my travel agent left without any notice.... what would you do

[fvandewouwer]

hey everyone,

What would you do : I worked for 10 years with a travel agent in the US and suddenly she left the company ( no she did not inform me )

It was not easy during this pandemic with all those cruises cancelled( I had about 9 up till now which were cancelled and I have some more booked for 2022/2023 )

We used lift and shift where it was possible we asked for FCC and a couple needed to be totally refunded ( otherwise the FCC amount got too big )

We had some issues starting July last year and it got worse. Cause I am an accountant my files are handled with care so I could exactly see which cruise was refunded and what the FCC supposed to be but sadly my TA got frustrated and had no clue what to do anymore ( I was not the only customer with that problem )

I tried to talk to someone else of that company but they all directed me to my agent.

2 months ago I got an email that she left the company and all here clients were moved to different agents so my cruises ( and problems ) were transferred to another agent.

I tried to explain him what was going on but I guess he is not happy with what my agent has left him.

I have all my files I have to the new agent, according to him,  Royal Caribbean has made a mess of my cancelled cruises but according to me my original agent made a lot of mistakes

one example, on her files FCC was used to pay for a cruise I have prove I paid with my credit card and did not use any FCC .... so she mixed up some stuff.

The new agent said he would contact me, never heard of him again ( 2 months ago )

Meanwhile another cruise got cancelled and one the itinerary changed, i have not received any information yet from the agent and I am afraid i will loose my opportunity to lift and shift this cruise and i want to know what my options are for the changed itinerary.

Should i contact Royal Caribbean and hope they can help me solve these problems ?

what a mess.

thanks for your input on this case, have a lovely day

 

 

[LHT28]

I would ask  RCL  to take over your cruises

Explain the TA has left the company  you were dealing with 

 

 options 2  ask to speak to the manager/owner of the agency  you were working with

JMO

[fvandewouwer]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

I would ask  RCL  to take over your cruises

Explain the TA has left the company  you were dealing with 

 

 options 2  ask to speak to the manager/owner of the agency  you were working with

JMO

I did not know that Royal could take over the cruises, I called them in the past about the problems but they always said to contact my TA, in this case my agent is gone so perhaps they will deal with me now

there is also Celebrity and NCL

I will try to speak to the manager one last time

Do you think another TA can take my files over now ?

thanks

Frieda

[MCC retired]

It is the Agency , not the TA who has your bookings to service and any "goodies" that the TA gave you.

Not really a reason for a cruise line to pull back all of your bookings.

Just contact the Agency , have another TA assigned to your bookings.

If he/she doesn't work out for you then move on in the future but give them a chance .

[klfrodo]

I agree with MCC

Yes, you did business with a certain person who was a TA. However, that person worked for or represented an "Agency". That agency is the responsible party.

Tell that Agency that it is your expectation that they will clear this matter up in a (realistic) timeframe.

[LHT28]

3 hours ago, fvandewouwer said:

I did not know that Royal could take over the cruises, I called them in the past about the problems but they always said to contact my TA, in this case my agent is gone so perhaps they will deal with me now

there is also Celebrity and NCL

I will try to speak to the manager one last time

Do you think another TA can take my files over now ?

thanks

Frieda

I would contact the owner/manager of the agency  & tell the agent assigned is not  responding to you

See if they  have someone  who can deal with your situation in a timely manner

if all else fails contact  the cruise line  ask for  a supervisor & explain the situation   ask if they will take over your  file

 

Maybe the new agent feels overwhelmed  with the mixed up files but they should speak to their boss  about  helping  you

 

Sorry no excuse for not helping  you  & getting answers for you

 JMO

 

 

[rkacruiser]

4 hours ago, klfrodo said:

I agree with MCC

Yes, you did business with a certain person who was a TA. However, that person worked for or represented an "Agency". That agency is the responsible party.

Tell that Agency that it is your expectation that they will clear this matter up in a (realistic) timeframe.

 

I agree with these two posters.  Your account should have been assigned to a different agent within the agency.  I have experienced two agents in two different agencies who left (one due to retirement who informed me what was happening); the other was not allowed to inform her clients because of a no-compete clause in her contract.  My account was assigned to new agents.  In the first instance, the new agent was as experienced and qualified as the woman she replaced.  In the second instance, I was dissatisfied with the new agent because of what I knew about her and determined by biographies of the agents on the agency's website the individual that I wanted to assume my account.  That happened and the arrangements for that sole cruise in my account at that time were satisfactorily completed.  But, I did no further business with that agent/agency.  When I was permitted to do so, I returned to my previous agent who now works for a different agency.

 

8 hours ago, fvandewouwer said:

what a mess.

thanks for your input on this case, have a lovely day

 

 

Best wishes for you.  Vacations ought not to cause such stress.  If possible, a report as to how your concerns are resolved would be appreciative and, I think, informative.

[crazyank]

16 hours ago, fvandewouwer said:

I did not know that Royal could take over the cruises, I called them in the past about the problems but they always said to contact my TA, in this case my agent is gone so perhaps they will deal with me now

Yes RCL can definitely take over bookings,  we've gone this route in the past and they were very cooperative.

15 hours ago, MCC retired said:

It is the Agency , not the TA who has your bookings to service and any "goodies" that the TA gave you.

Not really a reason for a cruise line to pull back all of your bookings.

I disagree,  the OP has stated quite clearly that there is a lack of communication from the agency.  That is definitely a reason to have the bookings taken over by RCL

[fvandewouwer]

Thank you all for your input.

I did call the agency because I want to book a new cruise and would like to pay with FCC so it is time to clear this mess now. Apperently now they cannot find any of my FCC so there is a big mistake and I hope they are able to fix this. I took the advise to tell them to check this now cause it would be a pity to transfer every booked cruise (15) back to Royal / Celebrity and NCL.

About goodies...it has been a while since they gave me something 

I guess I am a loyal softy.

 

 

[BoozinCroozin]

In the US, you are only tied to an Agency and not to an agent. The agent is an employee of the Agency. The Agency has a financial responsibility to make sure you do not lose your money or FCC's because of them. If they make a mistake, they are financially responsible to make you whole. 

 

If it were me, I would be escalating this beyond the agent level. You need a dedicated person to resolve this issue. I ran into the same with an agent that saw a discrepancy. Instead of keeping me on hold with RCL's accounting team, she called me back. It took the two of them 3 hours going line by line on the charges, line by line on the refunds and which line of charges they go to and which credit card. That is when they noticed ~$1,200 was not refunded. The card number on that set of charges was changed due to cc theft. They called me, got my permission to work with Chase, and Chase worked with them to refund to the new card number. 

 

I know it is not an easy process. You have to keep up with every single penny, especially for several cruises.

[LHT28]

12 hours ago, fvandewouwer said:

Thank you all for your input.

I did call the agency because I want to book a new cruise and would like to pay with FCC so it is time to clear this mess now. Apperently now they cannot find any of my FCC so there is a big mistake and I hope they are able to fix this. I took the advise to tell them to check this now cause it would be a pity to transfer every booked cruise (15) back to Royal / Celebrity and NCL.

About goodies...it has been a while since they gave me something 

I guess I am a loyal softy.

 

 

Hopefully  they can help you get things sorted out   quickly

I would not wait too long  before contacting the cruise line  

but that is me  ..I like to have things  organized  sooner than later

[ldubs]

3 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Hopefully  they can help you get things sorted out   quickly

I would not wait too long  before contacting the cruise line  

but that is me  ..I like to have things  organized  sooner than later

 

X2.  I hope they are responsive.   Let us know how it works out.   

[fvandewouwer]

I will let you all know how this ende.

Stay healthy.

[fvandewouwer]

hello everyone, I need to add that i am from Belgium and I book my cruises for 10 years now in the US using my credit card to pay. ( so we loose or win depending on currency exhange rate )

We can book our cruises directly in Belgium but against so many other "not always great" terms.

I have worked for a company that had a department in Florida and we have many friends from there that is why we started to book our cruises in the US which gave me up till now many more benefits as we had booking them in Belgium.

In this case we were happy with our agent till about 1.5 year ago, I have no idea what happened but she was getting frustrated and sometimes refused to book a cruise when one was cancelled.

She said that we booked "too many cruises " how can a person book too many cruises 🤣

I always thought that staying polite and give her time to solve the problems would be the best thing to do.

yesterday I called and got another agent on the phone,  I  explained the problems, she said to send a mail to my new agent and if this is not solved in a decent time to contact the owner / manager of that company.

I will keep you all informed.

 

 

 

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, fvandewouwer said:

yesterday I called and got another agent on the phone,  I  explained the problems, she said to send a mail to my new agent and if this is not solved in a decent time to contact the owner / manager of that company.

I will keep you all informed.

 

Hope it all gets sorted out

good luck