Firing a TA

[dave_k63]

Is it possible to fire your TA - I paid my final payment, by check to the TA today, and Carnival didn't accept the agency's credit card. Also, as I looked at my receipt for what I had paid so far(minus today's final small payment) there was something credited on the paper work for $189. Was this a possible OBC that was not being credited to me? I called Carnival and they wouldn't speak to me because I was working with a TA. Another thing, when the TA called Carnival she was told that the amount I was paying "exceeded the amount that was owed". She said that was a computer glitch. I am becoming concerned.

[LHT28]

yes but I think I would wait until you get things sorted ...just do not use them for your next cruise

 

1st why would you pay the TA? your payment should directly to the cruise line

 

Maybe the $189 was more than the amount owing?

It would be hard to answer without having all the paperwork

You need to sit down with your TA & go over everything with them

[chipq]

Consider getting rid of the TA AFTER your cruise. If your booking came from TA then the cruise line will only work with the TA. This is why I now book straight with the cruise line so that I have direct contact with the cruise.

 

ChipQ http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com

[Krazy Kruizers]

Yu really can't fire your TA now that final payment has been made. Some people have tried that only to discover that the TA was going to charge them a fee for changing TA's.

 

Better find a new TA for your next cruise.

 

Sounds like you were working with an online TA. JMO -- we won't deal with them.

[Happy ks]

I have never made a payment by check to a TA and all the different TA's I've used have made the payment with my credit card account, not theirs.

 

Something is wrong here, you need to speak with this TA and soon. I do hope you get it sorted out and have a wonderful cruise, don't ever use this TA again. It's times like this I think it's a shame we can't list bad TA's names, most of them are great, but stories like this tarnish the reputation of many.

 

Good luck to you.

[thinfool]

By not using a CC to make your payment, either to the cruise line or the TA, you are forfeiting a major advocate who can protect you in the case of fraud or other mishandling of your travel arrangements.

 

We always use a TA, and we always use a CC, and we always give our CC number to our TA who, in turn, passes it on to the cruise line. We never see a charge to our TA, only to the cruise line.

[Thom524]

Yu really can't fire your TA now that final payment has been made. Some people have tried that only to discover that the TA was going to charge them a fee for changing TA's.

 

Better find a new TA for your next cruise.

 

Sounds like you were working with an online TA. JMO -- we won't deal with them.

The TA we are working with now we found online and she is wonderfull. This is the second different TA we have encountered online and the first one is also fantastic, we even used her on a subsequent trip. One of them seems to have a good relationship with RCCL and the other seems tight with Carnival.I can reach them by email or phone almost anytime and they are always very professional.Maybe we have been lucky, but please don't disparage all online TA's.

[MCC retired]

Something sounds wrong with this!!

 

OP paid via check to the TA , and TA then paid CL with "their" credit card ????

17 years as former TA , I've never heard of a TA accepting a check and then paying via their own CC? Almost always if the payment is received via customer check , an "agency check" ,less the comm., is forwared to the CL. No CC involved ?

 

Payment via CC normally goes straight to the CL . TA's don't wish to pay unneccessary CC fees by accepting the CC. Comm. is then paid back to the TA .

 

Too late to fire this TA on this booking .

 

Incidently , TA's fire clients also . (been there , done that).

Many reasons like, excessive changes, demanding gifts, bottom feeders, ect..

[dave_k63]

The first two payments we paid were with our credit cards - I can now see that I made a mistake with the last payment by check. It was not an online ta - and I will leave things alone now - I think part of the problem may have been different ways we paid for this cruise. She said I could either pay her with a check or credit card - stupid me thought I would just pay by check. I should probably not put this on the board.

[cruiseco]

 

OP paid via check to the TA , and TA then paid CL with "their" credit card ????

17 years as former TA , I've never heard of a TA accepting a check and then paying via their own CC?.

 

I know of the owner of a semi-large agency who does this all the time. If a client pays the agency by check he pays the cruise line on his American Express to rack up the miles. He claims that he earns 20+ free round trip airline tickets every year by doing this.

 

He also claims that it actually cuts his costs since he issues only one check a month -- to Amex -- instead of dozens to the various cruise lines. And since his agency is doing well and he doesn't need the speeded up cash flow he doesn't mind waiting 60 days or so to get his commissions back from the cruise line instead of sending them a net amount. He just loves those free tickets.

 

I wouldn't do it this way but I really can't nail down any reasons why this would be unethical along the lines of charging the clients' credit cards on his own merchant account. But it is very unusual.

 

I think the only times our agency did this was when the client was so late on making the final payment that the cruise line was threatening to cancel the booking and needed the money right now and the client didn't have a credit card and brought us cash. This happened maybe twice over the years.

[dave_k63]

THank you all - I think everything is straightened out. I should have never made the last payment by check - they had used their AMEX card on a huge group travel purchase and it probably was a glitch that it wasn't accepted when they used it with mine. Hopefully I've learned a lesson. This really has been a good local travel agency. My previous payments on credit card went directly to the cruise line. I am looking at that right now.

[sail7seas]

Good you got it straightened out.

 

THANK You for coming back to tell us the end of the story. All too often, we hear of people's problems but they fail to return and tell us how the situation resolved. I always wonder 'what happened'.

 

Have a great cruise.