Expedia ruined our surprise

[sandiegosusie]

I had booked a surprise cruise for DH's 40th next month. Booked a long time ago. Travel agent at Expedia worked with me for months to get it all just right...A few days before Christmas, she called our house, and carelessly told my husband about the whole thing. Needless to say, I have been really upset. I spoke to her a few days after Christmas and she was very apologetic. But, not really sincere. You know what I mean!

My mother-in-law who was also in on the surprise, said we were entitled to some sort of compensation. So, I called the agent. She laughed out loud and said Expedia does not work that way. I said which way, professionally? She gave me a number. Customer Service is now "putting together something for us".

I had to write a long letter explaining what had happened. I did so, and am awaiting a reply.

My question to all those on the boards including travel agents is: Is compensation something that would be done in this case? What recourse do I have other than just airing my distrust in Expedia Cruises?

Any suggestion would be appreciated. BTW: We are still excited about the cruise, but several plans had to be trashed since it's no longer a surprise...Hubby said the surprise would have been a once in a lifetime reaction!!!

 

[Señor Ferrari]

That is very unfortunate. Given the agent's attitude, you may try to transfer the reservation to DCL. I don't know a) if you could do this or b) if the price would change (if so, it would likely go up). You may have no recourse other than to take your future business elsewhere. You can gain some solace in the fact that a lot of travelers read this board, and a story such as yours is bound to cost them some business.

 

[jel0511]

I will have to say that this is a very unforunately incident, but I don't believe you are entitled to any compensation. What you paid for was a DCL cruise and nothing more. The Expedia agent "was" being nice by helping you to keep this suprise, and it was definately the wrong thing to do to spoil it. You will still get your cruise as promised, just no suprise for DH. I'd be really upset, and definately wouldn't book anything further with Expedia if I was in your shoes. I've had run-ins with Expedia before and usually they are the most unhelpful people around. I'm sorry this happened to you, but I wouldn't expect anything from Expedia, they've shown me that they were only good for booking airline tickets, but since they started charging $5 per ticket, not even that anymore.

 

[Melrosgirl]

This happened to me with a cruiseone agent a couple of years ago. I specifically told her via her email form that I did NOT want to be contacted by phone, only email. Sure enough, she called and spoke with dh even though I was the contact person and I put down only via email to contact me.

I did not book the cruise through her. Agents who work via the internet (and all agents for that matter) need to look and read their email forms.

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

I don't know if anyone else feels this way, and please no flames, but I don't think compensation for ruining a surprise is justified. If an airline called to change a takeoff time (on a trip that was to be a surprise) - which has happened to me - would you expect some sort of compensation for that? I think the airlines would laugh at me if I asked for $ to be taken off or for a free upgrade to first class (whatever "compensation" means) if all they did was ruin a surprise.

I understand dissapointment in spoiled surprises, but compensation for it? I wouldn't even think to ask for it.

 

[hydster]

while it is unfortunate that your surprise got ruined (which is why for surprises I only use a local travel agent that I can talk to in person) I dont see how compensation is due? Maybe I am not understanding something but my understanding is that a travel agent is only supposed to get you a rate and get your tickets to you on time and without any hassels but keeping a secret isnt listed in their job descriptions. I looked at Expedia and it doesnt list not talking to the spouse or keeping secrets as one of their specialties! Did your price go up after you paid in full? Did she screw up so bad on your reservation that now you cant go at all? Those are reasons for compensation MAYBE but this? Now should this agent have kept her mouth shut OF COURSE but why is it that compensation is deserved??? Yes it ruined the surprise but I dont think that was the agents responsibility. If it was that important that you did NOT want it ruined in ANY WAY then maybe you should have given her a phone number that your husband wouldnt answer like your mother in law's phone or a cell phone that only you answer or a friend where she could leave you a message but giving out your phone number that your husband CAN and probably DOES answer regularly doesnt sound like it is the agents fault. I am sure you are not her only client and it is possible that she forgot about your surprise (that does happen sometimes..you know human error and all) but demanding compensation for something that really has no value (except for your memories) is ludicrous! Yes I think you should say they ruined your surprise and give 2nd thought to ever using them again but having them compensate you FOR WHAT? I dont get it!!

I am truly sorry your surprise got ruined it is very unfortunate but definitely not the end of the world nor compensation material!

JMHO
Heidi

 

[AnnMorin]

FRANKLY I am SO sick of hearing of how so many people feel they are DUE compensation... my God, no wonder I could buy my DH a Saab for Christmas, it is because of all you sue happy people (DH is a magistrate that has to listen all day to how 'injured' people are, )

If the travel agent RUINED your vacation by booking the air to the wrong airport then you are DUE compensation

If the travel agent charged you for a veranda and actually booked you a catagory 11 THEN you are DUE compensation

But because someone had a big mouth, GIVE ME A BREAK!

DH had two hearings today,, one was a couple who came before him wanting to sue their landlord because their 18month old child was horribly disfigured and scarred for life because he failed to regulate the hot water heater- THAT IS SOMEONE DUE COMPENSATION- this child is so grotesque now that DH wonders if he can sleep tonight it was TERRIBLE the poor thing.

The next case was a GREEDY person that wanted to sue a resteraunt because his intended finance would not marry him. He argued that the bad atmosphere (lacking waiter etc) ruined the mood and she refused. That is RIDICULOUS!

There are people out there in the world terribly injured each day and I for one find it so distasteful that so many people find minor inconviences something due compensation. If the travel agent hit your car and you could no longer walk, then I think you are due something, a big mouth-yes she was a jerk but really put things in perspective!

Sorry Barb-eight days into it and I can't keep my resolution.

 

[Gillian]

I'm sorry your surprise was ruined! I know you'll have a fantastic trip anyway!

The nice thing to do would be for the agent to send your DH a stateroom gift as an apology. But probably an agent who would think to do that would have been more careful about keeping the surprise anyway.

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

AnnMorin - I am with you 100%. There were the 70's - free love explosion, 80's - $$ explosion (think Donald Trump), 90's - internet explosion and now the 2000's - GET WHATEVER I CAN FOR FREE EXPLOSION!!

Enough said.

 

[KaitlinsMom]

Wow! I think Sandie just wanted to know if she was over reacting - Not to be flamed in the process! She just wanted to know what "standard procedure" is, if there is one.

While I agree that no compenstation should be given, a nice stateroom gift would be great - But being that this is expedia, that probably will not happen.

She did mention that she was working with the same agent, and I for one do a lot of online travel booking. But when I want some extra service, I will use a travel agent. And yes, I do believe keeping a secret is one. Especially if you have talked to someone and they agree to keep it a secret. If not, then they should have told her upfront that there are no guarentees -

How disheartening to have this happen. Unfortunately, I think it is just chalked up to a learning leason. So sorry it had to happen to you.

Have a great time anyways, and maybe you could surprise him with one of Shirleys baskets - or maybe a surial bath!!!



Take Care,

Karen

 

[MelissaE1]

Originally posted by sandiegosusie
...A few days before Christmas, she called our house, and carelessly told my husband about the whole thing.

Wow, I am so sorry that happened to you after all that planning and keeping a secret. She really did take something big away with her indiscretion. I can only imagine how that must have made you feel.

If you were dealing with people who had any sense of customer service at all, they would probably offer you some token at least to keep your business, but it doesn't sound like you should hope for much.

There is no way to completely salvage the situation now, but Karen had a great idea... can you surprise him at least in a little way? Or maybe a series of little surprises? It's not the cruise, but it could be fun.

 

[logan1_2000]

Not here to respond to anyone except the lady who planned the surprise and had it ruined. This isn't a flame against the many who expressed other views, and I would request the courtesy of not getting flamed, either.

In less than 3 days I am leaving on a cruise that was booked as a surprise for DW's 40th B'day. Now, it was not a surprise to last up until departure day (after 11 years I know better than to try to pack for her, and I didnt want to deprive her of ALL of the anticipation), just until her B'day, which was 18 days before embarkation. I booked through DCL. I spent a long time on the phone explaining that it was a surprise, an event that could not be replaced. So the address and phone number on the reservation was for my office, not my home. But home was listed as a second address. My wife gets home first and takes in the mail. One day I happened to go by the house mid afternoon (which never happens, maybe once every other month) and checked the mail. There was a confirmation right on top.

Now, my surprise was not ruined. but DCL, in my opinion, did not live up to what my deal was with them, because of the time i spent planning and consulting with the DCL agent. Others may have another view, that i contracted for a cruise and nothing more. a travel agent is in the business of "hospitality", something that is taught at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, the leading hospitality school in the nation. If all that DCL or any other travel agent would guarantee me was booking a fare and nothing else, then they should have said that up front when you raised the topic as part and parcel of the booking discussion. An agent is supposed to provide a professional service.

I do think that your agent should, as a matter of professionalism, offer a token of apology, though it would probably not amount to much. Legally, there is no specified damages amount that any, ANY court would ever consider. The "value" of the surprise--thats just something that didnt turn out in life. But the agent who agreed to work with you under the guise of a surprise ought to send something on the order of a gift basket or a token onboard credit of maybe $50. Thats really about it. It wont make up for the loss of the surprise, but it is an acknowledgement that they did not give you first class service.

Expedia may not choose to do business that way. All you are left with is to publicize their no frills way of doing business, and many readers will choose for themselves what to do in response.

Me? I still had my surprise intact, yet I was pissed because it wasn't through any degree of care by DCL.. I went straight back to my office and called DCL, and let them know how pissed I was and asked how it happened. They apologized and looked at the record, and saw in the record notes about the surprise and the instructions not to contact at the home address, and saw that there was an alternate address available for mailing. They also saw notes about having previously messed up the information in the booking and when I had had to correct the reservation. I actually got a Bon Voyage basket as an apology which appears to have a $39 price if I had bought it. Disney made a gesture which satisfied me that they cared about their customer and wanted me to have the best time possible. I dont know all the details of what went on in your reservation.

Your husband will always remember that you wanted to give him the surprise. The cruise will be awesome.

Others may disagree. That is their right, and I haven't addressed them or attempted to discredit them, and hope that the courtesy of the boards will prevail.

 

[northernmouse]

I think it's unfortunate your surprise was ruined (and I also think 'compensation' as the immediate remedy to everything dissappointing is getting a little out of hand), but I guess what puzzles me is how people expect high-touch personal services from a discount, no-frills agency. If secrecy was so important, you would have been better served working with someone face-to-face. Plus, it also helps to be paranoid -- which is why I would never put my home address or phone as a contact if I could avoid it. I guess this is also a learning experience for next time (cause I bet you could come up with another surprise -- once you start it's a lot of fun!)

 

[Doctor P]

Frankly, I don't have enough information to make a full judgement, but I think some people are missing the point here, and it is one of principle. IF I make a transaction with someone that is supposed to be a confidential transaction, and I clearly inform them that this is to be a confidential transaction, and they breach that confidentiality, then I think I am entitled to compensation for their breach. It is NOT up to the other party to determine whether I had a good reason for wanting it confidential or not. However, if I am going to feel this strongly, they need to be clearly and fully put on notice up front that this is important and (in the case of an in person agent especially) I would have them sign a confidentiality agreement.

All that said....I think that I certainly would not have gone to that extreme in this case. However, I would make it clear that I am upset and I would suggest some reasonable remedies that would make me happy (and I mean reasonable...disappointment has a way of blowing things out of proportion).

 

[alexandrew]

When you work with a deep discount co. like Expedia, you sacrifice personal service in order to save money....That lack of relationship cost you the value of a "surprise"...If these types of things are important to you, why not find a travel agent that you can develop a personal relationship with.

caveat emptor

 

[nedleycan]

I agree with Alex. I too use a discount agency for booking vacations, but I don't expect the best service, etc. (although cruise.com seems to give excellent service too). I think a local personal relationship with an agent would have eliminated this problem. My mom is an agent, and I can tell you that she would NEVER have let this happen... but with her... you are paying full price.

 

[scarlett873]

~not here to flame anyone...just to comment on the situation and share my experience with expedia!~

i'm so sorry that your surprise was ruined!! i know that when i was working as a travel agent, i always wrote in the file if it was a surprise or if there were any other special instructions. that way i wouldn't goof anything up!!

but i had an experience with expedia that frustrated me to no end...DH and i did all of the price checking on packages to WDW for our wedding/honeymoon (we were married in orlando at a wedding chapel and honeymooned at WDW) and found a phenomenal deal on expedia. something told me that it wasn't right, but i read and reread everything and it read the way it was supposed to! so we booked it...it was 6 night at the ASMu, 7 day unlimited park hopper passes, midsize rental car, and air from indianapolis...total for 2, $950. i couldn't believe my eyes...i even called expedia directly to see if this was right and was assured that it was. so put it on the credit card, even though i still felt uneasy about it. after about a week or two, i called expedia again, just to ease my mind. and that's when they dropped the bomb on me. they informed me that there was no admission included in this package. i KNOW that when i booked it, it said that it was included. the gal wasn't very friendly about it either. i was trying very hard to be gracious about the situation...she walked me through the process and said what should come up where and so on and so forth...i was never offered an option to PURCHASE admission tickets. the package said that it was already included, "for my convenience". i couldn't deal with them anymore, so i had hubby take over...he got it fixed almost 2 hours later...expedia ended up paying for our admission tickets! i guess there had been a computer glitch at the time that i made our reservations. but hey came through for us in the end...and our trip was fabulous!!


i don't know if that really had anything to do with anything, but i wanted to share it with you! i hope that you guys have a fantastic time on your trip anyway!!!

 

[jel0511]

scarlett873 - That EXACT thing happened to my sister!!!! She was looking for prices to WDW, and Expedia was giving her the best prices. Well, there was this amazing deal for AKL, which was less pp than the AS. Again, said passes were included and such, and booked the trip. (This was one of my stories I was referring to in my earlier post) Anyway, after she got her confirmation e-mail, no where did it state that passes were included. Well, me being the one with balls in the family, I called Expedia on her behalf. At first, they wouldn't give me the passes, or give me a refund, told me the airfare was non-refundable. Well, as I was on the phone, I played with the website and saw that on the summary page it did say it included passes, but as you got to the find print, it stated only hotel was included. I pointed it out to the Rep on the phone, and he then looked at himself. He agreed that it was "vague" and then I was placed on hold. Expedia wouldn't give my sister the passes, but she did get a full refund, which she used to book with Disney and is staying at the AS. I couldn't believe that Expedia would let something like that happen, and can't even believe it more that it has happened before. My sister still to this day talks about if we hadn't read that e-mail and questioned the left out passes, she would have went to AKL and expected passes to be there waiting, and then she'd have to fork out all those $$$. I wonder how many people who've book through Expedia it's happened to??

 

[sandiegosusie]

I want to thank all of those that have responded to my original post. I thought that I should fill you in on a few details...My customer profile included notes from several phone calls with this particular agent. I was told this, by customer service who I am dealing with now. In the notes, boldly stated, was the fact that this cruise was for my husband's 40th birthday. According to Expedia, they help their clients pull off surprise vacations all of the time. This is not an odd request. Contact information was provided that is not commonly used by my husband. I am a stay at home Mom and I am the sole person that picks up our mail. The phone call that was received by my husband was after the normal working schedule of this agent. It was after 9p.m. pst. In the past 9 months, in addition to numerous phone calls, I have received information from this agent via my personal email account, as well as USPS.

I do not want to "flame" anyone else out there. I do want to let you know what happened to me, happened as a result of a negligent agent. Nothing that I did! Apparently some people think otherwise. I hope anyone else that has planned a surprise for a loved one is able to pull it off. As for me, I was prevented from doing that, but I have learned a lesson...I will take my business elsewhere.

 

[AnnMorin]

Originally posted by sandiegosusie
.

My question to all those on the boards including travel agents is: Is compensation something that would be done in this case? What recourse do I have other than just airing my distrust in Expedia Cruises?

An\

Sandie, I am sorry if my responce upset you. However you clearly asked people the question is compensation something that would be done in this case? By asking that question you opened the door to other peoples opinion of the answer. I am sure no one meant to "flame you",but sometimes people are passionate about their opinions, once you ask for them unfortuneatly you do get them. I for one do apologize if my words seemed harsh-I just am saddened to see so many people that want compensation for inconviences not true hardships of late.

I do think you brought an important fact to light, that if one is attempting to keep a secret great measures may need to be taken. I would suggest to all that the home phone number not be given just to avoid such occurances, maybe use a trusted friend or relatives number.
I do hope that you have a magical cruise, and at least it is only a month until you go so the surprise was not spoiled like a year in advance. Have a great trip and may this be the only bad thing you experience!