Bad TA Experience or "If it ain't broke ..." :(

[HeatherInFlorida]

Anyone who knows me on this board knows I have recommended my wonderful internet TA many times. Their rates are excellent and their customer service (even without telephone contact) cannot be surpassed.

 

I should have taken my own advice and stuck with them, but when I found a better price elsewhere for considerably less than what my TA quoted, I jumped on it.

 

The other internet TA has given me the worst possible customer service I have ever experienced by providing no "service" at all. I now appreciate my much valued TA so much more (and many of you know who it is:) ) .

 

Many people use this "other" firm and I've been told they are fine. But it takes days for me to reach them. Now I'm trying to cancel the cruise I booked with them with no response for 2 days.

 

When I finally got a response recently to my query about the wrong cabin # on my online invoice, I was told that if I want a "new" invoice showing the correct cabin number I will need to pay a $25 administrative fee!!!!!

 

I just carefully inspected their website to find in tiny print at the bottom of a page no one would usually bother to access that I will be charged $50 for cancelling this cruise even though we're nowhere near the departure date of 11/3/06.

 

So it's my own stupidity and I hope my loss will serve as a warning to be very careful when choosing an internet TA. I usually think I'm pretty bright, but I got roped in to a lower price. I'm here to admit my mistake and tell you when I booked our Prinsendam cruise, I went right back to my favorite TA never to leave again (note: the rate for the cruise is the same as the "other" TA ... actually a bit less).

 

Any questions, my email address is in my signature:) .

[doone]

Sorry about your new TA experience, Heather, but this is when a good TA is worth their weight in gold, even though you may pay a bit more. I am sure some of us here on the boards have experienced this same thing. Live and learn!!

[jhannah]

So sorry, Heather. Some of life's lessons are hard-learned, aren't they? We have stuck with our brick-and-mortar TA for years because of her wonderful service. I know we've paid a bit more sometimes (never more than a couple of hundred dollars) than was quoted elsewhere ... but I much prefer working with a "known quantity." If I could save a significant amount of money elsewhere, I'd go -- of course. But you're so right. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[gizmo]

I am wondering if this is one that I looked at. This agency has been around for a while and at one time highly recommended.

 

I think it was on their site, if you booked on line for the better price, they charge you for "additional services or something like that". I can't remember the verbiage. I took it as, if you called them and asked them to do something you will be charged.

[sail7seas]

Sorry you're having this difficulty with the TA, Heather.

 

I agree with all the Jim wrote and I still use our brick and mortar TA but, unfortunately, they are becoming dinosaurs. My TA has served me very well but I see that in order for them to survive, there have been changes. They have joined some sort of cruise consortium and are placing their bookings through them. Therefore, my TA can only give me the service predicated upon the service THEY get from this consortium. I am getting an uneasy feeling they may be soon out of business. They are the last to survive in our general area ---post 9/11.

 

We all will very soon HAVE to deal with the on-line monsters, it seems. That is not to my liking as, like Jim, I have been willing to date to pay a bit more to get the service. I think service will disappear totally no matter where we book. Those who currently have 'decent' service from an on-line, I predict will gradually see decrease in quality.

 

JMHO.......

 

[HeatherInFlorida]

I am wondering if this is one that I looked at. This agency has been around for a while and at one time highly recommended.

 

I think it was on their site, if you booked on line for the better price, they charge you for "additional services or something like that". I can't remember the verbiage. I took it as, if you called them and asked them to do something you will be charged.

 

Yes, Gizmo, I'm guessing that it is. It begins with an "S" and it says all that on their site. Since I'm used to dealing online and like it, I didn't see it as a problem. But then I found out it's near impossible to get through to them online.

 

My agent, however, responds within the hour. I know a lot of people are critical of internet TA's and I understand that, but this one truly is an exception (at least for me)

 

Sail, I understand what you're saying. So many B&M's (we have one here who I used exactly once) are becoming part of the larger firms and the service is going to suffer as a result.

 

But I will continue to feel strongly that "internet" doesn't mean bad service. Granted, if you want to touch and feel and see your agent, you don't have that. But "service" to me is getting the job done, getting my questions answered and getting my documents all in a timely manner. I don't believe that my agent will decline in that respect since they have done this for me for the past 5 years. I admit I've made myself very evident to them and they know how often I've recommended them, but friends have used them as well and been equally happy.

 

Foolishly, I expected the same from this "other" agent ... I was wrong.

[gizmo]

I don't remember if this is the site I talked about earlier but this is what I found on a popular site. This should give you an idea of what is going on. I found this under "Terms and Conditions". All these charges make me very uncomfortable. Someone spells your name wrong and you have to pay for it ? I didn't see cabin change mentioned, but I bet a person will get charged.

 

50 per person fee for any changes, this fee will be in addition to the aforementioned Cruise Line charges. (this is referring to document changes after they have been issued, even if there is a mistake on them)

 

$50 Service charge per person for ALL CHANGES i.e. adding/removing air/name change, spelling corrections, etc.

 

$50 fee will be charged for ALL RETURNED CHECKS

$50 charge will be assessed for ALL LATE PAYMENTS

 

$75 per person fee for cancellation plus any penalty from the cruiseline (most have gone to a charge for cancellations, price varies from TA to TA)

[gizmo]

The one in my above post does not start with an S.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Sorry to hear about your problems.

 

Like jhannah and sail7seas, we have used the same brick and mortar TA at AAA for over 20 years - and we know that company won't go out of business. We like to be able to sit and talk with her personally. And if we ever have a problem (and we have had a few) all it takes is one simple phone call to her and she takes care of everything.

[dakrewser]

But I will continue to feel strongly that "internet" doesn't mean bad service.

 

I can't echo that sentiment strongly enough! I've never met my TA as her office is 600 miles away. But the phone is always answered promptly on those rare occasions I have to call. Rare, because my emails are also answered promptly and the service is all I could ask for. Last year, when we decided to tempt fate and book on Celebrity, my regular TA couldn't help as they don't handle that line. But the sweet lady in Atlanta (some 3000 miles away) who did book that one for me was equally as helpful and efficient. Should I ever decide to go back to Celebrity (and at this point I doubt it), then she would immediately get my repeat business.

 

On-line, when used properly by competent people, can be a boon to the cruise traveller. Just be careful and remember that if the price looks too good to be true - it probably is.

[Nasmas]

We switched to an online agent because of the quality of service we were getting from the local one. Which was non-existent. We're from a small town and I guess they think since there is not much competition here, they don't have to do anything. I've had good luck with the on-line agent. Their prices are way better than the local one. As a matter of fact, my husband gave them a chance the first time we looked online and they said they couldnt' touch it. Wouldn't even try to get close, so we figured they didn't need our business. There are cancellation charges, but the insurance took care of those when we had to cancel. Also, we've changed rooms a couple of times with no charge. Maybe we lucked up but I've always had good luck with them and they answer my e-mails and phone calls promptly.

[HeatherInFlorida]

I realize that a thread can go in any direction it wants to (and does;) ) ... but in this case I'm really not comparing internet agents to brick and mortar agents.

 

I totally understand that discussion and of course it's an interesting one. We all have our preferences.

 

But this time I'm comparing apples to apples ... internet to internet ... ripe to rotten. My point was how much they can differ.

 

Gizmo, those charges are unbelievable!!! Can you imagine being charged a fee because the documents are wrong?:eek:

 

Just a note: Coincidently I just received an email from this "other" agent asking me to please confirm my cancellation so they can go ahead an process it along with the $50 fee. So that's done and good riddance:) .

[sail7seas]

On-line, when used properly by competent people, can be a boon to the cruise traveller. Just be careful and remember that if the price looks too good to be true - it probably is.

 

It's the be careful part this is tricky. It's also if the price is too good to be ture part.......

 

Many people have come here raving about the wonderful price that got from an on-line. We are given the impression they paid considerably less and all was fine.

 

How to be 'careful'. All the websites look fine. They all seem to be okay. So....then it comes down to trust recommendations of others? That is usually a good method but most of us are strangers here? How do we know who is a 'ringer' trying to drum up business? How do we know what one person's definition of good service compares to our own?

 

How do we know if there's a person working out of their kitchen on the other end of the on-line who is doing this to earn a few extra dollars and really doesn't care about service/dependability/promptness.......?

[gizmo]

Namus,

 

Keep an eye out for changes the next time you book with them. Things do change within an agency.

 

These new charges seem to be a recent developement. If you go back 2 years I would say most were non-existent except maybe the cancellation fee. There may have been an agency or two that might have had these charges, but many more have added them.

 

Another thing I noticed with certain sites is there are 2 prices, one is book on line, the other is call us. This has not always been the case. I used a certain TA for a couple of years. Maybe a year and half ago they started with the 2 prices.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Sail, as far as trust goes I think I would trust the same people on this board that I do now. There are many people who have been here a long time so if we exchanged emails about the pros and cons of an agency, I would trust them.

 

That's not to say that others wouldn't have equally good information. But even in "real life":) , I don't trust a person the day I meet them unless they're just giving me directions to the nearest grocer. Sometimes I shouldn't even do that!!!

 

I don't even go to a doctor or a dentist without someone recommending them. So we get recommendations, know our recommender and then go with our gut.

 

The other thing is to carefully read "Terms and Conditions". I didn't do this and it was foolish, but it was a $900 difference which is HUGE. It's also a fluke because my agent of choice usually has very comparable prices to other internet sites.

[jhannah]

Another thing I noticed with certain sites is there are 2 prices, one is book on line, the other is call us.

Airlines have done this for a long time. Rock-bottom fares are generally Internet only. When I worked for an airline, we were instructed to tell folks (even those who walked up to purchase a ticket) that lower pricing might be available online.

[sail7seas]

Heather, Of course you are correct about trusting the folks you know here. My poor wording (once again :( ) didn't convey my meaning properly.

 

If YOU were to recommend an on-line TA to me, I would have full confidence in your recommendation.

 

If someone who pops in here for the first time recommends whatever agent.....I'd have no faith in that though they might be perfectly legitmate and be giving good advice.

 

I have not paid attention to many comments by posters as to which TA's they use, ie on-line vs. Brick and Mortar.

 

It does catch my eye when someone says they know their TA is never going out of business or will never do x, y or z and that diminishes the value of the recommendation. IMO

 

Unless we are an intergral part of the business, we can't know. (And often people who are active in the business, get taken by surprise when such things happen).

 

I am not the most trusting person in the world. I have certain amount of cynicism....I read the horror stories here about TA's that don't send documents or who make fierce errors and I cringe. I don't want to get into that world. I want to be able to walk through the door of my TA's office, look them in the eye and 'request' they FIX IT!! And stand there while they get on the phone!!!

 

 

 

[michmike]

we've booked past 3 cruises thru c-n-m and have been well pleased with pricing and service. If you can't figure out who that is from the initials, feel free to e-mail me at tohoku at cablespeed dot com (putting that in the usual format)

[Atomica]

Heather - so sorry to hear about your bad internet experience.

 

I've used both a regular TA and an internet site to book my cruises - usually I check with my TA first, but if they can't match the price online, I go with what's cheapest.

 

The problem with the internet is that there can be so many different places to hide information (as you said, you found it on a page people weren't likely to look at unless they were searching). Sometimes you can even tell when a site may not be on the up-and-up (poor graphic design, etc etc). I think the idea of having a 'document change fee' (espeically for $50) is just insane.

 

Hopefully if there's some good that can come out of your experience, it will be that everyone on this board who books online will be checking out those Terms and Conditions really well!

[BajaFred]

I have a question regarding pricing. Let's say HAL is selling a particular room Category for $1800. How do the internet companies undersell if for $100-$300. Example: I received an e-mail from HAL with prices on Alaska cruises. HAL has the room category I am interested in at @1750. When I checked around at different internet companies they were selling the same category for $1449. How do they undersell HAL?

[gizmo]

I have a question regarding pricing. Let's say HAL is selling a particular room Category for $1800. How do the internet companies undersell if for $100-$300. Example: I received an e-mail from HAL with prices on Alaska cruises. HAL has the room category I am interested in at @1750. When I checked around at different internet companies they were selling the same category for $1449. How do they undersell HAL?

 

Hal has deals with TA's. Some of the larger ones sell blocks of cabins to the TA at a good price. It is not always an internet TA that can get a good price.

[gizmo]

Since we are on the subject, just what is an intenet TA? What qualifies the TA to get tagged with being an internet TA. ?

 

I used a TA for a couple of years from NY. The first/second time I booked with them, they did not have an internet site. They are in a building in NY where people can walk in and book. Is this considered brick and mortor ?

Now they have a site. What are they now?

 

Lots of people talk about their "brick and mortor" Ta's. If one of them were to put up a site on the internet does this change them?

[HeatherInFlorida]

Sail, couldn't argue with anything you say! We're in sync:) (big surprise!)

 

Aaron, you're absolutely right. Just one more benefit of CC. It's a great forum for good info all around.

 

Gizmo, just my personal definition of "internet" TA, but I see it as one who doesn't do business outside the internet. Many TA's are B&M and have websites. I wouldn't call the "internet agents". If I use a TA locally and happen to go to their website I wouldn't think of them as an internet TA.

 

However, the TA I'm criticizing here happens to be located (physically) only about 15 miles from where I live. But they may as well be in Timbuktu as far as I'm concerned because I can't go knock on their door. Well, maybe I could if I want to really be obnoxious, but they're not set up as a B&M agent.

[gizmo]

Sail, couldn't argue with anything you say! We're in sync:) (big surprise!)

 

 

Gizmo, just my personal definition of "internet" TA, but I see it as one who doesn't do business outside the internet. Many TA's are B&M and have websites. I wouldn't call the "internet agents". If I use a TA locally and happen to go to their website I wouldn't think of them as an internet TA.

 

However, the TA I'm criticizing here happens to be located (physically) only about 15 miles from where I live. But they may as well be in Timbuktu as far as I'm concerned because I can't go knock on their door. Well, maybe I could if I want to really be obnoxious, but they're not set up as a B&M agent.

 

That is my interpretation too, but I think any TA that has a web site which allows you to book is tagged with "internet TA".

[Krazy Kruizers]

No one has to worry about my recommending our TA - I would never do that. Just because we like her and have had no problems, it doesn't mean that someone else may or may not like her. And who knows, maybe they would have problems.