Travel agent problem 5 days before trip!!!

[mistydoodles]

So we are 5 days before our trip and I have a problem with the travel agent.

I sent her an e-mail in regards to not receiving our Disney Magical Express tags yet. ( I have been after these for over 2 weeks now and she keeps saying they are coming.)

Anyway, shortly after sending this e-mail to her I get a call at work. It is the travel agent. She talks to me about the DME tags then proceeds to tell me that our party of 9 still owe her $1300.+ .

I asked her how can that be. She said when we were in to make our final payment they miss calculated something and undercharged us. She said that with all the changes I made, (I only asked for one change and that was to change my package to the discounted one that came out in October from Disney World), there was some confusion and they deducted our paid airline twice from the total package.

She then proceeds to tell me that the much lower price should have been a red flag to me that this total she was giving me was incorrect and therefore I am responsible for this mistake.

I was just outraged.

I told her that I don't know what we were going to do but I highly doubt that anyone would be able to come up with this money especially since we are just 5 days away from the trip.

She told me to talk to everyone and call her back. I spoke to my husband and my mother (I don't dare tell my sister about this right now) and they both agree that this isn't our fault. We have receipts stating we are paid in full and now it is up to her.

So I sent her an e-mail saying that I didn't know how we could take care of this and I really don't understand how this happened. I told her it was highly unlikely that we would have that kind of money by the end of the week. I also asked her why it took her 50 days to realize this error.

She said that we could come in and sign something stating we would pay her when we returned or she could cancel our dining package.

Well that just set me on fire!!!!!!. I asked why she would think we would want to cancel our dining package? If we didn't have the money to pay her how did she think we would then be able to pay for our meals??? I told her that they need to take the blame on this and rectify it. Not us.

My question to everyone is, We will be okay at Disney? My husband called and confirmed with the airline that our airfare has been paid for but he is unable to confirm anything with Disney. They are saying that this info has to come from the travel agent.

Are we going to get there and have our reservations be no good? and do you think we should be held responsible?

Please give me your input.

 

[travelbug]

Oh my goodness, that's terrible! I'm so sorry this is happening for you just a few days before you leave. I'd be so upset too. It seems to me that if she expected YOU to notice that the total was way too low, then SHE (as the travel professional) should have noticed much sooner than this and called you immediately.

I'm not sure how this could play out upon arrival at WDW, but I wanted to suggest that you post this over on the Community Board which gets a lot more traffic, and maybe on the Resorts board too. You may have better luck getting some advice instead of on the Transportation Board. Just a thought.

(You could post a link back to this thread, so that you don't have to type in the whole long story again.)

I wish I knew what to do to help you!! Best wishes that everything will turn out well. Please let us know.

 

[mistydoodles]

Thank you so much for your input.

I am just so stressed over all of this. We have been so busy this last week and I wanted to just be able to relax and start preparing for our trip. Now I have to worry what is going to happen when we get to Disney.

I couldn't believe when she suggested I should have known better. It is her job to know better.

I took your advice and posted this on another board.

Thanks again.

I appreciate your comments.

Take care.

 

[travelbug]

Oh, I just saw that you did also post this thread over on the Theme Parks Board. So you were way ahead of me! LOL

You're getting some really good advice over there. Again, good luck!

 

[Lewisc]

First you should try to figure out if the price is $1300 short. You know the airfare. Go to the resort code board and try to figure out what everything should cost. Go to the resort board and post exactly what you got and what you paid, net of the airfare if you need help.

 

[mistydoodles]

Oh, I just saw that you did also post this thread over on the Theme Parks Board. So you were way ahead of me! LOL

You're getting some really good advice over there. Again, good luck!

Yes but I also took your advice and posted it on the Community board.

Got some scary news there. The person that posted there scared me.

 

[mistydoodles]

First you should try to figure out if the price is $1300 short. You know the airfare. Go to the resort code board and try to figure out what everything should cost. Go to the resort board and post exactly what you got and what you paid, net of the airfare if you need help.

I will do just that.

Thank you.

 

[dudspizza]

I like Lewis' idea. Sit down and figure out what it should have costed.

I am totally with you that the travel agent quoted you a price, you have receipts saying everything is paid for.

I wonder if you explain to Disney that your concern is whether the reservation is paid for or not. Ask for a supervisor if needed, but get some answers. I would also ask to speak with the supervisor at the travel agency. This is their fault. Sounds like the travel agent is trying to pin her mistake on you, probably to save her job!

Hang in there and I hope things work out.

Duds

 

[d4est]

I see you are from NY. I have to wonder if you have my old AAA TA! She did nothing but complain about my ressie...all starting when I asked her to try & apply the new code (YRD). I stopped into her office one day & she told me (among other things) that she was so frustrated with my ressie that she was ready to cancel it & put it back into my hands. Well, I did it for her! She was just awful.

I don't know legally, but IMHO you should not be held responsible. You put your vacation in the hands of a travel "professional," & she made the ressie...that means SHE made the mistake, not you.

Good luck. I really hope this works out in your favor. Keep us posted!

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

She then proceeds to tell me that the much lower price should have been a red flag to me that this total she was giving me was incorrect and therefore I am responsible for this mistake.

And it should not have been a red flag for the travel agent??

I work in retail with special orders, and I always double check my figures before quoting anything.

It does sound like the TA made a mistake and is trying to save her commission, if not her job. Is there a supervisor you can talk to?

 

[vfb2girls]

We had this same problem with a AAA agent when we booked our March 2004 trip to Disney. He quoted us a price that included our tickets and our room at CBR, we paid it in full and thought we were all set. Three weeks before our tirp we found out that the only thing we had paid for was our room, and we didn't recieve any discount on it and there were no tickets or any of the extras that he promised. At that time I wasn't very knowledgable about booking vacations so I just assumed that he was telling us the truth, so imagine the horror when I tried calling him for our papers and to find out that he had been let go because he promised too many things to others besides us. And to add insult to injury we still had to pay another 200.00 with no tickets! Well I got on the phone and contacted the AAA supervisor and started to cry I was so upset, she was very understanding and went ahead and gave us the tickets that he told us that we would get with our package and she even applied a code for us so that we had extra cash waiting for us when we arrive at CBR. So this whole experience kind of made me shy away from AAA even though they did make good on our reservation but after much thought I went ahead and booked with AAA again for our 2006 trip and I could not be happier with the service that I have gotten. Your TA really dropped the ball on this one and she is the one who should be responsible for cleaning up the mess, after all this is the reason why we go through TA to avoid all the headaches.

 

[mistydoodles]

Well Good morning everyone.

Let me first thank everyone for their support and suggestion. It really helped me out last night when I was feeling so stressed over this situation.

I really do appreciate it.

When my husband came home last night we discussed all this and decided we would wait to hear what the travel agent had to say to us in the morning.

If it wasn't a good resolution we were prepared to come to a comprise of paying half of this after we returned from our trip. We did feel that we were expecting the trip to cost more so it wouldn't kill us to come to some sort of comprise. The only thing that really bothered us about this was the way the TA was speaking to me.

She was trying so hard to blame us for this mistake and not take any of the responsibility herself. That is what really urked me. As well as her waiting to notify me of this problem five days prior to our depature.

So I came into work this morning waiting to see if she had replied. I open my mail box and there is an e-mail from the travel agent waiting for me.

She was pretty rude once again and didn't take any of the blame but she did concede. She is going to take the loss!!!!!! She said she " is very very disappointed after all the great service she had provided me but is agreeing to count this as a loss". She said she could pursue this but she won't.

She even tried to threaten me with the fact that she still has the signed contract from the original package price prior to the discount change. Well that package is no longer valid. That all changed once we were able to get the discount code. The confirmation numbers and everything changed.

I wanted to laugh so hard when she said great service. GREAT SERVICE????? I highly doubt that. She has made so many mistakes with this trip it is unbelievable. I have had to contact her numerous times to have her correct things. She left children off the packages, duplicated names, and never informed me of the discount that was being offered. I had to research that and notify her myself or that would never had happened. To this day I still don't have DME tags. (I won't worry about these anymore because as everyone is saying I will be fine.)

She also said that she was nice enough to handle our airline vouchers and change our package to the discount without charging us a service charge. Well, isn't that her job!!!!! I just didn't get what that was suppose to mean.

I am so glad this is over. I am still a little nervous about what may happen when we get to Disney but I will try not to worry. Just hope she doesn't do anything spiteful.

Again, Thank you everyone for your suggestions and words of encouragement. I so appreciated them.

Have a wonderful day!!!!!

 

[mistydoodles]

I see you are from NY. I have to wonder if you have my old AAA TA! She did nothing but complain about my ressie...all starting when I asked her to try & apply the new code (YRD). I stopped into her office one day & she told me (among other things) that she was so frustrated with my ressie that she was ready to cancel it & put it back into my hands. Well, I did it for her! She was just awful.

I don't know legally, but IMHO you should not be held responsible. You put your vacation in the hands of a travel "professional," & she made the ressie...that means SHE made the mistake, not you.

Good luck. I really hope this works out in your favor. Keep us posted!

It was with Liberty Travel. I used her last year and I thought it was great. This year she just wasn't the same. It was just a horrible experience.

Next time I will book everything myself.

 

[mistydoodles]

And it should not have been a red flag for the travel agent??

I work in retail with special orders, and I always double check my figures before quoting anything.

It does sound like the TA made a mistake and is trying to save her commission, if not her job. Is there a supervisor you can talk to?

Exactly.

I work for a financial instituation and we have to make sure we are very careful as well. If we make a mistake we usually end up eating it.

We will try to work with the customer if it is a huge mistake but if they don't agree then we have to take care of it.

She could have attempted to resolve this without first blaming it on me. It was not my fault at all and if she would have first attempted her mistake I would have been more than happy to work with her.

Thank you for your comments. All of this has really helped.

Have a good day.

 

[manning]

Well Good morning everyone.

Let me first thank everyone for their support and suggestion. It really helped me out last night when I was feeling so stressed over this situation.

I really do appreciate it.

When my husband came home last night we discussed all this and decided we would wait to hear what the travel agent had to say to us in the morning.

If it wasn't a good resolution we were prepared to come to a comprise of paying half of this after we returned from our trip. We did feel that we were expecting the trip to cost more so it wouldn't kill us to come to some sort of comprise. The only thing that really bothered us about this was the way the TA was speaking to me.

She was trying so hard to blame us for this mistake and not take any of the responsibility herself. That is what really urked me. As well as her waiting to notify me of this problem five days prior to our depature.

So I came into work this morning waiting to see if she had replied. I open my mail box and there is an e-mail from the travel agent waiting for me.

She was pretty rude once again and didn't take any of the blame but she did concede. She is going to take the loss!!!!!! She said she " is very very disappointed after all the great service she had provided me but is agreeing to count this as a loss". She said she could pursue this but she won't.

She even tried to threaten me with the fact that she still has the signed contract from the original package price prior to the discount change. Well that package is no longer valid. That all changed once we were able to get the discount code. The confirmation numbers and everything changed.

I wanted to laugh so hard when she said great service. GREAT SERVICE????? I highly doubt that. She has made so many mistakes with this trip it is unbelievable. I have had to contact her numerous times to have her correct things. She left children off the packages, duplicated names, and never informed me of the discount that was being offered. I had to research that and notify her myself or that would never had happened. To this day I still don't have DME tags. (I won't worry about these anymore because as everyone is saying I will be fine.)

She also said that she was nice enough to handle our airline vouchers and change our package to the discount without charging us a service charge. Well, isn't that her job!!!!! I just didn't get what that was suppose to mean.

I am so glad this is over. I am still a little nervous about what may happen when we get to Disney but I will try not to worry. Just hope she doesn't do anything spiteful.

Again, Thank you everyone for your suggestions and words of encouragement. I so appreciated them.

Have a wonderful day!!!!!

After you get back from your trip send that e-mail to the owner of that travel agency with this one simple question. "How many clients other than us is she going to cost you?" Then put it behind you and move on.

 

[marc1477]

I would deffinatly contact her manager/supervisor and tell them about it when you get home. I would print the emails and take them with me and give them a copy too.

I agree, booking everything yourself is best in my opinion. I have done that twice; once in 2002 and also in 2003 and no problems at all and I was able to make our meal reservations too on the same call.

 

[wdwgoofeeee]

Glad that the travel agent is taking the loss....too bad she still won't take any blame for this.

Hope you have a great time at WDW!!!!!

 

[dudspizza]

Glad that the travel agent is taking the loss....too bad she still won't take any blame for this.

Hope you have a great time at WDW!!!!!

Sounds like one of my first graders who just hit another kid with a jump rope and claims it was an accident and will not take the blame that they hurt the other kid. That lesson is one that the travel agent obviously missed. But then again, she is basically saying that she screwed up by taking the loss, she just isn't admitting it.

Glad things worked out for the OP!

Duds

 

[canwegosoon]

Not only would I contact the owner of the agency, I would contact Elliot Spitzer's office(atty Gen). It is not legal to have a contract, and then basically hold your trip hostage so she can reclaim money. I guess how far I would take this depends on when you realized there was an error. If it was a deal too to good to be true, I just would never do business with them again. I book everything myself...and I usually find codes and great flights just as good as a TA does. Hope you have a great trip.

 

[cranbiz]

I'm glad that everything worked out for you. This is the reason that I either book myself or use Dreams Unlimited.

The Disney specialists are looking out for you!