Why would an agent apply vouchers to a trip if I didn't authorize it?

[OnTheJourney]

I have vouchers to use from the March Sky trip, and have been in discussions with an agent we've been working with regarding various itineraries that would definitely use the full amount of the vouchers. Now, however, I got a call from an agent (in response to an unrelated inquiry I sent to the tellus@vikingcruises.com address) and he informed me that the Sky vouchers have been applied to the Iberian Explorer cruise that I booked a few months ago. This cruise is immediately after the inaugural sailing that the Sky guests have been invited on. I told him there must be some mistake. It makes no sense to use only a partial amount and forfeit the remainder, since I've been told the vouchers must be used for one trip. He also said, even more interestingly, that the agent's name on the updated Iberian Explorer invoice is not his, but neither is it my regular agent's. So I have a call in to my agent to get back to me. Surely this was done in error. I will want this rescinded so that I have the full voucher amount available for a bigger, more expensive trip. Even stranger is that I never even received an updated invoice beyond that of the initial deposit, so I have absolutely no idea when this voucher would have been applied. So he said he'd send me the revised one. Has this sort of thing happened to anyone else? Not real happy about this apparent mix-up....

Edited December 12, 2019 by OnTheJourney

[Heidi13]

Hope you get it sorted to your satisfaction. A Viking employee really dropped the ball on this one.

[OnTheJourney]

Hi Andy....Well, yeah, I hate to be accusatory - especially in such a forgiving, charitable time of year! - but - definitely something appears to have -  (in the vernacular) - 'screwed up'?  

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, OnTheJourney said:

Hi Andy....Well, yeah, I hate to be accusatory - especially in such a forgiving, charitable time of year! - but - definitely something appears to have -  (in the vernacular) - 'screwed up'?  

 

Contact the folks at TellUs@vikingcruises.com. They are generally very good a fixing these things.

[OnTheJourney]

By talking with an agent (based on my email communication sent to that address) is how I found out about the changes made to the booking. I never had any prior contact with the agent whose name appears on the updated invoices I received. No idea why this would have been done. I replied to the agent (listed on the invoice) to inquire further. At this point I want to speak directly to whomever made an update to the booking. He seemed to indicate that it should not be a problem to remove the voucher amount and then reinstate the balance owed by the end of December. 

Edited December 13, 2019 by OnTheJourney

[OnTheJourney]

OK.....just sent an email to tellus@vikingcruises.com explaining the whole thing. Weird how this whole thing came about. How is it that an agent I've never had any contact with wound up handling my booking and arbitrarily made changes to it? I can't help but wonder when (or if) I might have found out about this had I not emailed the "tellus" address today regarding another issue. It is not very comforting to be sure. And, if some change was made, why wouldn't an updated invoice have gone through the agent that booked the trip for me? I have no further paperwork other than that sent to me after the initial deposit and booking. Most perplexing and a tad disturbing. 

Edited December 13, 2019 by OnTheJourney

[Hanoj]

49 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

OK.....just sent an email to tellus@vikingcruises.com explaining the whole thing. Weird how this whole thing came about. How is it that an agent I've never had any contact with wound up handling my booking and arbitrarily made changes to it? I can't help but wonder when (or if) I might have found out about this had I not emailed the "tellus" address today regarding another issue. It is not very comforting to be sure. And, if some change was made, why wouldn't an updated invoice have gone through the agent that booked the trip for me? I have no further paperwork other than that sent to me after the initial deposit and booking. Most perplexing and a tad disturbing. 

One possible explanation for the “new” agent is that your old one is no longer with Viking, or no longer assigned to the sales office. We had this happen once. Do you know if the agent you’ve worked with is still in the Viking Sales department?

[OnTheJourney]

Good point....had not considered that. I suspect that he is still on the sales team, being that his voice mail extension was still valid. He had mentioned in his recording that he's off on Thursdays and so guess I'll find out tomorrow. 

[Mich3554]

12 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

Good point....had not considered that. I suspect that he is still on the sales team, being that his voice mail extension was still valid. He had mentioned in his recording that he's off on Thursdays and so guess I'll find out tomorrow. 

When I was trying to book my first cruise with Viking, I left several voicemails at their extension in the preceding month with the sales agent that I had been dealing with.  I finally got frustrated and went elsewhere.  The Viking rep I had been dealing with was no longer with the company, even though her extension and voicemail were working.  I know that it was at least a month after she left.

[OnTheJourney]

Got it all straightened out with the agent who did my booking. No idea why or how this problem occurred. My agent will send an updated copy of the vouchers just to make sure everything's right.