Help ! Travel Agency Shut Doors !!!

[dvcmember98]

Hey Guy's need some help for some friends of mine. It's very possible that the Land/Sea package they booked through a local travel agency is in default due to the agency shutting it's doors. Won't know all of the details for a few more hours. They were suppose to leave June 11th for the land part and then do the 3 day cruise. I have never booked through a travel agency before, should Disney be able to tell my friends any info about their reservations or will Disney only be able to refer them back to the Agency. They have not recieved any documents from Disney or the Agency. All of this was just brought out in the daylight yesterday about 3:00pm. Anybody got any background with this sort of issue, any advice?????
Thanks Guy's !!!!

 

[jgalecpa]

Well, here are some things they should know/do:


(1) Call Disney immediately. If the CM tells them they have to contact the TA, very politely ask to talk to a supervisor. Explain to them the predicament (can't talk to TA as they look like they are shutting down),

If Dis has already been paid in full, there should be no problem, except maybe getting the DOCs. Docs can actually be done right at the problem, so except for a few extra gray hairs, no harm done.

If DIS has not been paid yet (and this would be a bit unlikely since you are well past the 90-75-60 day mark for final payment and would have heard already, probably), then things get a bit dicier.

(2) If they paid with a credit card, they at least should not lose any of their money. They should be able to go against the card carrier, even if they had already paid the bill.


Will DCL make you pay the rest before they let them go? Probably. BUT, if you can get assurance from the card company that recovery of the charge to the bad TA is likely, you are just temporarily out the $$, and maybe not even that if the card puts a temporary credit back to the card. It would then be a wash on your account.

Worse case: They paid the TA by cash/check and DCL hasn't been paid. May have to pay again or no vacation.

(HOWEVER, if you never recover anything they would be entitled to a non-business bad debt deduction on their taxes for the lost $$$. Consult your tax adviser for details).

Note I use the terms you and them interchangeably.

Hope this helps.

Jim

 

[Regina]

I know that Dreams Unlimited has all payments made directly to Disney. Was this the case for your friends or did they have to make payments to the agency who in turn was supposed to pay DCL? If its the latter, it could be that the funds were misdirected.

I'm so sorry that your friends are going through this. DCL may be willing to help them once they're made aware of the situation.

Good luck. Let us know how it works out.

 

[dvcmember98]

Seems my friends payed via check direct to the agency. It's unlikely the agency paid DCL, turns out that so far they know of 4 other groups going through the same agency have found out their trips with Carnival have not been paid and in fact the reservations were canceled months ago for failure of payment from agency. They are still trying to get in touch with DCL. I now wish I would have pushed my friends toward dealing direct with Disney or either DU when they were telling me about them taking the trip. It just seemed that when I offered some input they seemed to take offense to suggestions, and sometimes people just want to make their own descision on things, which is fine. I did not won't to come across as a know it all. This was to be thier first cruise and only their second trip to Disney. My family and I have been hooked on Disney Vacations for over 25 years, talk about the utlimate escape from "The Real World" Dis know's how to get you there !!!!
Thanks for your suggestions, if things change I'll let you know !!!

 

[the kabuki]

Since I'm unable to contact via email- will you please PM me? Would like to know what agency this is.

 

[goofymama]

Seems my friends payed via check direct to the agency. It's unlikely the agency paid DCL, turns out that so far they know of 4 other groups going through the same agency have found out their trips with Carnival have not been paid and in fact the reservations were canceled months ago for failure of payment from agency. They are still trying to get in touch with DCL. I now wish I would have pushed my friends toward dealing direct with Disney or either DU when they were telling me about them taking the trip. It just seemed that when I offered some input they seemed to take offense to suggestions, and sometimes people just want to make their own descision on things, which is fine. I did not won't to come across as a know it all. This was to be thier first cruise and only their second trip to Disney. My family and I have been hooked on Disney Vacations for over 25 years, talk about the utlimate escape from "The Real World" Dis know's how to get you there !!!!
Thanks for your suggestions, if things change I'll let you know !!!

Oh man! That really stinks. That is why I only pay for big ticket items by credit card. I sure hope Disney has some record of their reservation, but I have to admit that it is not looking good ... they should have had their docs by now. Let us know how it all turns out.

 

[chasbos]

That is too bad about your friends! Lets hope they can salvage something out of this whole deal.
We always use credit cards to book our travel and Disney is always the one who it is credited to. (We use a TA also).
This is a good reminder to us all to beware of who you do business with - it is not always a nice world out there. Too bad every business did not model themselves after Disney - how nice that would be.
Did your friends have insurance? I do not know if insurance covers that or not?

 

[jgalecpa]

Seems my friends payed via check direct to the agency. It's unlikely the agency paid DCL....

Ouch.

Double Ouch.

They are still trying to get in touch with DCL.

I don't know why they would be having trouble getting through. I sometimes may have a small wait time, but I've always gotten through on the 1-800-951-3532, or WDW at 1-407-939-6244

I now wish I would have pushed my friends ... It just seemed that when I offered some input they seemed to take offense to suggestions, and sometimes people just want to make their own descision on things, which is fine. I did not won't to come across as a know it all.

In the financial arena, where I practice, I have found you cannot make people take advice. I have close relatives who will not consult my brother (an Attorney) nor me (a CPA) about anything, and seem happy to make mistakes over and over again.

I have an in-law who will pay twice the airfare to go to Canada later this month as we will, since she won't take advice, and she makes 1/6th what we do so can ill-afford the extra.

I have learned that while you may feel bad at their problem, you should never feel guilty.

Do not overlook the value of the non-business bad debt deduction, should all else fail. The loss is deducted as a short term capital loss in the year it is obvious you will not be gettting any money back.

It reduces the cost of the loss by about 1/3, which is frankly, a lot better than nothing.

Of course, this would require someone to take your advice.....

I certainly feel for them and hope it doesn't spoil them on Disney.

Jim

PS I had a tax client that used a payroll service to pay their employees and remit the taxes to the IRS. The payroll company went belly-up and the IRS still wanted the taxes, even though the company had taken them from my client!

Client was lucky that the IRS didn't impose penalties or interest, which could have more than doubled the second payment!

 

[dvcmember98]

DCL confirmed that some payments/deposits have been made by agency but not the balance. They were able to talk with "A VERY nice" supervisor who is going to look into it and see what, if anything, can been done. The supervisor said she would call my friends back soon as possible.

 

[logan1_2000]

A very expensive lesson to learn. I always wonder why the local televsion "consumer editor" keeps reminding people to charge travel on a credit card, thinking that everyone knows that by now. Sad to see a story like this to remind me that not everyone had a terrific financial advisor on how to use and manage credit and transactions like I had in my late father, so I never had to pay for expensive lessons. And also forget sometimes that not everyone spends 4-5 hours a day at DIS becoming an all-knowing expert. As for anyone else feeling responsible or guilty, whats the old saying, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him book with your trusted TA? Something like that.

I hope this is a lesson never visited upon anyone else, and that those impacted can salvage something, especially if there are children involved who were getting their hopes up.

 

[dvcmember98]

Fixing to be away from a computer for a few days. Keep your fingers crossed that my friends have some of that "Pixie Dust" fall on them before all of this is over. Will post a follow up on Monday.

 

[tvguy]

I always book through a Travel Agent, and have used four different ones over the years. My air fare and cruise fare has ALWAYS been charged to my credit card by the airline or cruise line involved, never the travel agent. And until the airlines started cutting travel agents commissions, I NEVER paid the Travel Agent any thing. Now they charge me a flat fee for booking flights ( I believe it is $25), and charge nothing for cruises since they still get a healthy commission on those bookings.

 

[ivanova]

You do not mention what state you are in.

Many states these days have "seller of travel" laws which requires travel agents/agencies to register with the state. I don't know about all states, but California requires most agencies to participate in a refund trust.

I would recommend that you research the seller of travel laws for your state, and see what kind of recourse your friend has against the TA.

If you are in CA, PM me and I can give you details and website links for our state's laws.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Did your friends have insurance? I do not know if insurance covers that or not?

It's my guess that even if they requested the insurance, the insurance policy wasn't paid for (I think that happens when you make final payment) by the travel agentcy and so they don't have insurance.

 

[profdsny]

I hope things work out. I'm going to use this as a lesson to DW who likes to pay with everything by check. Let this be a lesson to all.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Wow...I hope this works out for you and your friends. What a terrible situation! Good thoughts coming your way.....

 

[mmouse37]

While we are on the subject of making sound decisions with travel arrangements....please, please, please spend the extra money and take out travel insurance......in some instances it will cover for TA that go belly up but what I really want to point out is that no one thinks an emergency or tragedy will happen to them.

For example....we are doing a family reunion cruise of about 50 people at the end of the month on Carnival....most of us took out insurance (insuremytrip.com) but one family did not...didn't think they needed it or could afford it. Well 3 weeks ago their son was playing soccer of all things and got injured...broken leg....on the way to the hospital they noticed his leg swelling and turning blue....turns out the broken bone severed an artery in his leg and he almost bled to death. They needed to do emergency surgey and graft veins from his good leg to the injured leg to repair the artery....he was in ICU for two weeks. All along we were worried about his losing his leg, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking....what about the cruise....turns out the doctors said absolutely no travel since he still has an open wound. They were a family of 6 and are going to lose their whole deposit for the cruise which was $1800.00. They were lucky enough to be able to cancel and not lose everything but the deposit...another week and the penalty would be 50% of the cruise cost.

Now, my other nephew on my side just went to europe for a week with a friends family and he was hit by a car while he was on a scooter bike....in the hosptial overnight with a concussion and they had to do a cat scan...again, no travel insurance and now it looks that accident will cost about $1500. Obviously we are all thankful that both boys will recover and be fine, but unless you are extremely wealthy, you must think about costs involved in NOT TAKING out travel insurance. Though it may seem like an added burden of expense...in the long run it well may save you a ton of money.

Sorry but these two incidents happened this month and just really hit home about the importance of travel insurance.

 

[txaggie94gigem]

i have the problem that since we have to get 2 cabins our credit card will not hold that much...ours maxes out at approximately $2500 so how could we possible charge a $6300 cruise? I try to use common sense and go with a company that i know or has a stellar reputation. I also get travel insurance from insuremytrip which helps cover these losses...the payment in "cash" is the main reason i went with michael and dana this time instead of cruisequick, which was about $70 cheaper. I have no real knowledge of that company but i have met michael and dana before on a cruise and their reputation here on the DIS is great! The $70 difference was worth peace of mind to me....

i'm very sorry for your friends....i hope DCL can help....i would personally be looking to sue!

 

[lbgraves]

One suggestion for those with a lower credit limit on their cards, you can use the card to make a partial payment a month or so before final payment is due or earlier if you will need to make more than 2 payments, then you can just pay off the card online or mail the payment in. When it clears you will have that CL open again & not have paid any interest on it & can do the same thing until the cruise is paid for. That way you will be covered.

 

[Jillpie]

i have the problem that since we have to get 2 cabins our credit card will not hold that much...ours maxes out at approximately $2500 so how could we possible charge a $6300 cruise? I try to use common sense and go with a company that i know or has a stellar reputation. I also get travel insurance from insuremytrip which helps cover these losses...the payment in "cash" is the main reason i went with michael and dana this time instead of cruisequick, which was about $70 cheaper. I have no real knowledge of that company but i have met michael and dana before on a cruise and their reputation here on the DIS is great! The $70 difference was worth peace of mind to me....

i'm very sorry for your friends....i hope DCL can help....i would personally be looking to sue!

Have you tried the debit card route? Thats what we are doing with two staterooms and two reservations with Costco. This card acts as a credit card as well (as do most debit cards?). So just put that money into your checking account and you can "charge" it to your debit card.