TammyWright

Travelocity's gnome makes amends for human error Question: I booked four Lufthansa tickets on Travelocity for a flight from Venice to Rome back in January of 2006. However, when I arrived at the Venice airport in June, I was informed that the flight did not exist. While at the airport, I called Travelocity for assistance, but the call center agent would not book a new flight for me. I called twice because I tried to fish for an agent who could help me, but in my little hell I got the same agent. He kept saying "Sorry, but I can't help." It turns out that Lufthansa cancelled the flight on March 7; however, Travelocity sent me a flight confirmation on March 12. As a result I had to purchase new tickets at the airport on Alitalia. I expect Travelocity to refund the service fee of $40 for my original booking since no service was provided when I needed it most, refund the $287 difference between the Lufthansa flight and the Alitalia flight, and reimburse the $53 cost of my international calls to Travelocity, for a total of $380. The Travelocity guarantee is just a marketing tool. When I called for help, I was left to roam alone. If I ever meet the Travelocity Gnome, I am going to take a nine iron to him. But you are the hammer: Can you get Travelocity to reimburse me? • Scott McMarrow, Batavia, Ill. Answer: I may be the hammer, but I had a remarkably similar problem with Travelocity this summer. I also booked a flight out of Venice and it too was cancelled, but fortunately I received the email Travelocity sent me. You didn't. Travelocity's records show that Lufthansa notified it on March 7 that the flight was cancelled, and so on March 8, the site sent you an email alerting you to a schedule change and asking you to contact Travelocity. Travelocity doesn't just rely on customers to call in response to these notifications. Its system also automatically notifies reservations agents to follow up directly with customers when flight changes occur within 90 minutes of a connecting flight, cause a missed connection, or if a flight is cancelled, according to Travelocity representative Joel Frey. But on March 12, Travelocity sent you a confirmation email. This one verified your flight date and time, and even gave you the tracking number for your paper ticket delivery—even though the airline had cancelled your flight five days before. So how could Travelocity confirm a flight that didn't exist? Human error: A reservations agent mistakenly entered the wrong code into your record, which generated the confirmation email. The agent was actually trying to send you a message asking you to contact Travelocity immediately. My own flight snafu involved one cancelled leg out of a four-flight, round-trip itinerary. Travelocity sent me an email notification that the airline made a change to the "flight schedule/flight numbers," but didn't highlight the fact that my Venice-New York flight had disappeared entirely. And the email didn't ask me to call, in fact, it assured me that all was well with my itinerary. It took several calls to customer service and a lot of time on hold, but Travelocity rebooked my missing flight. However, it wasn't able to send me written confirmation, nor could it update my itinerary on the "My Stuff" folder on the site. I was dubious, but flew without a problem. Travelocity agreed to reimburse you $340 in expenses, which it posted to your credit card. It paid for the difference in the airline ticket charges and for the international cellphone calls you made from Venice. But Travelocity declined to refund the $40 in fees, half of which was the charge for sending paper tickets to you by overnight delivery. But listen, Scott, I hope you reconsider that nine iron. In an attempt to instill some warm and fuzzy feelings about its roaming gnome, Travelocity is also sending one for your home, so you'll have your very own red-hatted kitschy mascot. How can you avoid trouble? Add the booking site's domain name to your email safe list. Spam filters may divert legitimate notification emails to your spam folder, or just delete them outright. All Travelocity emails will come from @Travelocity.com, so adding the domain to your spam filter will ensure they make it to your inbox. "In cases like this, the feedback we most often receive from customers is that an email from us was never received," says Frey. Check your itinerary before you go. Travelocity keeps your travel plans in "My Stuff", Orbitz calls it "My Trips", and Expedia's moniker is "My Itineraries." Log on and look over the details of your trip to make sure you're up-to-date on any changes. Travelocity recommends rechecking 24 hours before domestic flights, 48 hours before international ones. source: USAtoday Travelocity's gnome makes amends for human error - USATODAY.com

yeah, when i researched ixchel was the best rate as well and i think mariaelena used them for her wedding...check her review to see if it went smoothly.

Quote: Originally Posted by AQHARIDER Thanks for posting those Karla- they look beautiful. I've had a couple people mention to me that they'd like to stay somewhere besides AI- perhaps I will recommend the PBR. what about PB sunset? but PB rose is a great price...about $150 per night.

i know...i had a friend that spent $70k on her wedding and it was only ok...the food was cold, the cake not great...for $70k you would expect a fantasy wedding... i spent $14k and it was fantastic and everyone had such a great time. Quote: Originally Posted by POMFRITA U are so right Tammy. I liked the fact that u did the flower submerged in water which made it look so unique and elegant as well as the tea candles for the ambiance which made it romantic and intimate(I took a look at your gallery pics and absoultely loved them). Also, u are right that the resort itself provides the decor of a beautiful backdrop. I am so much more comfortable with the DW thing that I'm so excited to get started and can't wait to show off to my friends that spent a fortune on their weddings(HEHE!!!).

Hi everyone, this is a review from dreams that did not transfer when we moved from the old forum. Tara’s Review – Dreams Hotel: July 8th, 2006 To See Pictures: www.pottichen.shutterfly.com Dreams- Overall, the hotel is beautiful. The food is good and the environment is nice and relaxing. The staff are generally pretty good, as long as you have the right attitude and just go with the flow. Everything takes a lot longer in Mexico than what we are used to here. One night dinner took 3 hours because we waited sooo long between courses. The hotel did a fabulous job with the rehearsal dinner. The set up was awesome and the food was good. Towards the end of the night the staff was drinking alcohol (which I didn’t know until later)…so watch out for that…because as they were carrying our things back up our room they dropped the hand painted ceramic signature guestbook platter and broke it into a million pieces. L I’m still so sad about this…. The front desk staff is very unhelpful or caring. Our check in was such a disaster!! First they checked my mom into our honeymoon suite, then made her move so we could get in, then they thought my hubby’s sister was me and tried to check her into our room. It was crazy and super disorganized…I would say ½ of our guest had problems checking in, from lost reservations to names wrong it was just a mess. If you need something done track down a manager. These guys actually seemed to care about helping you out, instead of just blowing you off like the people at the front desk. The other MAJOR issues we had with the hotel was theft. The 1st day we were there my Mom and I were standing at the reception counter and this old man walks up and starts complaining that 5 people out of his party have been robbed out of the room safe. The lady at the reception didn’t have any noticeable reaction to him or his story she just told him to go talk to security. Well my mom started freaking out, but I thought, hey, this guy could just be a complainer, or an exaggerator. Unfortunately it turns out that he wasn’t. 3 people from my party had their safes broken into and all their cash and jewelry stolen. How bad did I feel, recommending this place to all my friends and family and then they all get robbed!!?!? It was horrible. The worst part is that you have to go file a police report in town and then the management will look into replacing your money. So you basically have to ruin a day of your vacation, take the bus to downtown, try and speak to the cops, and then you might get refunded by the hotel. It was horrible. My mom got robbed on our last full day there and just didn’t want to ruin her vacation, so she didn’t file the report. My aunt and uncle did file the report and the hotel gave them back the cash that was stolen, but didn’t reimburse for the jewelry. Pretty crazy huh? Basically, be careful who you trust and where you put your valuables. Just because you pay a lot to stay at a nice hotel, it is still MEXICO and it doesn’t mean you are “safe”. Maye Cortinas (15% fee + 10% tax on everything I booked thru her)- I used her coordination services for the fire dancers, sparklers, and guitarist. She was professional throughout our interaction, but made a very serious error. I reserved the Fire Dancers for the night of my rehearsal dinner, it was very clear and the date was even written right on the invoice. Well, they never showed up and I had already paid her in CASH!! (All of my vendors required cash). It was very stressful and made me look like an idiot to my guests because everyone was waiting for the show. She didn’t act very sorry and even tried to blame me for her getting the date wrong. She left a check for my refund, but it certainly didn’t make up for the huge blunder. If I had my choice I would not use her. The guitarist was fine, but I could have booked him directly and saved the money on her fees. The sparklers were good. They were $2.50 each but were nice and big…so that worked out well. Lisa Galvan- ($650 day of coordination ONLY, with 1 assistant) I meet with Lisa on the day before my wedding. She was over 30 mins late which made the rest of my day run behind and all rushed getting ready for the RD. We went over everything I wanted, walked the site, took an inventory of all the items I had, and she tried to conduct our ceremony rehearsal. She was okay, but I thought she couldn’t really get control over people and make them listen…she seemed kind of timid which isn’t a quality I would expect in a wedding coordinator. The day of the wedding she came around noon with an assistant and I was already hanging with my girls starting to get ready. I left with her to go back to my room to go over everything one more time and make sure she took all the items down to the ceremony location. We accounted for the things she was bringing down and she said that she would make sure everything got back up at the end of the night. That was pretty much the last time I saw her until I was standing down there with my dad (20 min. late, she wasn’t keeping us on schedule at all). Then I really didn’t see her or talk to her the rest of the night. I have no clue what her and the assistant were doing the whole time, sometimes I would see them standing together talking, but most of the time I couldn’t find her. There were several times I needed her, or needed something in general and she wasn’t there for me. I heard from other people that she was around and doing stuff. She went up to my mother in law and asked her if she needed anything, but she never checked in with me or my mom. She did make the announcements for the cake cutting, garter belt, and bouquet toss. Overall, for $650 and everything she said about making sure “everything would be perfect and I would be taken care of” I felt really disappointed in the service. It was definitely better than not having anyone at all, I just had higher hopes for that kind of money. Some other major issues are that there were 5 disposable camera’s that never made it back up to the room (we used them for the RD & reception, so the lost camera’s had pics from both nights on them and I’ll never see them L) Also, I discussed with her twice and it was written in our itineraries that I wanted to get the menus back. I spent way too much $ on these metallic cardstock sleeves and I wanted to save them and use them again in another project. I was explicitly clear about wanting those back, and I didn’t get any of them back. There were several other things that never made it back up to the room, but those were the most important. The worst part was that at first when I called her to talk about it, she acted like she didn’t care and got all defensive. Then she called back and apologized and said she was just caught off guard. She then said she would give me “some kind of credit, if I felt that she made any errors”. We settled on a $75 credit (for the $250 menu sleeves) and nothing for the cameras because she was sure that our families just picked them up by mistake (not the case, I’ve checked with everyone). Then, the day we are leaving she comes to the hotel “to drop off the credit”. I sent my hubby down to collect it because I was in the shower. He calls the room and says that Tara Null is here and she wants to talk to me. (see below) Tara Null – So I hustled down there expected a big apology from the owner of the company, I had heard many nice things about Tara, so I wasn’t expecting what happened next. Tara Null was there with Lisa and explains to me that they are NOT going to refund me anything because they shouldn’t be responsible for “paper products”. She was extremely CONFRONTATIONAL and quite insulting to me. I felt tricked by Lisa, saying she was going to give me a credit, then she shows up with this BULLDOG who lectures me in the middle of the lobby. Tara just said that she fells that my wedding was too big for 2 people to coordinate (I had 70 guests) and that I should have hired them from the beginning because there weddings are always perfect, etc., etc. and they would have had 4 coordinators there but even then they are not responsible for paper products. I said that I understood, but this was an explicit request and Lisa said she would take care of it and she didn’t, so I said that I didn’t think she was making a smart business decision by not giving me a credit and that I wouldn’t treat my customers that way. I felt so angry about the way Tara was talking with me. She acted like she was the best, and anything that went wrong wasn’t their fault, it was mine because I didn’t hire them from the beginning. It was such a horrible experience… I can’t even really put it into words. In the end, Lisa slipped my hubby $60 and told him not to tell her boss. I know she felt bad because she knew she really dropped the ball. Personally, if it was me and I had messed up that bad, I would have refunded a lot more than $60….but it is what it is. I think Lisa just needs a lot more experience and to not be so timid. She seems like a nice girl, but she certainly wasn’t a good wedding planner (for me). Systema Sound Control – DJ Yeyo ($200 per hour x 4hours) DJ Anatares wasn’t available for my date, so he sent DJ Yeyo. He doesn’t speak any English at all. I gave them a huge stack of songs that were okay to play. I even had a very clear list of songs broken down into time periods and everything. I gave that to them 3 days before the wedding when I meet with him to pay them, plus I had emailed it weeks before. (DJ Anatres was an hour late, so if you’re planning on meeting vendors, plan on most of them being late…I spent SO much time those few days before the wedding sitting in the lobby, waiting for people!) The day of the wedding DJ Yeyo was on time and overall played OK music. He didn’t use our lists at all and when we first sat down for dinner he was playing this horrible Kenny G crap. We had to call Erika over and ask her to tell him to change it. Then he changed it to the same kind of music!! Finally after Erika talked to him again, he seemed to understand the type of music we were going for. They did play the music for our first dance, garter belt, and bouquet toss correctly. They messed up on the intro song for the bridal party and didn’t play ANY slow songs during the whole reception. I was having so much fun, I didn’t even notice that until the next day. Guitarist, Auturo Sotomayor – ($270 per hour) I met with him the day before the wedding to make sure he could play the song I wanted to walk down the aisle to, but he didn’t bring his guitar. It was okay though; he was very nice and brought a translator with him because he doesn’t speak English. From what I heard it was very pretty music, but I didn’t really hear very much. He was supposed to play for 1 hour so that would have been about half during the ceremony and then a little during the cocktail hour, but I heard that he didn’t end up playing at all during the cocktail hour. I’m not sure since we started 20 mins late that maybe he just thought he had played close enough to an hour. I don’t know….it worked out fine and ultimately I would recommend him. Erika Razo Erika is a sweet person and she tries, but she is so over whelmed and busy that she really isn’t a wedding coordinator. In the 7 days we were there she alone had 5 weddings and the other coordinator had some weddings too. Just know that she does her best BUT don’t count of her for anything beyond the legal details and the basic set up. Also, don’t expect much help from the hotel for set up as well. We had people (family & friends) working their buts off to finish getting the tables ready for the reception almost right up to the start of the ceremony. And the hotel staff wasn’t that helpful with this at all. Cake I had Dreams do the cake so my expectations were low. It ended up looking okay with flowers on it. The frosting was missing in a few places, but the flowers covered it up. My hubby and I only tasted the little piece we fed to each other (and that was good), but then the next day when I asked everyone how the cake was, every person I asked said “I don’t know” I guess Dreams served the cake and then cleared it before people got back to their seats. I don’t know it was weird, but everyone said they didn’t get to taste it, so I don’t know if it was any good or not. Flowers My family had them shipped from America. DON’T DO IT!!! What a fiasco!! My family has owned a flower shop all my life, so they promised that they had it all worked out. Their flower vendors promised that flowers were coming from a grower in Mexico and would be shipped to our hotel 3 days prior to the wedding. Well….I ended up with flowers but only because my poor uncles had to drive to La Paz (7 hours roundtrip), in the dark, the night before the wedding, in a Ford Focus (!!) to get to the air cargo place….that was closed for the weekend. By some miracle an employee came back to pick something up and let them in after a $100 bribe. So, I got flowers but it was stressful. My advice would be even if you have talented people in your family, just hire someone to do them for you. It is not worth the stress. Mailing boxes to Mexico I had a big group of family traveling together so they offered to take some boxes as part of their check-in luggage. Well for some reason about 1 week before they left they decided they wanted to mail the boxes instead of bringing them. Without telling me they brought the boxes to the USPS and mailed them 5 day guaranteed delivery. Well, as you probably guessed, they never arrived to the hotel. Through the tracking we could see that they got to Mexico, but somehow they disappeared. Those 4 boxes had all my favors, tons of décor items, all the supplies to make the flower arrangements, and a ton of other stuff that I had spent time and money on….so needless to say it was pretty disappointing that they never arrived for the wedding. I’m now left fighting with the post office trying to get a refund, but to me it really isn’t about the money, the worst part was just not having what I wanted at the wedding. And a side note, everyone keep telling me to “delegate” tasks to other people because I was stressing a bit and wanted everything to be perfect, but everything I delegated to other people got royally messed up! From my bridesmaids, and my family everything I didn’t have control over went wrong. I don’t know if there is a lesson in that or if I just had some bad luck, but if I was going to do it over again, I would do everything myself. It is such an important day, and although it isn’t the little details that make the day memorable, if they are important to you, then do them yourself or pay someone who you trust to make sure it gets done right. Overall It was absolutely the best day of my life. I had so much fun and really just had to let go of all the negative things. It took me a full month after the wedding to have the mental energy to write this review. It is really hard for me because literally NOTHING went as planned. I hate being negative or critical of people, but I just had some really bad experiences. Again, it was still the best day of my life, BUT if I was going to do it over again or if I was going to recommend a destination wedding to one of my friends I would have to say don’t get married in Mexico. I feel that the vendors have a completely different idea of what customer service is (pretty much nonexistent), the country in general has a “lets take advantage of the rich American” mentality which caused me to feel on-guard with everyone, I honestly felt extremely taken advantage of and screwed over at every chance they had. I really hate that feeling and love to connect with other people and other cultures, but for me, after those 7 days in Mexico and after the things I experienced I don’t think I’ll be going back in a really, really long time.

Quote: Originally Posted by AQHARIDER Great review Meahgan! I'm also anxious to hear how important you thought the mariachi band was- I've been really debating them for the cocktail hour and am interested to hear what your guests thought. How many people were in the mariachi group and did you request certain songs, or did they just do their thing... Glad everything turned out as well as it did! Congratulations! i think i had the same mariachi...i posted a pic and they were great and really added to the festivities.

Quote: Originally Posted by NATASHA I'm working on a "what I would do/what I wouldn't do" post, but here's a preview. Here's the number one piece of advice. I would definitely have the firedancers. If the budget is tight, cut out flowers. Honestly, the properties in Cabo are beautiful and adding flowers goes unnoticed. I cut a few flowers but, looking back, could have removed another $230 from the flower budget without even noticing it. The firedances were $675 and Maye did not recommend tipping them. TOTALLY worth it as it makes your wedding so different than any other wedding you have attended and they were there for a long time. The fireworks are $2000 for 2 minutes. We loved them and so did all of our guests (makes weddings more fun for guys who all came up to me and claimed they were pyrotechnic fanatics). However, if you are budget conscious - 1 minute would have worked just fine. They are really nice fireworks - very professional and impressive. NOTE TO BRIDES - you will get a bit of soot on your dress. Not a big deal to me, but should be noted. i agree with the firedancers...i really wanted them but we decided to do casino night which was fun and worked out for us because they had the firedancers at the resort for dinner the night before and they were great!

rebecca, they are here! they are perfect...your guests looked like they had a fantastic time. the pics of you and mark on the beach and gazebo are STUNNING! you are beautiful! it is perfection!!!

great review meahgan!! and i agree with rebecca...whenever i had mariana do anything there was never a problem...she is really grat that way... speaking of...rebecca, i received and email from the GM of dreams and they made mariana, employee of the month for all the resorts because of the letters. she so deserves it!

Quote: Originally Posted by gkashmira OMG - tammy - That made me laugh! i hope nobody got offended...but if they only knew the saga!

Quote: Originally Posted by NATASHA Oh - that's so sweet. Thank you. I am loving seeing all these photos. I can't wait for Dino's! I get to relive the wedding. Shawn was so happy he was beaming and I just love seeing that - over and over I don't get tired. Plus, when I was in the moment I missed SO many things. i know...i just looked at a few of my pics and they made me so happy...steve was so happy...his faced just glowed...it was so good to relive.. i can't wait to see your pr pics also!!

there is dj mijares (karla) dj ricardo (natasha) dj antares (me & janet)

a toast or special thanks to them does not sound cheesy at all! Quote: Originally Posted by mexicobride Those are some great ideas, ladies. I'd love to do the spa thing, but many of my other friends have asked to be around helping the days leading up to the wedding, so leaving them out wouldn't be cool. The three special ladies are: 1. my brother's wife, age 26, 2. my fiance's sister, age 35 3. my roommate and best friend from college, age 32 I was thinking maybe having a private toast with them at some point and presenting them with a gift? What are you guys getting your BMs? I'd really like to honor them AT the ceremony or reception in some way though. Maybe getting them corsages? Is that cheesy?

natasha, you are gorgeous! your avatar does not do you justice...you look like a cross between shania twain and finola highes... Beautiful!! thank you for finally posting these...talk about making us suffer!

Quote: Originally Posted by jilly76 I thought the same thing about dancing in the sand. Tammy, thats great that you have someone going down to dreams, I'd love to see any pictures she takes. yes she will be down in a week and i already asked her to take a bunch of pics as well as sent her with question checklist, etc...

Quote: Originally Posted by JPMO I know this sounds extreme but I've started mylifestyle change with a colon cleanse fast (3 days). The solution included: water, lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper! So far so good lost 10lbs water wght! Now I am eating smaller portions, cut out white flour, most processed foods and sugars, NO SODA, and 30 min. of exercise My goal is 20lbs as well! jennetta, that is the lemonade diet or master cleanse...i was going to doit, bought all the ingrediants etc...but chickeed out...there is a great journal here that might be helpful to you.. Master Cleanse Journal #1 - The Lemonade Diet - From Yes They're Fake!

Quote: Originally Posted by TAMMYM I told him I give up, I'm not reaching out to her anymore. If she want's to stay in the bedroom then let her be. This is all very childish and I'm sooo sick of it. seriously running off and getting married without ANYONE sounds really good to me right now. oohh...maybe you and cain can finally have sex...in the living room, on the kitchen table...yeee haw!!

hey kash and ali...i posted the cutest centerpeices with limes in round vases and pink flowers...how cute would that be...and limes are inexpensive!! look in the picgallery for them. ali i guess you have to decide what type of decor you want...alot of times, the WC's will have it down there...OR some brides that are getting married at the same resort around the same time may want to consider sharing costs for lights, etc...

karla, it looks lovely..thanks for the pics!

welcome to the forum kellie...MOST travel agents have no idea how to do destination weddings so do not listen to them...some people book 2 years in advance if they want their date...there is so much info on mexico here...let us know how we can help!

i don't know how you deal with it. i don't like people to open my mail. period. it is rude and an invasion of a persons privacy. didn't she learn that in her old age...sheesh! i do not even know what to tell you...i would have checked myself into a month long spa/yoga retreat by now.

i am on the fence about this one...the practical side of me says i SHOULD sell it BUT the sentimental side wants me to keep it for any daughters i have.

i answered in red: Quote: Originally Posted by jpkw Hello - how early did all of you send out your Save the Dates? We are getting married on June 3, 2007 at Dreams, but we are going down to visit and meet with vendors 12/28-1/5. Should I send the Save the Dates out prior to our visit (mid December)?? Or should I wait to send them out in mid January when we return in case there are any extra details to add?? save the date card is just that...you want to give people as much notice as possible to save the date...you do not have to have all the details nailed down. i think the most important thing you can do is have a website on the STD and state that you will be updating the website with more information as you get it I just don't know how much advance notice people want... the families that we are inviting (my sisters & their kids) want as much advance notice as possible but I am hesitant to send them out before we go down there. I guess I can always send out another info sheet at a later point?? Also, we are getting photo cards (like people do for xmas cards) made from the kodakgallery or snapfish web site for our Save the Dates with 2 pics of us along with a simple save the date message. The price is GREAT & it's really easy! I'm going to create an info sheet for hotel & flights (maybe on card-stock & glue to the back). Most of the photo websites have sales right now before the holidays so we found the cards at a great price. have you thought of magnets...cheap and they can have them on the fridge as a reminder...try looking at vistaprint...i think sarah posted a coupon

Quote: Originally Posted by marfa75 I blocked rooms at the Westin in Pv and they didnt require any money or any obligation at all. They are holding ten rooms for me until a month before my wedding. yes, sometimes with 15 or less rooms they do not need a deposit/contract. i have a client that is getting married at dreams cancun and she has 15 rooms on hold with no deposit. there are alot of factors that go into whether or not you will need to put a deposit down and price...ie. season high season or not, occupancy rate at time of making the room block, etc.

Quote: Originally Posted by POMFRITA Your right, that makes alot of sense. I have been a little concerned about the food from all the negative reviews I read on Tripadvisor.com, it can be very discouraging at times. Thanks for your help. Cabo Wabo love, Rosa tripadvisors is not always that honest...sometimes people have agendas on there...