You won't believe what our travel agent DID!

[jfrenaye]

This does suck and there is probably nothing to do at this late date to save your cruise.

 

Too few states have any regulation on travel agencies. There should be more.

 

Travel agencies process credit cards for any number of reasons. Most legitimate, some not so legitimate. If it is a group cruise, it is likely that they are adding something to the pot--t-shirts, maybe a party, tossing in aiport parking. It is not coming from their good graces, you are paying for it and by charging your credit card to pay for this and the cruise they then distribute the funds accordingly. Also, many on here are looking for rebates and discounts on cruises. A lot of cruise lines now are forbidding agencies from doing this. They will refuse to sell to an agency that discounts. But by taking the credit card in house, the agency can then discount. (Ex. Cruise costs $1000 and agency makes 10% or $100. They discount it $75 to you, but the line will not accept a chrge less than $1000. Solution, charge your card $925 in house, and send the cruise line an agency check for $900 --withholding what the cruise line believes to be a $100 commission). It does help with cash flow as well. Of course it can be used nefariously.

 

Someone mentioned "working at home"--has no bearing on the issue. An unscrupulous agent is an unscrupulous agent if working at home or in a business. I woudl venture to say that you are even safer with a home based agent--they may lose their home AND their business fo some funny business.

 

The key is for the buyer to be aware. Monitor your finances. When you see a charge to the credit card, if it is not from the vendor, call and get the confirmation number--take it a step further and verify it with the vendor. If you write a check or pay case, get the receipt and again, as for a confirmation number and verify it. I am assuming you paid a deposit in advance...had the cabins not been booked, you should have known that a LONG time ago had you been a little diligent. I mean you are spending a significant amount of money here.

 

The cruise lines are not going to do a lot for you unfortunately except maybe feel sorry and try to work with you. THe local police is your first step and I woudl suggest the local media. Maybe some pressure will help. Hopefully it is not a huge scam but if it is, you can kiss the money AND the cruise goodbye.

 

I am working with a man that trusted the money for a grou of 70 to an unkknown agent in SC that scammed him and ran away with it all. She was caught and is waiting trial, but the only satisfaction he may see is her in jail--there are no assets to attach and a judgement is only as good as it is collectible

 

Call the police and the paper and the television. Sniff around and see if you can find her home address and phone number. If you can get in touch with her, maybe tell her that she can have till the end of the day to make you financially whole in certified funds or cash befroe you go to the police. I say this because that might be a way to get your money back. If it is bogged in court the chance goes down

[gtalum]

Reason #1048 as to why I do not use a T/A.

 

It's not a very good reason. It takes less than 5 minutes to protect yourself from this type of unscrupulous behavior: pay for everything with a credit card authorized only for use directly with Carnival, ask for your booking number immediately, and immediately add that number to your carnival.com account. If the info shows up correctly at carnival.com you are protected. If not, demand a refund and dispute the charge. Not too much work to save hundreds of $.

[gtalum]

To the OP: hire an attorney. What the TA did was fraudulent. Whether or not the state decides to pursue her criminally, you have a very solid civil case against her.

[cruisecruisecruise1234567]

We are booked for a cruise leaving Sunday, or should I say were supposed to be booked:mad: . We booked and paid for this back in April. The travel agent took our money (for at least 12 cabins) used it, and then tried to book all the cabins at the last minute. Well needless to say, the cruise is full and 4 of us don't have a cabin. She did the same thing to another group and they don't have all their cabins! She put 6 cabins on standby. I am so furious! What chance will we have getting a cabin?

Do you have airfare and insurance?

[CrazieNCruisingGypsy2]

We booked a group cruise for our family in July. I was sitting in her agency when she called Carnival to "block" the rooms we needed. Also, everybody that has made their full deposits have a booking number. I booked mine with a Credit Card and it showed up as being charged to Carnival.

 

I guess I'm just lucky to have an honest one!

[sandy toes]

Back in '99 an agency of 10 yr standing in MD the owner just skipped the country. MANY people were without cruises and land vacations. Law enforcement found the poor office manager at the airport (she was only going to her Mothers out of state), she had to take the rap for everyone else. Of course records were just gone like everything else in the office, computers were gone, paper files, etc. She was a bit lucky in that she had sent some things to a file at her home. Emails from the owner, who was also a TA, that were major promises of harm (I'll burn your home, have you killed, that sort of thing) if she told anyone or tried to leave and work elsewhere. She ended up with 1 yr in jail when all was over. As far as I know the owner is safe and out of the country. The claim was he went to Brazil. The way this agency was able to do this on such a large scale was they would visit churches and Faternal groups getting major groups together, all making 3-6 payments in cash. The people all trusted them. An example that I can recall, in court it came out that over the years, many people had paid that rates for say a 8E and yet were told it was a bal guar. All ways to get extra money. Very sad. The credit card is the best way to go when making payments. They are a force to help you when a company cheats you. I am sorry to the OP and do hope he can get on ship. Also, don't cave in, contact the AG and let them take control of this for you and your community. Good luck. On a side note, I love my PVP

[madge57]

This sound too familiar!! Although I had a cruise booked and the booking number. But the thing is my cruise was canceled without asking and then was told after the fact. Sounds just as bad!!!!:mad: But it all worked out!! I don't USE them anymore!!!!! I use a Carnival PVP which is alot better!!!

[Blasian]

We are booked for a cruise leaving Sunday, or should I say were supposed to be booked:mad: . We booked and paid for this back in April. The travel agent took our money (for at least 12 cabins) used it, and then tried to book all the cabins at the last minute. Well needless to say, the cruise is full and 4 of us don't have a cabin. She did the same thing to another group and they don't have all their cabins! She put 6 cabins on standby. I am so furious! What chance will we have getting a cabin?

 

Dang! That is so unprofessional, unbelievable and all other sorts of words that begin with "un". I am so sorry that happened to you.

 

I would report this person to the Better Business Bureau and give her a bad review on Kudzu.com. Maybe you can sue the person and get your money back. I don't know. I can't believe that.

 

I hope everything works out.

[lindanick]

Can't they dispute the charge on her Mom's card. They are not getting what they paid for. The credit card will charge it back to her.

 

The OP said her Mom paid by credit card.

 

Linda

[LHP]

Amazing how a letter to the AG can quickly straighten out many situations. Just have your facts documented well.

 

The State Attorney General's office is really an under used resource. It does not cost one penny to file a complaint and we have always gotten any issue resolved quickly and to our satisfaction. No attorneys to fool with ....no cost (except the price of stamps).

[gtalum]

Can't they dispute the charge on her Mom's card. They are not getting what they paid for. The credit card will charge it back to her.

 

 

That depends on when she paid. You can only dispute within 60 or sometimes 90 days of making the purchase, depending on the cardmember agreement.

[Kellismom]

I had something similar happen to me, but mine was I paid a travel agent for a cruise in full and when final payment was due I recieved a call from carnival telling me that my travel agent never got back to them after she paid the initial deposit. I thought everything was paid for as I had my booking # boy was a wrong. Well to make a long story short, it took me almost a year but I did get my money back (filed a claim through the attorney general in her state) She had filed for bankruptcy but that debt wasn't excusable. Now I know I would never buy a cruise through TA on ebay!

[GottaLuvCruising]

Pay with a credit card authorizing the charge direct from the cruise line only. Never pay via check or direct to any agency...ever.

 

So sorry this happened to you. Get a lawyer.

[HeidiHo]

That depends on when she paid. You can only dispute within 60 or sometimes 90 days of making the purchase, depending on the cardmember agreement.

 

I could be wrong about this but I think that there is an exception to these time limits if you have not yet received the services you paid for. So the OP (or in this case, her mother) should have 60 or 90 days to dispute the charges from the time of sailing since that is when she was to receive the services paid for. I think I read that here some time ago when someone else was reporting an unscrupulous TA but I'm not sure so I could be wrong.

[jfrenaye]

Back in '99 an agency of 10 yr standing in MD the owner just skipped the country. MANY people were without cruises and land vacations. Law enforcement found the poor office manager at the airport (she was only going to her Mothers out of state), she had to take the rap for everyone else. Of course records were just gone like everything else in the office, computers were gone, paper files, etc. She was a bit lucky in that she had sent some things to a file at her home. Emails from the owner, who was also a TA, that were major promises of harm (I'll burn your home, have you killed, that sort of thing) if she told anyone or tried to leave and work elsewhere. She ended up with 1 yr in jail when all was over. As far as I know the owner is safe and out of the country. The claim was he went to Brazil. The way this agency was able to do this on such a large scale was they would visit churches and Faternal groups getting major groups together, all making 3-6 payments in cash. The people all trusted them. An example that I can recall, in court it came out that over the years, many people had paid that rates for say a 8E and yet were told it was a bal guar. All ways to get extra money. Very sad. The credit card is the best way to go when making payments. They are a force to help you when a company cheats you. I am sorry to the OP and do hope he can get on ship. Also, don't cave in, contact the AG and let them take control of this for you and your community. Good luck. On a side note, I love my PVP

 

Do you have a news link to this. I am in the BWI area and have been in the business for a long time and I think I would have remembered this.

[sea_u_onboard]

I could be wrong about this but I think that there is an exception to these time limits if you have not yet received the services you paid for. So the OP (or in this case, her mother) should have 60 or 90 days to dispute the charges from the time of sailing since that is when she was to receive the services paid for.

Two or three weeks before we were scheduled to go on the Big Red Boat they went belly up. Even though the cruiseline had set up a number for people to call and file for "possible" refunds I contacted our credit card company and filed a dispute. Normally have a set amount of time from time of purchase to dispute a charge - but when it involves a service then the time starts from the time that we are made "aware" that there is a problem (at least that is what I was told at the time). We got the money credited to our credit card immediately and were able to use it to book a new cruise on the Inspiration.

[travelagentgirl]

omg, I cant believe she did that. You should definately further the situation whatever the best way possible, laywer etc. For furture reference always get a booking number like others have said, and make sure you see payment go through from Carnival on your cc. I can never imagine doing this to a client.

i wish you all the luck in the world for getting your cabins. it is an extremely unfortuante situation. best of luck

[cruiseco]

Do you have airfare and insurance?

 

Insurance would do no good in this case. No policies that I know of cover fraud. Some will cover financial default in some cases but that doesn't seem to be the cause of this person's loss.

[HeidiHo]

Two or three weeks before we were scheduled to go on the Big Red Boat they went belly up. Even though the cruiseline had set up a number for people to call and file for "possible" refunds I contacted our credit card company and filed a dispute. Normally have a set amount of time from time of purchase to dispute a charge - but when it involves a service then the time starts from the time that we are made "aware" that there is a problem (at least that is what I was told at the time). We got the money credited to our credit card immediately and were able to use it to book a new cruise on the Inspiration.

 

Yeah, that's exactly what I was talking about. When people put money for services down on a credit card months in advance of receiving those services, they can't possibly know that they are going to have a problem until the time that they are to receive those services (in most cases). It would be unfair for the credit card companies to come back and say that they could no longer dispute the charges because they were made more than 60 days ago (or whatever their policy is).

[sea_u_onboard]

Yeah, that's exactly what I was talking about. When people put money for services down on a credit card months in advance of receiving those services, they can't possibly know that they are going to have a problem until the time that they are to receive those services (in most cases). It would be unfair for the credit card companies to come back and say that they could no longer dispute the charges because they were made more than 60 days ago (or whatever their policy is).

Now this might only work if the agency charged it to Carnival and not themselves - because Carnival is not at fault here. Even saying that - SOME credit cards cover you for such events and may not have to go to Carnival for the money.

 

The way it is sounding though it appears that the agency did charge it to themselves - otherwise wouldn't Carnival be wondering why there is a deposit without final payment? Wouldn't they have to clear their books??

Enquiring minds want to know.

[broberts]

Its not going to make up for a missed cruise, but. If you paid by credit card, call the cc company and dispute the charges - they should refund the money and they may well sic their legal team on the offending "merchant". If the credit card route doesn't work out, check your state government's web site. Your state may have legislation or other mechanisms in-place to provide compensation. Of course the TA would probably have to have been registered/licensed, and one who would do what you describe may very well not have been operating within the law.

 

As to the cruise. Any chance that those who did get cabins would be willing and able to share? Its not ideal, but adding a 3rd and possibly a 4th to a cabin may be doable.

[LadyofLeisure]

What your travel agent did was wrong and criminal. Go after her through either your AG's office, criminal courts or what have you, but DO NOT paint the whole travel agent profession with a black brush because of the actions of a few bad apples.

 

There are bad people and crooks in every profession. Lawyers, dentists, doctors, priests, rabbis, ministers and teachers. A pediatrician at our Children's Hospital was arrested for molesting kids. Lawyers and police offers abscond with money. Court clerks do too. The world is FULL of bad people and greedy people. Not just one profession. Before you all tar and feather travel agents look around you, read your local paper and you will find plenty of so called professionals doing nasty things. It is the sad state of the world we live in and it sucks!

[vacruizer]

It's so sad that this continues to happen. Always make sure your credit card it charged directly by the cruise line and not the agency. Here's a link to a case in Virginina where the agency went under. I remember reading in some of the articles when it first happened that he was taking money as deposits but not booking and using those funds to book people who were traveling now and the whole scheme eventually fell apart.

 

http://www.wdbj7.com/global/story.asp?s=6832090

[PelicanBill]

After reporting to your Attorney General and Better Business Bureau, get them reported the the Travel Industry Associations:

 

IATA

ARC

CLIA

 

They will be investigated and their rights in the travel industry yanked pretty quick. These cases are hard because if you don't get your money back it becomes a default case and will takes months or years. Costs for a lawyer may equal or exceed your loss. Ultimately, you could get nothing or pennies on the dollar when the settlements come back.

 

I looked up supplier default provisions of various trip insurance plans and there are a lot of conditions and it's not clear an agency would be considered a supplier.

[hrsh37a]

....