Are they trying to rip me off?

[tommyh]

First of all you booked at a certain price that you accepted when booking.

Second why does this TA have to accept Carnival's posted price?

 

I think you are handling this all wrong. This TA is working for a commission and has a valid point. Well I'm sure if I was in this persons shoes I would be trying everything to keep my commission too.

 

If you feel so strongly maybe you should cancel your booking with this person and call Carnival directly. You threatening to call the better business bureau because you couldn't get a cheaper price is a little bit overboard. Pardon the pun.

 

Maybe you should do some research on this board and find out how some of us have gotten better prices.

Way off base. Wrong answer.

[jetskier]

Refer back to my other post. It sounds like they are waiting until Monday for the TA's portion of the refund (commissionable fare) to get back to Carnival before they institute the OBC.

I am currently in the same boat, while I have an OBC being processed Carnival is waiting for a check from the TA to get to them before posting the OBC to my booking.

 

Some TA's have this setup to be done electronically while others do it the old fashion way and cut a check to Carnival which holds up everything until the check arrives and can be posted.

 

Dave

[Quilting_Cruiser]

If they had already charged her credit card, they would have to submit a refund request to finance and then put it through to the credit card company. Once the credit card company receives it, they charge Carnival for the refund to be applied back to the credit card holder.

 

Never heard of a charge to refund a customer--my DH and I are business owners and have never been charged for crediting a card...

 

:confused:

[pba20493]

Its very simple, NEVER use a TA. It takes only a few min to book directly with the cruiselines. The convience fee just isnt worth the potential problems. I have booked with a TA that deals with cruises only ( get it ) we didnt have any problems, but i figured heck i could just do the same thing and wouldnt have to leave my house.

 

So lesson learned. Next time do it yourself.

 

Hope you get your money.

 

Tim

[cruisinsly]

midimarv

Yeap. I guess when you are a big corporation such as Carnival, Disney, Universal, Royal Caribbean, Sea World, etc... the credit card companies will charge the corporation on refunds. I have worked at two of the above mentioned companies and both were charged per refund that was sent back to the customers credit card. While I was a supervisor at one of these companies, I had to work closely with finance I learned this little bit of information. We always tried to get our clients to switch to different dates other than refund.

[rvrgirl]

Its very simple, NEVER use a TA. It takes only a few min to book directly with the cruiselines. The convience fee just isnt worth the potential problems. I have booked with a TA that deals with cruises only ( get it ) we didnt have any problems, but i figured heck i could just do the same thing and wouldnt have to leave my house.

 

So lesson learned. Next time do it yourself.

 

Hope you get your money.

 

Tim

 

Interestng.....I have used a TA for many, many years...don't pay a convience fee.......never had a problem.........and I don't have to leave my house. (Get it)

No lesson learned here...

[zqvol]

Ok here is the deal... I booked through a TA and have already paided for my cruise in full. I was on Carnivals website today and seen that the price dropped 484.10 so I called my TA and told them. I asked for a OBC for the difference. She said well I'll call Carnival and see, fine. She then calls me back and says some BS like well if you want the lower rate then we will have to cancel out your cruise here and then you can book through Carnival, WHAT :confused: . I said that I thought that was crazy and what was so hard about doing an OBC since I hear they are easy to do. She then starts saying well we don't make much off commision, blah blah :rolleyes: . So I said Oh so this has to do with commision and not my OBC. I think she thought I was dumb and she could get away with telling me some hogwash. I stood up for myself and didn't back down and told her that if I don't get an OBC I will never deal with them again and may turn them over to Better Business Bureau because this has nothing to do with commsions it's about being honest and giving a costumer an OBC they deserve, right?

 

 

So we hang up and she calls me back an hour later saying that she is working with a manager at Carnival to see what they can do and they will get back with me on Monday.....Hmmm!

 

 

What do you make out of this? This is my first cruise but I'll be darn to get ripped out og 484.10 credit!

The TA has no obligation to request the OBC. There is nothing inappropriate about them not getting and to suggest reporting them to the BBB is irresponsible on your part. They are doing nothing wrong. You have a contract, and they have fulfilled all that they were to do. To get you the OBC in that amount will cost them the commission that they have earned. If you do not like what they are doing then, don't deal with them again, but to threaten them is wrong.

[St.Love]

Thanks everyone for your input :) . I sit patiently until tomorrow when I find out more from TA and Carnival. Since I posted last the TA called me back and said that I will be getting an OBC but it's up to Carnival to determine how much. I and my family are very confused over this statement and why such confusion over my OBC amount.

 

 

Tomorrow shall be a fun day for me and all I can hope it is goes smoothly!

[jandkfarms]

I think this should be chalked up to a learning experience. The learning experience being-book directly with Carnival, it's so much easier. I understand your frustration with this whole deal but this is part of dealing with a TA. I used a TA once and had SO many problems. I'm sure there are really good ones out there, I just haven't found one yet. Using a TA really can limit your options sometimes. The same goes for airlines. I totally agree with your trying to get the OBC-who wouldn't??? But I wouldn't throw around threats about the BBB and contacting a lawyer. I think you should relax and be happy with what is offered to you and learn from this for your future cruises!!!! Have a great time and don't let this stress you out!!!!! Think of any OBC you get as a bonus! Also I do know that some of Carnival's promotions are two sided. Sometimes if you take advantage of one then the other one goes away etc. etc. so you aren't always getting a better deal, you really have to read the fine print. That's when having a Carnival PVP to deal with is so handy. Again, good luck and just relax.

[veryhotred]

wow this was good reading..I cant wait for Monday...good luck!!

[jcanino]

I'm sure there are really good ones out there, I just haven't found one yet. Using a TA really can limit your options sometimes.

 

Actually, using a TA broadens your options. A TA can actually have access to prices that the cruise line reservation agents may not have due to existing groups and consortium special pricing. Also, a reservation agent from Carnival, will not tell you that Royal Caribbean is having a sale that would save you lots of money. A Carnival reservation agent is working for Carnival and has them in their best interest. A TA works for you and (should) have you in their best interest.

[bonniemari]

Inquring mind wants to know how this turned out??

 

I agree 100% with jcanino-my TA is great.

[veryhotred]

It's 2 CMT and NOTHING??!! I am so curious as to what happened 'monday morning'...Hmmmm the suspense is killing me, literally..come on, what happened????:confused:

[St.Love]

Sorry it took so long! I just found out at 3:00. I was given a 400.00 OBC :D . I spoke with the resolutions dept at my TA. The lady was very kind and said it was done and she apologized it took so long today but she was training others most of the day. So she said our org. rate was 160.00 per person and it dropped to 60.00 per person for the first and second passanger :D :D ! The other 4 passenger were at the reg. rate.

 

 

The (2) cabins are oceanview on the Main deck.

[sotadragon]

St.Love - That's great! I'm glad you got the OBC. :)

[NotAPirate]

Actually, using a TA broadens your options. A TA can actually have access to prices that the cruise line reservation agents may not have due to existing groups and consortium special pricing. Also, a reservation agent from Carnival, will not tell you that Royal Caribbean is having a sale that would save you lots of money. A Carnival reservation agent is working for Carnival and has them in their best interest. A TA works for you and (should) have you in their best interest.

JCanino - While most of what you say is true, it is a bit misleading. Or at least misinforming.

 

When you call Carnival (or Royal, or Nowegian, or JC Penneys, or Ford...), of course they're working for Carnival. But you color it wrong by saying "is working for Carnival and has them in their best interest." My agent at Carnival goes through all the available rates for the CARNIVAL cruise my family wishes to take that I'm calling THEM about. Not RCL, not NCL. If I wanted those rates, I can just as easily call those companies. But I've called Carnival, and I don't expect them to have anything but Carnival rates.

 

What I do expect is to have them work with me on my vacation, which they do quite well. My CVS gives me all the options on the cruise(s) I'm looking at, and even ones I might not have thought about within our budget. He's never foisted anything on us and has always known his product better than any TA we've used in the past (even my wife comments on this, and she was a TA...).

 

As your caveat ("works for you and (should) have you in their best interest"; emphasis mine...) indicates, you know that there ARE TAs out there that do NOT have their customers' best interest at heart, just the bottom line. We see posts about such issues on CC constantly.

 

But the OP does have the right of it: it is in her contract, the agency is responsible for securing this for her. Carnival more than likely is waiting for a commision return from the agency, as indicated by other posters. Just one of the issues when working with an agency. Not the norm, but very trying for the customer.

[rvrgirl]

Just like any public forum or media........the bad news gets the most attention........and all the good stuff (like great TA's) are never sensationalized.

[cruisinsly]

I am so glad that they finally got your OBC for you. Congrats!

[dickinson]

Congrats on your obc. Too bad this agency made you work so hard for it! :eek:

[rvrgirl]

There is another thread called "OBC - I want some" on here. Seems they are having problems getting on board credit from their Carnival PVP. And looks like there was another poster on there that had to work for their obc from their PVP:cool:

[veryhotred]

alls well that ends well :p have a great cruise