FCC - can you change Travel Agents?

[CCWineLover]

Has anyone had any experience with this (re: Travel Agents)

If we receive one of those 125 % Future Cruise Credits for a cancelled cruise that was made via a specific Travel Agent, does the FCC go to the Travel Agent?  or to us?

The reason I ask:   We'd like to switch travel agents to a new one that we've met for our rebooking of a cruise using that FCC.  Are are we forever tied and stuck with the old Travel Agent, or can we use the new one?

[deec]

We have switched travel agents and are using our vouchers. 

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, deec said:

We have switched travel agents and are using our vouchers. 

 

Thanks, Dee!  More info please.  How did you get the voucher?  Our first cancelled cruise went directly to the Travel Agent.  We never saw it.  They called us and said we needed to book through them since they had the voucher.

So how did you change agents then?  

Thanks!

[Heidi13]

We received our FCV directly from Viking by email. Not sure if our TA was even copied on the email.

 

Suggest calling Viking directly and requesting a copy of the notification be sent to you by email. We are very happy with our TA, but if not, we could use any TA.

[Peregrina651]

@CCWineLover

 

When our August cruise was canceled, the voucher was part of the e-mail that we received canceling the cruise, along for the deadline for asking for a cash refund. One e-mail for each of us. With so many vouchers to keep, I have printed them out and put them in a safe place. 

 

Since the cruise was paid for partially in vouchers and partially in cash, the vouchers were reinstated as vouchers with the same voucher number and new vouchers with their new numbers were issued for the cash portion. (BTW, the 125% was given only on the cash portion).

 

Viking keeps track of the vouchers and cruise certificates (the ones we can buy on board the river cruises), so changing TAs should not be a problem.

Edited July 12, 2020 by Peregrina651

[deec]

We received the vouchers by email directly from Viking.  We have 3 each  plus a certificate from a River Cruise .  Two were from a previous TA one was from the TA we want to use now.  The new TA is not sure if Viking will pay her commission of the vouchers that were from the cruises that she did not book for us.

 

[CCWineLover]

Thank you all for your informative responses!

Dee - you do bring up a good point about a new TA not getting a commission if booking for us using a voucher we essentially got via a cancelled booking with another agent.

[CCWineLover]

4 hours ago, deec said:

We received the vouchers by email directly from Viking.  We have 3 each  plus a certificate from a River Cruise .  Two were from a previous TA one was from the TA we want to use now.  The new TA is not sure if Viking will pay her commission of the vouchers that were from the cruises that she did not book for us.

 

 

Hi Dee - I went back and looked at our emails from Viking that announced the cancellations and explained the terms.  No certificates were attached.  I know our TA had the certificates so Viking must have sent them separately to the TA.

Interesting!  Different policies/procedures.

So in that case we didn't even have the option to change TA's, as the TA effectively "owned" our vouchers - hence my question for an anticipated upcoming cancellation.  I may have to just call Viking and ask.

[deec]

It took weeks for vouchers to be emailed.

I think you could call Viking and ask for them to be issued directly to you!

[Heidi13]

I agree with Dee and suggest a call is warranted to customer service.

 

We hadn't received ours from the WC, so I called a few weeks ago. Most apologetic and within an hour we received the email, which I checked was copied to our TA.

 

The email lists the value, name, issue/expiry date and voucher number. Each of the vouchers are clearly in our names, so I see no reason why Viking can't email you a copy directly.

 

Good luck getting it resolved.

[CCWineLover]

21 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

Good luck getting it resolved.

Thanks Andy!

We got the email from Viking but it didn't have the FCV on it at all (with value, name, number, etc.).  Our TA had been copied on that email.  My guess is that the voucher went to the TA directly without a copy to me.

Will make some calls.  Don't want to get people in trouble - but the TA is nice, but not that proactive.  Our biggest complaint is that they are so big business with Viking that they won't do anything that might upset Viking, at the expense of going to bat for us, the customer.

[Heidi13]

If the TA isn't working for your interests, totally agree, it's time to change. Hoping you get a copy of the FCV and find a new TA.

[janert]

My travel agent is with an agency that does lots of business with Viking.  She has immediately gone to bat for us on any problem. I would not want an agent who did not work for you.  She is the one who told us when their Viking rep indicated to wait for Viking to cancel. 

[vslparis]

On 7/12/2020 at 10:28 AM, CCWineLover said:

Thank you all for your informative responses!

Dee - you do bring up a good point about a new TA not getting a commission if booking for us using a voucher we essentially got via a cancelled booking with another agent.

Viking is not paying a TA on bookings that have been suspended by them  unless it was 29 days before sailing .  Even if the FCC is with one agency,  another agency is free to help you with that FCC.  If the original agency is not willing to send you the email with the voucher information shown at the bottom, you can call Viking , give them your original booking number and they can find it.   The new TA would get the commission on the new booking where you use the FCC. 

[CCWineLover]

19 hours ago, vslparis said:

Viking is not paying a TA on bookings that have been suspended by them  unless it was 29 days before sailing .  Even if the FCC is with one agency,  another agency is free to help you with that FCC.  If the original agency is not willing to send you the email with the voucher information shown at the bottom, you can call Viking , give them your original booking number and they can find it.   The new TA would get the commission on the new booking where you use the FCC. 

Thank you vslparis!   That was a very good explanation and clears it up for me.