posting this here also Problems with Viking never again

[id est]

?? What do you mean, that Viking trusts TA more than their customers. Viking wrote that they felt the TA messed up and they are trying to get to the bottom of it, waiting on the OP to contact them to get a conference call going. What else should Viking do?

Have you ever tried to call Viking and ask about anything if you booked a cruise using a TA? Just try it… Nobody will talk to you: the standard response is “contact your TA”. :mad:

I understand as somebody mentioned it is a common practice in the travel industry etc… But it is just wrong! If Nan-L received a clarification from Viking the case'd resolve much faster and even without cruise critic forum.

[TravelBugM]

Have you ever tried to call Viking and ask about anything if you booked a cruise using a TA? Just try it… Nobody will talk to you: the standard response is “contact your TA”. :mad:

I understand as somebody mentioned it is a common practice in the travel industry etc… But it is just wrong! If Nan-L received a clarification from Viking the case'd resolve much faster and even without cruise critic forum.

 

Same goes if you book an airline flight with a 3rd party. If you don't book direct, they won't/can't speak with you.

[Turtles06]

Have you ever tried to call Viking and ask about anything if you booked a cruise using a TA? Just try it… Nobody will talk to you: the standard response is “contact your TA”. :mad:

I understand as somebody mentioned it is a common practice in the travel industry etc… But it is just wrong! If Nan-L received a clarification from Viking the case'd resolve much faster and even without cruise critic forum.

 

That "somebody" who mentioned it was yours truly. Try booking a cruise with ANY cruise line through a TA and then try talking directly to the cruise line about your booking. They will not talk to you; the TA "owns" the booking. You may not like this rule, you may consider it "wrong," but that's how the travel industry works. It's not a Viking issue.

 

As I said in my earlier post, this is a big reason why I don't book through TAs. The OP here could have booked directly with Viking, but she chose instead to book through a TA; having done so, she has to work through the TA if there are any problems.

[bobandjo]

Maybe Avalon is different. I booked our Avalon cruise through my travel agent. I had a question I didn't think he'd know the answer to so contacted Avalon directly by email. They responded within a few days and answered my question. They also added this "If you have any questions or concerns regarding your vacation package, first contact your preferred travel agent and/or please feel free to contact us at" so while they suggest contacting t.a. first they're still available to us.

[Mark_T]

In my experience it rather depends on the nature of the question.

 

If you ask about the cruise destinations, the activities, the ships etc. then I don't usually have a problem getting an answer from the cruise line.

 

If you ask about OBC, payments discounts etc. then you have to talk to your TA.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

This sounds like a ------ TA

[bobandjo]

In my experience it rather depends on the nature of the question.

 

If you ask about the cruise destinations, the activities, the ships etc. then I don't usually have a problem getting an answer from the cruise line.

 

If you ask about OBC, payments discounts etc. then you have to talk to your TA.

 

And that makes sense.

[MaxBuck]

In my experience it rather depends on the nature of the question.

 

If you ask about the cruise destinations, the activities, the ships etc. then I don't usually have a problem getting an answer from the cruise line.

 

If you ask about OBC, payments discounts etc. then you have to talk to your TA.

Consistent with our Uniworld experience also.

[Osnab]

Have you ever tried to call Viking and ask about anything if you booked a cruise using a TA? Just try it… Nobody will talk to you: the standard response is “contact your TA”. :mad:

I understand as somebody mentioned it is a common practice in the travel industry etc… But it is just wrong! If Nan-L received a clarification from Viking the case'd resolve much faster and even without cruise critic forum.

 

I see what you mean now. I thought you were saying that the response from Viking (on here) was not helpful. You are correct that Viking (as all cruise lines, I believe) want you to go thru the TA. I believe it's the "one voice" system. That way there's no miscommunication. It all goes thru one central point.

 

I'm interested to see the outcome of this as well.

Felicia

[nana541]

Just bumping this up to let Nan-L we are thinking of her and hoping Viking gets back to her today and gets this mess with the TA corrected, though thinking that the TA likely is the root cause of the miscommunication.

 

Keeping my fingers crossed!

[Nan-L]

Ok guys, this is the summery of what's been happening.

Viking did respond to my e-mail and they called me today.

It IS my TA!!!!

She was blaming Viking for everything.

It became clear the last few days when she couldn't get our invoices done right. Suppose to have a $250 credit for a group booking, she gave us a $210 credit??? Suppose to have the OBC on each invoice, only mine had it on it....even after a VERY clear message to her that this was a must to do right the first time!!

Wish I could give out more info but will leave it at KAREN..it's not the company just the agent...

It was nice to get a personal call from Viking and have things explained to me,

Thank you Viking

[nana541]

Ok guys, this is the summery of what's been happening.

Viking did respond to my e-mail and they called me today.

It IS my TA!!!!

She was blaming Viking for everything.

It became clear the last few days when she couldn't get our invoices done right. Suppose to have a $250 credit for a group booking, she gave us a $210 credit??? Suppose to have the OBC on each invoice, only mine had it on it....even after a VERY clear message to her that this was a must to do right the first time!!

Wish I could give out more info but will leave it at KAREN..it's not the company just the agent...

It was nice to get a personal call from Viking and have things explained to me,

Thank you Viking

 

So glad the misunderstanding has been straightened out and you are now armed with full knowledge of what the REAL story is. I'm betting your TA had never heard of CrusecCritic and is likely really surprised that she got caught in such a public way :)

[Host Jazzbeau]

Glad to hear it was resolved (or at least proved that Viking wasn't the problem).

 

Now, can the Admins change the thread title to protect Viking's reputation?

[nana541]

This thread needs to be renamed in fairness to Viking - at least add the words "HAPPY ENDING" so that the TA error is not blamed on Viking!

[Turtles06]

Glad to hear it was resolved (or at least proved that Viking wasn't the problem).

 

Now, can the Admins change the thread title to protect Viking's reputation?

 

Totally agree. The thread needs to be renamed, and this is a good cautionary exercise in not blaming someone for a problem before you know all the facts, at least not in something like a blaring thread title combined with a threat.

 

Glad the OP's problem has been resolved.

[Familygoboston]

SMH- one of the biggest problems I had with bad TAs ( and I've had a few:rolleyes:) is that because they know you can't confirm or deny what they tell you, they blame their mistakes in the "travel company". Usually, if the travel company messes up, they bend over backwards to make it right with the TA. Some travel companies will even help cover for an agent mistake (especially if the agency itself is a good partner and it's just a rouge agent)

 

I've lost a lot of my confidence in TAs- even though I now have an excellent one. I think the key is to find an expert in the type of trip you are hoping to book. Wendy Perrin is a journalist with Conde Naste travel- she publishes an annual list of experts for each destination; certainly there are other great agents and if you can get a friend to recommend one, that's great, but if you are picking blind, Wendy's list can help! Also a great agent for say ocean cruises, might not be great for River cruises, I just feel strongly about the idea of using a specialist TA!

 

Glad it's worked out for you and that this board is small enough for the travel companies to respond directly to passengers with a problem!

Edited May 29, 2013 by Familygoboston

[beverlyjack]

Why use a TA for a river cruise? if they don't add anything except someone to do finger pointing. If a tour operator such as Grand Circle will do air, transfers, hotels and cruise under one umbrella, why use a TA, which they do not use? I got screwed up by a TA that went out of business 20 years ago. It took forever to get our money back. I have not used a TA since.

[id est]

Why use a TA for a river cruise? if they don't add anything except someone to do finger pointing. If a tour operator such as Grand Circle will do air, transfers, hotels and cruise under one umbrella, why use a TA, which they do not use? I got screwed up by a TA that went out of business 20 years ago. It took forever to get our money back. I have not used a TA since.

Unfortunately cruise companies make us use TA’s by providing all kinds of discounts, group policies and other promo’s available only if you book a cruise using a TA.

Otherwise I'd never ever use it.

[jibeho52]

I saved an additional 650 dollars using a ta on top of the pay early discount of 2000 dollars from Uniworld. Sometimes it just pays to use a good agent.

[NyxNokken]

Viking now requires groups to be booked through TAs. However, you can sidestep this process and get a similar discount using their "Referral Rewards Program" either with or without a TA. And if you're still wanting a TA in the mix, no problem... They can book the ones who do, and the ones who don't can stay on as direct clients.

 

Viking reps are not allowed to "free-sell" the referral program, you *have to* ask for it by name.

 

Unfortunately cruise companies make us use TA’s by providing all kinds of discounts, group policies and other promo’s available only if you book a cruise using a TA.

Otherwise I'd never ever use it.

[Nan-L]

Id change it if I could. But to be honest I posted it like that to get Vikings attention. As said in the earlier postings if you call them it goes back to the TA. I saw viking would post on cc so tried my luck and it worked.

The person who called from Viking actually gave me her cell# and so names of better TAs in the same company. She said the company was a good one. Just got a bad TA. "

[jiminyC_fan]

Glad to hear it was resolved (or at least proved that Viking wasn't the problem).

 

Now, can the Admins change the thread title to protect Viking's reputation?

 

I was thinking the same thing.

[Peacemkr59]

Nan-L, you never mentioned when your final payment is due? Please let us know what you found out!!

[Turtles06]

Id change it if I could. But to be honest I posted it like that to get Vikings attention. As said in the earlier postings if you call them it goes back to the TA. I saw viking would post on cc so tried my luck and it worked.

 

Really? You couldn't think of another title that would have gotten Viking's attention but that didn't appear to blame them for a problem (and threaten them) when you didn't know that it was their fault?

 

As for getting Viking's attention -- their social media person has her email contact address all over these threads.

 

Your TA screwed up. You are lucky Viking fixed it.

[Cruz-OR]

Maybe the OP should start a new thread titled: "My TA cooked my Goose and Viking stepped in to save my Bacon"