TA just cost me more money

[Shmily1]

I hate that there are so many negaitve comments and experiences with TAs because there are many that are very good and do a great job for their clients. Many TAs that specialize in Disney would be waiting for the next discount to come out and be calling as soon as it is released to apply it to all their clients' bookings automatically, without the client having to look for the deal and contact the TA. It's their goal to save the customer money and make the customer happy. If the customer is happy, they will usually provide good word of mouth for the TA to get more clients. I do feel bad for all those that have had a bad experience.

Dakcp2001, it's not just about what Disney info you can find online. It's about having the time to look up the info, find the deals, know what to do when, be available to ask questions of even when at a Disney property, etc that makes people want to use a TA that specializes in Disney. As another poster said, there is ALOT of wrong information about Disney, including a "guide" book that I purchased to give to a friend going for the first time with her grandchildren. I decided to see what was in it before giving it to her and was so glad I did! It was awful information. I did find the nearest trash can to deposit it in.

 

[jenseib]

I hate that there are so many negaitve comments and experiences with TAs because there are many that are very good and do a great job for their clients. Many TAs that specialize in Disney would be waiting for the next discount to come out and be calling as soon as it is released to apply it to all their clients' bookings automatically, without the client having to look for the deal and contact the TA. It's their goal to save the customer money and make the customer happy. If the customer is happy, they will usually provide good word of mouth for the TA to get more clients. I do feel bad for all those that have had a bad experience.

Dakcp2001, it's not just about what Disney info you can find online. It's about having the time to look up the info, find the deals, know what to do when, be available to ask questions of even when at a Disney property, etc that makes people want to use a TA that specializes in Disney. As another poster said, there is ALOT of wrong information about Disney, including a "guide" book that I purchased to give to a friend going for the first time with her grandchildren. I decided to see what was in it before giving it to her and was so glad I did! It was awful information. I did find the nearest trash can to deposit it in.

I know which one you are talking about. And I about died laughing at how WRONG a lot of the info was. It was really sad.

 

[dakcp2001]

I hate that there are so many negaitve comments and experiences with TAs because there are many that are very good and do a great job for their clients. Many TAs that specialize in Disney would be waiting for the next discount to come out and be calling as soon as it is released to apply it to all their clients' bookings automatically, without the client having to look for the deal and contact the TA. It's their goal to save the customer money and make the customer happy. If the customer is happy, they will usually provide good word of mouth for the TA to get more clients. I do feel bad for all those that have had a bad experience.

Dakcp2001, it's not just about what Disney info you can find online. It's about having the time to look up the info, find the deals, know what to do when, be available to ask questions of even when at a Disney property, etc that makes people want to use a TA that specializes in Disney. As another poster said, there is ALOT of wrong information about Disney, including a "guide" book that I purchased to give to a friend going for the first time with her grandchildren. I decided to see what was in it before giving it to her and was so glad I did! It was awful information. I did find the nearest trash can to deposit it in.

I tried using a travel agent before when trying to plan for a bigger group. They couldn't even match what I found on my own. Granted, I go to Disney a lot and was a CP so I know a lot of the info. But I found all 3 travel agents I tried to be mostly useless. One could ALMOST get the price down to what I already had but had no knowledge of Disney accommodations, meal plans, or tickets at all.

I get that some people would rather use a TA and pay a little more for convenience. But not to save money. And a lot of them pretend to know about Disney when they really don't.

 

[jenseib]

I tried using a travel agent before when trying to plan for a bigger group. They couldn't even match what I found on my own. Granted, I go to Disney a lot and was a CP so I know a lot of the info. But I found all 3 travel agents I tried to be mostly useless. One could ALMOST get the price down to what I already had but had no knowledge of Disney accommodations, meal plans, or tickets at all.

I get that some people would rather use a TA and pay a little more for convenience. But not to save money. And a lot of them pretend to know about Disney when they really don't.

There is no way for that to be true as Disney doesn't allow any discounts to be given by anyone else than them. If you had them quote the EXACT same thing you did, the price would be identical. Many agents add insurance on in their quotes, that could be the only difference.
The only way to get a slightly lower price is if you bought your tickets separately, as some places offer a few dollars off tickets.

 

[dakcp2001]

There is no way for that to be true as Disney doesn't allow any discounts to be given by anyone else than them. If you had them quote the EXACT same thing you did, the price would be identical. Many agents add insurance on in their quotes, that could be the only difference.
The only way to get a slightly lower price is if you bought your tickets separately, as some places offer a few dollars off tickets.

The issue was more the ignorance of the tas. They had very little Disney knowledge. They were not finding the deals that were readily available to everyone. I shouldn't have to feed the TA all that info to get the EXACT thing I did. If I am doing all the work, I am booking on my own. I was under the misguided impression that they would have a clue.

 

[LONES]

My dad has taken our entire family to Disney multiple times. The first year, he used a TA from AAA. None of us had been to Disney for about 9 years at that point, and trusted the info the TA gave us. We were a party of 10 (2 families of 4, and grandma and grandpa). Our TA had said that because we were going in Value season, we didn't need to worry about dining at all, we could walk up to any table service restaurant whenever we felt like eating. We realized after about 10 seconds of being there that was not going to be the case. Other than a few other just completely wrong/misguided bits of information, the TA didn't do too much damage.

The next year, we went back... and dad used the same TA. I was smarter the 2nd time around, and had found the Disboards. We had our trip already booked, when there started to be rumblings on the boards of an upcoming promo.... buy 4 get 3 free. I stalked the boards, and the minute that discount went live, I called my dad... and he told me to just call the TA myself since I knew what I was talking about. I called the AAA office, and our TA was on vacation. I explained the situation to another TA in the office, and that it sounded like this needs to be taken care of immediately. She told me that "they don't like to touch each other's reservations, and surely "Marge" would help me when she got back to the office in 2 days. I called Disney myself to see if there was anything we could do... and of course they told me I could not access the reservation. I will admit to being completely dumb here.... It never even occurred to me to try to cancel the reservation and re-book. My bad!

For 10 people, that had to cost my dad thousands! Marge felt bad.... and gave each family a set of free luggage.

Honestly.... there is no way in the world I would ever use a TA for a Disney vacation again. I just can't imagine giving up control to someone that may or may not care if I'm getting the best deal possible.

 

[QueenQueso]

I know which one you are talking about. And I about died laughing at how WRONG a lot of the info was. It was really sad.

As another poster said, there is ALOT of wrong information about Disney, including a "guide" book that I purchased to give to a friend going for the first time with her grandchildren. I decided to see what was in it before giving it to her and was so glad I did! It was awful information. I did find the nearest trash can to deposit it in.

I'd really love to know which book this is, if one of you might be able to pm me? As a first-timer, I've read several books and selected one as being seemingly the best. Now I'm worried that I might have chosen the 'bad' one!

As for TA's, I also wish we had booked without one. This is our second TA experience and while the first one wasn't super-awesome, this one just sucks. It's a different TA at a different agency, but she has cost me alot of time and a little money. The money part being that she didn't call on that Thursday at all for the free dining, she waited until Friday and then all of the AoA suites were gone already. We had to switch resorts to get the free dining, which yes, is still better than our original discount-free booking, but more than we potentially would have been spending if we had been able to book our chosen resort.

Also, I had asked for the park hoppers and water park passes to be removed from our package. We are travelling with LO's and I don't think we would use them. She removed the water parks but did not want to remove the Hoppers. When I pushed for it, she informed me that they didn't cost extra, so I should keep them! I insisted, and lo and behold, the price difference was $244!

I booked my own ADR's, my own airfare and am handling my own car rental as well. For any future trips, we will not even consider a TA.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Supposed to because, yes her and I specifically discussed it and agreed that that was part of her service she offered as a Disney travel specialist. If it was to the detriment of her other clients that was not my problem nor my concern. I would hope it would not be at their detriment that she would simply check each morning that she called to make reservations for her other clients. Why would you assume it would be at the detriment of her other clients?

Those were two separate questions. Either/or. Did she offer/agree to do something, or did you simply expect she would because she's a travel agent.

She agreed. She dropped the ball. She should be working still to get you the room category you requested.

Thank you for clarifying.

 

[DisneyOrBustColorado]

I hate that there are so many negaitve comments and experiences with TAs because there are many that are very good and do a great job for their clients. Many TAs that specialize in Disney would be waiting for the next discount to come out and be calling as soon as it is released to apply it to all their clients' bookings automatically, without the client having to look for the deal and contact the TA. It's their goal to save the customer money and make the customer happy. If the customer is happy, they will usually provide good word of mouth for the TA to get more clients. I do feel bad for all those that have had a bad experience.

I hate that this has become a TA bashing thread & I admit I was kind of a part of it. I do have to give kudos to my current TA though & the reason why I like to book using a TA even though I could totally book on my own.

A few weeks ago my grandpa passed away. It was a very sad time for my family, but life has to go on right? Well... the morning that our trip was 180 days out when we could make our ADRs was the day of my grandpa's funeral. It had been a long & stressful week. I have never been directly involved in planning a funeral & let me tell you first hand that it is a LOT of work. Anyway... I got out of bed at 3:50am at the 180 mark (the morning of the funeral) & went to try to make my ADRs. We REALLY wanted to dine at the Be Our Guest Restaurant because we have never been there. Well... low & behold the Disney Dining Reservation site was down; imagine that. So I then went back to bed & tried to sleep & got back out of bed at 4:50am to call & make dining reservations. Not to my surprise, the phone system was also down for dining reservations & they told me that it would be up in a couple of hours & that would have been right in the middle of my grandpa's funeral. Then my light bulb went on... I booked using a TA so that I could get her help in exactly this situation. I sent her an email & told her which days I wanted to book the Be Our Guest Restaurant on along with a few other sought after reservations and left it in her hands. After the day was over & I had time to check my email I has thrilled to have an email from my TA that said she had gotten me reservations on both dates that I requested at the Be Our Guest Restaurant along with my other requests. It was so nice to have someone else that could help me out when I was unavailable. Same goes for when you arrive at WDW & have some strange hiccup that you need extra help with. I think that a good TA is worth their weight in gold; it just seems that there are a lot of imposters. Booking Disney travel is a world of it's own & the person making those reservations really needs to know what they are talking about. If you hire an ordinary TA to book your Disney travel it is like hiring a pet photographer to photograph your wedding.

 

[kaytieeldr]

The issue was more the ignorance of the tas. They had very little Disney knowledge. They were not finding the deals that were readily available to everyone. I shouldn't have to feed the TA all that info to get the EXACT thing I did. If I am doing all the work, I am booking on my own. I was under the misguided impression that they would have a clue.

You realize there are other travel destinations on this planet besides Walt Disney World, right? And that (despite what an AAA manager once claimed) nobody can be an expert in every travel destination? If you engage a TA who is supposed to be a Disney expert but turns out not be, you should let the owner know.

 

[kaytieeldr]

As for TA's, I also wish we had booked without one. This is our second TA experience and while the first one wasn't super-awesome, this one just sucks. It's a different TA at a different agency, but she has cost me alot of time and a little money.

So, cancel the trip and book it yourself, or through a Disney Travel Specialist like Small World Vacations or Dreams Unlimited.

 

[jenseib]

I am so sorry so many of you have had terrible TA experience. I have an agency exclusive rate booked with an *** TA that even Disney can't match. I have heard so much savings about Labor Day bookings with them as well.

What's ***?

 

[bumbershoot]

You can't mention agencies on disboards that is why they are erasing them.

you can mention agencies, but some are blocked. so we are supposed to type out the whole URL for their website. if it comes up x'ed out, it's not to be mentioned.

 

[jenseib]

you can mention agencies, but some are blocked. so we are supposed to type out the whole URL for their website. if it comes up x'ed out, it's not to be mentioned.

Thats not what i was told. I was told no agencies can be mentioned by a Mod.

You also can't promote any other agency as well.

 

[MomToOne]

You realize there are other travel destinations on this planet besides Walt Disney World, right? And that (despite what an AAA manager once claimed) nobody can be an expert in every travel destination? If you engage a TA who is supposed to be a Disney expert but turns out not be, you should let the owner know.

I would expect any travel agent - not just a Disney specialist - to research discounts for me at any destination/resort I ask them to book. Do I expect them to go to the ends of the earth looking? No. But do I expect them to at least look for the equivalent of the "Special Offers" section on the Disney website? You betcha.

I used a well-known specialist Disney TA that I had heard nothing but glowing reviews for once. I wasn't impressed - errors were made in ADRs, emails went unanswered for a long time, etc. Generally, I was made to feel that I was wasting their time with my 1 week Value resort reservation. I believe that had I booked a Deluxe resort, I would have received MUCH better service.

 

[cfriend416]

I had a great experience with Small World Vacations (the agency that Mousesavers recommends) on our trip last year and planned on using them again for our next trip. However, after these horror stories about TA's, I am hesitant. When I used the TA, I didn't like that I wasn't in control, but without her I don't know if I could have changed our reservation to Stay, Play, Dine and saved so much money. If I book straight with Disney, and just pay the minimum deposit, if a new deal comes out, can I just make a new reservation and cancel the old one for a full refund?