Travel Agent Woes and Aggravation... long, but PLEASE help!!!Thanks

[JoLo908]

Okay... We are having many guests to our wedding in Mexico on June 27th, and most leave with the group on June 25th. MANY of the guests have complained about the TA, with things varying from she does not return phone calls, does not respond to e-mails, and we also had 3 guests who refused to book with her because she was short with them, rude, or did not return multiple phone calls. Also, any time someone gets upset or pissed at her for multiple reasons (will list below) she calls me and tells me about how they were mad at her, and vents. I try to be understanding. We are having well over 30 guests book through her and the agency, and over $45,000 has been paid to them. Here are the problems that have occurred and stressed me the F out.

 

1) After sending out invites and getting responses, they informed me that we may have to switch the date/resort because the resort was not willing to budge on prices for the group rates. (After she gave me the OK to get the invitations made).

2) Guests were told the remainder of payments were to be made by April 15th, and then were informed at the beginning of March that the money was due March 22, even though she had posted on our wedding website, and on a receipt that it was due April 15th. When I informed her that two close guests may have to back out because of this sudden change, she explained that she couldn't do anything because the airline wouldnt let her. Then I called the corporate office and suddenly, magically, the date went back to April 15th.

3) Swine flu, passes.... thank God.... a friend calls and tells me our flight times have changed due to condensed flights. He assumed I knew. I call TA and she says this is correct and that as soon as she has the information, she will e-mail it to me (never got it, had to call weeks later to get the info).

4) TA informs me info would be mailed out 30 days prior to trip (had to call to find that out). People leave 24 days from today, and nothing was mailed out, because as she says, she didnt receive airline info until the beginning of last week (had to call her to find this out). People are calling me, wondering why nothing has been sent (people have told me they call and call and e-mail and she does not respond, when I tell her this she says "I must not have gotten the messages")

5) One of my friends had called her 3 times to get a receipt, finally she said she would mail her info, and never did. Then my friend had her father call to get answers, and he demanded to have the information overnighted, only to find that her name was spelled wrong twice on the air vouchers, and only correct on the credit card slip. When I called her manager today (who informs me now that info will be mailed out to guests most likely Wednesday, leaving them less than 20 days to deal with these mistakes) he says that "these mistakes happen with so many people in the group" Well, one of my friends had her name spelled incorrectly and could not get on a flight.... He, like the TA, made like the guests were over-reacting.... and TA called to complain to me any time someone got upset with her.

 

Now I called her defending my guests, and trying to get answered, and she got kind of weird with me. This company is well known, and we are bringing them a LOT of business with our wedding, and the treatment we have received has been terrible. Do I write a letter to corporate now? Will she try to screw me over? Do I write one when I get home? Many I my close friends have insisted I do something because she has not been a good TA and I have had to harass her for information, and guests thought she was super rude. What do I do It's not fair that they get all of this business and the whole process has been a nightmare for myself and many of my guests.... and every time something goes wrong I find myself calling her to apologize, when in reality she is not relating ANY of this information to us, and then claiming "I didn't get the messages" and being silent when I told her I had this complaint from many guests... What do I do? Still don't have my info, hopefully will get it by June 8th, so hopefully if they spell our freaking names wrong we can solve in within the 2 weeks before the wedding....Sorry its so long... please help!!!

[JoLo908]

Sorry that was so long before... I just don't know the proper way to handle this all... it has made the whole wedding so stressful...

[JoLo908]

I am in Scotch Plains NJ. Nobody, including myself, has received any documents at all, or itineraries. I have just had vocal confirmation of flight changes and such over the phone. Guests are waiting on documents, travel vouchers, etc. but do not get timely responses, if any response at all from the TA. How would you handle the situation if you were me? Would you just let it go, or write a letter or do something. I am not a pushy person, but I feel like we got terrible service in many ways, and I have a difficult time even expressing that to the TA because she gets super offended... hopefully we will receive documents at the beginning of next week...

[TammyWright]

Hi Joanna,

 

sorry for what you are going through. I really have to echo what TA Maureen said above.

 

Destination Weddings are a totally different "animal" than regular wedding travel. Alot of times you are dealing with MANY bookings at once (once STD are sent or deadlines come up I get like 20 emails/calls a day from guests all waiting to the last minute to book), many different personalities, family dynamics, etc.

 

From what you described it sounds like you got horrible customer service. Yes, mistakes happen but it is how a person handles the mistakes that really shows their true character.

 

I would write down all your complaints with dates, what was promised but never followed through with, what you want done with deadlines and send it to your TA as well as their manager.

 

Let them respond back with what they are going to do...

 

an example: if i had a client this disgruntled and they said, i want docs by tomorrow noon and i knew that was unreasonable, i would say "i can't get you your docs by noon tomorrow but am working hard to get them and hope to have them to you by x-date" and then follow through with them.

[JoLo908]

So, they called me today and said TA came home from Jamaica sick and the info will be mailed out tomorrow and get to people on Friday. I am just extremely disappointed with their service and rude attitude toward guests...

[JOSIE]

Joanna- It was so frustrating reading this post, especially consdering all the money you've given the agency. if it were me, I would pray that things went smoothly until the wedding and after it was over I would DEFINITELY contact corporate and/or write a long letter to the better business bureau.

 

I wouldn't want to risk it BEFORE the wedding "just in case" they decided to screw you over somehow. But I believe contacting corporate is the best place to start because they do not want a bad rep. for their company and don't know about these little details that happen with individual TA's. Hopefully they will go out of their way for you to make amends.

 

Make sure you detail every little thing and put it IN WRITING, as people often "forget" or have "no record" of things promised over the phone.

 

I hope for your sake you get some closure and reimbursment for such frustrating issues surrounding your special day!

 

Check in with us after the wedding and let us know how you decided to proceed!

[JoLo908]

Thank you for the support, I appreciate it