AAA agent troubles...

[jaycns]

If you would like to add the changes yourself, I would call Disney back until you get someone who will do it for you. I did it just a couple of weeks ago, and it was absolutely no problem.

What did you say when they asked you who booked the trip? Actually what exactly did you say? If you remember...maybe I am wording it wrong. TIA!

 

[paigevz]

With all of the requests being made for 2 different trips it can be error on all parts. Disney prioritizes requests so your non-smoking would be first, then location, etc. Not every comment is printed on the paperwork. Give the TA a call and request that the items missing be added. Non-smoking is the most important and that is what you want Disney to concentrate on. As for the TA, if you are unhappy, don't use the person again. The TA stayed on top of your unavailable room until she was able to book it and yet that isn't respectful of your booking? I would believe that the TA has more to deal with than just your bookings. To the OP, you staed that your TA is saving you hundreds of dollars on each booking and then are complaining about service. I agree with others who suggest contactind Disney directly to get your priority requests noted on your reservations. Good luck on your planned trips.

For the CUSTOMER, the TA has NOTHING to do but take care of THAT PARTICULAR customer. That is what a good TA does. It should not matter about other bookings.........the OP deserves to be treated as if she is important and her requests honored and wishes followed.

Entitled is too strong here. It is a discount that is offered when available. I have AAA, it does not entitle me to anything more than is available.

If the manager is on vacation, someone must be "in Charge." Get ahold of the location/branch/office manager and get them involved. Disney has reduced the number of requests listed by guests and does indeed prioritize them. Even for medical needs the non-smoking is a request. As an example, if a guest extended a stay and your room was unavailable, by law, Disney cannot evict the guest to get you your request. That is an extreme example, but can and does happen. The amount that you pay for your room has no bearing on what Disney is required to do. Based upon such statement,what, are guests of concierge entitled to roam the parks more freely/reserve dining priority over guests who can only afford All-Stars? Perhaps your TA was caught up in the DCL mess today and did not get a chance to deal with your requests. A TA that spent a week getting you an accommodation that was unavailable has done a lot for you. Unless your trip is tom'w., there is time to get the other requests added. Perhaps you could call Disney and get the other requests added to ease your frustrations. Good luck on your plans.

I don't think the OP ever insinuated that she should get more because she was paying more. And as for the TA having DCL mess.........see the comment above.........those issues should have no bearing on the OP's needs.

The customer is not satisfied, so the travel agent did not do her job! The concierge rooms are expensive....the commission should have been nice enough without the addition of travel insurance.

If the quote she gave was different than what she charged or invoiced, she misquoted. The agency should eat the travel insurance!!! NOT YOU!!

AAA rates are very alluring...but finidng an agent who will go the extra mile is what getting a travel agent is alll about....there are so many ways to do it ourselves....a travel agent should add value to your vacation.

ITA!

This is ridiculous. Stop dealing with this TA. I would ask to talk to a supervisor, and advise them that you will stop payment on the transaction of it isn't resolved immediately. Then I would stop payment on the CC.

And again, I agree. I can NOT believe the way you have been treated by this TA. This is not what people use TAs for. For goodness' sake you could have all these headaches on your own. TAs are supposed to make things happen EASILY for you.

Sure takes some of the joy out of planning, doesn't it????

 

[momrek06]

OP, I am going to tell you that what you are going through right now is why I no longer even have AAA.

I always had AAA for trip tiks and maps and roadside service.

I went into AAA to book our family vacation to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon (not Disney). It turned out to be the biggest mistake I ever made in my life. The agent I had was almost NEVER in when I would either go by the office or place a call to her. This was a very expensive trip. Two weeks Boston to Las Vegas to Phoenix and home. We were put in totally inadequate hotels. And despite the trip was paid in full (with my receipts in hand) many many of the different hotels we were booked in with AAA (as we traveled from state to state) made us PAY them. I would explain that I paid AAA. Ma'am, we have NO record you paid for this hotel.

All in all, OP, it was a NIGHTMARE. Of course I explained all this to AAA upon our return but they didn't seem the least bit interested other than to refund the money I had to use on the hotels that were ALREADY paid for...not fun.

I am a planner, myself, I can see your frustrations. Call and see if you can sit down with a AAA Travel Manager. Explain all your issues with the Manager.

I have no clue if you can cancel or if there will be a fee. If you can cancel w/o a fee, I would.

Since that whole debacle with AAA, I schedule, plan and book everything on my own. I go to Borders and B&N, I sit and read everything I can on where it is I am headed, including Disney and I book directly through them. I have not been to a travel agent since canceling my AAA membership.

Good Luck, OP! Keep us posted!!

 

[momrek06]

And again, I agree. I can NOT believe the way you have been treated by this TA. This is not what people use TAs for. For goodness' sake you could have all these headaches on your own. TAs are supposed to make things happen EASILY for you.

Sure takes some of the joy out of planning, doesn't it????

ITA..

 

[Tiffer]

Entitled is too strong here. It is a discount that is offered when available. I have AAA, it does not entitle me to anything more than is available.

If the manager is on vacation, someone must be "in Charge." Get ahold of the location/branch/office manager and get them involved. Disney has reduced the number of requests listed by guests and does indeed prioritize them. Even for medical needs the non-smoking is a request. As an example, if a guest extended a stay and your room was unavailable, by law, Disney cannot evict the guest to get you your request. That is an extreme example, but can and does happen. The amount that you pay for your room has no bearing on what Disney is required to do. Based upon such statement,what, are guests of concierge entitled to roam the parks more freely/reserve dining priority over guests who can only afford All-Stars? Perhaps your TA was caught up in the DCL mess today and did not get a chance to deal with your requests. A TA that spent a week getting you an accommodation that was unavailable has done a lot for you. Unless your trip is tom'w., there is time to get the other requests added. Perhaps you could call Disney and get the other requests added to ease your frustrations. Good luck on your plans.

Tha is true about the non-smoking room, theoretically, however, the beauty of Disney is that they have so many rooms that they could easily upgrade the room for the OP.
I also don't think OP is saying that because she paid concierge she should roam the parks freely, but she has paid for an added service and that should be taken into account. But certainly people who pay for GF get different treatment and ammenities in their hotel than those that stay in All stars. Just as an example.
OP should get what she asks for in a semi-stress-free way. Not saying they should roll out the red carpet, but competence at the very least would be nice.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Disney doesn't guarantee non smoking rooms, even for medical need, though many CMs will tell you that do so you won't throw a fit So she's not lying on that though it should still be listed on your reservation "non smoking request due to asthma/allergies" - that is what is always put on our reservation so the room placement CM knows there is a legitimate need for the request.

Fact is, MOST rooms at WDW are non-smoking (they continue to convert them) so the likelyhood of anyone not getting their non smoking request is slim to none, and upgrades can be made even at that point.

But Disney policy is that non smoking is a REQUEST, never a guarantee.

Sounds like you need to go above the TA and get the rest of your issues dealt with; esp since she's out of the office until Friday anyways. She dropped the ball on several things for sure - esp the insurance issue.

Good luck!

 

[LMEJ]

My vacation for 2 adults/2 kids in November (6 nights at CR, towerMK view, with tickets and dining plan) was $400 cheaper through AAA than when I called CRO direct. I would prefer to do my own booking, but $400 savings was too good to pass up. My AAA agent, however, was very nice and did everything I asked.

 

[DMRick]

Disney doesn't guarantee non smoking rooms, even for medical need, though many CMs will tell you that do so you won't throw a fit So she's not lying on that though it should still be listed on your reservation "non smoking request due to asthma/allergies"

This is incorrect information. It always says guaranteed non smoking room on my reservation. It never says why, just guaranteed. 4 or 5 times a year it says that, and when I call, and mention it, now they just say, yes, it's on your record. It's always on my slip, and I always get non smoking.
By the way, I did notice on my daughters slip, her's said requested once. I asked why, and was told she must not have said it was a medical need..therefore it makes it only a request. Mine never says it's a request.

 

[hsmamato2]

I haven't read the whole thread, but here's our experience with local AAA...my Mom, a super Disney expert,like 200 trips in 20 years...
recently applied at the local office for a job as a TA, she's really good at deals, and finding them for people.... she's already a TA...but anyway, she didn't get the position, she goes in to buy some tix for our recent trip, orders some tix with various options such as non expire,etc. gets to the gates,and finds out that the agent issued all the wrong tickets,number of days, no expire options..etc. She had to discover all this after trying to use on multiple days,and going to guest services to figure it all out....
she should have checked before leaving the office, but boy was she ticked,knowing she would NOT have done something like that on a clients requests, and they hired someone less qualified and familiar with Disney vacations.....
I guess I'll never use AAA for booking, I know too much about the system and how it works,like OP, I know more than the TA does!

 

[yellowfish78]

This could have happened with any Travel Agency that you book with.
All I have to say is never pay for anything unless you have it in writing first - When I book packages for my clients, they also get a copy of the fax that Disney sends me - which shows all the special requests and room types on it - and also signs off on that one too.
If they are too far away to drive to the office, I find a way to email, fax or mail these out to them. They also have to sign a release waiver stating that they've reviewed everything. Cover's both the clients rear and my rear in case something like this happens.

I hope everyone can learn from this! And remember, not all TA's are bad. There are some good one's out there! (And alot of us are on the boards!)

 

[DznyDreams]

.......I guess I'll never use AAA for booking, I know too much about the system and how it works,like OP, I know more than the TA does!

SO TRUE!

I have only worked with one really decent AAA TA before. I would use her for this trip, but I just like having control of my own reservation too much, plus I always feel like I'm bothering her when I call for the small stuff (I hate that feeling). I can "bother" Disney all day long, and it never phases me.

Good luck, jaycns! Sorry I don't have any tips for you, but I do hope your issues are resolved very soon.

 

[Earstou]

If you don't get the results you want soon, you can always write to the Better Business Bureau. I've had great success the two times I've used the BBB.

Not AAA, but a local agency, I had a huge amount of trouble with a TA with a 3 week trip to Alaska. The whole trip was dependent on when we could get the ferry. She kept getting reservations for everything BUT the ferry. I kept telling her we need dates for when we get off the ferry to plan anything else. After telling her this four times, I went to the owner. The TA claimed all the problems were due to the fact we dropped one member of our party! I thought I had every thing straightened out before we left, but I missed one detail. She had told us our hotel was next to the ferry terminal, so we didn't need transportation. So the only bus leaves the terminal building, and we walk outside and see...nothing. They had built a new terminal 3 years earlier, and it was about 45 miles from town. We had to call a taxi, wait for it to drive out there and, of course, pay that high fare! Plus it was late at night and we were all tired (especially my 3 yr old)!
Never had trouble with an AAA TA, but I rarely use them anymore!

 

[fan_of_small_world]

Disney doesn't guarantee non smoking rooms, even for medical need, though many CMs will tell you that do so you won't throw a fit

This is incorrect information. It always says guaranteed non smoking room on my reservation. It never says why, just guaranteed. 4 or 5 times a year it says that, and when I call, and mention it, now they just say, yes, it's on your record. It's always on my slip, and I always get non smoking.
By the way, I did notice on my daughters slip, her's said requested once. I asked why, and was told she must not have said it was a medical need..therefore it makes it only a request. Mine never says it's a request.

I had the same experience as DMRick...I told the CM that we needed non-smoking due to allergies, and our confirmation slip said "guaranteed."

 

[accruise]

I own an agency. When I hear things like this I get upset. It is important you get your needs met. I have had problems with non-smoking rooms, however. Sometimes, adjoining rooms are not guaranteed unless there are minors i them. Believe me...most of us work hard and listen.. But, we are all can make mistakes.

 

[Schachteles]

Ok reading all of these horror stories are making me nervous!! We just booked and fully paid for a trip to WDW in October. I have always done my own booking, but I thought saving $168 was a good enough deal to book with them.

Is there a way to make sure that you got the CORRECT park passes before you hit the park?? We paid for the non-expiration, 10 day park hoppers with the water park added on.

This BETTER work out!

 

[angwill]

One other thing to note with AAA is that their towing service is sub-par also. Nobody told me that the basic service only covered towing for a limited amount of miles and I had to pay anything over that. OK, my bad I didn't read the information. Well I found out the hard way when I was 25 miles from home and broke down. The tow truck came and wrote us an estimate of $200 for the excess towing charge. I had just called for a tow for a friend more miles than that and it only cost $85 so I knew I was being screwed. Well I said fine I just want to get home and told him I would write a check when we got to my house. Nope he wanted cash up front or he refused to tow me. I showed him on the back of the AAA reciept where it said that any AAA member's check is guaranteed by AAA. Nope, he still wouldn't do it and left. I called AAA and they told me that despite what the back of the reciept said and what their webiste states the tow company has the right to refuse checks. I said fine then send a towing company who will accept my check. She told me she couldn't do that and basically I was SOL. In the end I called the tow company who towed my friend had to wait 1 1/2 hours and paid him the $85 check. Thank goodness I realized I had not canceled my $4.00 tow lock out reimbursment on my State Farm car insurance. I went in the next day and my SF agent wrote me a check no questions asked. $4.00 find your own tow pay and get reimbused the next day VS. the sup par AAA cost of $55-$85 depending on which plan you chose and they call the rip off towing company for you and not stand behind their written policy.

The only time I will get another AAA policy is if they can save me hundreds of dollars on Disney otherwise I don't want it or need it. My $4.00 State Farm policy is more reliable.

To the OP. Don't let the nay sayers get you down. Some people just like to debate issues.

Angela

 

[Schachteles]

One other thing to note with AAA is that their towing service is sub-par also. Nobody told me that the basic service only covered towing for a limited amount of miles and I had to pay anything over that. OK, my bad I didn't read the information. Well I found out the hard way when I was 25 miles from home and broke down. The tow truck came and wrote us an estimate of $200 for the excess towing charge. I had just called for a tow for a friend more miles than that and it only cost $85 so I knew I was being screwed. Well I said fine I just want to get home and told him I would write a check when we got to my house. Nope he wanted cash up front or he refused to tow me. I showed him on the back of the AAA reciept where it said that any AAA member's check is guaranteed by AAA. Nope, he still wouldn't do it and left. I called AAA and they told me that despite what the back of the reciept said and what their webiste states the tow company has the right to refuse checks. I said fine then send a towing company who will accept my check. She told me she couldn't do that and basically I was SOL. In the end I called the tow company who towed my friend had to wait 1 1/2 hours and paid him the $85 check. Thank goodness I realized I had not canceled my $4.00 tow lock out reimbursment on my State Farm car insurance. I went in the next day and my SF agent wrote me a check no questions asked. $4.00 find your own tow pay and get reimbused the next day VS. the sup par AAA cost of $55-$85 depending on which plan you chose and they call the rip off towing company for you and not stand behind their written policy.

The only time I will get another AAA policy is if they can save me hundreds of dollars on Disney otherwise I don't want it or need it. My $4.00 State Farm policy is more reliable.

To the OP. Don't let the nay sayers get you down. Some people just like to debate issues.

Angela

I noticed that when I signed up with AAA that with the basic plan you only get towed up to 5 miles. I knew that since I drive 45 miles to work each way that was not going to work for me, so I bumped up to the Plus package and for $20 more a year I can get towed up to 100 miles...I liked that idea so much better since we have a VERY reasonably priced garage to get work done on our cars in town that I would want my car taken to.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I had the same experience as DMRick...I told the CM that we needed non-smoking due to allergies, and our confirmation slip said "guaranteed."

I actually personally know several CRO CMs and they are the ones that said it's not guaranteed - it's in their policy - but CMs will note things on reservations to make the guest happy. If you only knew what goes on at CRO! =)

That's where I got the info.

But like I said earlier, the reality is that no one is denied a non smoking room due to a medical need anyways so the debate over guaranteed or request doesn't matter much. It just doesn't happen (and if did, resorts can be moved). And the AAA agent should have ensured that it was noted on her reservation regardless not just blown her off that it wasn't Disney policy.

 

[jaycns]

UPDATE: I finally reached one of the "higher ups" at AAA. I now have one of them personally working on my file. The insurance has been removed. Both trips have the requests added (and I will be sent a copy of the forms in the mail so that I have it in writing). They WERE able to get non smoking room guaranteed on the ressie.

Lastly, I am still nervous. BUT...I was to begin with. I am not the kind of person who can let something as important to me as my Disney vacation plans "go" without worry. However, the manager I spoke with assured me she would double check the ressie and make sure everything is now as it was supposed to be in the first place and she would triple check it a week before vacation and call me with confirmation.

In the end I really don't think the money saved was worth the worry. Not for me. I could totally see how it would be worth it if it were the difference between being able to afford the vacation or not. But in our family's case, I think paying the extra money and having peace of mind before we travel is more important. **I do reserve the right to change my mind if everything goes exactly as planned and everything is "all set" when we arrive.**

Also, in general, I have nothing against travel agents and have had great experiences with Expedia in the past. I am sure others have horror stories form using Expedia the same way I had a bad experience with AAA. I really don't knock AAA overall (unless the manager screws up...then I will be convinced it was a company thing not an agent thing). However, I feel that I spoke with a very competent person who is sending me written proof of them having completed everything that needs to be done.

I am also willing to look into using Dreams Unlimited if they have a great deal. I am impressed with them sponsoring the DIS. Another option might be for me to utilize one of the many AAA agents or other independent Disney vacation planners suggested by other DISers via PMs.

AND...buyer beware...I have learned my lesson and will never again give a credit card number for a deposit until AFTER I have seen written confirmation of what is and is not on the package.

Thanks for all of the suggestions! They really did help!

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

I'm glad you were able to speak to a manager. Hopefully, all is resolved.

I had a bad experience with AAA several months ago. I booked with an online rep (instead of calling my local office). I added a couple of days of the course of about two months. When I asked to add one more day, the agent said she would, but that I should "firm up" my plans before asking her to make any changes. I was so mad. There isn't an umlinited amount of AAA discounted rooms, so if I waited to "firm up" my plans, I may have missed out. Plus, it's not like I was reducing my stay, I was adding to it (thus she was making more money). Luckily, WDW came out with a code and I booked direct. I cancelled my reservation with her. I may try AAA again, but use my local office.