How to transfer a booking from one agency to another

Recently I had a serious problem with my travel agency. The agency posted an unauthorized charge on my credit card. I had authorized payment to HAL for an upcoming trip. Instead, they posted two charges on my credit card, one to HAL (which was for the actual cost of the trip including insurance, fees, and taxes) and one to themselves for over 2000 dollars. I checked with HAL and was told HAL had received only the amount posted on my card as going to HAL.

Only after considerable back and forth of emails, did the agency concede that they were wrong, and refunded the unauthorized amount. It now is safely back in the hands of my credit card.

I decided I wanted to transfer my future, unpaid bookings to another agency and requested information from HAL on how to make the transfer. I got an immediate response from HAL. I thought others might be interested, if they want to make a similar transfer. Here is the direct quote from HAL:

Thank you for sending the email. For an agency to agency transfer, we would need a letter from the original travel agency signed by the owner or manager* indicating title on agency letterhead releasing the booking.* We would need a letter signed by both guests asking us to transfer the booking to the new travel agency.* We*would need a letter from the new travel agency signed by the owner or manager indicating the title on agency letterhead accepting the booking.* Our fax number is 206-281-0627.*

If we only receive the letter signed by the guests and the accepting letter from the new travel agency, then we will send a 48 hour notice to the original travel agency.* If the original travel agency still does not send in a releasing letter, then a legal release will be sent out that will need to be signed by both guests and the owner or manager of the new travel agency in order to complete the agency transfer.

*

Please note that if the original travel agency has group rates, group amenities, onboard value booklets, or any amenity or rate that is specific to the original travel agency, that these amenities or rates*will not transfer over to the new travel agency.*

This is a bit complicated, but I thought others might find the information useful at some point. I know that my posting here is a bit involved.

No question: we all need to check our credit cards to be sure an agency uses it only to send money to HAL when it is due.

Recently I had a serious problem with my travel agency. The agency posted an unauthorized charge on my credit card. I had authorized payment to HAL for an upcoming trip. Instead, they posted two charges on my credit card, one to HAL (which was for the actual cost of the trip including insurance, fees, and taxes) and one to themselves for over 2000 dollars. I checked with HAL and was told HAL had received only the amount posted on my card as going to HAL.

 

Only after considerable back and forth of emails, did the agency concede that they were wrong, and refunded the unauthorized amount. It now is safely back in the hands of my credit card.

 

I decided I wanted to transfer my future, unpaid bookings to another agency and requested information from HAL on how to make the transfer. I got an immediate response from HAL. I thought others might be interested, if they want to make a similar transfer. Here is the direct quote from HAL:

 

 

Thank you for sending the email. For an agency to agency transfer, we would need a letter from the original travel agency signed by the owner or manager* indicating title on agency letterhead releasing the booking.* We would need a letter signed by both guests asking us to transfer the booking to the new travel agency.* We*would need a letter from the new travel agency signed by the owner or manager indicating the title on agency letterhead accepting the booking.* Our fax number is 206-281-0627.*

 

If we only receive the letter signed by the guests and the accepting letter from the new travel agency, then we will send a 48 hour notice to the original travel agency.* If the original travel agency still does not send in a releasing letter, then a legal release will be sent out that will need to be signed by both guests and the owner or manager of the new travel agency in order to complete the agency transfer.

*

Please note that if the original travel agency has group rates, group amenities, onboard value booklets, or any amenity or rate that is specific to the original travel agency, that these amenities or rates*will not transfer over to the new travel agency.*

 

This is a bit complicated, but I thought others might find the information useful at some point. I know that my posting here is a bit involved.

 

No question: we all need to check our credit cards to be sure an agency uses it only to send money to HAL when it is due.

WOW.. This is very dangerous..Did your travel agent ever say why they charged the $2,000 plus on your card? If it was me I would have cancelled the booking, had my credit card company reverse the payment, & also threatened to take legal action.. I can't imagine any reputable Agent doing something like that.. Hope you have cancelled all your future unpaid bookings..

What the agency did was wrong about the 2000.00 and I would be livid but it is very hard to transfer a booking from one agency to another.

They are protected by the cruise line. They own your reservation and without written permission to release it they won't. If you have future cruises booked and final has not been reached you can cancel, but the agency might have cancellation fees and if cruise price has gone up you will be forced to book at the higher rate and/or lose a coveted cabin.

A travel agency can be a gem or a nightmare, it's a chance you have to take when booking with an agency.

Thank you for posting the transfer requirements. I've never needed to do this, but it's good to know that there is a way to transfer, even without agreement from the original agency. Best of luck in all your transactions, and happy cruising.

Dorothy,

Really interesting. We've never had a charge from our online agency. It is either a direct charge to Holland or to the insurance agency our TA uses. Pretty scary.

leslie

Serendipity asked what the travel agent said when I first questioned her on the two payments: one to HAL and one to the travel agency:

Here are her words directly from her email:

"The agent took a short pay at the cruise lines that is why we had to run the rest of the money in house to avoid cancellation."

When I followed up and asked why they did not run the rest of the money on my card to HAL since they had the card info available, she wrote:

"The money was paid to HAL You have been charged exactly what is owed to the cruise line."

With that I called HAL. The rep there was fantastic. As soon as she heard my concern, she told me exactly how much had been paid to HAL, which was the final full payment owed. I asked her whether an additional 2120 dollars had been sent by the travel agency, and she told me, "No."

Then I called the travel agent, who said, "The HAL agent had no right to tell you what had been paid." In other words, the travel agency thought they were covered, that HAL would not speak to me since we were working with an agent. BUT HAL was wonderful in this regard! The HAL lady was open and helpful.

We are now going through the process that HAL told us to do.

Dorothy

PS Leslie, good to see your post.

Thanks for the info ..

WOW! I can't blame you one bit with that unauthorized charge on your credit card.

This is very helpful information for a lot of people and it was so good of you to post it. thank you.

I will post here when the transfer of the cruises is complete.

Since this transfer is of four cruises, two of which are rather long, it is a big loss for the company that has to release the bookings.

Dorothy

Very informative post. Thank you for this info. I hope I never need it and good luck with the process.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

If this is a small local company that most of us will never deal with please ignore this request. But if this is a large TA that some of us might have dealings with, can you give us a clue so we might avoid this situation? I realize that CC doesn't like us to discuss our TA's, but if we know what city they operate out of that might help.

Good Grief, it was an ERROR. AND the agency fixed it and refunded the money. Of course, it is going to take some time, because of the backtracking. I find it interesting the "outrage" some posters are claiming. In my opinion, this is hardly worth the time to transfer a booking. You have MUCH bigger problems, if fraud is involved, which can and does happen. There is protection with the credit card as well, simple to dispute the charges.

Also be well aware, that some agents will not give up a booking, some also have their own fees involved.

Good Grief, it was an ERROR. AND the agency fixed it and refunded the money. Of course, it is going to take some time, because of the backtracking. I find it interesting the "outrage" some posters are claiming. In my opinion, this is hardly worth the time to transfer a booking. You have MUCH bigger problems, if fraud is involved, which can and does happen. There is protection with the credit card as well, simple to dispute the charges.

 

Also be well aware, that some agents will not give up a booking, some also have their own fees involved.

Seriously? $2,000+ is an error???

and it took time to get it corrected.

Something like this should be reversed in 3 business days. It doesn't take "time" when it is an error.

Sorry, retired banker disagrees with you. I like to think if this happened with my TA it would be fixed toute de suite.

I am sure that the OP has checked out the fees involved. Their post made it quite clear that this was an issue and I respect that.

Good Grief, it was an ERROR. AND the agency fixed it and refunded the money. Of course, it is going to take some time, because of the backtracking. I find it interesting the "outrage" some posters are claiming. In my opinion, this is hardly worth the time to transfer a booking. You have MUCH bigger problems, if fraud is involved, which can and does happen. There is protection with the credit card as well, simple to dispute the charges.

 

Also be well aware, that some agents will not give up a booking, some also have their own fees involved.

Obviously you have missed main parts of the story. A $2,000+ ERROR? I don't think so.

blue whale,

Shocked that this has happened to you! Have you done business with this outfit before?

Blue Whale-

Wow, so sorry this happened to you. Thankfully you noticed it and could get right to trying to resolve it. Who needs all the extra hassle you are going through at the moment! Just be glad you were not away on one of your several month cruises when it came to light.

Best wishes for a speedy transfer of you future cruises.

Budget Queen,

I agree with Kazu. If it were an honest mistake (or any type of mistake), it should have been acknowledged immediately when first pointed out to the original Travel Agency, and not only after "considerable back and forth e-mails". Also, knowing Blue Whale as I do, if I were her TA and she pointed out this issue - I would have snapped to immediately. She is a very serious, frequent cruiser with a lot of experience. I would have researched it immediately and if it were a mistake (honest or otherwise), resolved it immediately to keep her business.

Hi Bob, Wander, USN and others,

One of our cruising friends has used this agency many times and without problem until this event. We used the agency for our short June cruise up to New England this past June. All seemed OK. And the agent located in Orlando, Florida, was nice to deal with, prompt, pleasant, and helpful.

But on our upcoming Prinsendam cruise (where the trouble occurred) the price went down just before final payment. For us it went down 2120 dollars. The invoice up to that point was higher. So I guess that the agency thought we would never know that we had got a lower price. They just put the lower price on our credit card paid to HAL, and they put the difference (the 2120) on our card paid to themselves. Since they did the same to our friend, they "made" a little over 4000 dollars on the deal.

I just received an email from the agent. She said that she will get her manager to write the release letter tomorrow (Monday) and fax to HAL. I hope this happens promptly.

So far, HAL reps on phone and in email have been very helpful. That is good to know, also.

As a post script, we think that the price on the cruise went down to encourage new bookings. The ports of call are in Turkey, Greece, to the end of the Black Sea. There are probably some folks who would be nervous traveling there, and HAL may have had cancelations.

D

Blue Whale,

Thanks for the update.

Hi Bob, Wander, USN and others,

 

One of our cruising friends has used this agency many times and without problem until this event. We used the agency for our short June cruise up to New England this past June. All seemed OK. And the agent located in Orlando, Florida, was nice to deal with, prompt, pleasant, and helpful.

 

But on our upcoming Prinsendam cruise (where the trouble occurred) the price went down just before final payment. For us it went down 2120 dollars. The invoice up to that point was higher. So I guess that the agency thought we would never know that we had got a lower price. They just put the lower price on our credit card paid to HAL, and they put the difference (the 2120) on our card paid to themselves. Since they did the same to our friend, they "made" a little over 4000 dollars on the deal.

 

I just received an email from the agent. She said that she will get her manager to write the release letter tomorrow (Monday) and fax to HAL. I hope this happens promptly.

 

So far, HAL reps on phone and in email have been very helpful. That is good to know, also.

 

As a post script, we think that the price on the cruise went down to encourage new bookings. The ports of call are in Turkey, Greece, to the end of the Black Sea. There are probably some folks who would be nervous traveling there, and HAL may have had cancelations.

 

D

OMG!!

What they did is either attempted theft or fraud! Please contact the Office of the Attorney General for New Jersey to report this! Also the Better Business Bureau as well.

I think you said that the Agency is in the State of Florida, a contact with that State's Attorney General's Office would be warranted as well.

Thank you for the reminder that it is up to us to be vigilant when spending our money, and using our credit cards.

This doesn't sound so much as an "error" as it does outright theft. Had you not been paying attention, they would have gotten away with it.

Sorry this happened to you, and happy that you have (most of) it resolved.

BlueWhale: when the price went down, did you contact the agency and ask to be refared?

It is most unfortunate that this happened to you and I am glad you were sharp enough to catch the "error".

I would have taken my business elsewhere too if it were me it had happened to.

Have you considered reporting the agency to the Better Business Bureau?

What they did was unethical at best and at the worst, theft.

BlueWhale: when the price went down, did you contact the agency and ask to be refared?

The agency obviously did the refaring on their own and then decided they could keep the difference and that the customer would be none the wiser.

Hi Bob, Wander, USN and others,

 

One of our cruising friends has used this agency many times and without problem until this event. We used the agency for our short June cruise up to New England this past June. All seemed OK. And the agent located in Orlando, Florida, was nice to deal with, prompt, pleasant, and helpful.

 

But on our upcoming Prinsendam cruise (where the trouble occurred) the price went down just before final payment. For us it went down 2120 dollars. The invoice up to that point was higher. So I guess that the agency thought we would never know that we had got a lower price. They just put the lower price on our credit card paid to HAL, and they put the difference (the 2120) on our card paid to themselves. Since they did the same to our friend, they "made" a little over 4000 dollars on the deal.

 

I just received an email from the agent. She said that she will get her manager to write the release letter tomorrow (Monday) and fax to HAL. I hope this happens promptly.

 

So far, HAL reps on phone and in email have been very helpful. That is good to know, also.

 

As a post script, we think that the price on the cruise went down to encourage new bookings. The ports of call are in Turkey, Greece, to the end of the Black Sea. There are probably some folks who would be nervous traveling there, and HAL may have had cancelations.

 

D

All I can say is (aside from your helpful post and my support) is that the Black Sea is fabulous and you are in for a great cruise. HAL doesn't go where it isn't safe and you will be fine.

enjoy - we sure did :)