fee was $5. Sundance Vacations also provided baked goods to all guests in efforts to raise more money. Sundance Vacations raised $1300 for the SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) of Luzerne County. All proceeds raised were donated to the Luzerne County SPCA. “Consumers who don’t know Sundance Vacations may be skeptical or even misguided by thinking that Sundance Vacations is a scam,” said Sundance Vacations Founder Tina Dowd. “But, our employees illustrate who we are and what we believe in by their actions every day. This charity project fits two of our core values: to create fun and to give back. We’re proud of Sundance Vacations’ reputation in the community,” added Dowd.

Last year employees helped raise $2, 830 for Habitat for Humanity.

Sundance Vacations takes pride in raising money to help out in their local communities. We thank each and every one of the Sundance employees who helped make the Haunted House a success. Did you come to the Sundance Vacations Haunted House? Did you have a “spooktacular” time? If not, what charities have you been working on in your community?

Sundance Vacations will, for the second year in a row, participate in Make a Difference Day. The company will hold a Haunted House “Sundance at Sundown” at the corporate headquarters on Thursday, October 22^nd from 7pm-9pm, Friday, October 23^rd from 7pm-11pm, and Saturday, October 24^th from 7pm-11pm.

The address is 264 Highland Park Blvd. Wilkes-Barre, Pa 18702. The entry fee is $5. As part of Make a Difference Day, the company will donate ALL proceeds to the Luzerne County SPCA!

Please come out and help support a great cause. We hope to see you there! If you plan to come to “Sundance at Sundown” please come back and write us a comment about your experience!

Sundance Vacations would like to congratulate two of our favorite Women in Business! Sundance Vacations Founder Tina Dowd and Sundance Vacations Assistant General Manager Denise Miller were recently recognized by the Stevie Awards for being exceptional! Tina Dowd is a finalist for a Stevie Award for Best Entrepreneur, and Denise Miller is a finalist for Best Executive.  The Stevie Awards ceremony will take place on November 13^th at the Marriott Marquis in New York City.  Stay Tuned!

Join me in wishing Tina and Denise the best of luck in bringing home the Stevie trophy!!

Read the Press Release: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Sundance-Vacations-1060519.html

Flip Camera Winner and VP of Sales Mike Milillo

The Customer Service Department at Sundance Vacations observed National Customer Service Week from October 5th-9th. The week was full of exciting activities. Two events that recognized Sundance Vacations customers were a blog contest on the Sundance Vacations Travel Blog, and a prize giveaway at each of the seven Sundance Vacations sales offices each night the offices were open during the National Customer Service Week.

The winner for the best customer service experience posted on the Sundance Vacations Travel Blog was Dale Kilian from Princeton, New Jersey. Mr. Kilian picked up his Flip Camera at the Sundance Vacations Princeton office on Saturday, October 10th. Congratulations Dale, we’re very glad that you enjoyed your customer service experience with Sundance Vacations!

We also extend a happy congratulations to all of the customers who visited a Sundance Vacations sales office during the National Customer Service Week and won a gift just for giving us a chance to introduce the wholesale vacation program.

What a successful National Customer Service Week! Do you have any customer service praises that you would like to share?

Sundance Vacations invited five Parent Teacher Organizations to a private showing of the company’s “School Bucks” program at the company’s corporate headquarters on Monday, October 5th.

Sundance Vacations introduced their “School Bucks” program. The program was designed to help Parent Teacher Organizations obtain money for their organization without having to fundraise.

PTO’s in attendance were: Crestwood High School, St. Nicholas Elementary school in Wilkes-Barre, and Lee Park Elementary in Hanover Township. The company held a drawing for all PTO’s in attendance. Sundance Vacations contributed $1000 to Lee Park Elementary-the winning school. Lee Park plans to put the monetary donation towards their school’s annual Santa’s Workshop in December.