Taking a Ressie back from a TA

[kteesmumma]

Is this something that is possible? We transfered our reservation to a TA, but now I am thinking maybe I shouldnt have. Can we take it back?

 

[bigedwin]

Hi
My brother had used an Agent that was not responsive!
My agent was an Ace so he decided to swith agents!
In order for his agent to release his reservation charged him $250.00penalty!!
We tried just canceling and rebooking but his agent still charged him the $250.00
At the end he swithched and my agent was able to get him a $150.00 on board credit and I had a $100. friends and family certificate that we applied so he was even!
Needless to say that agent will Never do business with him nor the 100's of people at his church nor 100's of his friends friends!

 

[Mjasp]

If it's a large agency like a Liberty travel and you have a valid reason, I'd say yes, but WHY would you want to change agencies?

A good agent is worth their weight in gold, if a problem arises a good agent going to bat for you stands a much better chance than you going to bat on your own. If their is no problem, even better. It cost you nothing but peace of mind.

My agent is a very reputable full service agent, does large volume with Disney and has also booked me on Royal Caribbean in the past. He has a brick and mortar building and is open 7 days a week, his agency is very reachable. I wouldn't switch at all.

Before you want to switch, I think you should ask yourself why? and then go from there.
Good Luck

 

[miztressuz]

The TA has to agree to release the reservation. As noted by a PP some might have fees involved since they won't get paid commission for their work. If you can manage to cancel the reservation, that would release it.... but it'd also be cancelled and you'd have to rebook... and potentially still get a cancellation fee from the TA... probably not a good idea.

As long as the TA doesn't go MIA on you, if you contact them with a few days notice you should be able to get everything taken care of when you need it. My word of advice from my recent experience, always get a backup contact information - another agent in the agency, an "emergency" line, alternate email and/or phone numbers, something. If you have that, you should be ok and enjoy the OBC I'm sure you got

 

[lbgraves]

If the TA charges you a cancellation fee when DCL wouldn't, then that isn't a very good agent IMO.

 

[clten]

If the TA charges you a cancellation fee when DCL wouldn't, then that isn't a very good agent IMO.

Why would that be? Do you work for free? Very often a great deal of work goes into booking a trip, the agent may have answered many, many questions, looked at many many options and spent a great deal of time behind the scenes to get what the client wants (maybe less in this case since it was a transferred booking but you still don't know how much work was done on it by the agent). Once the trip is booked there is time spent setting up the booking with the cruise line and also in the inhouse reservation system so the client is looked after and reminders happen timely, etc.

A blanket statement like yours is very insulting to good travel agents.

To the OP, once a TA has a booking, they own the booking. (So transferring just to get an onboard credit isn't something anyone should just jump into.) You have to get them to release it. When you booked with them, there were probably terms and conditions that the agency provided. The agency cancellation penalty should be among them (if it is not, then that is a sign of a poor agency/agent). If they won't release it and there is no penalty to the agency, then you can cancel and rebook on your own at today's prices and availability. Most agencies are reasonable and if you have a valid reason for wanting it released, they will consent so you don't have to rebook but very few would waive their cancellation penalty.

 

[lbgraves]

That is part of the job. There are many TAs who do NOT charge a fee if you cancel, so IMO there is no reason to use one who does. That comes across more like a threat to keep your business. The TA's make money from the booking after you travel from the company; however, things happen. My MIL went on hospice last June after a 9 year battle with colon cancer so we chose to cancel the TA we had booked for September. We had paid in full as the due date was earlier than most cruises; however we were not in the penalty phase yet for DCL. I emailed our TA at Dreams that we needed to cancel the trip and it was done that day with no charge. She also sent a very nice email saying she was sorry that we had to cancel because she knew how much we had been looking forward to that trip. My MIL died two weeks before the date we were to fly out for the cruise.

If someone is receiving horrible service from a TA and wants the reservation released back to DCL, then I don't think it is right for them to charge for that either.

 

[karebear06]

Why would that be? Do you work for free? Very often a great deal of work goes into booking a trip, the agent may have answered many, many questions, looked at many many options and spent a great deal of time behind the scenes to get what the client wants (maybe less in this case since it was a transferred booking but you still don't know how much work was done on it by the agent). Once the trip is booked there is time spent setting up the booking with the cruise line and also in the inhouse reservation system so the client is looked after and reminders happen timely, etc.

A blanket statement like yours is very insulting to good travel agents.

To the OP, once a TA has a booking, they own the booking. (So transferring just to get an onboard credit isn't something anyone should just jump into.) You have to get them to release it. When you booked with them, there were probably terms and conditions that the agency provided. The agency cancellation penalty should be among them (if it is not, then that is a sign of a poor agency/agent). If they won't release it and there is no penalty to the agency, then you can cancel and rebook on your own at today's prices and availability. Most agencies are reasonable and if you have a valid reason for wanting it released, they will consent so you don't have to rebook but very few would waive their cancellation penalty.

It's the same way with real estate agents. They dont get paid unless they sell a house or a listing. A lot of leg work goes into showing houses and setting up listings.

 

[TinkPirateMom]

If the TA charges you a cancellation fee when DCL wouldn't, then that isn't a very good agent IMO.

Really? I know lots of good agents and agencies that charge cancellation fees. An agent only gets paid when clients travel. Why should an agent have to work for free because someone has to cancel and hasn't purchased trip insurance? If an agent researches and books a trip for a client, offers them cancellation insurance which they decline, and the client signs a contract agreeing to cancellation penalties then why the heck should an agent not get paid for their work?

That is part of the job. There are many TAs who do NOT charge a fee if you cancel, so IMO there is no reason to use one who does. That comes across more like a threat to keep your business. The TA's make money from the booking after you travel from the company; however, things happen. My MIL went on hospice last June after a 9 year battle with colon cancer so we chose to cancel the TA we had booked for September. We had paid in full as the due date was earlier than most cruises; however we were not in the penalty phase yet for DCL. I emailed our TA at Dreams that we needed to cancel the trip and it was done that day with no charge. She also sent a very nice email saying she was sorry that we had to cancel because she knew how much we had been looking forward to that trip. My MIL died two weeks before the date we were to fly out for the cruise.

If someone is receiving horrible service from a TA and wants the reservation released back to DCL, then I don't think it is right for them to charge for that either.

I think a good agent will waive their cancellation penalty for extenuating circumstances but will have the penalties in place to protect themselves from those who take advantage and do the book and cancel dance wasting an agents' time.

 

[lbgraves]

If the person signs something agreeing to the cancellation fee then they have agreed to it. I personally would never sign something that had that kid of fee attached.

Karebear06 -- excellent example with a real estate agent.

 

[Princess Dolly]

I never heard of TA cancellation fees. I've had to cancel some trips because of a family matter and never had to deal with such a thing.

And really if the TA is not holding up her/his end of the deal, one should be able to get his/her reservation back.

 

[VeroBeach]

It's the same way with real estate agents. They dont get paid unless they sell a house or a listing. A lot of leg work goes into showing houses and setting up listings.

The difference with a real estate agent is that they usually have your listing for 6 months. I believe you would need to pay a fee if you wanted to change agents within that period. Edited to add - just found a listing agreement online - it has an early termination fee of $129 if the seller terminates the listing agreement early.


FYI - if you want your reservation to be transferred back to DCL from an agency, the travel agency owner needs to fill out a form and send it in to DCL.


Many Travel Agents now charge a research fee up front. Many will apply it to the cost of the trip, many won't.

IMO, charging fees is the sign of a professional travel agent, one who is valued for their time and expertise.

When is the last time you had a plumber or electrician enter your house without charging a fee?

 

[clten]

That is part of the job. There are many TAs who do NOT charge a fee if you cancel, so IMO there is no reason to use one who does. That comes across more like a threat to keep your business. The TA's make money from the booking after you travel from the company; however, things happen. My MIL went on hospice last June after a 9 year battle with colon cancer so we chose to cancel the TA we had booked for September. We had paid in full as the due date was earlier than most cruises; however we were not in the penalty phase yet for DCL. I emailed our TA at Dreams that we needed to cancel the trip and it was done that day with no charge. She also sent a very nice email saying she was sorry that we had to cancel because she knew how much we had been looking forward to that trip. My MIL died two weeks before the date we were to fly out for the cruise.

If someone is receiving horrible service from a TA and wants the reservation released back to DCL, then I don't think it is right for them to charge for that either.

You are very much entitled to your opinion and if you will only use a TA that does not charge a cancellation fee, that's great. But my problem with your statement was that painted every travel agent that charged a cancellation fee as a poor travel agent.

The OP was not stating that they were cancelling the trip or if they even had any difficulty with the agent, just that they wanted to take back control. For this, I think the TA would be entitled to any cancellation penalty they had previously established (and you don't have to sign the terms and conditions, you just have to have them spelled out for you and if you continue with the booking, you are agreeing to abide by them.)

In the situation you outline, I would imagine that those extenuating circumstances would lead the agency to not charge a cancellation fee but as someone else said, if you have insurance it also covers your TA fees.

And as far as the real estate example, if you are under contract and have agreed to buy a house and back out, I'd like to meet the real estate agent and seller who will let you back out without some kind of penalty.

 

[karebear06]

Back to the real estate example. Yes, if you list your house, you sign a listing agreement. If you buy a house, you sign a contract. Termination with either one would incur a penalty.

What I am talking about is the leg work involved with showing customers house after house. Researching listings to show. Driving customers here and there. Etc.... Only for some customers to either go with another agent or disappear. So yes, that is working for free. So, I stand by my original statement.

 

[VeroBeach]

Back to the real estate example. Yes, if you list your house, you sign a listing agreement. If you buy a house, you sign a contract. Termination with either one would incur a penalty.

What I am talking about is the leg work involved with showing customers house after house. Researching listings to show. Driving customers here and there. Etc.... Only for some customers to either go with another agent or disappear. So yes, that is working for free. So, I stand by my original statement.

The real estate agent is still working for the seller and will get paid either way; in the majority of cases by a large commission on the sale, if not then by a fee. They even get paid if someone else sells the house if they were the listing agent. The only way they would never get paid is if a listing is on the market for the length of the contract and doesn't sell.

(FYI - many real estate transactions work on 6% commission, and they break it out with 1.5% going to listing agent, 1.5% to listing agency, 1.5% to buying agent and 1.5% to buying agency; the listing and buying agency could be the same or they could be different.)

A travel agent works for YOU, if you don't book, or if they don't charge you a fee, they don't get paid.

I just realized that I was talking about LISTING agents, those who list properties for sale and who are guaranteed a piece of the commission no matter who sells the property. Real Estate Agency Owners also are guaranteed commissions or fees. Real estate agents who don't make any listings at all are at the mercy of their clients, just like travel agents who don't charge fees.

 

[JoeCosta]

I am a real estate agent and I charge potential buyers a fee before I spend my day carting them around from house to house and I get serious buyers only. Many times I get them into houses in days even in this horrible housing market in Atlanta, GA.

My sellers pay me a fee to be listed and a high cancellation fee if they break the contract. I get their houses sold as well and I don't cut their commissions. I don't work as hard as other agents and I make more money because I only work with serious sellers and buyers who treat me as a professional.

My travel agent is fee only and has a cancellation fee as well. If I cancel because things happen, she is compensated for her work. Yes she makes commission from the cruise line but that is to pay her for working for THEM. She works for me and as such I pay her too and then I get exactly what I want and am not led to a cruise or trip that pays her the highest commission.

I and my TA are not right for every client and that is ok. My TA is closed to new clients and has a waiting list and I am almost at that point.