NOT HAPPY with Costco Travel

[thecooley]

We are leaving on our cruise in 3 days. My husband just happened to catch this morning that our little ticket book says we do not have airport transfers included in our package. That's a little odd, considering we added that on when I first booked the cruise back in April. A quick call to DCL confirmed that Costco did not make the transfer reservation. I know we added it on in the initial reservation, because I have the original invoice, and every time I add up the numbers, it comes out right.

I pulled up our reservation, both invoices we received from them, then called Costco. The woman I got on the phone had the nerve to tell me that I refused the transfers. Um, no. I refused the insurance, then called back later to add it on after I did some research (which is why I have the second invoice). Then she tried to tell me that the added cost was really just the taxes and fees. Hmm, it's strange that the amount comes out to exactly what I figured to be the total cost of the cruise plus transfers. So I asked for her to itemize the exact costs to me, and she refused. She repeated the total balance and that it was paid in full. She kept asking me if I wanted to add on transfers, and I kept saying I want what I paid for. I finally said I was going to call Disney myself and get this resolved. She said, "they're not going to talk to you, and you'll just be calling us right back, so you might as well just add the transfers now and get it over with".

At this point, we are pretty much stuck, because DCL needs to see money today. Costco wasn't budging, so I had to shell out ANOTHER $138 for our transfers. Do they not know how many drinks of the day that $138 will buy????

I guess I don't really have any recourse; it's my word versus theirs. I am going to call DCL later today to confirm that the reservation was actually made this time. I just hope there's not any confusion on Saturday morning, because we have absolutely nothing in writing to say that we have a right to be on that bus.

I will never again use Costco Travel. The gift card they gave us as incentive to buy through them was pretty much used up today when I had to re-buy our transfers. Not to mention all the time I have spent over the past few months waiting to get through to a real person whenever I call them.

 

[lborne]

Once back home, call your credit card and file for a reimbursement on the transfers as you realized it was included in the first charge. Your credit card company will handle this for you and will most likely request an itemized statement from Costco.

 

[princssdisnygina]

You may want to get a receipt from Costco faxed or emailed to you and verify with DCL that you are in fact paid for. Because you CAN show up at the airport and decide to use the DCL transfers and they will add it to your stateroom bill.

 

[ranidayz]

yeah - costco is kind of sucking lately. when we rebooked on board in March - we were explicity in having them write down that we wanted costco for ourtravel agent and they said that would be fine since we couldn't contact them on the ship....we just transferred our booking and costco won't accept the reservation because disney doesn't pay commission anymore.....not cool.

 

[CGC33A]

If you have a moment before your cruise, I would write the letter to the CC company before you go. Include copies of any documentation you have (your itemized estimation etc). One has a limited amount of time to dispute a charge and since one was likely a while ago, timing is important. The CC company is not likely to respond before you get back anyway but htis will open a file for you.

 

[lbgraves]

yeah - costco is kind of sucking lately. when we rebooked on board in March - we were explicity in having them write down that we wanted costco for ourtravel agent and they said that would be fine since we couldn't contact them on the ship....we just transferred our booking and costco won't accept the reservation because disney doesn't pay commission anymore.....not cool.

Actually, DCL has implemented a new commission structure for transferred bookings and it applies to all TAs. You are still able to transfer reservations as far as DCL is concerned; however, the TA you transfer it to will receive less of a commission than if you booked directly with the TA. You can book "direct" onboard if you tell the DCL rep there that you want your TA listed. Costco has decided as a company that they do not want to accept transfers...probably due to the reduced commission they receive. I have not seen this posted about any other TA at this point. DU still accepts transfers and their OBC offers are the same no matter which method you use.

 

[thecooley]

Thanks to everyone for the replies and suggestions! I spoke to DCL and we are confirmed on the manifest for the transfers.

I started working on a draft of a letter to Costco and the CC company last night, but decided to have my husband call and see if he could get anywhere before we proceeded down that path.

After waiting about 25 minutes to get through, he explained the situation to the agent who answered the call. The agent apologized profusely for the confusion and offered to escalate to the supervisor on duty. I got nothing even close to an apology from the lady I had talked to that morning, despite telling her that I was upset about the whole situation and I didn't feel that it had been properly resolved.

The supervisor says that the original booking agent dropped the ball. Supposedly, DCL won't let them book a transfer that far out if flights have not been purchased. So she was supposed to put a note on our account to add the transfers in later. The lady who told me that the system said we declined the transfers flat out lied to me. There is nothing in their system to indicate that. The supervisor was more than happy to read off the itemized bill, and in fact, the transfers were never purchased, so we did not double-pay. The supervisor apologized several times, and said that some re-training was in order so the agents could properly explain the situation to customers. He gave us his direct line in case we have problems checking in.

So both people we talked to last night totally believed me, and didn't act like I was stupid or trying to get something for free. What a difference between the day and night crew! I just don't understand how a customer service person can treat someone that way, especially when that person has been calm, rational, and had a legitimate concern. Oh well, it sounds like she is getting some re-training, so hopefully no one else will have this problem.

And hey, I'm going on a Disney Cruise!!!

 

[lbgraves]

So happy to hear that you got this resolved and dealt with someone who had common sense. Glad that it didn't surprise you when you were trying to get on the transfers though. Have a great cruise next week!!!

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I'm glad you got it worked out too! I was totally bumming for you if you had to pay twice and then deal with it later to get your money back!

 

[castaway]

Make sure when you get to the resort you check in at the cruise line desk with your room number so they can pick up your bags the morning of sail for you

 

[thecooley]

Glad that it didn't surprise you when you were trying to get on the transfers though.

Me too! There would have been tears.

I'm glad you got it worked out too! I was totally bumming for you if you had to pay twice and then deal with it later to get your money back!

The credit card company would have definitely heard from us when we got back, if we didn't get some answers. All it took was someone who was willing to give us a little more info, and we were ok after that.

Make sure when you get to the resort you check in at the cruise line desk with your room number so they can pick up your bags the morning of sail for you

We're staying at the MCO Hyatt tomorrow night, then leaving on the bus in the morning. Will I have to do anything differently than just checking in with DCL on Saturday morning?