I feel cheated by my TA.....

[memecakes]

Please give me some advice. I have been feeling a bit cheated by my TA for the past two days sense I booked my cruise. I have used this TA before. Great service. After the first cruise he sent out a form that asked for names of referrals. On the form it said that for ever booking he received from a name that I sent to him I would get a $50 credit on my next booking. Great! I pasted on three friends that have booked with him. Two have sailed and returned. (olso loved his service) One more couple will go in February of 08. (Big Family Booking of four cabins) DH and I booked a OVG on the Triumph in October two days ago. When I remained him of our "credit" for the referrals he thanked me profusely and said he would give me the best deal he could, but there was not much room to play with the numbers because this cruise was so low as it was. I was kind of suprised ot that and did not know what to say at the time. After everything was booked the price came to $588 each. Is that any kind of a deal? It seams to me to be about the same price as on all thw web sites. What can I go back and say to him? Keep in mind that I am a wimp!!!

[BeyondKen]

It depends on the cabin class of course, but the Carnival website says $399 apiece for an external cabin with 2 picture windows on the Triumph 10/20/2007.

[Name game]

Did you save the original form that the TA sent you? (Don't you hate that question, who thinks they will need to save certain things?). On it does he say that his firm will credit you? If that's the case then Carnival should have nothing to do with it. Those prices don't matter, it's the TA that should give you the discount.

[mrdood]

Did you keep a copy of his form? Did you keep anything in writting? Sounds like you got hosed... but it is also your responsibility to keep track and keep things in writing, not that it helps no for me to say that -= sorry!

 

What kind of room and what kind of cruise - $588 does not mean anything without context...

[redlef]

Please give me some advice. I have been feeling a bit cheated by my TA for the past two days sense I booked my cruise. I have used this TA before. Great service. After the first cruise he sent out a form that asked for names of referrals. On the form it said that for ever booking he received from a name that I sent to him I would get a $50 credit on my next booking. Great! I pasted on three friends that have booked with him. Two have sailed and returned. (olso loved his service) One more couple will go in February of 08. (Big Family Booking of four cabins) DH and I booked a OVG on the Triumph in October two days ago. When I remained him of our "credit" for the referrals he thanked me profusely and said he would give me the best deal he could, but there was not much room to play with the numbers because this cruise was so low as it was. I was kind of suprised ot that and did not know what to say at the time. After everything was booked the price came to $588 each. Is that any kind of a deal? It seams to me to be about the same price as on all thw web sites. What can I go back and say to him? Keep in mind that I am a wimp!!!

 

Nothing bothers me more than being lied to. It's the lowest form of disrespect anyone can throw at you - I feel like they're calling me inconsequential AND stupid at the same time.

 

I think it's time to get a little confrontational. Forget how "little" he earned booking your cruise. What about the the TOTAL of all the business you've sent him? What about his honor as a businessperson and keeping his word?

 

I wouldn't do business with anyone who didn't keep their word.

 

Do you still have the form promising you the credit? I wonder if you could report him to the Better Business Bureau or a state agency for False Advertising? If he belongs to a Travel Agent's Association, maybe you can file a complaint there. Finally, if it's really worth it to you, tell him you're going to take him to small claims court. I bet he'd be better served honoring his promises than explaining to a judge how his promise wasn't really serious.

 

Even if you never get a penny back from the guy, I would make sure he paid for it in aggravation and future lost business.

[memecakes]

We are going 10/6/07. I was looking a a base price of $529 for the OVG. This was off of the Carnival web site. TA said the taxes were 80 something each, so best I can tell, and my math is not the best,:) is that he too off $40 to $50. Not the $150 I was expecting.

[VolzCruiser]

Which cruise are you actually going on cause that matters in the price.

[PINEVIEW01]

He may only be able to take $50 off a booking. Ask if he will be taking $50 off of each of your next two bookings.

 

Without having the original offer. Also, if he is making less than $150 on your booking he can't take it off. Just guessing without all the facts.

 

But, if every one is happy with the service....Just let him know how you are feeling

[memecakes]

I did not keep a copy of the form. It was sent with an envelope and I just filled it out and returned it! Never even thought I would need a copy of it. TA fully admits to the referrals. No problem there. I guess I just need a way to confront him about the promised credits.

[redlef]

He may only be able to take $50 off a booking. Ask if he will be taking $50 off of each of your next two bookings.

 

Without having the original offer. Also, if he is making less than $150 on your booking he can't take it off. Just guessing without all the facts.

 

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree.

 

By offering a $50 OBC for referrals, he is actually buying advertising. It's just word of mouth advertising instead of print, web or television.

 

If he can't afford the advertising, that's the TA's problem, he shouldn't have bought it.

 

I own a small, 2 person company, Last December and January we spent $600 on Google advertising. That's where we pay Google everytime they tell some one about us by putting our link on their search results. It didn't bring in enough new business to cover the cost of the clicks - does that mean I don't have to pay Google?

 

The TA made a promise and needs to honor it, IMHO.

[VolzCruiser]

Sorry missed your post with the dates. I would talk to him directly and ask him about the $150 in credits you were expecting. If he says that you got them on this cruise you need to mention what carnivals price is. At this point it would up to you where you want to stay with the TA or do something different. If he doesn't feel like working with you then I would remind him that you still have the friends that booked with him on your recommendation and that might change in the future.

[redlef]

...... t booked with him on your recommendation and that might change in the future.

 

You could also cancel your cruise so he gets NO commission and take your business somewhere else.

[kgk]

Tell him in no uncertain terms -- he broke his contract with you. $50 credit for each and every referral. You accepted the contract and gave him referrals, he broke the contract. Tell him to make good immediately or move the cruise to another TA or directly to Carnival. I would not, on principle, stay with this TA -- And I would also be concerned with this TA making a "mistake" somewhere else with your cruise. ("Oh did I forget to tell you they moved your cabin"). No way would I stay with this TA if he gave you any arguement whatsoever about the credits. No where did he say he would only give the credits if he made enough money off of you in the future, only for the referrals. Good luck and have a good cruise anyway.

[lvtotrvl1]

Most discoounts are off the base fare...This cruise is pricing at 370 cruise rate, 159 port charges and 83.14 taxes. So the discount would actually be using the 370.00 fare. Did your TA break it down for you?

[gazingm42]

If you are not getting a discount from your TA than you can get from CCL or

another TA. I would cancel and drop him in a heartbeat. If he can not be

trusted then he doesn't earn your $$. To many TA out there that would help

you get a great deal and OBC for your bookings.

[AdmiralJohnson]

Since you don't have the flyer, it is highly likely that it was $50 per person/per sailing, and not cumulative. That would be an awful big discount to give on one booking, the margins are not that high.

 

But your price does not seem all that great, so yeah, you are getting screwed :p

[mcpepe]

You could also cancel your cruise so he gets NO commission and take your business somewhere else.

 

Actually she wouldn't need to cancel her booking. TRANSFERRING a booking to another TA is very easy. And they may even be able to offer you value added incentives to do so.

[Guienevere_Arianette]

Actually she wouldn't need to cancel her booking. TRANSFERRING a booking to another TA is very easy. And they may even be able to offer you value added incentives to do so.

 

Not necessarily; many TAs wil refuse to transfer a booking to another TA; why should they? They're losing commission. I've read many stories on these boards, and have my own stories, about the fight TAs will put up to keep your booking or make you cancel it before they transfer it!

[poppop5456]

The best deals are with c/c themselves

BIG DISCOUNTS FOR VETERANS OF ALL CONFLICTS

Senior citizen discount -- Florida resident discount

and if prices go down you get that back too..

[travmagic]

I am not sure how the referral discount was presented in your case but I can tell you how we do it.

Whenever we offer any sort of discount, we state that the booking has to be over a certain dollar amount depending on how much of a discount we are offering.

If they have an official referral program I would think it would say something to that affect in writing. But if it is just an oral type of offer well then, I would think that would cause some problems for them.

[aggieastrosfan]

I don't blame you for feeling cheated, I would, too. Regardless of whether he can afford it or not, or whatever his bottom line is, if he said you would get $50 for every booking you referred to him, he should give it to you. The smart thing on his part would've been to cap the reward, but if he didn't, it's on him to pony up, and I would take my business elsewhere, and tell all my friends that I referred to him to do the same.

[hotmike98]

The $50 per referral is supposed to come out of the money he made on those bookings, not the profit margin on your current cruise. He made the offer and you accepted it! "I can't make a profit on this particular cruise!" is not the issue. Stick to your guns and demand he make good. I would not think $100 would be worth jeopardizing your future business, but these days the customer really gets taken for granted!

[PINEVIEW01]

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree.

 

By offering a $50 OBC for referrals, he is actually buying advertising. It's just word of mouth advertising instead of print, web or television.

 

If he can't afford the advertising, that's the TA's problem, he shouldn't have bought it.

 

I own a small, 2 person company, Last December and January we spent $600 on Google advertising. That's where we pay Google everytime they tell some one about us by putting our link on their search results. It didn't bring in enough new business to cover the cost of the clicks - does that mean I don't have to pay Google?

 

The TA made a promise and needs to honor it, IMHO.

 

I 100% agree with your statement. That is why I qulified my response with, "without all the facts." We don't know for sure what the TA had promised on the form as travmagic has brought up, it may had restrictions listed.

 

I still advise; talk to the TA. Tell him how you feel. Ask him if he can explain the "whys". Ask to see the flyer. Give him a chance if you are otherwise happy with him, you may both come out of this feeling better. Than make up your own mind if you were cheated. It is easy to make rash, blanket statement without all the fact.

[dyslexic pirate]

If you are afraid of confronting your TA again you might just drop him an email reminding him of the $50 credits that were promised/include names of referred clients etc. Does your TA have someone that he has to report to? If so you may want to CC them on the email too.

 

This type of thing recently happened to me and I sent my TA an email and they credited back $700 on my credit card. We're all still friendly and I plan on booking more cruises with them.

 

Also, make sure you have someone proofread the email to your TA before you send it so that you don't lose any credibility due to misspelled or wrongly used words/bad grammar etc. My DH sometimes has me do this for him as he tends to just type fast and send stuff. An extra set of eyes can come in handy. Good Luck :)

[PINEVIEW01]

Well stated dyslexic pirate, your dh is lucky to have you.