Disappointing Marketing with Avalon....

[franski]

Well, just when I think that Avalon has perhaps learned something about advertising (I had an issue with their literature related to "pre-paid gratuities" on our recent trip to Peru) - I have discovered that nothing has changed.

 

A bit of background....We were booked on their "Danube - from the Black Sea to Budapest - with 2 nights in Transylvania" - scheduled for October 2018.  As most people on this site know, the water levels resulted in many changes and cancellations.  We were notified that our cruise was cancelled less than 72 hours before we were to fly to Bucharest.  We did get a full refund - and it arrived quite quickly.  We were NOT offered an option to transfer our booking to a sailing this year, as some people were.  I had connected with someone here on CC who was on the same sailing - and moving their booking was an option.   When I looked into re-booking the same cruise, the costs had jumped considerably - so that we could not book the same cruise - on  ANY sailing - at the same price, even with the $600 travel credit they have given us.  And, by the way, the travel credit has to be used for travel before the end of this year... not used to book this year and travel in 2020. 

 

I have been watching that itinerary - hoping for a sale.  Imagine my delight when - late last evening - there was an abrupt drop in their posted price for this itinerary.  It must be a mistake, I figured, so went to bed.  I checked again this morning (around 11 am....) - price still the same.  So, I called my TA.  After a number of phone calls (they insisted I was on the US website, or looking at a different, less expensive cruise) they informed our TA it was a computer glitch, and that the US cost was being pulled across to the CDN website.  They told her the glitch was fixed - and that the price was what I had been watching ($5800, not $4400).   She called Globus twice - and both times was told it was a computer issue - and had been fixed.

 

I revisited the site again after lunch - prices still the same ($4400).  I was on the CDN website. So, I phoned Avalon myself, and asked for the posted price. I was booking 2 cabins - one for myself (and DH) and another for my friends that we travelled with to Peru.  They want an upgraded cabin, so wanted the posted price for the Cat B.  The woman at Globus/Avalon found the webpage - confirmed it was their advertised price on the Canadian website - and agreed that they should honour the price.  She took the bookings - gave me booking numbers - but did say she would have to confirm with the marketing department.  Fair enough.

 

But - SURPRISE!! - the marketing department denied the booking, saying it was a computer glitch - which was now fixed - and that they would not honour the booking at the price posted on their website.  They insisted the issue was fixed.  The rep at Globus had to call me back with the news.  She was wonderful...  I felt bad that they left her to give me the bad news. 

 

And - here we are.  Almost 17 hours after I noticed the price drop - and 4 1/2 hours after my TA called to inquire about the price - and was told the glitch was fixed.  It is over 2 hours since I last spoke with the woman at Avalon - who relayed the message to me that the glitch was fixed. Prices remain unchanged on the website.

 

So --> AVALON (I know you read these blogs) - another epic fail.  If you knew there was a computer glitch, your should have pulled down your website and put up a notice indicating that there is an issue and the site would be back up when the issue was fixed.  You know the website is wrong - and yet you do nothing about it.  If customer service is important to you - and you really felt that your bottom line depends on getting full price for 2 cabins on 1 boat in October 2020 -  you should have called me to talk about the issue... to  see if we could have come to an agreement on the price (more than the $4400, less than the $5800).

 

We had a great trip in Peru.  And would still like to do Eastern Europe + Transylvania - but,  I must say that I am rethinking these plans after this most recent interaction...😞 

 

Fran

[Got2Cruise]

Sorry to hear about this Fran. If the price is listed than they should honor it. The error is their fault and they should honor it. 

[Coral]

Sorry - very frustrating. For the difference, they probably should just swallow the cost IMO. Especially considering the situation last year that affected you. It should be considered a goodwill credit.

 

AVALON - do the right thing - honor this price for these 2 cabins!

Edited April 15, 2019 by Coral

[mhb1757]

Why didn’t you just book on line at the posted price then have the reservation switched to your TA?

[Coral]

8 hours ago, mhb1757 said:

Why didn’t you just book on line at the posted price then have the reservation switched to your TA?

It probably would not have mattered.

[franski]

Hi everyone - thought I would follow up to let you know the outcome of this.

 

Avalon has honoured the price posted on the website - and we have booked at the posted rate.  I must give full credit to Donna at Globus Tours in Toronto - as she went to bat for us to get us the rate posted on the website.  I wondered if the posting here had an effect on that, but looked at the e-mail she sent me and compared it to the time of the original post - and her e-mail to me (asking if I was still interested if we could get the posted rate) arrived 1 minute before my post here.  So - true customer service - not prompted by any "visibility" on CC. 

 

mhb1757 - You asked why we didn't book at the posted rate on line - and Coral was correct...  it would have flipped us over to the CDN site, and the price further in was the higher CDN price. 

 

BTW - the computer glitch is still in effect on the Avalon CDN site, but there is now a disclaimer at the top of the page identifying that the prices are in US dollars,  and asking people to call them if they want information on tours, booking or prices. 

 

Avalon honoured the price for both cabins, so we are off to Eastern Europe & Transylvania with our friends next year.  It seems a long way off, but we have something to look forward to...

 

Fran

Edited April 17, 2019 by franski

[Coral]

Congrats!

[Host Jazzbeau]

Sorry Fran, you can't name a TA so I had to hide your post.  With permission, I can edit it and restore.

[gnome12]

I don't think that was a TA. It was a tour company,  a sister company to Avalon.

[franski]

Hi Jazzbeau - I didn't mention a TA (I know better....)

 

Globus is the "family" that includes Avalon Waterways, Ensemble vacations and Cosmos... Globus tours are primarily land based - but you book through the group when you book an Avalon river cruise.

 

I dealt directly with Avalon for this issue - and, given that I had "chastised" them in the 1st post for their lack of customer service, I wanted to give a "shout out" to the person at Globus who worked hard on my behalf to get me the rate advertised on their website.  It was luck of the draw that she answered the phone when I called.   I have a TA I work closely with - but went to Avalon directly after the website was not corrected even though they knew of the computer glitch.

 

If you still feel that this is mentioning a TA, then remove her name.  But, please restore the post. I do want people to know that Avalon did step up and honoured the posted price.

 

Fran

[Coral]

1 hour ago, franski said:

Hi Jazzbeau - I didn't mention a TA (I know better....)

 

Globus is the "family" that includes Avalon Waterways, Ensemble vacations and Cosmos... Globus tours are primarily land based - but you book through the group when you book an Avalon river cruise.

 

 

Yes - Globus would be the equivalent of Carnival Corp and RCI which both own several brands of lines underneath them. Just a corporate umbrella.

Edited April 18, 2019 by Coral

[Host Jazzbeau]

OK, I was wrong.  Posts restored.

 

And I'm very glad things worked out for you!

[Kenster]

On 4/17/2019 at 9:55 AM, franski said:

Hi everyone - thought I would follow up to let you know the outcome of this.

 

Avalon has honoured the price posted on the website - and we have booked at the posted rate.  I must give full credit to Donna at Globus Tours in Toronto - as she went to bat for us to get us the rate posted on the website.  I wondered if the posting here had an effect on that, but looked at the e-mail she sent me and compared it to the time of the original post - and her e-mail to me (asking if I was still interested if we could get the posted rate) arrived 1 minute before my post here.  So - true customer service - not prompted by any "visibility" on CC. 

 

mhb1757 - You asked why we didn't book at the posted rate on line - and Coral was correct...  it would have flipped us over to the CDN site, and the price further in was the higher CDN price. 

 

BTW - the computer glitch is still in effect on the Avalon CDN site, but there is now a disclaimer at the top of the page identifying that the prices are in US dollars,  and asking people to call them if they want information on tours, booking or prices. 

 

Avalon honoured the price for both cabins, so we are off to Eastern Europe & Transylvania with our friends next year.  It seems a long way off, but we have something to look forward to...

 

Fran

Thank you for posting the positive outcome!  So many people would just post a negative review and never come back to update the great customer service they got.  Well done.!  Enjoy your cruise!  We are off on our fourth Avalon in five years coming up in August.

[franski]

6 hours ago, Kenster said:

Thank you for posting the positive outcome!  So many people would just post a negative review and never come back to update the great customer service they got.  Well done.!  Enjoy your cruise!  We are off on our fourth Avalon in five years coming up in August.

Thanks, Kenster…   We are looking forward to it.  Where are you going in August?

 

The cruise next year will be our 5th with Avalon.  We have booked Hurtigruten for this fall....  sailing into the Arctic circle is one of my bucket list items.  We have traveled with most companies, but have decided that Avalon fits our travel style quite nicely.  We are happy with the more relaxed atmosphere (although, we would travel with any company if the price was right, or has an itinerary that interests us...)

 

Fran

[franski]

Update.... NOT impressed...

Hi everyone - it has been a while since starting this thread - and I *thought* everything had been resolved.  Well, something has cropped up and I wanted to share it with you.

 

To recap - Avalon had a computer glitch - had the US prices on their CDN website.  They left those prices up even after they knew they were wrong, and I wanted to book at their posted price.  They did (after a push from a wonderful booking agent) honour those prices - and we booked. 

 

Fast forward 6 months...  We asked that the bookings be transferred to our TA as we are now looking at flights, extensions etc.  This TA was instrumental in dealing with flights issues on our trip to Peru - and we wanted to have her on board for this trip.  Well, when the booking came across for our friends, Avalon decided to remove the $600pp early booking discount from their invoice.  She has *2* invoices stating that this has been applied to her booking, but now that discount has disappeared. Our TA has been dealing with the Globus/Avalon office - showing them the invoices - and their response is that they decided to remove it before transferring the booking over.  Our TA asked if they had let our friends know - and if they have proof of that notification - and they have admitted they did not. 

 

We still have a credit - but they decided to rename it "Low water credit" - as we had that from the cruise they cancelled a year ago.  We didn't ask for both (early booking and low water), although we could have - and did confirm when the change came through on our booking that it was just language (probably to appease the higher-ups that they weren't "giving away" the cruise), and that our friends would not lose their discount. 

 

It may have been because we asked for the booking to be transferred over - but I am not confident that is the case.  Our TA is not giving up - but I can only imagine how upsetting and frustrating this would be to have to negotiate directly with Avalon about the $1200 extra our friends would be expected to pay at time of final payment. 

 

BTW, this "loss" of income on the cabins isn't that severe for Avalon.  Just after we booked, they ran a "no single supplement" promo - so, someone could have booked the cabins for less than we paid with the discount. 

 

In all of my dealings with river cruise companies (and this cruise next year will be #16 - the 5th with Avalon) I have *never* had anyone try to pull back something that has been agreed upon - and can't believe that they continue to argue when the agreed upon discount is in writing!!

 

This may just be the CDN (Toronto) office, but I want people to be aware.   Make sure you keep *EVERY* correspondence with a company if you book directly.  And, check everything that comes across to you... don't just assume that things (ie: prices and agreed upon booking incentives) won't change. 

 

I will come back and let you know the final outcome.

 

Fran

 

[Hoyaheel]

3 minutes ago, franski said:

Make sure you keep *EVERY* correspondence with a company if you book directly.  And, check everything that comes across to you... don't just assume that things (ie: prices and agreed upon booking incentives) won't change. 

So sorry!!!

 

But bad things happen with TAs as well, so I'd widen your recommendation to KEEP EVERYTHING in writing/pdf....

[franski]

3 minutes ago, Hoyaheel said:

So sorry!!!

 

But bad things happen with TAs as well, so I'd widen your recommendation to KEEP EVERYTHING in writing/pdf....

Thanks....  I do keep everything - and my husband laughs when I read all fine print - and confirm all calculations.  In times like this, my "e-mail hoarding" is a positive thing!! 

 

We have an awesome TA - that we have dealt with for almost 15 years. Can't imagine trying to deal with this without her support.

 

Fran

[Coral]

Sorry your saga is still going on........ Thanks for the update. 

[franski]

Hi there...  Update.  What a difference a day makes... (Or, maybe it is that "visibility" on spaces such as Cruise Critic helps to provide a gentle nudge....)

 

Avalon has now reinstated the credit.  They kept trying to say that the EBD should not have been applied (and, perhaps it shouldn't have  been - due to the other credit they gave us - but they offered it up,  so we didn't argue!!). So they removed it....  They kept trying to say that they notified us that it was removed -  but, no such notification was received.  And, no updated invoice even though they said they notified us 6 months ago.  If they had notified us at the time of booking that the EBD could not be used (most companies will not let you compound discounts), or had notified us within a few days that it was an error - that would be a different situation.  But, to let us go 6 months - and only find out by accident when we asked for the booking to be transferred - is not acceptable.  The rep in Toronto has apologized for this situation - saying that they had to look into what had transpired before the credit was reinstated. 

 

We have an absolutely *AWESOME* TA who would not let this go.  She has been working on this since last week - I am sure she has put +++ hours into clearing this up.  This just confirms (at least to me....) that a good TA is absolutely worth their weight in gold. 

 

Anyway, wanted to update.  As I said in another thread,  I still believe Avalon offers a quality product --> it was the booking process that caused so much grief.  Hopefully there will be some process improvements made to prevent this from happening to anyone else.

 

And the take away here.... always keep all correspondence, and read *everything* when it arrives in.  Our TA did send the booking packages out to both of us to review - it would have been a nightmare if we didn't review, only to discover the $1200 discrepancy at time of final payment.

 

Fran