Is my brother's travel agent lying about insurance?

[dsneygirl]

My brother recently booked a Disney "free dining" vacation through Sears Travel in St. Catharines. But now I have some problems with what they are telling him.

• They convinced him to add on $230 worth of travel insurance because "you can't just change a package vacation from Disney without penalty". I have a problem with him paying this much for travel insurance because the package doesn't include airfare. My thing is -- if someone gets ill and can't go at the last minute, you should be able to call Disney and move your vacation to another time at no charge. They are telling him that because he has booked through a travel agent and in turn through a travel wholesaler this isn't the case.
• BUT today he changed his dates from a Saturday to Saturday to a Sunday to Sunday because he'll be able to get cheaper airfare. They said they can do this but there is a $27 change fee. They said that if he cancels outright they will charge him $700+ or something like that even though he just booked the package yesterday. He says they did not tell him at the time he booked about these charges.

My questions are:

• Is it true what they say about the travel insurance -- he really HAS to get it because he can't make last minute date changes to a package vacation bought through a travel wholesaler?
• If I encourage him to cancel this Sears package and book directly through Disney or a no fee Disney travel agent, can they really hold him to a cancellation fee of $700+ just a few days after booking even though he hasn't signed anything?
• If he keeps the package through them, they still have to provide him with the reservation number from Disney. Once he has that number, can he call Disney directly to make changes to the reservation? Or does he HAVE to always go through the travel agent?

 

[aristocat65]

My brother recently booked a Disney "free dining" vacation through Sears Travel in St. Catharines. But now I have some problems with what they are telling him.



[*]If he keeps the package through them, they still have to provide him with the reservation number from Disney. Once he has that number, can he call Disney directly to make changes to the reservation? Or does he HAVE to always go through the travel agent?
[/LIST]

Sorry I can't be more help to you, but this one I can answer. If he booked through a travel agent any changes need to be made by the travel agent even if he has the booking number.

All the other things you state sound very weird though. Its possible like you say that the agent booked it through a wholesaler (they often get more commission this way, in Canada anyway). Those could be the wholesaler's penalties. My sister and her husband own a travel agency in Texas and she recently booked my WDW vacation, but she deals directly with Disney and the terms are the same as if I booked it myself. (She just does all the work for me) I often get her to change dates and resorts for me (I probably drive her crazy, but she loves me) As long as its outside the 45 days there are no fees to change. Its possible that the fees are imposed by the wholesaler, and if that's the case I can't see why any reputable travel agent in good conscience would book it that way.

He should definitely clarify that with the agent. If he has any paper work it would say on there if the seller is Sears Travel or another company (wholesaler). He should also check with the BBB, or whatever regulatory body there is for travel agancies in Ontario. Has he paid anything yet? He should contact his credit card company if he has.

It sounds like he walked into the wrong travel agency

There are some travel agents on this board I think, and hopefully they can be more help to you.

 

[slapwhitey]

If booked through a canadian wholesaler than yes, they have penalties etc that differ from Disney. The penalties would be higher closer to departure and I wouldn't be surprised if they were completely non refundable last minute. If booked directly with Disney and you made a last minute change it would be a change fee of $50. Flights are a whole different issue if booked seperately.

 

[mc'smommy]

My brother recently booked a Disney "free dining" vacation through Sears Travel in St. Catharines. But now I have some problems with what they are telling him.

• They convinced him to add on $230 worth of travel insurance because "you can't just change a package vacation from Disney without penalty". I have a problem with him paying this much for travel insurance because the package doesn't include airfare. My thing is -- if someone gets ill and can't go at the last minute, you should be able to call Disney and move your vacation to another time at no charge. They are telling him that because he has booked through a travel agent and in turn through a travel wholesaler this isn't the case.
• BUT today he changed his dates from a Saturday to Saturday to a Sunday to Sunday because he'll be able to get cheaper airfare. They said they can do this but there is a $27 change fee. They said that if he cancels outright they will charge him $700+ or something like that even though he just booked the package yesterday. He says they did not tell him at the time he booked about these charges.

My questions are:

• Is it true what they say about the travel insurance -- he really HAS to get it because he can't make last minute date changes to a package vacation bought through a travel wholesaler?
• If I encourage him to cancel this Sears package and book directly through Disney or a no fee Disney travel agent, can they really hold him to a cancellation fee of $700+ just a few days after booking even though he hasn't signed anything?
• If he keeps the package through them, they still have to provide him with the reservation number from Disney. Once he has that number, can he call Disney directly to make changes to the reservation? Or does he HAVE to always go through the travel agent?

I am an agent and I live In St. Catharines, and Sears USUALLY books directly with Disney,
my questions are, When is he traveling ?
if not soon then why the $ 27 change fee ? There should be no charge for changes unless 45 days from date of travel...
I would ask for this change fee and the cancellation fee in writing, beause I cannot understand unless he is traveling soon..

At this point Sears owns his reservation and Unfortunately Disney will not speak to him, only the agent ( or Agency ) who booked it for him, so he must go through the agent

he hasnt signed anything ? then how did he pay for this ? over the phone with his credit card? an he doesnt have his reservation number ?
something isnt right here, there is some misunderstanding somewhere.....

 

[aristocat65]

She said he's going for free dining, so he's definitely 45 days out. It all sounds very strange to me.

 

[rodeo65]

We booked through CAA who contracted our trip with Nolitours. We were offered cancellation insurance due to illness/death at the time of purchase for just over $200. for our family of four. If not taken at that time is was unavailable even a week later. We booked in January and opted not to take the insurance because we had no intention of cancelling.

Of course along comes swine flu and I got concerned in the first days of news coverage, so I called our agent to ask if it was possible to add insurance on. This was about 2 1/2 months before departure. The answer, of course, was no. But also that even if we had taken the insurance something like cancellation beacuse we were "concerned" over illness would not be covered and we'd still lose the entire cost of the trip.

We like CAA because of the deals and perks for the drive down, but not so sure about Nolitours. For future trips we'll weigh the cost saving with CAA against the ease of booking directly and having more flexibility.

 

[tmli]

It is not the norm for CAA to book your trip through Nolitours. It should be booked through Disney direct (as thats how members get the benefits). Whatever agent/agency you are using you can request to have your trip booked direct.

 

[mc'smommy]

All vacations and or Flights are available to be insured anytime up until day of departure, More insured options, are available if insurance is purchased within 15 days of deposit.....
The only time insurance is not available after purchase is with the tour operator directly...Such as Disney, Carnival, nolitours etc...( thier own insurance)

Insurance is available from outside sources, such as Travel Guard, RBS, etc...For prices and availablity check out www.insuremytrip.ca
and ask your travel agent to insure your trip even if it is after you made your reservation..

 

[laura001]

We booked through CAA who contracted our trip with Nolitours. We were offered cancellation insurance due to illness/death at the time of purchase for just over $200. for our family of four. If not taken at that time is was unavailable even a week later. We booked in January and opted not to take the insurance because we had no intention of cancelling.

Of course along comes swine flu and I got concerned in the first days of news coverage, so I called our agent to ask if it was possible to add insurance on. This was about 2 1/2 months before departure. The answer, of course, was no. But also that even if we had taken the insurance something like cancellation beacuse we were "concerned" over illness would not be covered and we'd still lose the entire cost of the trip.

We like CAA because of the deals and perks for the drive down, but not so sure about Nolitours. For future trips we'll weigh the cost saving with CAA against the ease of booking directly and having more flexibility.

You can still add insurance to your trip, but they are right in telling you that you can't cancel for reason of being worried about becoming ill etc. I am usually pretty lazy when it comes to booking my insurance(really shouldn't be)and always tend to do it last minute, long after it is paid in full. You can call any TA and they should be able to do that for you.

You can still get the perks for driving down even if you don't book your trip with CAA, you only need to be a member to get that. You can still have lots of flexibility by booking with a TA, you just need to let them know that you want your trip booked with Disney Direct...there are a lot of us TA's out there that only book directly with Disney Travel so it is not hard to find.

Sorry to hear that you had such a rough time with trying to get your insurance

 

[squirrel]

I have always bought the deluxe insurance as I travel with my niece and want to make sure if anything should happen we are covered. It costs us $250 Can for that package for 14 nights-it starts the moment we leave Chilliwack (drive to Seattle) and ends the moment we arrive back in Chilliwack.

 

[peterandlisa]

There is definitely something wrong with what he is being told. We booked through AAA - magic your way package - rooms and tickets. We needed to put a $200 deposit down right away - and pay in full 45 days prior to package start. It says right on our paperwork from AMA "CANCELLATION POLICY: 0-5DAYS PRIOR TO DEPARTURE THERE IS A $200.00USD FEE"

My understanding is if we were to cancel before 5 days out - we would receive full refund .... and that is without any insurance.

previouse trips we had booked ourselves - then made changes (varied dates by a few days to get a better package) before going ... and Disney was more than accomodating with no fees. I am pretty sure AAA would be accomodating as well with such a request as long as they did not incur any additional fees.

If he has not paid yet - I would encourage him to book it himself or use another travel agent!