Sunmed Holidays Inc

First of all, I must say that my trip to Portugal was fantastic. There was one glitch that happened and Sunmed did not go to bat for me. When booking, the agent, Maria, asked my wife if the car rental should be standard or automatic. I can not drive standard, so there was no option. Maria said it would be $300. I was ok with that, there was no other choice. She sent us all the vouchers, when received, the car voucher simply stated 'group Y.' I had no idea what that meant, but also, blindly figured that all was fine. We paid the package price and thought all was in order. At Hertz, in Porto, the car they had ready for us was standard. We explained that we had arranged otherwise. So, we paid Hertz to upgrade which was now 330Euro plus tax, coming out to $608 CAD. Figuring we would work this out with Maria when we returned.
When I called her, lets just say she ran me around. She feigned that she didnt know who we were at first, had explained that the summer was very busy for them this year. (Glad business is good, and she finally figured out who we were.) She denied any conversation with us about the kind of car. (How did I know there was a $300 upcharge?) I furthered to say that mistakes happen, and that I would be happy in splitting the difference from what should have been charged to what I had to pay in total, I asked her to call it even at $150. (About 2% of the value of the whole trip.) She said she would have to speak with the owner, Rafael, and would get back to me. I waited all day and then called her back. I was suspecting that Maria thought I would forget about it and go away.
I was correct in my assumption. She said she had not found a 'good moment' to talk to him, (in six hours since I spoke to her.) At this point, I told her that I would speak to him myself, and to put him on the line. After an extended wait, Rafael came on the line. I wanted to make sure that he had the full story as I figured that Maria was covering up her mistake. Rafael went on to explain that "everyone calls in to get a refund" and that he "is not authorized" to give a refund. I asked him "who is authorized?" His answer was "me, and I'm not doing it." He said that we should have called him from Portugal when the problem arose. We were picking up the car at 10AM which meant that in Toronto, the time would have been 5AM. Sunmed opens at 10AM EST. Just another line of smoke and mirrors as far as I'm concerned. I tried to explain to him that he should do the right thing and that he was not customer sensitive. He then had the nerve to simply hang up on me.
My advice to everyone is to go to any other travel agent. The trip we had was fantastic as mentioned, but the same vacation can be arranged by many other different agencies. I would never let anyone I know deal with these inconsiderate individuals. I know that everyone has to make a buck, but I also feel that one should be responsible for mistakes that you cause. Sunmed Holidays is happy to take your money. After that, customer service ends abruptly. Do not give them your business.

We have been travelling to Portugal experiencing the Portuguese culture with SunMed since 1996...returning 8 times. The latest being Oct. 2016. We have a particular fondness for the Algarve especially Vilamoura/Quarteira and west to Cape St. Vincent. We always rely on SunMed to arrange flights, accommodations, car rental, transfers, and vouchers at competitive prices. We have never been disappointed with the services provided. When an issue arises it is dealt with promptly and to our satisfaction. We have no hesitation in recommending SunMed to family and friends. They have been satisfied as well. Looking forward to returning to the Algarve via SunMed Holidays soon.

We have travelled five times with Sunmed and have been very satisfied. Maria was our sales rep and she organized vacations with a stay in the Algarve and then a driving holiday staying at several Posadas throughout Portugal. We have always been very pleased with the quality of the accommodations and the service provided by Maria and will contact her if we want to take a future holiday. Twice we have encouraged friends to join us and they have been equally satisfied. Dianne and Peter Highfield

My wife, two friends and I have just returned from a 21 day travel package to the Azores, Portugal, two nights in Spain and a day in Tangier Morocco. I can only say that this entire trip was fantastic. Everything and every detail were completely perfect in every way.

All the accommodations throughout the trip were awesome and everyone we dealt with could not have treated us any better. It was quite obvious that Sunmed Holidays has a great reputation with the places we stayed on our trip.

During our trip if we needed to ask a question we did so via email and our question was immediately answer within a few hours by our Sunmed representative in Toronto. I could not believe the service we received.

I would highly recommend Sunmed Holidays to anyone and have already done so since our return.
Great job well done we enjoyed our holiday immensely, thank you.

Mike and Enid Hand
Bobcaygeon, Ontario.

We booked a 2 week trip to the Algarve through SunMed Vacations. I attended the free seminar that this travel agency regularly holds to sell their packages. The presenter was very knowledgeable but as soon as I booked the trip, he was never replied to any email enquires and left all communications to other staff. I had a few questions that were not adequately answered, including where to pick up rental car. Auto Jardim is NOT at the airport, it is off-site. You have to take a shuttle to get there. That information would have been helpful, you would think the travel agency would give us this simple information. Also, our accommocations were not as promised. We stayed at Villas Barrocol in Pera and were told we were being "upgraded" to a villa with two bedrooms. We ended up in an apartment with no view at all, except for a parking lot from the bedroom. When we asked at reception if we could have our room changed, we were told all rooms were booked for long stays so there was nothing they could do for us. We were there for 2 weeks and made the best of it. The staff were wonderful at Villas Barrocol, the room clean and adequate but we were extremely disappointment to be promised one thing and got another. The customer service at SunMed holidays is sorely lacking, I would not recommend this agency to anyone.

I'm sorry to say that there is a gentleman, and I use that in the loosest form, driving a black Nissan SUV (AMAS 371) that showcased vile behaviour today at this location.

This man first warned us that this is an authorized parking lot and that our vehicle would be towed if parked there. This of course is understandable and frustrating as that may be, seeing as I live in a condo on Viking Lane and simply needed to cross the road to get something, my partner proceeded to move the car while I made my way across. However this man did not let it go there but proceeded to create a V-sign upon his lips and stuck his tongue out in a vulgar gesture as he drove west on Dundas.

I am disappointed, seeing as I am a member of this community as well as a previous client of Sunmed Holidays. This type of behaviour is simply unacceptable in any setting and I hope that this man learns to act appropriately.

If he is an employee of this location I hope that those in charge would take more into consideration the actions of your employees when in the premisses of your business.