HARRISBURG — Vantage Travel Services, Inc., and its founder are facing a lawsuit over alleged violations of the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law. This legal action comes as consumers have suffered significant financial losses amounting to thousands of dollars.
The lawsuit contends that Vantage, a Massachusetts-based travel tour operator, and its founder, Henry Lewis, engaged in unfair and deceptive business practices. They lured customers by offering “risk-free” travel experiences, but failed to fulfill their promises. Despite accepting substantial amounts of money from consumers, Vantage neglected to provide refunds when customers were unable to embark on their journeys.
Vantage assured its customers that they could cancel their trips due to unforeseen events, such as an emergent illness or a last-minute family gathering. The company claimed that customers would retain the full value of their travel investment. However, instead of honoring these commitments, Vantage rescheduled or postponed the plans without issuing refunds. Notably, many of the affected individuals were aged sixty or above.
Pennsylvania consumers faced multiple instances where Vantage failed to provide timely and full refunds for their canceled travel tours. Rather than acknowledging the cancellations, the company labeled them as “postponed” or “rescheduled.” As a result, customers were left with no choice but to either endure years of delays and rebook a new tour or request a partial refund. However, the latter option came with a per-person cancellation penalty fee of up to 100% of the purchase price.
In some cases, the purchase price for these tours reached as high as $10,000 per person, or even more.
The lawsuit has been filed in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas and is being handled by Deputy Attorney General Kevin R. Green.
This story was originally posted at lewistownsentinel.com.
