Need advice, please - TA saying we owe more $$!

[CatServants]

Is X having Financial difficulties - I doubt this because the earnings call was very positive. Software difficulties - possible - but what does this have to do with fuel surcharges and if so you would think more peopkle would have problem

 

 

hermang - It's a long story and I don't want to hijack this thread. I know about the financial SOFTWARE difficulties first hand. I know of 2 affected reservations (ours and my SILs), and the culprit, according to X, was their software and (probably) the changes brought about by the addition of the fuel surcharge.

 

I'll try to be a responsible member of cruise critic and start a thread about it tomorrow. It's not 'an end of the world' type problem, just be on top of everything financial with X, and trust your own instincts and math.

 

Happy cruising!

 

Denise

[LDVinNC]

No, Ma Bell, I would not like to "stick" the travel agent. I dispute that we owe the $700, as I booked the cruise in JULY and made the final payment on JANUARY 9th and there was NO MENTION during any of those 5 1/2 months until January 31st that the price was not correct. I would have been unhappy, but not incensed as I am now, IF I HAD BEEN INFORMED about the pricing error, if indeed there is one. Then I would have had the option to cancel, and would not have made the further arrangements I have booked and paid for since that time. I dispute that they are changing the price on us at this late date.

 

I do appreciate everyone's input.

 

Laurie

[mafig]

Something similar happened to us.

 

I always double check my TA:o . After final payment I call the cruiseline and ask if they show me "paid in full." Even though I book through a TA, I can usually get one to answer.

 

One time (not on X) they said, "no, call your TA." I did. She was aware of the problem and said since I had changed cabins the cruiseline made an error and when they made the change put us in at the higher rate (the cruise had gone up in price since I booked). OK, the problem was fixed.

 

WAIT, I'm not finished.

 

On another cruise, everyone had received their docs but me. This time it was HAL and they would not release my docs until I "paid in full." I had a "paid in full" from my TA, but she said there was an error made when I changed cabins mid-way through the time I booked and final payment. That was also straightened out. I received my docs. Still don't know if they would have tried to get more $ from me at the dock.:confused:

 

I had a choice of either not ever changing cabins or changing TAs.:)

I use another TA.

[CatServants]

Something similar happened to us.

 

I always double check my TA:o . After final payment I call the cruiseline and ask if they show me "paid in full." Even though I book through a TA, I can usually get one to answer.

 

One time (not on X) they said, "no, call your TA." I did. She was aware of the problem and said since I had changed cabins the cruiseline made an error and when they made the change put us in at the higher rate (the cruise had gone up in price since I booked). OK, the problem was fixed.

 

WAIT, I'm not finished.

 

On another cruise, everyone had received their docs but me. This time it was HAL and they would not release my docs until I "paid in full." I had a "paid in full" from my TA, but she said there was an error made when I changed cabins mid-way through the time I booked and final payment. That was also straightened out. I received my docs. Still don't know if they would have tried to get more $ from me at the dock.:confused:

 

I had a choice of either not ever changing cabins or changing TAs.:)

I use another TA.

 

mafig - I'm curious - did you ever have concerns about LOSING your reservations when this happened to you? I was told last week that it was quite possible that a cabin could be lost because the final payment had not been made in full because of an error or dispute. Were you ever told that?

 

LDVinNC - Have you been told that you could lose your cabin because payment has not been made in full? I don't mean to add to your frustration. I was just curious as to whether X will hold your cabin for you while your situation is being sorted out.

 

Denise

[LDVinNC]

Thanks to all for your input. I still think that because it was the TA's error and they did not inform us til after final payment, that we should not have to pay any more.

 

Essentially we are splitting the difference...they were going to up our OBC by $330 and we would pay the extra $700. We chose the other option: No OBC at all (original OBC and the $330 came to about $700) and no payment. Decided we could not trust that they would actually come through with the new OBC amount, since even what they give you in writing they apparently have no qualms about rescinding.

 

I strongly suggested they institute some internal controls at final payment time to prevent recurrences with other customers.

 

I requested that they double-check a 3 cabin booking for the Crown Princess this summer. I would be terribly embarrassed if they did this again and I had recommended them to the friends travelling with us! They confirmed that it was right, but am thinking of transferring the booking to another agent if this is possible. And will think TWICE about using this agency again.

 

Laurie

[Jade13]

Thanks to all for your input. I still think that because it was the TA's error and they did not inform us til after final payment, that we should not have to pay any more.

 

Essentially we are splitting the difference...they were going to up our OBC by $330 and we would pay the extra $700. We chose the other option: No OBC at all (original OBC and the $330 came to about $700) and no payment. Decided we could not trust that they would actually come through with the new OBC amount, since even what they give you in writing they apparently have no qualms about rescinding.

 

I strongly suggested they institute some internal controls at final payment time to prevent recurrences with other customers.

 

I requested that they double-check a 3 cabin booking for the Crown Princess this summer. I would be terribly embarrassed if they did this again and I had recommended them to the friends travelling with us! They confirmed that it was right, but am thinking of transferring the booking to another agent if this is possible. And will think TWICE about using this agency again.

 

Laurie

 

Laurie, Glad to hear this is resolved, although you lost $330 OBC (I think that was the end result?).

 

Do you have any idea of what really happened? I assume you looked at the Celebrity web site price the day you switched, so must have known the price that day?

 

Do you at least feel you are paying Celebritys price (ie it would have cost the same to book direct?). I'm still unclear what happened but would not use this TA again as it took them too long to figure out there was a problem.

 

And, on top of all this, can you tell us if your cabin price is still less than what is currently on the Celebrity website? At least that is something to feel good about.

[mafig]

mafig - I'm curious - did you ever have concerns about LOSING your reservations when this happened to you? I was told last week that it was quite possible that a cabin could be lost because the final payment had not been made in full because of an error or dispute. Were you ever told that?

 

LDVinNC - Have you been told that you could lose your cabin because payment has not been made in full? I don't mean to add to your frustration. I was just curious as to whether X will hold your cabin for you while your situation is being sorted out.

 

Denise

 

 

Gee, Denise, that never occurred to me. My TA was very experienced but always seemed to make "little" mistakes. When this happened twice with her, I decided (rightly or wrongly) that it wasn't worth it for me to be always double checking her.

 

LDVinNC. You know TAs carry insurance for this type of thing. I don't believe that it would come out of their pocket (like it seems it's coming out of yours).

[LDVinNC]

Yes, the price they were saying we should pay was what is on the web site (TA's website, I did not check Celebrity's, and I think they should be the same) now. We were supposed to pay less than that, and have an OBC, but of course we booked 6 months ago and who knows what the prices were then. So, with the compromise, we are paying slightly less than the current price.

[mafig]

I'm sorry this has happened to you.

 

For your next cruise, with your new TA, make a note of the price of your cruise on the cruiseline's website the day you book. If you don't do this, how would you know if the price goes down or not?

Also, I think the insurance the TAs carry that covers situations such as yours is called "errors and omissions" or something similar. Ask them about this.

[Jade13]

I'm sorry this has happened to you.

 

For your next cruise, with your new TA, make a note of the price of your cruise on the cruiseline's website the day you book. If you don't do this, how would you know if the price goes down or not?

 

 

Also, cut and paste the price from the TA web site. My TA's web site has the date on it, I believe "deposit' and "final" so it would be a record if an issue came up later.

 

Now that you all have me thinking, how do I know if the TA paid the pre-paid gratuites on an upcoming cruise? Their invoice say $0 under gratuites. When I asked they said the fact that it says $0 means they paid and not me. I am not convinced. If I call Celebrity, would they be able to tell me in general terms if I am paid in full including gratuities? They have to talk to me since one cabin is booked direct with them, so I suppose I can ask about the direct one first and then ask about the other.

[rjg41]

I am willing to bet what happened here. The agency has their own invoice and billing system. When the OP upgraded to the SS, there was an increased cost of $700.

 

Errors:

 

1) The TA likely failed to note that to the client.

 

2) The TA forgot to update the internal billing system and issue a new invoice. (Cardinal sin!)

 

3) A new confirmation should have automatically been sent by the cruise line to the accounting department of the agency. The QC person in the accounting department failed to cross check the internal invoice with the new confirmation. (Cardinal sin!)

 

4)

a) The final payment was paid in house(agency) and not to the cruise line possibly because it was paid by check or a fare was used that had to be processed in house. The person accepting that payment failed to double check the actual amount due with the cruise line and went by the internal invoice only and marked it paid in full. (Cardinal sin!)

 

or b) The final payment was by credit card direct to the cruise line and the person processing it (possibly the agent and the cruise line agent) failed to note the additional amount due (unlikely) and processed only a partial payment. ( A quadruple Cardinal sin!!!!)

 

This agency has some major problems in the way it handles payments and invoices. The agent's error, while serious, should have been caught.

[curiouscat]

Most likely it was TA error... sounds like you payed Net cost and not gross... which is the cost of the cruise w/out the TA's commisssion.

 

If you had not payed in full by the deadline your booking would be dropped.

 

Curious Cat

 

PS she took a real hit....:eek:

[LDVinNC]

The TA's supervisor gave me some song and dance about upgrading being the root of the problem but the thing that gets me is that we did not "upgrade to a sky suite". We CHANGED CRUISES and BOOKED a(n) SS instead of the CC we had on the original cruise. Lots of double talk from her and she did not even admit that we were splitting the difference, which is mathematically what we agreed to.

 

I have learned a major lesson: despite working with an organization successfully in the past, verify, verify, verify. With my new TA I will insist upon both a cruise line document and the TA's document when booking.

 

Question: can I (and should I) switch my summer Baltic Princess booking to another agent? What are the possible ramifications?

 

Laurie

[Sea Island Lady]

Yes, you may and you should. Your current TA may try to charge you a convenience fee, though. Fight it with tooth and nail and tell her the reason you are switching.

[vickisteve]

As a TA I agree with rjg41. Your invoice from the TA is not tied into the cruise lines payment system. I always triple check that the $ I input into the system is correct. Sorry for your troubles.

[rjg41]

[quote name='curiouscat']Most likely it was TA error... sounds like you payed Net cost and not gross... which is the cost of the cruise w/out the TA's commisssion.

If you had not payed in full by the deadline your booking would be dropped.

Curious Cat

PS she took a real hit....:eek:[/quote]

You might could be right about the net but unless it was booked under the nets, Celebrity would likely not have accepted a net payment without at least some discussion. Also, if paid with the client credit card direct to Celebrity, Celebrity would not have accepted a net payment. Celebrity will only accept less than a full payment if it is paid by the agency.

However, if you have money paid on a cruise Celebrity will [B][U]not[/U][/B] cancel the booking if you miss the deadline if there is money on the booking without first talking to the agent. This may be how the error was discovered.

[Cruise Arizona]

I'm not sure if this would be covered, but many travel agencies carry errors and omissions policies. This would cover something like forgetting to book a 3rd or 4th passenger, booking on the wrong date...ect. I'm sure there are other areas where mistakes can be made. If you agency makes a mistake, they don't have to "eat it", their insurance policy covers it.

[mafig]

[quote name='mafig']I'm sorry this has happened to you.

[SIZE=3][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Also, I think the insurance the TAs carry that covers situations such as yours is called "errors and omissions" or something similar. Ask them about this.[/SIZE]
[/quote]


CruiseArizona,

[COLOR=red]I also mentioned this option to the OP. If it were me, I would at least ask about it.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#ff0000][/COLOR]

[travelfirst]

This happened to me last year when I booked a cruise.
When my friend and I went to pay they told us the cruise was cheaper now and I paid by credit card and got a receipt saying "Paid in full".
My friend paid with a debit card and had a "Paid in full" receipt also.

A few days later I noticed on my credit card statement I had been charged more so I called the travel agent and he said he would check into it.
He called me back and said we had been charged the wrong amount, mine was the correct charge on my card and my friend who had paid by debit would have to pay more.
I told him we both had receipts saying "Paid in full" and he better check with his supervisor as it was their problem, not ours.
I didn't mind paying more but it was the principle of it.

I called him a day or two later and asked him if he had spoke with his supervisor and he said he had and they were willing to do whatever it took to make us happy and keep us as customers.
He asked it we would be happy if they gave us the cruise for the price we paid and I told him that would be fine.

They don't have to pay for it as they would have insurance.

I would call the Better Business Bureau if I were you.

[Canuker]

[quote name='Ma Bell'][B][COLOR=teal]I guess the question is if you actually owe the money are you comfortable sticking the travel agent with $700?[/COLOR][/B][/quote]

No,that's not the question. Read the first post in this thread again for the real question.

By the way, I wouldn't be a TA for all the tea in China. It's called being between a rock and a hard place.

[LDVinNC]

Thank you, Canuker. I was offended by this "question" since stiffing anyone was not the issue, nor is it EVER my practice in either my personal or professional life. I did not mention it in my responses, because I thought maybe I was being overly sensitive, but I appreciate your response.

Laurie