Ensemble E-Travel STRESS
UPDATE!
Woah! I never knew that this post was reaching the top of google search, well almost in some terms. I realized then that I must update this post of mine as I haven’t researched on anything new on Ensemble lately and I may give out the wrong information to people.
A commenter has gladly told me that finally, after all our complaints, ABS-CBN featured it and after a search on DZMM website, they featured this feature (it’s in Filipino) and said that the office of Ensemble IS NO LONGER IN CEBU (say what??), JOEY REGIS THE HEAD WILL ANSWER TO ALL DEMANDS (say what??) and HE ADMITTED TO NOT ANSWERING THE CALLS (SAY AGAIN WHAT THE F—???!!!). The article says that Sydney Gonzales (who is she??) revoked the permit of Ensemble to stop operation LAST SEPTEMBER 2011 (SAY WHAT EFF CRPAHFIDBGIKEBHGFKIHFDKHFD OUR FREAKING DEAL WAS MADE AFTER SEPTEMBER, WHAT THE FU–?!!!).
I need more updates. These revelations just infuriate me more. I just hope that THESE ISSUES WERE/WILL BE RESOLVED. It’s just insane. Now the expletives and cursings are against these revelations. Actually I have no idea now if Ensemble is operating at all or not. If anybody knows, PLEASE UPDATE ME.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Please Ensemble, if you every changed your names to another travel agency and are still operating somewhere, PLEASE PLEASE IMPROVE YOUR MANAGEMENT AND SERVICES. And also don’t leave unsettled stones unturned. Wait I think I said that incorrectly…
********SECOND UPDATE**********
A kind commenter has given tips for those who want to get their money back or who want to complain the hell out of Ensemble or other travel agencies.
1. Document everything and report to DTI. The email address is dtincrlegal@yahoo.com and attach all needed evidences.
2. Go directly to their office. It’s just at the Enterprise Building 27Flr Tower 2 : Regus Office (leased). Don’t waste time in calling them, either no one is answering or their phone lines are f**ked up. Ask for the supervisor (Ruby) and show all needed evidences. Demand for a refund.
3. Follow up daily. They say refund takes 4-6 weeks but mine is now at the 4th week and validation is still ongoing (so much for customer service). Metrodeal has admitted that they themselves are having problems contacting Ensemble but this is not a reason to allow them to just wait for Ensemble to reply back.
Metrodeal has confirmed that payment is not endorsed to the merchant unless the voucher has been used already. I’ve been to their office several times asking for follow up and believe me every visit comes with an escalated tone. Our money is still with Metrodeal, and they just need to get validation from Ensemble that we did not really used the voucher in order to process the refund. That process unfortunately takes millions of years thus make sure to do the visits and the legal reports to DTI.
I also think it helps if people go in groups in their office. I think that would really turn their office upside down and hopefully they would expedite our demand for refunds.
His suggestions are valid and I believe that going directly to Metrodeal INSTEAD of calling them up (which I tried) and going by groups is also great. There are people in forums out there who share the same pain as you do.
So here’s my original post.
*NOTE THIS IS NOT TO DEGRADE any of the coupon site or the travel agency. This is just a recap and opinion and FEELINGS of MY EXPERIENCE which I think can help a lot of people who had/have undergone (or ARE undergoing) this experience with the said sites. I was able to book my flights, accommodations, tours and everything in the end and I will fly on October17-19. I will make a separate blog post for POST-vacation to see if everything really has gone smoothly. I am not telling you to bash or boycott these people, just BE WARY AND TAKE LOTS OF CAUTION*
In case you wanna skip the whole post, here are the RELIABLE CONTACT NUMBERS
*With updated Metrodeal new hotline number*
ENSEMBLE E-TRAVEL AGENCY
DARYL (for PALAWAN DEALS)
E-mail: ppsdeal2@gmail.com
Celphone: +63 9174886388
Landline: 5469083
OTHER Person people have been able to contact
Joey Regis +639174246558
+639174886386BANTAYAN DEALS
E-mail: bantayandeal2@gmail.comMETRODEAL
Landline: 8858848
MetroDeal Inc.
27F (Regus) Tower 2 The Enterprise Centre
6766 Ayala Avenue cor. Paseo De Roxas
Makati City
I feel so STRESSED AND HURT the past weeks.
Okay sorry how very callous of me to start my post with these kinds of words. But I haven’t endured this kind of stress and axiety with any other TRAVEL AGENCIES in my whole years of…. almost adulthood. My parents have been the ones arranging flights for me but I am sure that they have never encountered such horrendous service in their entire life. And we thought travel agencies were service-oriented. We didn’t demand leopard skins or a red carpet treatment, we just wanted BASIC customer service. Listen to the customer, reply to the customer ASAP, respect the customer and be a cheery dude.
Okay so let’s go into detail about this.
Am sure that everyone must be acquainted with coupon sites already which I think is an ingenious thing. The stores, establishments and agencies put up this limited offer and people would react impulsively to this because they would all think, “if i don’t buy this now, I may never get the chance!”. These services are also PRE-PAID so they immediately earn money without even doing anything. Smart eh? I mean look at this travel deal we bought, it’s worth almost 10 thousand pesos and around 3 thousand bought the coupons. Do the math and they’ve instantly hit GOLD! Such was the case of our deal in Metrodeal and Ensemble E-travel.
Metrodeal is an established coupon site here in the Philippine as one of the first few coupon sites. My friend recommended it to me because of its great deals on food and services. When the offer for 2 people to go to Puerto Prinsesa for 3 days 2 nights including airfare, accommodations, tours and breakfasta for only 10 thousad pesos, my friends and I jumped at the chance and boight the great deal. It’s my dream to go to Palawan coz I believed that it was better than Boracay because there was less people. I researched the hotel, Kookaburra Lodge and it rained with GREAT reciews so I told my friends, all systems go! Let’s do this thing!
This happened last July 2011. Here’s a screenshot of the offer.
Note the terms and conditions, it said that they would immediately call you after the deal has ended. Note again that it did say subject to availability on SOME DATES but does not mention that you can actually go to only if you pay an additional fee so we all assumed that all flights WHEN AVAILABLE ONLY (meaning if it isn’t available on October20, then there aren’t flights at all) would have the same price. NOTHING SAID DEPENDS ON PROMO PRICE. It’s vague and discreet. Why didn’t we notice this? So guys always READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS VERY CAREFULLY. If you feel like there’s something wrong, don’t push through with it and find another deal.
Note also that I actually didn’t check on the travel agency. BIG MISTAKE. I assumed that all travel agencies would function well since booking a flight actually takes less time now especially local flights since you don’t even need passport details. Again DON’T ASSUME. ALWAYS MAKE SURE OF EVERY DETAIL. It was a mistake to assume that Metrodeal and Ensemble actually had GOOD COMMUNICATION. I was only alarmed after 2 weeks when my friend kept on wondering why hasn’t Ensemble contact us yet. So I did my part and emailed them our voucher details.
Tik tok tik tok… a day has passed… two… three… four… (hey did they really get my email?)… five… six… seven…
HOW DOES A TRAVEL AGENCY TAKE 7 DAYS TO RESPOND?
I got scared thinking maybe Metrodeal or Ensemble scammed us. I looked again at Metrodeal making sure it was a legit site (well of course it was, they had HUNDREDS of deals!) and then I searched for Ensemble’s site. Their site didn’t look professional and actually shady and they had TONS of numbers which I tried to call to NO AVAIL. No one was answering and one number was even WRONG. I then googled and did my own research about the company and I saw SCAMS, COMPLAINTS, ANGRY WORDS written all over the forums. I called up Kookaburra Lodge just to ask if Ensemble really did make reservations with them before and if they were legit, I finally got their cel number from them and the landline number from a blog I found. I tried that but again NOBODY WAS RESPONDING. I emailed Metrodeal and they replied back an email that only told Ensemble to please handle our matters immediately. Knowing that I couldn’t actually just depend on an email that might be left unanswered once again. I kept on calling and trying Ensemble directly. I NEEDED to speak to someone. I tried for 50 FRIGGING MINUTES CALLING THEIR DARN PHONES and gave up so I just sent them TWENTY texts inquiring our situation. By the good grace of the Lord, THEY FINALLY REPLIED (via text) and then I replied FOUR TIMES AGAIN just so that I can get a reply. What are they thinking? Are they not getting our texts? The good thing was I got a reply from the e-mail afterwards. After feeling harassed, stressed and frazzled. I knew that we had to call them immediately because flights were probably running out and we had to really book in advance.
His excuse was that they lacked manpower and the phone lines kept crashing because of the number of calls. They were going to add more people and more lines. Well THIS ISN’T MY PROBLEM. They should have expected this to happen when they put up that good deal/voucher on Metrodeal. They should have anticipated and added more lines to their communication. They should have REVIEWED OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT (and to think i’m not a business major but I do know that CONTINGENCY PLANS MUST BE MET) and fixed this problem BEFORE SERVING TO THE CUSTOMER. I know that no company is perfect, heck nobody is. But to not look like they prepared at all? YOU BE THE JUDGE.
Um…. where did all the other information go in their original voucher? This is the email one they sent us.
What contained in their e-mail frustrated me even more because the dates that I asked weeks before WAS NOT APPLICABLE but we could go if we add a thousand pesos to it. Promo wasn’t applicable on those days but we can still go. Now wait a minute, nothing was said about promo fares or anything. My friend whose brother was a lawyer was even encouraging us to file a lawsuit against them because of misinformation and lack of legitimacy (im not sure if Ensemble is listed in the Department of Tourism) because of their service (I read also from blogs that some actually have tried to file, I am not sure what happened to these). I emailed Ensemble about this concern and they mentioned that it was MISCOMMUNICATION WITH METRODEAL, Metrodeal didn’t put that fine print there in the promo. But AGAIN this shouldn’t have been our problem, this should have been theirs.
My benefit of the doubt and my desire to see Palawan at all costs made me lose heart in arguing over this so we just made a compromise and settled for October 17-19. I have to give it to the one that I was talking to though because he was able to settle our flight in one night (which made me wonder, WHY COULDN’T THEY HAVE DONE THIS FRIGGING SOONER?). He told us that he will e-mail us our itinerary, flight details, accommodation details (travel docket in short) by September. One month after. I felt more at ease now because I was able to talk to a real person this time and he seemed efficient anyway. This is DARYL (not sure if Darryl) from Ensemble and he sounded nice.
So there… one week passed… two… three… four… FIVE… SIX…
It was already October 2 and since our flight’s on October 17, I started panicking a little and decided to call them again. Same problem. My friend told me that she saw new deals that they were servicing (THEY EVEN TOOK MORE JOBS, CAN THEY HANDLE IT?) and saw that they added more cel phone numbers. So they did fulfill their promise of adding more lines. GOOD JOB. But were they answering? UH… NO. Even Daryl wasn’t replying to my calls or texts. I was also using two other cell phones and trying out ALL the available cell phone numbers they had. FINALLY I got in using their landline. I asked to speak to Daryl because he knew our problems unfortunately he wasn’t there. I can’t remember what the guy said but he transferred me to a guy named Kurt/Kirt. Now this is where I blew my fuse because when I inquired about my problem, KURT/KIRT seemed like he had absolutely NO IDEA what I was talking about. He just kept on telling me that he will email me this week (it was a Wednesday when I called I think) and if I don’t hear from them this week, I should call next week (next week meaning, uh just 7 days away from our flight, OH GREAT) again. He didn’t sound ACCOMMODATING OR FRIENDLY AT ALL. I can see him shrugging his shoulders in the phone, not even caring for the customer, didn’t even sound like he was making an effort to view our package or emailing us, it’s as if his shift was done and I was just a liability. I was HURT AND EXTREMELY FRUSTRATED AT THIS but I kept calm. I waited again but of course to no reply and I tried Daryl once more the next day and THANKFULLY HE PICKED UP. Now he was appalled and confused as to why our travel docket wasn’t made yet so he told me that he would finish it tonight (AGAIN, it is not my problem that the people in the agency didn’t seem to know about my deal with my the agency. How was I supposed that only one guy knew about my problem????). He was able to make it even though it was around 9pm already (bless his soul for staying up late), but when I saw the travel document that the agency sent,
“As we are the only e-Travel Company in the Philippines available 24 HOURS and who derives 100% of its business from the travel market industry, you are important to us. ”
I almost spat my drink out and almost wanted to cry uncontrollably. 24 hours, me being important to them. I can’t help but laugh at the irony of it all.
There were some curious things though, they changed our accommodations when a big part of why I wanted the deal in the first place was a good hotel and also they had lots of typos and mistakes in their travel docket. I emailed Daryl about this and he obliged and found a way to comply with my requests. He was really nice and everything. The only problem I had was with the optional Underground river tour which I wanted to cancel (we didn’t pay the fees yet so I thought we could cancel it ahead of time) but he texted that there would be cancellation fees. I was… WE HAVEN’T PAID YET, HOW COULD THERE BE CANCELLATION FEES? Well i again gave the benefit of the doubt and maybe he thought I was talking about canceling the whole trip which wasn’t what I meant. Good thing in the end it was all sorted out 5 days before our departure.
So my friends, would you have been stressed if you were in my place? Maybe. I know I certainly was stressed from all the confusion, the extremely HARD-TO-CONTACT agency but we were able to pull through. If Ensemble had more people like Daryl and can be contacted easily, I wouldn’t have no problem at all. If they had more Kurt/Kirts, then I’d really be fuming! I just want to tell the people who availed of vouchers by Ensemble that
THEY ARE NOT A SCAM AGENCY. THEY REPLY. JUST FRIGGING TRY AND TRY AGAIN. DON’T LOSE HOPE! CONTACT THEM UNTIL THEY REPLY!
It’s just so frustrating that Metrodeal also doesn’t answer on their landlines. And frustrating that Ensemble’s offices are in Cebu. I suggest going to the office directly would be the most efficient way but it’s in Cebu… aww man…
Here are the contact numbers that I was able to reach through. I’m not sure with the others. I also got this number from another blog site. If you have any problems with contacting them, I would contact Daryl and tell him about it.
*With updated Metrodeal new hotline number*
ENSEMBLE E-TRAVEL AGENCY
DARYL (for PALAWAN DEALS)
E-mail: ppsdeal2@gmail.com
Celphone: +63 9174886388
Landline: 5469083
OTHER Person people have been able to contact
Joey Regis +639174246558
+639174886386BANTAYAN DEALS
E-mail: bantayandeal2@gmail.comMETRODEAL
Landline: 8858848
MetroDeal Inc.
27F (Regus) Tower 2 The Enterprise Centre
6766 Ayala Avenue cor. Paseo De Roxas
Makati City
If you have any other difficulties, please contact me or them. PLEASE BE CAUTIOUS. A GOOD DEAL DOESN’T MEAN IT’S AN EFFICIENT DEAL. AND ALSO GOOD LUCK!!!! 
Pls spread!
Moved on May 3, 2009
Rowan
Very Informative.
thanks Jynx for sharing this! 
[Reply my friend]
leave-a-note
hi!
i’ve been viewing this blog for almost a month waiting and hoping for a positive update about Ensemble, up until the last comment made before mine, mukhang wala talagang pagbabago.
we bought a voucher for Bohol trip last July 2, 2011 worth about P15k, i started emailing Ensemble about August to confirm our bookings, the replies were prompt but we did not continue with the booking as we havent had a final date yet (my correspondence was a certain FAITH TUBAL). come september we bought 4 vouchers for Bantayan Island worth P5500 each. that was when i started calling and emailing them. same as everyone here phone calls are answered, nagriring lang for Ensemble, after about a week a certain CARLO PASCUAL emailed me and told me to email boholdeals@gmail.com NOT ensemble.etravel@gmail.com for prompt replies. i replied that i email both addressess everytime.
after several days a certain SHEILA CLARETE emailed me and said that she is the new Deal Executive for Bohol, after several emails she told me that she cannot book me for Oct 14 – 16 unless i pay additional P2000 plus each for the airfare. the slots allocated for them by the airline, ubos na daw AND TAKE NOTE — UNTIL DECEMBER!!!
SHEILA gave me her number 09174886387 it rings and “Adrian” answered it wala daw si Sheila at sya lang may alam ng transaction namin. i asked for Carlo nasa kabilang room daw. He said Sheila will call me back. She never did. And she never answered any of my calls again (even after days of calling her) or my emails.
i contacted Metrodeal with the number you gave here – 027886591 – “Anchell” answered the phone and told me hindi na daw yun number ng Metrodeal pero Metrodeal parin daw sila, she gave me this number which is the hotline 028858848… it’s forever busy! when i called up the first number hindi na din nila sinasagot.
its been 9 days since my last email from Ensemble with me asking them for ANY DATE… kami na magaadjust sa sched! wala pa din. my bf is on his way to Metrodeal office now to settle this personally. i told him wag syang aalis dun ng walang ticket ng bohol and cebu.
by the way, my email to ensemble about confirmation of booking to cebu still has no reply. i used the email of my bf na kasi baka they blocked my email address already, both no replies since last week.
i will wait for his update after he goes to metrodeal. hopefully it’s positive.
[Reply my friend]
Grysh
Wow. Thanks for this. Whew. O.o
Now I better check our flights for March. -_-
The earlier the better especially now that you mentioned this.
I’m amazed that you can still keep calm at it. i would probably be shouting at the phone at the tops of my lungs, especially to Kirt or Kurt or whatever his freaking name is. :))
[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda
Reply:
October 26th, 2011 at 2:18 pm
Did you also book a flight? Wrote an ask on your formspring, CONTACT THEM IMMEDIATELY!! D:
[Reply my friend]
Angelica
Oh my god, how unprofessionable of them to act like that! I’ve also had my fair share of unprofessional companies. One I filed a complaint at to the Swedish consumers right bureau and eventually got my money back.
[Reply my friend]
Leave-a-note
Update with Metrodeal:
My bf got to talk to Mark, in fairness, he was very accommodating. They are not allowed to give out personal emails always the support email of Metrodeal. He told me to just attn all emails with his code, that way he will be on top of it. I got to talk to him yesterday, I pointed out that Metrodeal is offering another Bohol again, they couldn’t even accommodate the earlier batch who got the vouchers. He said the customer service of Metrodeal also feels so helpless, apparently, the only way ensemble communicates with them is also through email. They are also having a hard time getting through Ensemble’s phonelines. He actually recommended to just ask for a refund if there is no update from Ensemble until Saturday. Honestly, that was a better deal, it’s just very frustrating since we’ve been looking forward to this trip for months.
I know that if we settle for a refund we will be dealing with more delays again. We just feel so helpless.
[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda
Reply:
October 26th, 2011 at 2:15 pm
I have been trying to contact Darryl but no reply. I found out that texting is better but I usually text 10-20 times so only do this when u have unlimited texting abilities
Any news?? I’ll try to help! I shall email you
[Reply my friend]
leave-a-note
Reply:
October 26th, 2011 at 5:57 pm
hi!
i went to the Metrodeal office last Monday and informed them that we decided to just get a refund for our Bohol trip as per our agreement on our last conversation. Ensemble/ Sheila Clarete never emailed me last week until our Saturday deadline . Mark was on sick leave so Jam was the one who talked to me. he did apologize and informed me that they already brought up to the management the issue with ensemble’s correspondences (or the lack of it). he said that they will start the processing of our refund. what detail i didn’t really get is how long our refund will take since we paid through credit card almost 5 months ago. they said that they will still confirm with mozcom if it’s going to be a reversal or a check from metrodeal. no update till now on that but i got an email yesterday from them that they are now processing our refund.
i got an email from Sheila Clarete this morning asking if i will give her an authority to book me for Bohol, honestly, she is already very frustrating. i wonder if i she even understood the urgency of my emails to just give me a date — ANY DATE to travel for Bohol. anyway, i just replied that we have already settled for a refund, maybe she will reply next week… sigh….
our Bantayan deal is most likely pushing through. after several emails last week to ensemble, they finally replied to email them at bantayandeal2@gmail.com for a faster correspondence. Angelo eventually called me up awhile ago and confirmed our flight for February. he already emailed our ticket confirmation from Cebu Pacific. he said that hotel bookings for next year is not yet open but he will get back to me next month for an update.
it’s a good thing Angelo came through for ensemble, just to compensate for Sheila’s incompetence. i just hope that we don’t encounter any drama when we get to cebu. wish us luck!
i will post again here once i get a feedback from Metrodeal regarding our refund.
goodluck to all of us…
thank you panda for your blog and for accommodating also my posts
[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda
Reply:
October 26th, 2011 at 7:56 pm
Wow 5 months ago? I really do hope you get your money back! And that’s why Ensemble has poor management service, they can’t even train their people properly. I made a new blog post about our vacation. Good that we were one of the lucky ones whose tour wasn’t cancelled unlike the others. GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR TRIP! And keep us posted with updates
stevevhan
Customer’s experience in a company’s services and products is really important, especially if the customer is a blogger or influential. Just like what they say, customer is always right. Just like what i did (in this term, i had a very very nice experience in the company) in this review: http://stevevhan.blogspot.com/2011/09/rdan-and-company-review.html
Because of this post i am awakened, though i never had any experience about bookings and travels. Nice feed!
[Reply my friend]
Chynna
Wowowowowowowoowowooooooww. That was must have been freaking stressful
At least you didn’t get scammed and I hope it all goes well on your trip but STILL I hate companies that lack good customer service. It’s like they hire the people who genuinely don’t give a shit and are just there for the money and it frustrates me so much. Hope to read a post vacation post soon and hear how it went! x
[Reply my friend]
vin
Based on our experienced…
METRO DEAL AND ENSEMBLE E TRAVEL is big big scam..
[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda
Reply:
October 26th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
Hi! It’s not exactly a scam as we were able to purchase and use their deals but what they have is POOR MANAGEMENT. Seriously. I could probably do better work than them -_-
[Reply my friend]
vin
Reply:
October 26th, 2011 at 3:03 pm
Hi,
Correct me if I’m wrong however every blog or comments I read, I noticed that they always asked the customer to pay for the additional flight diff. I also paid extra 6 thousand pesos just to settled and released our travel docket because one of their agent processed additional flights which we didn’t confirmed. Along with the 6 thousand pesos an email with “APOLOGIZED” coming from them #@$@!.
It is also stated to the travel docket that we will have 3 island hopping but we only experienced 2 of the islands, “according to our tour guide; ENSEMBLE book only 2 islands”.
If “MetroDeal” is a good coupon buying site, they should remove ENSEMBLE’s advertisement or one of
[Reply my friend]
vin
Reply:
October 26th, 2011 at 3:05 pm
* their travel partner
jynxypanda
Reply:
October 26th, 2011 at 3:08 pm
WHAT THE HECK?? The agent they assigned to you is like the Kirt/Kurt I mentioned because that is SO UNFAIR to book a flight WITHOUT your permission. NOW THAT ISN’T RIGHT AT ALL. With our agent, he did tell us to pay additional 2k IF we wanted the original dates that we had but we declined and booked on a different date. ARGH sorry you had to endure that
AND YES WE HEARD COMPLAINTS LIKE THAT!! Where did you go? Palawan also? I also agree that they shouldn’t accept Ensemble deals anymore. Metrodeal is also having problems contacting Ensemble based from the previous commenter here in this post.
Really darn Ensemble, I really have half the mind to just tell them I’d do all their bookings -_-
jynxypanda
Reply:
October 26th, 2011 at 3:10 pm
By the way we also go to hop on 2 islands only
Their excuse was Starfish island was being renovated or something… and their tour only provided a handler. I’m not sure if that is the standard tour or we should have had a snorkeling instructor or something
vin
Reply:
October 27th, 2011 at 7:19 am
Based on the email I think the agent is Charmaine. I don’t know if it is true but according to them Charmaine already resigned.
Yup, We’ve been in Palawan couple of days ago..
jynxypanda
Reply:
October 30th, 2011 at 9:41 pm
It’s a good thing she resigned already. Gosh she isn’t suited for this. How was your trip handled by them? Hope it went well! Ours went okay, you can view here http://jynxedpanda.com/2011/10/26/ensemble-stress-part-2-post-planningvacation/
Lou Constantino
We apologize for intruding like this. We are very sorry to hear all the problems and concerns you guys have been experiencing with regards to this company. We do certainly hope that this would not diminish your plans to explore the rest of the Philippines Islands
We would just like to inform everyone that our company, e-Philippines Adventure Travel and Destinations, is a separate and distinct travel company from the aforementioned ” Ensemble e-Travel Philippines”. We are not connected or affiliated in any way with them.
A number of their clients have already contacted us thinking we are of the same company. They are a wholly separate entity from us.
With this, we wish everyone good luck with any deal that you have bought and hope that you will still be able to enjoy your trip
explore, experience and enjoy the Phippines first!
Sincerely,
e-Philippines Adventure Travel and Destinations
Email: info@e-philippines.com.ph
Website: http://www.e-Philippines.com.ph
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ePhilippinesAdventureTravel
[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda
Reply:
October 30th, 2011 at 9:40 pm
Don’t worry, I never mentioned your website anywhere. I’ll clear things out if somebody says the wrong thing
[Reply my friend]
rommel
hi,
We are also having problems sa kaka follow up dyan sa ensemble na yan.. we got the same deal a 9900 good for 2 person…. ang kinuha namin ay 6 vouchers so 60K na un.. now we are in the process of booking them and We need to pay 1056per person kasi hindi naka promo yung flight.. darn! ang hirap na mag follow up mag dagdag kapa… very misleading kasi yung naka post sa metrodeal website.
come to think of it mura padin.. parang 12K lalabas per head. pero sa tagal at dami nang follow up ko at stress na nakuha ko hindi din worth it ito… swerte nung kasama ko kasi hindi sila ang nag follow up nito… i even spam the FB nang metrodeal just to get their attention..
regards,
rommel
rivro22@yahoo.com
[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda
Reply:
November 16th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
Grabe it wasn’t said clearly in the voucher that you have to pay additional. ENSEMBLE MUST LEARN FROM THEIR MISTAKES BUT THEY DON’T!! Keep on following up ah. Get a clear contact and remember their name so you’ll only contact one person. I hope that everything goes well!
[Reply my friend]
Jo
akala ko tapos na ako sa problem ko with ensemble hindi pa pala.
I never did my research about them even during the time na hirap na hirap ako ipa-sched ang bohol trip namin.
After more than 2 months I finally got our schedule at hindi ako pumayag sa additional fare difference.
yesterday I found all this rant about metrodeal and ensemble, I felt bad for everyone na hindi pa ito nasesettle and thankful na yung samin scheduled na this december. To make sure na everything is really OK tumawag ako sa Cebu pacific to double check yung flight namin only to find out that the booking code that I have in my e-docket is not under my name.
Balik na naman ako sa walang kamatayang pag contact sa kanila to settle this.
[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda
Reply:
November 16th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
I want to say that I am REALLY pissed at them because THEY HAVEN’T CHANGED AT ALL. Ugh -_- I was like that too when booking. The one who booked your flight is Ensemble so it may be under your travel agent’s name or Joey Regis (CEO, i have no idea WHY a CEO would let them use his credit card, shows it’s not a really established company) so your travel agent should send you a TRAVEL DOCKET (it’s a long document with your itinerary, flight number, hotel, CREDIT CARD that was used etc) but you have to keep on BUGGING THEM FOR this. DON’T STOP BUGGING. What puzzles me is your accommodation. I was able to verify ours but you should check back on your travel agent about that.
Sorry to hear that you’re experiencing the same things we went through
Ensemble MUST CHANGE.
[Reply my friend]
Jo
wow even my accomodation is not true. I emailed the resort and yes we dont have a reservation.
Niloloko ba nila talaga ako, kala ko pupunta nalang ako dun yun pala walang totoo sa mga reservations ko
[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda
Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 4:24 pm
Hi! Sorry ngayon lang ako nakareply! May nagcomment ngayon na dati nagwork sa kanya, I’m trying to get word out of it.
[Reply my friend]
Avin
Ensemble eTravel was featured in ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol on Nov. 26 because of numerous complaints.
After the news report, the agency’s Facebook page was flooded with negative comments. After one hour, they deleted all the negative posts, then took down the page completely.
Here are other reviews about Ensemble. Most of them are as recent as a couple of months ago:
http://www.pinoymoneytalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=36664.0
http://www.viewpoints.com/Ensemble-E-travel-review-d78211
[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda
Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 4:25 pm
Thank you thank you so much for the updates! I updated my post na rin!
[Reply my friend]
katkat
I also purchased 5 vouchers for a Palawan trip sponsored by ensemble amounting to 27,500. I tried calling them after the purchase and nobody answered my calls. They also din’t reply my email. After three days after the purchase, I decided to call metrodeal to refund my money because i was afraid that ensemble deal is a scam. After two days, I was able to contact them and told them that I want a refund. I asked the staff of metrodeal to reply through email so I would have proof. They emailed me at once and it’s stated there that they’re asking MOZCOM to refund me. Howevere I noticed that the addressee they put in the email was not mozcom but ensemble. So I called mozcom and asked them if they received an email from metrodeal with regards to my case and they told me they haven’t. The good thing is the customer rep just asked me to forward the email from metrodeal and they processed at once my refund just based on the email I forwarded to them. It took me 3 weeks to get my money back but still, I’m happy I was not scammed. But surprisingly, after a month, ensemble emailed me and told me that they will process now my reservation. Imagine, they responded after a month. What more if I pursue my reservation and make follow ups? I’m sure it’s a big headache.
[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda
Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 4:25 pm
You are one of the lucky ones and I am thankful that you got your money back! Some people aren’t that lucky
Metrodeal is just awful for not checking the background of the travel agency
[Reply my friend]
Vina Yabut
Hi! I hope you wouldn’t mind if I use your link and other info in my site since I posted my experience too with the same agency.
[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda
Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 4:26 pm
Hi Vina! It’s all right also! Keep on informing people about them!
[Reply my friend]
Marlon Ubaldo
mahilig akong magtravel at ito na ang pinakaimpyernong travel na naranasan ko! sa buong buhay ko ngayon lang ako nagbigay ng negative feedback dahil sa sobran inis ko!!!
unang una, agkabili ko ng voucher ang hirap nila makontak! sobrang hirap!!!
2ND delay yung flight namin ng 5 hours, naadjust naman nila pero yung tour namin hindi naadjust!
3 days 2 nights! yung 1st day puro byahe! pagdating pa namin sa isla wala daw yung service kaya napilitan kaming sumakay sa single na motor
yung 2nd day walang kwentang island hopping! 2 isla sabi nung magtour pero 1 lang pinuntahan namin at pinagbabayad pa kami ng 650 pesos! e kasama dapat sa package yun!
so yun walang nangyaring maganda! ito matindi nung pauwi na kami! stranded kami kasi ayaw bumyahe ng ferry… so tinawagan ko yung ensemble, lahaaaaaaaaaat ng number nila tinawagan ko. pero ano ginawa nila? ayaw kaming kausapin! angtindi talaga, pero may nakausap naman akong isa, at ang sabi sakin nakastate daw sa deal na hindi nila sagutin ang mga ganun. so sorry na lang daw! tapos nun hindi na namin makontak! in short, pinabayaan na kami sa isla na hindi namin alam kung saan na kami pupunta!
maaga pa naman nun, mga 3pm p lng naman e 9pm ang flight namin, so kahit malakas ang alon, nagpump boat na lang kami worth 2000pesos ang binayaran lang naman namin, ni walang life vest o safety protection pero bahala na kasi iniisip namin need namin makabalik ng airport before 9pm! may nakausap pa kami habang nasa taxi na kami sa ppakiusapan daw nila yung zest air once nakarating kami sa airport na habol kami, text lang daw siya! nagpakilala pa na mike daw ang name nya.. so dumating kami ng airport ng 8:30pm! tinext namin at tinawagan yung mike at yung bingo! hindi na kami sinasagot, mukha kaming tanga nagmamakaawa sa airport na papasukin kami at bigyan ng ticket pero ayaw na talaga kami bigyan… at dumating ang point na lumipad na lang ang eroplano ng hindi kami nakasakay! in short ulit pinabayaan na kami ng mga makakapal ang mukhang tagaensemble na ito!
so buti may natitira pa kong pera kaya bumili na lang ako ng ticket na ang alis ay linggo pa at nagrent ng hotel worth 1.6k! take note 2 days pa kaming maghintay dun dahil sa pinababayaan nila ang client nila pag stranded na daw… IN SHORT SORRY NA LANG KAMI AT WALA NA SILANG PAKIALAM SAMIN… ito pa matindi biglang nagtext na na naintindihan daw nila pakiramdam namin at ginawa daw nila ang best nila para maassist kami! sobrang kapal ng mukha! nasan ang assistance na sinasabi nila! grabe talaga ANGKAKAPAL NG MGA MUKHA NYO!!!
[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda
Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 12:26 pm
GRABE O_O
Ito ang pinakamalalang review tungkol sa kanila! I hope you don’t mind if I share your tragic experience with the others. Kailan kayo umalis para sa Puerto Prinsesa?
GRABE TALAGA NAKAKAINIS SILA KAPAG GANITO PA RIN SILA!
[Reply my friend]
MARLON
Reply:
January 21st, 2012 at 11:41 pm
hindi po sa puerto prinsesa, sa bantayan island cebu po kami… imaginin nyo ha, stranded kami sa island, tapos mga tao hindi pa namin maintindihan kasi cebuano salita nila and konti lang yung marunong magtagalog… tapos pababayaan kami sa isla na yun… grabe talaga
[Reply my friend]
reshiel
Reply:
February 13th, 2012 at 10:44 pm
hi kelan po kau nagpunta?kami nung ffeb 2-4 pero worst na po ung experience nyo sa Ensemble compared to others.hayyy…di bale may karma naman.
jynxypanda
Reply:
February 13th, 2012 at 11:30 pm
Grabe talaga ung experience ninyo!
I can’t believe it. I’ll probably make an update post just so people know NOT TO TRUST this agency anymore!
reshiel
Just experienced the Bantayan Island, Cebu deal ng Ensemble last Feb 2-4, 2012 with my husband.a week before my chosen date, Ensemble emailed my travel docket. Ok, sa airport, pagdating sa North Bus Terminal wlng representative from Ensemble na sumundo so I paid 300 for our 3 hr.land tour. Pagdating sa Hagnaya Port, may sumundo at nagbayad ng aming fare. so first day pa lang may sablay na.Buti na lang at napakabait ng mga tao sa PLACID BEACH RESORT.kahit d pa nagbabayad ang ENSEMBLE sa kanila d kami pinaalis.
Second day, 10am may dumating si Kuya Jerry,representative daw ng agency,hindi raw nagtext ang ensemble n may client para sana sa ISLAND HOPPING, kung nagtext 6 am palang sinundo na kami. so tinanong ko muna kung nagbayad na ba ang ENSEMBLE sa bangkero.sabi nya di pa rin,pero kung gusto raw namin 600 na lang daw babayaran.tinanong ko ulit kung maganda ba ang island at kung maraming isda,sabi nya konti lang daw so we did not pursue the island hopping dahil ang gusto lang ng hubby ko ay ang magandang dagat at tahimik na paligid.
So third day, until 11 kami sa island, then go back sa port at sa land travel namin.ung representative ng ensemble ang nagbayad lahat.
pero kung susumahin ang nagastos mas makakamura kung personal na makikipag transaction sa resort owner. dahil sa resort na pinastayan namin 500/day lang.150/pax s bus. 170/pax sa port.110/pax ung pagkain namin.tapos ung airfare 2200/pax roundtrip na. imagine 11k…hay…ang laki ng ngastos.akala natin nakamura na tau pero maMUMURA natin ang ENSEMBLE.
[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda
Reply:
February 13th, 2012 at 11:31 pm
Grabe talaga Ensemble na yan! Akala ko that they would have changed at least since this happened in October. I am sorry to hear that you also had an unfortunate and terrible experience with them. Gastsos nga talaga extra!
[Reply my friend]
alexandra andreas
hi ms. tiff,
i would like to ask if you have ensemble’s address in cebu. i have been searching the internet for their address because we have been having a hard time with our el nido promo. this one was from buyanihan.com and not metrodeal but the gist is the same: we are experiencing very poor customer service. the worst thing is that buyanihan seems to be washing their hands of the whole thing.
thanks in advance.
[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda
Reply:
February 20th, 2012 at 12:56 am
Hi! I am sorry to hear that you are one of their victims of bad customer service
I got this from an old Metrodeal ad but I’m not sure if this is still updated
192 N. Bacalso Ave., South Expressway Cebu City
Phone:
546-9083
0917-4886386 / 87 / 88 / 89 / 90
Business hours:
Mondays-Fridays 9am to 6pm
Hope it helps and GOOD LUCK!
[Reply my friend]
riz
OMG. The very same complaint! The only difference is the voucher that we bought is for Bantayan. When my beau bought the voucher it says there that it’ll be valid for a year. We bought it July 2011, so it’s supposed to be valid until July 2012. But to our surprise when we checked it last week redemption became Feb 29 2012 which is by the way tomorrow. We’ve been calling them since last week but to NO AVAIL!!!!! I’m in a panic mode right now, and I don’t know what to do anymore
We can’t possibly throw away 10k just like that, can we?! I did send an email indicating our preferred booking details but we haven’t received any answers yet. Gusto ko na magwala sa galit. Metrodeal is not helping by the way. I already called and e-mailed them but failed to give me a response.
[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda
Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 4:27 pm
Grabe talaga nakakainis! Sugurin mo iyong Metrodeal, sila lang makakatulong sa iyo. KEEP ON TRYING THOUGH! Some people got their money back. DON’T PUSH THROUGH NA!
[Reply my friend]
Vanderlord
Metrodeal is fully liable for all the merchant issues. Rather than wasting all your energy in following up with Merchants, I suggest 3 things :
1. Document everything and report to DTI. The email address is dtincrlegal@yahoo.com and attach all needed evidences.
2. Go directly to their office. It’s just at the Enterprise Building 27Flr Tower 2 : Regus Office (leased). Don’t waste time in calling them, either no one is answering or their phone lines are f**ked up. Ask for the supervisor (Ruby) and show all needed evidences. Demand for a refund.
3. Follow up daily. They say refund takes 4-6 weeks but mine is now at the 4th week and validation is still ongoing (so much for customer service). Metrodeal has admitted that they themselves are having problems contacting Ensemble but this is not a reason to allow them to just wait for Ensemble to reply back.
Metrodeal has confirmed that payment is not endorsed to the merchant unless the voucher has been used already. I’ve been to their office several times asking for follow up and believe me every visit comes with an escalated tone. Our money is still with Metrodeal, and they just need to get validation from Ensemble that we did not really used the voucher in order to process the refund. That process unfortunately takes millions of years thus make sure to do the visits and the legal reports to DTI.
I also think it helps if people go in groups in their office. I think that would really turn their office upside down and hopefully they would expedite our demand for refunds.
[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda
Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 4:28 pm
THANK YOU FOR THE INFORMATION, will be updating this post with this info too. A new commenter has just posted that he worked with Joey Regis before. Don’t know if it’s reliable but I’ll try to reply to him.
[Reply my friend]
SC
why is my mobile being called by scammed clients of ensemble etravel content solutions? I knew everything … from the start … that’s why I stopped working hand in hand with Joey Regis … he’s a crook scammer. Biggest liar in the world. I hope people will just stop calling my mobile. All I want to say is STOP DOING BUSINESS with JOEY REGIS and his friends, they’r all FAKES! JUST KEEP ON PUSHING! If this gay Joey Regis wont stop scammimg people then he will continue on. He is affiliated with shit women like Marsha mendoza who was nabbed for human trafficking. so u think these are just there ” little business?” lol … more to come! Joey Regis created another travel agency if Im not mistaken it’s called etravel master or Travel master. His face and bullshit smile stilll shines. do something guys! Btw he’s a GAY!
[Reply my friend]
jynxypanda
Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 4:31 pm
Hi! What is your mobile number? And can you verify these claims of yours so that I can also update this post? It would be good if you send me a detailed email at jynxedpanda [at] gmail [dot] com . If you say that he did indeed create another travel agency JUST TO SCAM people then ugh, we must spread the news!
[Reply my friend]
Name
We availed of 5 Coron package vouchers amounting to Php 27,500 through the online company CLEVERBUY early January of this year. They directed us to J2 Travel and Tours, who they claimed would attend to our booking. They gave us the name Ms. Ross, the booking officer for all their Palawan Tours, who they said would send us email, updates and coordinate with us regarding our travel dates. Three months after, with NOT a single phone call or email, we decided to go to their office personally to speak with Ms. Ross. Upon our arrival, phones were ringing off the hook but not one of the J2 employees answered them. Madami kaming nakasabay that day na nagrereklamo sa J2 pero it seems immune na sila sa galit at mura ng mga tao kase hindi sila natitinag. They would give you a scripted response to your query and end the conversation with “tatawagan nalang po namin kayo”, or “email nalang po kayo samin uli”. Kahit binabara na sila na “hindi naman kayo natawag, hindi kayo nasagot ng telepono nyo, hindi kayo nageemail”, wala. Ni hindi nga sila nagaapologize. So anyway, Ms. Ross wasn’t around when we got there but the front liner who goes by the name Marge showed us a folder that had our vouchers inside. She assured us that we were already booked for May 11-13 at the Darayonan Lodge in Coron and that all we needed to do was wait for the e-tickets Ms. Ross would send via email by Monday, April 30. To make the long story short, no e-tickets were sent to us and they didn’t call us either. We tried calling them by phone all day of May 2 but all their 9 phone numbers listed could not be reached. So, feeling suspicious already, tumawag kami sa Makati Business Permit and Licensing Office and they informed us na hindi registered/walang permit to operate ang J2 Travel and Tours. We also called DOT who advised us to file a formal complaint. Immediately after work that day, nagpunta kmi uli sa J2 at gaya ng dati, may mga kasabay kaming mga frustrated clients who were demanding to see the manager of J2 already. Hindi dw kami pwedeng harapin ng manager nila, at ang lahat ng kanila booking officers ay on-leave. Ang humarap samin ay isang taga CleverBuy at isang taga CleverTravel who gave us several flimsy excuses as to why the booking cannot push through sa dates that they had set. They gave us the refund option na 30-40 working days pa dw mapro-process and ire-set dw yung aming trip for another date but take note, WALA daw assurance na magiging ok yon. Ilang beses kami naginsist to talk to the manager pero pinaghintay lang nila kami to no avail. Sunod sunod pa din ang dating ng mga tao nagrereklamo noon pero siguro, sa sobrang hassle na, give up na sila sa J2.
Kaya please lang, kung may kakilala kayong tatangkilik pa sa CLEVERBUY at CLEVERTRAVEL, paki sabihan na sila. There is power in numbers. Yang mga ganyang tao at businesses dapat ma-expose. They should be held accountable for cheating people of their money.
[Reply my friend]