"Agency issue"....???

[woody73]

Karen,

 

The TA is stalling. Not a good sign.

 

See if HAL will pressure the TA to send the payment immediately.

 

Woody

[whogo]

Rennassisance Cruise Line left ships docked in ports and crew had to find their own way home. Passengers lost tons of money.

Regency, no relation to Regency Seven Seas, went out of business in about 1995, Renaissance in about 2001.

[accmember]

He`s trying to buy time to sort things out in one to two days, whatever he works on sorting out, it won`t be the payment he owes to HAL for your reservation. He`s had ample time to pay HAL and payment is now more than three weeks late. Like I mentioned before payment transactions take a matter of minutes, not days. He isn`t providing a transaction number, since there is no transaction. He`s lied in the past and this time it`s no different.

 

I agree you should contact HAL, I would also contact some other parties at this time, which are:-

 

The two cc companies you used to make this reservation and ask what, if anything, they can do. (remember these transactions are more than a year old).

 

AMEX travel services complaint deptartment (assuming this agent still operates as an AMEX franchaise). Hopefully with their intervention the situation will be resolved.

 

ASTA or similar depending on who the ta is affiliated with.

 

You can mention the last two suggestions to HAL and ask for advice if you`d like. HAL obvioulsy contacted you because they wanted you to intervene to resolve this. The last answer you got from the ta is unsatisfactory. I doubt you and HAL can resolve this without getting others involved.

[LHT28]

I just talked with the TA. He assured me that "they are doing whatever they need to do to make sure things are handled". He put me on hold....came back and said "Yes...the funds are being wired out to HAL" He cautioned me that this process takes 1 or 2 days to actually show up in the account. He said he would call me when he knew it had actually called. He told me the business office had been talking directly with HAL (Duh! Like I didn't KNOW that!)

 

.

 

Did he give any reason why the full amount was not sent for final booking date?

I hope all goes well & they are not snowballing you.

 

Once all is said & done I would tell them you are very unhappy with their practices & will not use them or recommend them

 

Lyn

[lvtotrvl1]

I've read most of the posts and truly wish you luck...question...is there more than one person that works at this agency , or are they an independent contractor working for the agency mentioned in the post above?

 

I was an ind contractor for them, and there are strict guidelines about charge cards....noone but the cruiseline should be charging the card.... As others have mentioned, it seems the woman at HAL has been very helpful....do a three way call. You should be able to track the money and it doesn't take more than an hour or so.....

 

Good Luck and please let us know....

[LHT28]

Regency, no relation to Regency Seven Seas, went out of business in about 1995, Renaissance in about 2001.

 

it is REGENT Seven Seas formally Radisson Seven Seas

[whogo]

it is REGENT Seven Seas formally Radisson Seven Seas

Thanks, I goofed.

[Kween Karen]

Just talked with HAL again. She said the TA is stalling me and not giving me the truth. She said there definitely WOULD be a tracking number. She also said that once money is wired it only takes 3 or 4 hours to show up.

She is going to call the TA again...........and will call me back to let me know what they say. Said it might take at least a couple of hours to get ahold of them.

Oh my oh my...........my day goes on!!

[dchip]

Karen, Wow, I can't believe this is going on and on! Please know that I am thinking good thoughts for you. I got stressed reading the thread!!

 

You are going to need 67 days to relax when all this is said and done :D

 

Cheers and Good Wishes,

Denise

[LHT28]

Just talked with HAL again. She said the TA is stalling me and not giving me the truth. She said there definitely WOULD be a tracking number. She also said that once money is wired it only takes 3 or 4 hours to show up.

!

I wonder if HAL can demand a tracking number from them?

 

They could tell them they will hold back future commission to cover your fare...that should motivate them;)

 

Lyn

[sail7seas]

Regency, no relation to Regency Seven Seas, went out of business in about 1995, Renaissance in about 2001.

 

 

:confused:

 

Okay. ?

[Paul123]

I wonder if HAL can demand a tracking number from them?

 

They could tell them they will hold back future commission to cover your fare...that should motivate them;)

 

Lyn

 

You're obviously not an attorney...lol

[cp556]

Just talked with HAL again. She said the TA is stalling me and not giving me the truth. She said there definitely WOULD be a tracking number. She also said that once money is wired it only takes 3 or 4 hours to show up.

She is going to call the TA again...........and will call me back to let me know what they say. Said it might take at least a couple of hours to get ahold of them.

Oh my oh my...........my day goes on!!

 

 

Karen ...

 

It might be too early for this, but I think you need to be thinking ahead. Since you have a good relationship with HAL, you might consider asking your contact there WHAT you need to do to guarantee that you'll be on the Amsterdam on 9/26. And when the deadline is that you will need to do something.

 

Ask her if it's time for you to contact your two credit cards and see if you can dispute the charges.

 

Unfortunately, I think you need to be looking at Plan B in case this agency doesn't follow through with its verbal promises. And once this is resolved one way or another, I agree 100% with Copper that it's time to pursue them on legal charges.

[kyriecat]

A few thoughts:

 

1 - Since TA says they only owe HAL $300 but HAL says it's $8000, does TA have a record of transferring money to HAL? Could HAL's records be incorrect? Maybe the TA's check really did get lost? (Probably not but trying to give TA the benefit.)

 

2 - Instead of playing HAL says/TA says, could they have a 3-way call with HAL, OP, & TA to get resolution? I had a problem once with a TA and RC so ended up with a 3-way call and got it resolved quickly (mine wasn't a money problem).

 

3 - Does OP have anything from TA showing "PAID IN FULL" to use as backup documentation?

 

4 - Has TA explained why they don't send CC information to HAL for direct billing instead of crediting themselves?

[Kween Karen]

A few answers.....

 

I have it in my notes already to ask next time I talk to HAL......what should I be doing??

Yes.....thinking about plan B......and not thrilled with any options.

 

I have all my emails with this company......receipts, etc. I also have my credit card statemens showing payments to this company.

 

TA has not explained his reasons to me other than to brush it off as "everything is fine". I am too weary at this point to ask him again and listen to his lies. He is a very smooth talker.......and when talking to him you feel he is on your side and telling you the truth. HAL assures me he is not.

 

I just can't BELIEVE I am involved in this.

 

I will need DOUBLE the 67 days to relax and recover!!! At this point not even sure I will be able to go...........and that is EXTREMELY depressing to me. I have spent 16 months planning and reading and readying myself for this adventure. SIGH.....!!!!!

[Synical Investor]

I would start "googling" the TA name and see if there are any other postings regarding the same agency. Also, do a BBB search for their city location and see if they have prior complaints.

[woody73]

Sherrie,

 

We were on the same Around the Horn cruise, and I remember your posts last year about the TA.

 

I thought it was all resolved when you got onboard at Port Canaveral.

 

Woody

[Benita]

I have not been able to read all these pages, but want to ask if you bought cruise cancellation insurance and if so, was it from the TA? If you bought insurance from an independent party, like through Insure My Trip. com would you be covered in an event like this, especially if the TA goes bankrupt? I know that has not happened yet, but just looking at the worst case scenario.

[Queenk2]

Karen,

You cannot just let this issue sleep. You must contact the credit card companies as soon as possible. I have had issues with a TA going out og business and the credit card company[Amex} worked it out with Princess. This took place at least 10 years ago, however the issues were resolved when the credit card company got involved.

[operafan]

Karen, If the agency doesn't pay, and I know it's difficult to think about, but if you could swing it, try asking HAL to remove the single supplement from your cruise fare. The ship isn't full and they may do it. Or even more......... Still hoping, Vicki

[Hamburg Avon Lady]

Sherrie,

 

We were on the same Around the Horn cruise, and I remember your posts last year about the TA.

 

I thought it was all resolved when you got onboard at Port Canaveral.

 

Woody

Hi Woody !!

 

Nope, Nope and Nope !!! Very expensive lesson to learn. How are you

and Vicki ??? any new travel plans ???

[MamaTene]

Been following this thread and all I can say is OMG!

Lessons to be learned here for sure....

[Hamburg Avon Lady]

I would start "googling" the TA name and see if there are any other postings regarding the same agency. Also, do a BBB search for their city location and see if they have prior complaints.

 

:( I did just that last June'08 regarding my Around the Horn trip --- TA ( found online but spoke to actual agents)

was not a member of the BBB (which is not at all unusual -- many businesses can't/won't pay the membership fees.)

 

I also checked out the references that the TA had on their website (but

later on, determined that those could ALL be false endorsements, anyway).

 

I will either to business with a local agency, or the cruise lines directly.

The loss of "perks" is a small price to pay for my piece of mind and the

cost of my DH's hard earned money and our "well deserved vacation."

 

Again, Good Luck.

[chrispb]

Seems like your TA is not exactly keen to allay your worries. It sounds like he's stalling and using every excuse in the book. Any genuine TA would be so concerned about their customer having all this worry that the money would be sorted out immediately. Cash can be transferred immediately from one account to another by telephone.

[bellamom6]

Karen,

You cannot just let this issue sleep. You must contact the credit card companies as soon as possible. I have had issues with a TA going out og business and the credit card company[Amex} worked it out with Princess. This took place at least 10 years ago, however the issues were resolved when the credit card company got involved.

Just my 2 cents on contacting AMEX. We have had "issues" in the past with charges about 13 months old. I did save all my receipts, contracts, ect. I contacted AMEX to see what they could do and they DID fight for us and helped us get our money back! It did take however, about 3 months, which at this point, I know you dont have. However, I would bet this being a travel issue ( ours was not) and being a time sensitive issue, they would persue quickly. I also contacted our attorney general here in Phoenix who also helped us out.

 

Good luck!