To be fair, we gave the travel agency two chances to get it right and the agency still failed; the agency's customer service and attention to detail is well below average!
Approximately 3-weeks ago, we contacted the travel agency for assistance to plan a European vacation. The agent would not be in the office/available for the next 2-weeks. This should have been a red flag for us when the agency has only one agent who can book a trip to Europe. We waited for the agent to return and was expecting the agent to call us when they returned. We did not hear from the agent, so we made the call. After waiting approximately 3-weeks to speak to the agent, we were told the agent was too busy to help us and there was no one else who could help us. At this point we had to wonder - could the agent's response have anything to do with the fiasco from 2-years ago?
The introduction (2-years earlier) - "The Caribbean Cruise Fiasco":
After several conversations with the travel agent, discussing which islands we wanted to visit and the islands we had already been to, the agent ends up booking us on a cruise going to the islands we had already been to! It is still not clear as to why or how this happened because we had many conversations with the agent during which our expectations and requirements were clearly communicated; we wanted to travel to Caribbean islands that we have not already seen. The agent forwarded the travel itinerary for our review and this is when we spotted the mistake; the cruise was going to the islands we specifically stated we did not want to visit, the cruise was going to the islands we had traveled to in the past!. To correct the mistake, the agent had to cancel and re-book all tickets; cruise and airline. During the cancelling and re-booking process, the agent contacted us and requested more money! The new reservations would cost more (the agency did pay half of the additional cost but our out-of-pocket was approximately $600). The agent also mentioned, the side-by-side rooms we reserved on the first cruise ship, were not available on the new ship (this was the first cruise for our children and the side-by-side room setup was a "must have" on our list). All-in-all It took approximately 2-weeks to correct the mistake; it cost us more money, we could not reserve side-by-side rooms, 2-weeks of frustration and stress one month before our vacation.
For us, two strikes and your out - we have learned our lesson and are not willing to give this agency a third chance! read more
