Bad TA

[Eeyoregon]

OP: I would absolutely call upper management with the agency and tell them you are cancelling your booking due to poor customer service/assistance and then contact Carnival and have them transfer the booking.

 

Carnival had me fill out a short form requesting that the booking be transferred from my TA to them and fax it back. It was done the same day.

 

I just tried a TA for the first time after years of booking on my own and it to has been a NIGHTMARE!! Cancelled my booking with them this week. Losing the OBC and free gratuities was worth it...yes, it was that bad! :eek:

 

Good luck and happy sailing.

Gina

[louisville fan]

I wrote he a very nice email this morning and I am giving her till the time I get off. If I don't hear from her I will drive to the office, just 10 mins with me. If I don't get assistance then I will speak with her boss if still no help then I will cancel. I paid the deposit but then went ahead and put the balance of the money in my account there so I would not spend it. I prices the differences in the letter this morning and and gave her the links. Told her that cruise critic has helped with the price reduction info. ie fareviewer. It is only about $180 difference if both cabins are interior or 8$100 if oceanview. I have learned my lesson.....lol

[harlekuin]

I wrote he a very nice email this morning and I am giving her till the time I get off. If I don't hear from her I will drive to the office, just 10 mins with me. If I don't get assistance then I will speak with her boss if still no help then I will cancel. I paid the deposit but then went ahead and put the balance of the money in my account there so I would not spend it. I prices the differences in the letter this morning and and gave her the links. Told her that cruise critic has helped with the price reduction info. ie fareviewer. It is only about $180 difference if both cabins are interior or 8$100 if oceanview. I have learned my lesson.....lol

 

But you have to match the same category or higher. You can't use OV guarantee or IS guarantee to match. If you are 4B you need to match 4B or higher.

[Herfnerd]

Why do you think that you are entitled to a reduction in price? I have no idea when you sail but if you are past the date of final payment, since you are booked under the past guest rate you are not entitled to any price reductions. If you are not past final payment, then cancel the cruise and rebook on your own through Carnival, there is nothing that the TA can do to prevent that from happening.

 

 

The OP had posted that they aren't past final yet

 

I agree - cancel and rebook with Carnival

[cruisenanny]

The OP had posted that they aren't past final yet

 

I agree - cancel and rebook with Carnival

 

I agree also. Or call Carnival and follow instructions to transfer the existing booking over to them. Either way I would NOT leave my booking with the TA. Good luck, OP.

[Ken076]

OP: .......Carnival had me fill out a short form requesting that the booking be transferred from my TA to them and fax it back. It was done the same day......Gina

 

Gina - This is interesting! Who did you contact at Carnival? Any chance you have a blank copy of the form available? Did the TA agree to release the Booking? Can you describe the "severity" of your issues with the TA? Thanks, Ken

[maxydu]

If you book with a TA you CAN NOT submit ES forms on your behalf. TA has to do it.

Been there - done that; got the T-shirt!

 

I happen to use a TA now who accommodates me with my ES requests and provides me

with OBC for being a customer.....

[SadieN]

Just throwing this out---

 

The price drops are affect the 'commissionable' part of the fare. Any price drop reduces the commission the TA gets.

 

No wonder s/he doesn't want to respond. Literally more work for less money.

 

We still use a very good TA for some things but we won't use her for ES.

[zqvol]

If you book with a TA you CAN NOT submit ES forms on your behalf. TA has to do it.

Been there - done that; got the T-shirt!

 

I happen to use a TA now who accommodates me with my ES requests and provides me

with OBC for being a customer.....

 

 

This thread has NOTHING to do with ES. The OP is booked using the past guest rate and is not past final payment. The TA in question has no obligation to put in for a fare reduction and the OP's only remedy is to cancel and rebook on their own.

 

If this were an ES booking the TA might be obligated to put in for the fare reduction, but with past guest there is certainly no such obligation.

[geoherb]

I have a good TA. He has never seemed to mind getting me a better price--sometimes even finding one before I do. What he loses on that commission he makes up on future cruises by keeping me happy.

[louisville fan]

Whats so funny is that I had already booked with her for a cruise/land trip in Oct. Its 12:41 and no response from her so I can just cancel both and book with Carnival directly or another TA/she was recomended to me. I think if she was smart she would make the changes and gain my additional bookings.

[louisville fan]

My complaint is that I am now seeing pg prices lower than I paid and she newer told mw that my MOM could get a Senior price since she has her own cabin. Plus we are on 2 seperate floors, WHY??????.

My last TA was good, but no longer works as a TA so I transferred. Lesson learned the hard way. In this day and age you gotta save a few dollars for DOD. I'm a single parent who has 2 in college and 1 in HS so I hate to give up my money. If you want my buisness you should accomodate me.

[jdolphins68]

I am having the same problem with my TA, Carnival issued me a credit for $60.00 and almost 200.00 and I have not received it yet. I cannot get her to call me back, I cannot get her to email me. I have booked twice thru this group and never a problem till now. I am furious. All I want are final answers, where is the money, am I still getting my free shore excursion, and why did I not get my balcony upgrade. I noticed after I was booked that I was booked on an 8A and when I booked I could get an 8D for the same price. Im stuck on the 6 Upper which I am not happy about yet she says there is nothing I can do. HELP!?

[cruisewiththekids]

Regarding transferring a reservation from a TA back to Carnival, doesn't the TA have to release the reservation? And I assume they can refuse to do that. If so, your only option is cancelling and rebooking direct? Please correct me if I'm wrong, because I'm interested to know how the process works.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I am having the same problem with my TA, Carnival issued me a credit for $60.00 and almost 200.00 and I have not received it yet. I cannot get her to call me back, I cannot get her to email me. I have booked twice thru this group and never a problem till now. I am furious. All I want are final answers, where is the money, am I still getting my free shore excursion, and why did I not get my balcony upgrade. I noticed after I was booked that I was booked on an 8A and when I booked I could get an 8D for the same price. Im stuck on the 6 Upper which I am not happy about yet she says there is nothing I can do. HELP!?

 

How did Carnival issue you a credit? Was it a price drop?

 

If Carnival issued you a credit I can't see how the TA can block the credit?

 

Bill

[maxydu]

[quote name='zqvol']This thread has NOTHING to do with ES. The OP is booked using the past guest rate and is not past final payment. The TA in question has no obligation to put in for a fare reduction and the OP's only remedy is to cancel and rebook on their own.

If this were an ES booking the TA might be obligated to put in for the fare reduction, but with past guest there is certainly no such obligation.[/quote]

I was merely pointing out that once a TA is involved, whether it be for ES,
past guest, or anything else........you have given away your control. There are TA's out there who are happy to help you get a price reduction and thus you would be more willing to use them again. It's called volume...

10,000 posts doesn't make you all powerful and knowing...it shows you have a lot to say as opposed to listening.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

[quote name='cruisewiththekids']Regarding transferring a reservation from a TA back to Carnival, doesn't the TA have to release the reservation? And I assume they can refuse to do that. If so, your only option is cancelling and rebooking direct? Please correct me if I'm wrong, because I'm interested to know how the process works.[/QUOTE]

You are correct. In almost all instances the TA will refuse to give up the booking.

The only ones i have seen that have been able to transfer back to CCL are the ones where the TA was handling the booking so poorly that the pax got CCL involved and CCL took the booking back.

Bill

[S.S.Oceanlover]

[quote name='louisville fan']Whats so funny is that I had already booked with her for a cruise/land trip in Oct. Its 12:41 and no response from her so I can just cancel both and book with Carnival directly or another TA/she was recomended to me. I think if she was smart she would make the changes and gain my additional bookings.[/QUOTE]

Unfortunately in todays market you hear of quite a few travel agents that don't consider future bookings when dealing with you. It seems to be how much can I make from this booking and move on.

Pretty shortsighted approach to me but I'm not a business major.

Not all travel agents are like that but how many bad bookings do you have to deal with before finding a keeper?

Bill

[firefly333]

[quote name='golfadj']My TA says you can. Try it and let us know.[/quote]

You got a lazy TA then .. as many have tried this to no avail.

one more lesson in a TA who doesnt even understand she is supposed to do the WORK thats what they are being paid to do.

[firefly333]

[quote name='louisville fan']My complaint is that I am now seeing pg prices lower than I paid and she newer told mw that my MOM could get a Senior price since she has her own cabin. Plus we are on 2 seperate floors, WHY??????.
My last TA was good, but no longer works as a TA so I transferred. Lesson learned the hard way. In this day and age you gotta save a few dollars for DOD. I'm a single parent who has 2 in college and 1 in HS so I hate to give up my money. If you want my buisness you should accomodate me.[/quote]

No one TA can know all the rules for every cruiseline adequately, they just know a little bit of everything.

Thats why booking direct can save you a lot of stress in the long run. People book saying .. I dont need service.. whats the difference. They never expect anything to change or go wrong.

They get pulled in by a offer of free wine, a free shore excursion. ..but wind up losing when the TA wouldnt do anything they need or fix problems.

[louisville fan]

I went to TA after work and showed her what I was seeing. She has made changes to the booking, not cabins. I have gotten the lower price. Yea. saved $180.00. More DOD.

[Brendarudd28]

[quote name='louisville fan']I went to TA after work and showed her what I was seeing. She has made changes to the booking, not cabins. I have gotten the lower price. Yea. saved $180.00. More DOD.[/quote]


[FONT=Comic Sans MS][COLOR=black]Why didn't you get her to put both cabins on the same deck?[/COLOR][/FONT]

[S.S.Oceanlover]

[quote name='louisville fan']I went to TA after work and showed her what I was seeing. She has made changes to the booking, not cabins. I have gotten the lower price. Yea. saved $180.00. More DOD.[/QUOTE]

What reason did she give for not answering your emails?

Bill



Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

[louisville fan]

cabins are on same deck now too. Her reason for non response to emails was that she was very busy doing group bookings...............

[Eeyoregon]

[quote name='Ken076']Gina - This is interesting! Who did you contact at Carnival? Any chance you have a blank copy of the form available? Did the TA agree to release the Booking? Can you describe the "severity" of your issues with the TA? Thanks, Ken[/quote]

Ken: I looked thru all of my old emails and can't find the form that carnival sent me :(. Sorry.

Some examples of my recent experience with TA: Emailed my TA to have another passenger added to my booking. We discussed multiple times (in writing via email and on phone) that we would ONLY be paying the $250 deposit. The friend that I added called me a few days later in a panic. He had charged her DEBIT card $750.00 instead of $250.00!!!!

In turn, her checking account was over-drawn and what a disaster to fix!!!! Not ONE apology from the TA and I actually had to have another associate at the travel agency assist with the back lash from the HUGE error.

Another thing was when I received an updated invoice charging for pre-paid gratuities for my 3rd and 4th guests since we had any time dining (or whatever Carnival calls it). Um, we [B]don't have[/B] any time dining!!! All of my previous invoices say early dining. After multiple attempts to get this fixed (and hoping that early dining was still available since there are 10 in my group) I yet again had to deal with a different associate to get our dining switched back and the gratuity charges reversed. Again, NO apology from my TA.

The list goes on. So I transfer the cruise booking to Carnival. TA says our deposits will be refunded and I will have to make new booking with Carnival. Ok, fine. Wasn't sure how accurate it was but whatever! TA required me to fax him a form asking to cancel the booking. On that form I CLEARLY stated exactly what amounts were to be refunded and to which credit cards as all 4 of us paid with our own cards. I could not have made it any clearer...in writing.

Shocker, but ALL of the deposit money was refunded to ONE credit card, which was the card of the LAST person that was added to the booking...not even ME, who was the primary name on the booking!!! Luckily we are on good terms but what if we had cancelled due to a falling out and now this person has $1,000.00 of which only $250 is hers.

I'm done. Do it myself and there is no one to blame but me.