My husband and I recently contacted Travel Masters to help us plan our honeymoon. The representative from Travel Masters helped us find a trip that fit our budget and interests. We found an option that we were comfortable with and we asked her to go ahead and book the flights only. When reviewing what we were charged on our credit card, we noticed a charge to the airline and a separate Vancouver-based charge of $500. When asked about the nature of this charge, the Travel Masters representative told us it was "taxes and fees" associated with the flight. To our knowledge, we were not supposed to be charged any fee for using their services. We only consented for them to book the flights.
Within 24 hours of booking this flight, we found out we were pregnant and had to cancel these flights right away because this particular destination has Zika and it would be unsafe for us to travel there. We obtained a doctor's note and the airline generously agreed to fully refund our flights 100%. We received the full flight refund but there was still that same $500 charge on our credit card. When asked why this wasn't refunded along with the flights we were told this was a cancellation penalty. We phoned the airline and they told us that we were refunded in full and they did not retain any funds. We pressed Travel Masters to provide some kind of documentation detailing the nature of this $500 charge and they provided nothing to support this charge. They initially told us it was 'taxes and fees' associated with the flights but we now know after speaking with the airline that this was false. The nature of this charge is still completely undocumented and we are left speechless.
You should know the risks associated with booking travel plans through Travel Masters.