My Costa Rica Reviews - 6 Reviews of Costarica.org

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Top Positive Review

“Upcoming 2 week trip to Costa Rica”

Alan C.

12/4/20

Recently planned an awesome 2 week trip to Costa Rica with CostaRica.Org and Jason Bateman. I picked this company because of past great reviews, Jason's professionalism, his friendliness, and ease to work with! Jason and his staff will work with you until you are pleased 100 %. I can't wait to go on this future trip. Everything is planned, including transportation, lodging, restaurants, tours, pickup times, etc! Thanks Jason and CostaRica.Org!

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Top Critical Review

“Harassment and Poor Business Practices”

Candie S.

11/12/20

**Hopefully the final update 11/12/2020** Mr. Bateman tried to flag this review because he didn't want people to know the truth. Fact of the matter is we reached a resolution and I updated my reviews to reflect that we reached a solution. It wasn't enough. He wanted them deleted because he didn't the people to know how shady this business is. He harassed me by contacting my business site since I ignored his emails. He called me a liar and said I didn't do what I said I would which was completely false. Then he tries to bribe me by offering me what I originally asked for to remove all existence of my reviews. The public needs to know the truth. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY! **Another update 11/11/2020" DO NOT use this service. Not only did I have to write legitimate, truthful reviews on multiple sites about this company just to get 50% of my deposit back due to a global pandemic and being unable to travel as well as losing work and not being able to afford daily living. Now I am being harassed by the owner of the business asking me to take down all of my reviews because he gave me only 50% of my deposit. Our agreement was that I would remove the negative review and I did so by updating what I had previously written stating that we had come to terms. But now he won't leave me alone. This is as un-professional as it gets. STAY AWAY! **Updated review 07/16/2020** After much back and forth and going through the Better Business Bureau, Mycostarica.org and I have reached an agreement to refund 50% of my deposit. Original review post below: I wanted to love this company but I've only come into terrible customer service with them. I booked in February 2020 with full intentions on traveling in August 2020 until Covid-19 happened in March 2020 and shelter in home and travel restrictions were put on everyone across the world. I even sent in to get a passport renewal in February for this trip. But the passport agency froze, as with the rest of the world. People out of work and not allowed to leave their homes due to worldwide pandemic. I contacted Costarica.org to cancel our upcoming trip and to get my deposit back because of the global pandemic. They did not want to release my deposit stating that I had signed a contract and was responsible for it. If a global pandemic wasn't happening, there would be absolute reason for me to go on vacation, but here we are in July 2020 and cases are still rising with a lot of countries not allowing for essential travel. The resort in which we were supposed to stay at isn't even open to the the public. There are 14 day mandated quarantines that are happening. I have lost my job due to Covid. I can't plan for future leaisurelt travel because of all this. It is absurd that I have lost all my deposit money. I fought with my credit card company to try and get my money back. All Costarica.org has compromised to do is give me a credit, but the catch is I have to use that credit and travel by March 2021. In these uncertain times, you would think that organizations would look out for one another. I would have most definitely traveled using Coatarica.org once the fate of the world is more stable, but they are forcing me to travel with them in uncertain times when most things aren't even known if they are going to be open. I've lost my deposit money because there is no way that I am willing to travel in a global pandemic and the unsurety of not having work. I wish Coatarica.org could have recognized this and worked with me, but they did not.

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Reviews (6)

Alan C.

1 review

0 helpful votes

“Upcoming 2 week trip to Costa Rica”

December 4th, 2020

Helpful (0)

Thank you

Jason B. – My Costa Rica Rep 12/4/20

Hola Alan!
Thank you so much for booking your trip with our agency! We really appreciate your business and look forward to receiving you in tropical paradise! I know you are hoping to see a Quetzal in the Cloud forest and I have an amazing guide to take you to the spots to see them. I can't wait to see all the pictures and hear all the stories when you return from your trip! We pride ourselves on being available 24/7 before, during and after our clients vacations - so please don't hesitate to contact us if we can be of any service whatsoever.
Pura Vida,
Jason Bateman
General Manager
My Costa Rica (CostaRica.Org)

Sherrie M.

1 review

0 helpful votes

“My Costa Rican Dream Vacation (during a pandemic)!”

January 4th, 2021

We didn't think international travel during COVID was even possible (other agencies didn't get back to us or didn't even answer the phone) but My Costa Rica responded immediately and helped us have an amazing reprise during this stressful time. I normally do not use travel agencies and was hesitant, yet I was very impressed with their knowledge as specialists in one destination, with an office in San José, Costa Rica and one in Boulder, CO. Jason and Lorena offered us a custom vacation package that put our needs first, but also tuned us on to experiences we would not have thought of or done on our own. Highly recommended for your dream Costa Rican adventure... PURA VIDA!

Helpful (0)

Thank you

Jason B. – My Costa Rica Rep 1/4/21

Hola Sherrie!
We really appreciate you taking the time to write us a review about your recent experience with our agency My Costa Rica! We like think of ourselves as different from your traditional "travel agency" as we are specialists in just one destination - Costa Rica! We have an office in the capital of San José with local staff and are available for our guests 24/7 in country if they need us for any reason. Having a second office in Colorado allows us to be members of the Better Business Bureau and other affiliations that help us connect better with our clients - who are mostly from the US and Canada. We try to help take the stress out of planning a trip abroad - especially during a pandemic! We strive to give helpful advice about where to stay and where to go, while providing up to date information about the latest in airport regulations and requirements - so that our guests can travel safely and confidently. We hope to see you again in paradise someday soon - Pura Vida! :)
Pura Vida,
Jason Bateman
My Costa Rica (CostaRica.Org)

Kenneth V.

1 review

0 helpful votes

“Exemplary Customer Service in Times of COVID - Cancelled Trip Twice & They Were There for Us!”

December 2nd, 2020

We were scheduled to travel to Costa Rica for two weeks to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary in March 2020 just as the pandemic caused us to have to cancel the trip. To our surprise, the fine print in the expensive travel insurance policy we had taken out said it would not cover in case of pandemic! We turned to My Costa Rica for help. The company had been extremely helpful in planning the trip... listening to our wishes and age limitations, making revisions in the proposed itinerary, and answering all our anxious questions. When we told Jason we would not be able to safely make the trip because of the pandemic, he immediately contacted all the vendors and arranged a significant credit if we re-scheduled before April 1,2021. We went ahead and re-scheduled for January 2021. However, with the continuing rise of COVID-19 cases, we called once again to cancel. Once again, Jason and My Costa Rica stepped up and extended our credit until May 1,2022. At first we were skeptical in planning the trip with a small, local Costa Rica company instead of one of the big-name national companies. However, we could never have been as happy as with My Costa Rica. Their customer service, sensitivity to travelers' needs, and flexibility in arranging our travel could not be surpassed. They listened and cared. We hope COVID-19 will allow us to make our trip by 2022 and belatedly celebrate our 50th anniversary, thanks to My Costa Rica.

Helpful (0)

Thank you

Jason B. – My Costa Rica Rep 12/2/20

Thank you Kenneth for your kind words,

We are so grateful for you taking the time to share your experience during these difficult times of the COVID pandemic. We strive for 100% satisfaction from all our guests and are very happy to have been of service helping you to cancel, reschedule, cancel and reschedule your trip again. We can understand that it's a complicated time to travel, so we were glad that we were able to extend credits to our guests for nearly 2 years from their original dates of travel - through May 1st, 2022. We'll be there for your belated 50th Anniversary Celebration in Costa Rica and we look forward to receiving you when we can travel safely and confidently again.

My Costa Rica began operations in December 2004, so this month we celebrate 16 years promoting tourism to this beautiful country we are proud to call home. This year, 2020, has been a hard year for everyone and definitely the most challenging year our business has experienced - with so many clients affected by COVID related airport closures and general fear of travel. However, our commitment to our clients, staff and promoting responsible and sustainable tourism to Costa Rica hasn't changed a bit! We have not closed our offices, nor have we stopped taking calls and are proud to be there to assist our guests during this uncertain times. We look for solutions to help people who's trips have been interrupted - even if that means rescheduling a vacation several times.

If there is anything I can do to help you when you are ready to travel please let me know. For now we've issued the credits to our affected guests through May 2022, because it's hard to project past that with so much uncertainty in the world right now. But we are not planning on going anywhere and are 100% dedicated to our guests - so if you need extra time to use your credits and I'm sure it will be absolutely no problem. However, let's hope that with a vaccine in the works that life will return closer to normal here soon and we'll be able to travel again sooner rather than later.

Stay safe out there as we want to see both you and your wife Diana in Costa Rica really soon, even if it's for your 52nd wedding anniversary!: slightly_smiling_face:
Warm Regards on behalf of all of our team at My Costa Rica,

Jason Bateman
General Manager
My Costa Rica (CostaRica.Org)

Catherine K.

1 review

2 helpful votes

“Incredible Costa Rica travel service”

April 7th, 2018

We used My Costa Rice for both our trips to Costa Rica. The customer service was incredible and the personalized itinerary made our trip OUR TRIP! They will critique your itinerary to your interests and specifications. Even though we never needed to contact them during either trip (because everything is so welled planned) it was a real piece of mind to know they are available 24/7 in case there is any issues. But like I said our trips were so well organized we didn't need to use it. I would highly recommend using My Costa Rica if you want a personalized stress-free trip. Both our trips were awesome, they took care of everything... all we had to do was have a great time. And that was easy to accomplish!. Pura Vida

Helpful (2)

Thank you

Jason B.

1 review

1 helpful vote

“Excellent Travel Service!”

April 5th, 2018

If you are planning a trip to Costa Rica, look no further. My Costa Rica is a local travel agency that can help you set up all hotels, transportation and tours throughout the country. They are also available for you 24 hours a day in country.

Helpful (1)

Thank you

Candie S.

3 reviews

0 helpful votes

“Harassment and Poor Business Practices”

November 12th, 2020

• Updated review

**Hopefully the final update 11/12/2020**

Mr. Bateman tried to flag this review because he didn't want people to know the truth. Fact of the matter is we reached a resolution and I updated my reviews to reflect that we reached a solution. It wasn't enough. He wanted them deleted because he didn't the people to know how shady this business is. He harassed me by contacting my business site since I ignored his emails. He called me a liar and said I didn't do what I said I would which was completely false. Then he tries to bribe me by offering me what I originally asked for to remove all existence of my reviews. The public needs to know the truth. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!

**Another update 11/11/2020"
DO NOT use this service. Not only did I have to write legitimate, truthful reviews on multiple sites about this company just to get 50% of my deposit back due to a global pandemic and being unable to travel as well as losing work and not being able to afford daily living. Now I am being harassed by the owner of the business asking me to take down all of my reviews because he gave me only 50% of my deposit. Our agreement was that I would remove the negative review and I did so by updating what I had previously written stating that we had come to terms. But now he won't leave me alone. This is as un-professional as it gets. STAY AWAY!

**Updated review 07/16/2020**

After much back and forth and going through the Better Business Bureau, Mycostarica.org and I have reached an agreement to refund 50% of my deposit.

Original review post below:

I wanted to love this company but I've only come into terrible customer service with them. I booked in February 2020 with full intentions on traveling in August 2020 until Covid-19 happened in March 2020 and shelter in home and travel restrictions were put on everyone across the world.

I even sent in to get a passport renewal in February for this trip. But the passport agency froze, as with the rest of the world. People out of work and not allowed to leave their homes due to worldwide pandemic.

I contacted Costarica.org to cancel our upcoming trip and to get my deposit back because of the global pandemic. They did not want to release my deposit stating that I had signed a contract and was responsible for it. If a global pandemic wasn't happening, there would be absolute reason for me to go on vacation, but here we are in July 2020 and cases are still rising with a lot of countries not allowing for essential travel.

The resort in which we were supposed to stay at isn't even open to the the public. There are 14 day mandated quarantines that are happening. I have lost my job due to Covid. I can't plan for future leaisurelt travel because of all this.

It is absurd that I have lost all my deposit money. I fought with my credit card company to try and get my money back. All Costarica.org has compromised to do is give me a credit, but the catch is I have to use that credit and travel by March 2021.

In these uncertain times, you would think that organizations would look out for one another. I would have most definitely traveled using Coatarica.org once the fate of the world is more stable, but they are forcing me to travel with them in uncertain times when most things aren't even known if they are going to be open.

I've lost my deposit money because there is no way that I am willing to travel in a global pandemic and the unsurety of not having work.

I wish Coatarica.org could have recognized this and worked with me, but they did not.

Helpful (0)

Thank you

Jason B. – My Costa Rica Rep 11/12/20

Dear Candie,

First of all we apologize for having reached out to you again, it was never our intention to bother you - but rather part of our continual efforts to reach a mutually agreeable resolution for your cancelled trip. We respect your wishes and will certainly cease all communication per your request, although please be aware that you can contact us at anytime if can be of any service whatsoever. Throughout the pandemic we have never closed our office and have always been available to our guests despite having a reduced staff. Our every intention is to do the best we can for our clients and we feel that this is evident in the over 900 positive reviews we have received from some of the 15,000 guests that we've helped since we began operations in 2004.

We are also very sorry to hear about the continued hardship you are experiencing due to COVID, the pandemic has affected so many people across so many industries and we are hopeful that things will return closer to normal someday soon. It is understandable that people are hesitant about traveling right now and that is why we have given our guests the option to reschedule their trips any time through May 2022. In your case, we offered the same consideration - first a full credit valid for up to two years and finally we came to an agreement that you would prefer a 50% refund of your deposit in the amount of $435 instead. Part of that resolution that we came to entailed that you would then update the negative reviews you had been posted online to reflect that we had reached an agreement that you were satisfied with. We politely reached out yesterday when we realized that that had not been done, despite having refunded the agreed amount to you immediately. We take our clients' satisfaction very seriously and we contacted you to see if there was anything else we could do to make things right and even offered you a full refund so that you would amend the reviews to reflect our resolution and make them less critical of our agency.

If this year has taught us anything, it's that life can be unpredictable and things can happen that are beyond all of our control. Now more than ever it's important to have some sort of travel insurance to help protect you should your investment need to cancel your trip for whatever reason. In fact, Costa Rica now requires it for entry into the country as described on the Tourism Board's Official Site. Travel agents perform a service when they plan vacations, make reservations and later cancel them per clients' request. As outlined in our client agreement, the 25% deposits that we collect to book our trips are non refundable as they represent the services provided and the costs incurred in maintaining a full time staff and office. While we can make every attempt to help our guests by offering to reschedule their trips if they feel uncomfortable about traveling, ultimately people need to understand that there is work involved in vacation planning and that travel insurance should be purchased to protect their investments. Although we always send information to our guests about possible companies they can use to purchase travel insurance that would protect their trips and are very clear as to what our Payment and Cancellation Policies are, perhaps we need to try to emphasize how important this is. We apologize if we did not make this clearer to you and if we let you down in anyway.

Sincerely,
Jason Bateman
General Manager
My Costa Rica
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Original Response)

Dear Candie,

We hope this finds you well in these challenging times that we are all facing with the COVID pandemic. I'm glad that we have reached a satisfactory resolution to your cancelled trip. We are very sorry that you feel that you have not received the best customer service from our agency, we have always been available for you and have done our best to find a satisfactory resolution to your trip cancellation. Part of that resolution that we offered originally was a FULL 100% CREDIT of the deposit you made to plan your trip, valid for over 1 year from the time of your cancellation. We have since extended the validity of these credits giving our guest even more time to reprogram their trips and enjoy Costa Rica at a later date.

Our main interest is for all of our clients to experience our beautiful country at some point, and that is why we have gone above and beyond our Payment & Cancellation Policies and are giving our guests an option to reschedule their trips. However, we can understand that the global situation that we are going through due to COVID-19 can make one uneasy about traveling right now, so instead of the credit for a future trip we agreed upon a 50% REFUND of your deposit.

We are a local Costa Rican travel agency with a full team of travel professionals that specialize in planning in custom vacation packages for our guests - offering 24/7 phone support before, during and after their trips. There is a lot of work that goes into planning, booking, cancelling and then rescheduling a clients vacation - yet we charge NO FEE for our services, earning only a commission for making bookings. While nobody could have predicted COVID-19, we try to inform our guests about the inherent risks of travel and always recommend purchasing some sort of travel insurance to protect their investments. As outlined in our Client Agreement, the 25% deposits we collect to plan and book our vacation packages are generally non refundable, as they cover the salaries and office expenses required to provide these vacation planning services.

On behalf of all of our team, we hope to be of assistance to help you plan your trip to Costa Rica at some point. So many people in this peaceful paradise depend on tourism for their livelihoods and we are all here waiting for you whenever you feel comfortable to travel again.

Thank you for working with us to find a mutually agreeable resolution to your cancelled trip.

Jason Bateman
General Manager
My Costa Rica (CostaRica.Org)

“Customer Service (COVID-19)”

July 8th, 2020

• Previous review

**Another update 11/11/2020"
DO NOT use this service. Not only did I have to write legitimate, truthful reviews on multiple sites about this company just to get 50% of my deposit back due to a global pandemic and being unable to travel as well as losing work and not being able to afford daily living. Now I am being harassed by the owner of the business asking me to take down all of my reviews because he gave me only 50% of my deposit. Our agreement was that I would remove the negative review and I did so by updating what I had previously written stating that we had come to terms. But now he won't leave me alone. This is as un-professional as it gets. STAY AWAY!

**Updated review 07/16/2020**
After much back and forth and going through the Better Business Bureau, Mycostarica.org and I have reached an agreement to refund 50% of my deposit.

Original review post below 03/21/2020:
I wanted to love this company but I've only come into terrible customer service with them. I booked in February 2020 with full intentions on traveling in August 2020 until Covid-19 happened in March 2020 and shelter in home and travel restrictions were put on everyone across the world.

I even sent in to get a passport renewal in February for this trip. But the passport agency froze, as with the rest of the world. People out of work and not allowed to leave their homes due to worldwide pandemic.

I contacted Costarica.org to cancel our upcoming trip and to get my deposit back because of the global pandemic. They did not want to release my deposit stating that I had signed a contract and was responsible for it. If a global pandemic wasn't happening, there would be absolute reason for me to go on vacation, but here we are in July 2020 and cases are still rising with a lot of countries not allowing for essential travel.

The resort in which we were supposed to stay at isn't even open to the the public. There are 14 day mandated quarantines that are happening. I have lost my job due to Covid. I can't plan for future leaisurelt travel because of all this.

It is absurd that I have lost all my deposit money. I fought with my credit card company to try and get my money back. All Costarica.org has compromised to do is give me a credit, but the catch is I have to use that credit and travel by March 2021.

In these uncertain times, you would think that organizations would look out for one another. I would have most definitely traveled using Coatarica.org once the fate of the world is more stable, but they are forcing me to travel with them in uncertain times when most things aren't even known if they are going to be open.

I've lost my deposit money because there is no way that I am willing to travel in a global pandemic and the unsurety of not having work.

I wish Coatarica.org could have recognized this and worked with me, but they did not.

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About the business

Explore Costa Rica! From the Beaches to the Volcanoes and the Pura Vida Spirit, this little country has so much to offer on your Costa Rica Vacations.

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Jason B.

General Manager

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Overview

“Upcoming 2 week trip to Costa Rica”

“Harassment and Poor Business Practices”

Reviews (6)

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