So....I need to fire my Travel Agent/Old Thread...New Update

[Laurabearz]

He is Skeezy

 

[Eeyore's Tailfinder]

I have just read the whole 27 pages of this thread and this guy is seriously annoying me now!

How dare he write a reply like that back to the BBB when he knows he is in the wrong? Timely manner?? Is 2-3 days after final payment was due in a timely manner? At the very, very least I hope he will no longer be allowed to be an 'authorized' Disney TA. I should think that knowing you must pay in full before booking excursions is really basic knowledge.

His first e-mail to you was very sarcastic and condescending. To state that if you got sick a cruiseline would just leave you in port and noone (not even 'Mickey' - in his own words) would help you out. I'm sure DCL would be very pleased to know one of their "Authorized Disney TAs" thinks and speaks so highly of them to guests. I am sure DCL would never ever just leave you in a foreign port to fend for yourself - talk about scaremongering you into staying with them and booking with them again, and trying to make you believe their irrational behaviour is protecting you! Puh-lease!! Same goes for discouraging shore excursions - again I'm sure DCL is pleased to know an "Authorized Disney TA" is working so hard for them, promoting the company, and trying to sell their product.

Please keep updating us on the matter! Good luck with everything!

 

[ImTooExcitedToSleep]

Here's my thoughts on the letter from the TA to the BBB (I will try to be dignified in my response ):

Ms. Charlene Paez
Complaint Specialist
Better Business Bureau


Dear Ms. Paez,

I have reviewed our files for the Bell Family sailing July 27, 2008 on the Disney Magic. My review has shown me that these bookings were handled per the normal office procedures.

I'm sure it was. Their normal office procedures are what I have a problem with.

The invoices that Mr. Bell and his family received clearly stated that final payment was not due to our office until May 3, 2008 with final payment being due to Disney on May 13, 2008.

It does say that payment is due to them by May 3, but makes no mention of the due date to DCL.

Three of the cabins elected to pay final payment with a personal check prior to this final payment deadline.

Only two of the cabins made "final" payment by check, we made 2 payments by check, but final payment was made with a credit card.

When they came in to make payment no one mentioned making any special arrangements for the final payment. Nothing was mentioned until after the fact and at this point Mr. Bell was already upset.

Why should they have to mention anything, the two reservations that made final payment by check were paid in full on March 24. There should be no reason why payment is not in Disney's hands more than a month later.

On April 28, 2008 Mr. Bell called and came into our office with questions about how the final payments are processed.

I called on April 28 (when I relized I couldn't book excursions on the evening of April 27). They returned my call on April 29 and I went into their office that afternoon.

It was explained to him by Kelly Revoir and Christine Connelly, two agents in my Fresno Office, that final payments are processed to the various vendors in the order that they are due, not when payment is made. We explained in detail that a report is generated for accounts payable with bookings to review and balance closer to the final payment date.

They didn't go into THAT much detail, but said that the problem would be taken care of the next day.

It was in fact discovered that on Mr. Bell’s own reservation that a credit card payment made in September 2007 had not authorized and his booking had an additional $750.00 balance. After reviewing his records he agreed that the payment had not been debited from his account and he made arrangements for this payment.

This was not discovered until May 13. The payment would have been "authorized" had they actualled called it in to DCL. They dropped the ball and are trying to make it sound like the charge was declined. Even if it had been, a call to us may have corrected the problem.

From speaking with Mr. Bell it seemed that his main concern was that he was not able to pre-book shore excursions for his cruise. When I called Disney in regards to his concern I was not aware that Disney in fact required final payment in order to book shore excursions even though final payment was not due.

Anyone who does any volume of business with DCL and who specializes in cruises SHOULD know that.

I spoke with various agents trying to resolve this for my client, Mr. Bell. I did not “go off” on an agent I was simply an advocate for my client and attempting to resolve the problem of pre-booking shore excursions for his cruise and his family’s cruise.

Raj at DCL would disagree. "Go off" were her words, not mine.

The end result was that my Disney Sales Representative advised us to reserve the desired excursion on one of the paid in full reservations and that she would transfer the excursion to the correct booking once payment had posted to their reservation.

A bandaid fix that DCL says wouldn't have worked anyway. It's not possible to transfer an excursion.

I am not sure how Mr. Bell feels that my email to him was “hateful”.

Um....

I simply advised him that I was working to resolve the issue that he had recently brought to my attention and that if he was so dissatisfied, as he indicated in his emails and our phone conversations, that it was his prerogative to book directly with Disney Cruise Line next time. It was not my intention to insult him or his family; I was simply trying to diffuse the conflict while attempting to resolve the issue at hand. I did not feel it was productive to assign blame and that it was better to work together to resolve this to everyone’s satisfaction.

I'm sure he doesn't want assign blame, because his company is to blame

In conclusion I would like to reiterate that payment was sent to Disney Cruise Lines in a timely manner and that all the bookings are in fact paid in full and available for Mr. Bell and his family to book their shore excursions.

Setting aside our reservation due to the credit card not being charegd issue, the two other reservations that paid by check were paid in full (and the check cashed) on March 24. Payment was not mailed to DCL until May 13, received on May 14 and posted to the reservations on May 15. How is that timely6?

If you have any questions or need any additional information I would be happy to discuss this with you further. I can be reached in the Fresno Office at (559) 438-7447.

Sincerely,

Craig Mungary
Manager

cc Mr. Thomas Bell

 

[TiaMaria]

Tom, any way to send in your responses to the TA's rebuttal to the BBB? Just for the record.....

Complete slimeball - tries to make it sound as though it's all your fault and you had insufficient funds or something!

Disney definately needs to dump this agency.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Do you get an opportunity to respond to this?

Keep us posted.

It does make me appreciate DU!!!!

 

[jlima]

Their normal office procedures are what I have a problem with.

I hate to say it, but you may get nowhere with the BBB.

You agreed to his standard operating procedures, when you booked your reservations with him. Based on the May 3 payment due date, DCL was going to get your $$ from his agency at some time AFTER May 3. If you chose to give him your $$ before May 3, as far as he's concerned, too bad. He wasn't going to pay DCL until he had to.

If he sent your payment on the day it was due, then he's probably done this with all of his DCL bookings - ship it on the day it's due and they still take it. You said yourself in a previous post that DCL would have called him a few days after it was due, to ask about the payment, had it not been received. He knows this, so it was his procedure to pay at the last minute. He didn't care about your inconvenience of not being able to book shore excursions. His business plan calls for earning interest on his client's money for at least 11 days and he wasn't going to let that go, no matter how much you were inconvenienced. Yes, you paid him several weeks prior to your own posted deadline, but his business plan has no place for good customer service and being nice to you by paying DCL immediately.

Your discovery of the consequences of his policies may not be enough for the BBB to give him an unfavorable rating. I AM NOT AGREEING WITH THIS TRAVEL AGENCY; I PERSONALLY BELIEVE THIS JERK IS DOING HIS CUSTOMERS A DISSERVICE. I am trying to look at this from the BBB's point of view.

 

[castlegazer]

I hate to say it, but you may get nowhere with the BBB.

You agreed to his standard operating procedures, when you booked your reservations with him. Based on the May 3 payment due date, DCL was going to get your $$ from his agency at some time AFTER May 3. If you chose to give him your $$ before May 3, as far as he's concerned, too bad. He wasn't going to pay DCL until he had to.

If he sent your payment on the day it was due, then he's probably done this with all of his DCL bookings - ship it on the day it's due and they still take it. You said yourself in a previous post that DCL would have called him a few days after it was due, to ask about the payment, had it not been received. He knows this, so it was his procedure to pay at the last minute. He didn't care about your inconvenience of not being able to book shore excursions. His business plan calls for earning interest on his client's money for at least 11 days and he wasn't going to let that go, no matter how much you were inconvenienced.

Your discovery of the consequences of his policies may not be enough for the BBB to give him an unfavorable rating. I AM NOT AGREEING WITH THIS TRAVEL AGENCY; I PERSONALLY BELIEVE THIS JERK IS DOING HIS CUSTOMERS A DISSERVICE. I am trying to look at this from the BBB's point of view.

I totally agree. I also think that this is something that needs to be pursued with the AG's office a little more, because they are holding clients money in their own accounts and earning interest on the money - co-mingling of funds is not an acceptable business practice.

 

[ImTooExcitedToSleep]

I hate to say it, but you may get nowhere with the BBB.

I totally agree. I also think that this is something that needs to be pursued with the AG's office a little more, because they are holding clients money in their own accounts and earning interest on the money - co-mingling of funds is not an acceptable business practice.

Sice the reservation is paid in full, I don't think anyone (other than DCL) can do anything to benefit us at this point. However, I didn't withdraw my complaints with the BBB and the AG's office because I want to do my part to help prevent this TA from doing this to someone else if at all possible.

 

[DCLLVR]

Sice the reservation is paid in full, I don't think anyone (other than DCL) can do anything to benefit us at this point. However, I didn't withdraw my complaints with the BBB and the AG's office because I want to do my part to help prevent this TA from doing this to someone else if at all possible.

Yup, that is the right thing to do in my opinion. Word travels fast here on the DIS as well. You have already done your due diligence.

The GOOD TA's get mentioned here often, and the BAD ones do as well.

 

[ironwill1979]

I just got to the last page of this and can not even begin to imagine being in your situation . I hope your cruise goes much smoother than pre-planning did and that a major dose of karma comes back around to smack this jack upside the head!

To satisfy my own morbid curiosity, I tried to google his travel agency but could not find a website. I did find Central Valley Travel, but I'm not sure if that's it or not.

Please keep us posted regarding your complaints with the AG and BBB. It's a shame your ABC affiliate never called you back.

Wow! I'm just... Wow! That's all I can say.

 

[CarolAnnC]

I would definitely pursue the issue with your state's Attorney General Office the division of consumer protection. This man is making money by floating all his clients' money and reaping the interest income off of it.

Good luck!

 

[buddydecat]

Lesson learned from your misery. Book direct and use a credit card.
I truly believe what goes around comes around. Sounds like this TA won't be in business much longer. Kudos to you for how well you handled this. Have a great trip and I look forward to reading about it.

 

[Buckeye Gal]

Hey there, Tom!

Thought I would check in to see if there are any updates to your dramatic story. You'll be crusing soon, which is all that really matters!!

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Lesson learned from your misery. Book direct and use a credit card.
I truly believe what goes around comes around. Sounds like this TA won't be in business much longer. Kudos to you for how well you handled this. Have a great trip and I look forward to reading about it.

I like using DU. I like the stateroom credit and the customer service is the exact opposite of this JackYak. They actually know a great deal about DCL and sponsor the board.

 

[m4travel]

I would definitely pursue the issue with your state's Attorney General Office the division of consumer protection. This man is making money by floating all his clients' money and reaping the interest income off of it.

Good luck!

Which is quite legal in California. As despicably as the travel agent has behaved, he is entitled to withdraw the interest earned on the client's trust account and transfer it to his general accounting bank account.

§ 17550.15. Sellers of travel; deposit of money into trust account; withdrawals; responsibilities; bond
....
(c) The seller of travel shall not in any manner encumber the corpus of the trust account and shall not withdraw money therefrom except as follows:
....
(d) Subdivision (c) shall not prevent payment of the interest earned on the trust account to the seller of travel.
California Business & Professions Code

Tom - I hope your cruise was magical

 

[TnRobin]

Just checking back in hoping that your cruise went off without a problem.

 

[ImTooExcitedToSleep]

We haven't cruised yet.

Just over a month to go!

 

[castlegazer]

So you can kinda see we are expecting a BIG trip report, hunh?

 

[ImTooExcitedToSleep]

So you can kinda see we are expecting a BIG trip report, hunh?

I'm trying to decide if I want to start a pre-trip report or just wait until the cruise. hmmmm

 

[dredick]

Just post this thread for your pre-trip report!! It says it all!!