Travel Agent to Direct Booking

[Cristaltips]

Has anyone lost faith in their Travel Agent and moved bookings from that agent to P&O directly? Or even moved TA? 

[Harry Peterson]

We can’t discuss individual agents here, but they vary dramatically and although some are notoriously bad some are excellent. The one quite a few of us here use is very well regarded by most, and personally I wouldn’t dream of using P&O direct.

 

Their customer service is poor, you don’t get the additional discount, and there’s no provision for advance booking a particular cabin on the day that bookings open.

 

Very much a case of finding the right specialist agent, and it’s not on any High Streets. Well, maybe one.

[yorkshirephil]

1 hour ago, Cristaltips said:

Has anyone lost faith in their Travel Agent and moved bookings from that agent to P&O directly? Or even moved TA? 

There are plenty of people who have lost faith in their TA, us included. However we don't want to jump out of the frying pan into the fire so will stick with what we have. We have cruises booked directly with P&O and with several TA's. Most TA's are fine unless something goes wrong. One of the TA's we are booked with and have used regularly have started adding a non refundable deposit to their bookings, we won't be using them again so they have lost our business. I wouldn't be surprised if others don't follow suit. 

[Megabear2]

The days of worrying about extra discounts are long gone for me.  I want an agent who is reliable in a crisis and ring fences my money so it can be returned immediately if things get cancelled.  I have such an agent thankfully, they are reliable and efficient in all respects.  When my non cruise trips were cancelled in 2020 a very complex itinerary was unravelled and refunded fully within 24 hours. The same with a cruise last year.

 

I do occasionally book direct with the cruise line but experience shows communication is often extremely poor.

Edited March 14, 2022 by Megabear2

[wowzz]

26 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

want an agent who is reliable in a crisis and ring fences my money so it can be returned immediately

Actually you want an agent who doesn't keep your money at all, but accepts payment that goes directly to the cruise company.

[terrierjohn]

5 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Actually you want an agent who doesn't keep your money at all, but accepts payment that goes directly to the cruise company.

You certainly dont want an agent that wants payment more a week earlier than the P&O balance date.

[Cristaltips]

I have 8.5k due back  from a cruise cancelled on 13 January. I’m told it will be “processed” on 22 March but have no idea by whom, TA or P &O and how payment will be made. She is now choosing not to answer these questions so to say I’m annoyed is an understatement. I just want to know where I am. Obviously, P&O won’t tell me as it was booked through the agent 😡😡

[terrierjohn]

4 minutes ago, Cristaltips said:

I have 8.5k due back  from a cruise cancelled on 13 January. I’m told it will be “processed” on 22 March but have no idea by whom, TA or P &O and how payment will be made. She is now choosing not to answer these questions so to say I’m annoyed is an understatement. I just want to know where I am. Obviously, P&O won’t tell me as it was booked through the agent 😡😡

Strange that, my cruise, booked via my TA and cancelled in January, was refunded direct by P&O within days.

[Megabear2]

12 minutes ago, Cristaltips said:

I have 8.5k due back  from a cruise cancelled on 13 January. I’m told it will be “processed” on 22 March but have no idea by whom, TA or P &O and how payment will be made. She is now choosing not to answer these questions so to say I’m annoyed is an understatement. I just want to know where I am. Obviously, P&O won’t tell me as it was booked through the agent 😡😡

I can't understand that. I cancelled a Cunard cruise in January and my money came back in days and my agent refunded it to my personal account with her the same day.  I then switched it same day to credit my Aurora cruise on 1 April and it showed my balance paid the next day on the P&O system. 

 

[Cristaltips]

Wow, that’s an agent we’d all like to have I suspect. I will try to chase her up again but think I’m flogging a dead horse. There’s always a claim via the credit card company if all else fails. Fortunately, I’m not desperate for the money but could be 

[alpha whiskey]

2 hours ago, Cristaltips said:

Has anyone lost faith in their Travel Agent and moved bookings from that agent to P&O directly? Or even moved TA? 

Yes, add me to the list.

I have had bad experiences with 2 different agents.

 

One TA would only let me change a cruise once during the pandemic, and then required £100 fee  when I asked if it could be shifted a 2nd time. 

 

Another TA has added an additional £60 deposit (non refundable) to a cruise that was moved from 2020. They also want final payment 120 days out.

 

I did ask Princess if I could move a TA booking over to them, but unfortunately it would have to be cancelled and then rebooked.

 

Hence, all my new bookings have now been made direct.

 

[Megabear2]

21 minutes ago, wowzz said:

The TA you use is highly respected, and I would certainly have no hesitation in using them. My only concern would be their level of cruise knowledge compared to the specialist TA that many of us on here use.

In fact, I think they repay you out of a client account - they then wait for the money to be repaid to themselves from the travel company, carrier, cruise line etc concerned.

I think that's probably correct. I have an app which shows all my bookings with status including one called "Covid 19" which has a whole barrage of cancelled flights with references and use by dates. If I want to use one of these for something I click into the reference which triggers a call within the hour for me to discuss what I'm looking to do with it. 

 

Regarding cruises I do my own research but she notes my exact requirements in the same way you mention for yours. I've never not gotten exactly what I ask for.  She's always been extremely good at finding add ons etc for my weird and wonderful itineraries as well.

 

The "mother company" has 5 star reviews on Which and other review sites and these reviews are about how they have handled problems not sales.

[wowzz]

20 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I think that's probably correct. I have an app which shows all my bookings with status including one called "Covid 19" which has a whole barrage of cancelled flights with references and use by dates. If I want to use one of these for something I click into the reference which triggers a call within the hour for me to discuss what I'm looking to do with it. 

 

Regarding cruises I do my own research but she notes my exact requirements in the same way you mention for yours. I've never not gotten exactly what I ask for.  She's always been extremely good at finding add ons etc for my weird and wonderful itineraries as well.

 

The "mother company" has 5 star reviews on Which and other review sites and these reviews are about how they have handled problems not sales.

Hopefully my wife and I have one more "adventure" left in us. We will certainly use your TA.

[amajaa]

4 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

We can’t discuss individual agents here, but they vary dramatically and although some are notoriously bad some are excellent. The one quite a few of us here use is very well regarded by most, and personally I wouldn’t dream of using P&O direct.

 

Their customer service is poor, you don’t get the additional discount, and there’s no provision for advance booking a particular cabin on the day that bookings open.

 

Very much a case of finding the right specialist agent, and it’s not on any High Streets. Well, maybe one.

The Travel Agent we use, which I think a lot on here also do, does a good job and I still use them.
 

But , and a big but, I would never ever use them again to book a cruise package. We booked before lockdown, they said Princess had no flights available but they could do a package for us.  The package came out at the same price as booking everything with Princess ( via the TA) . When lockdown hit Princess paid us the cruise money back but the TA wouldn’t pay us the airfare and the hotel and transfers, they said they only paid out in exceptional circumstances. Turns out the cruise itself was a pittance compared to the whole price. This was the first and last time we will ever book a cruise package that doesn’t include flights as part of the cruise lines fare.  I would also recommend no one ever books a package with them.

[bobstheboy]

10 minutes ago, amajaa said:

The Travel Agent we use, which I think a lot on here also do, does a good job and I still use them.
 

But , and a big but, I would never ever use them again to book a cruise package. We booked before lockdown, they said Princess had no flights available but they could do a package for us.  The package came out at the same price as booking everything with Princess ( via the TA) . When lockdown hit Princess paid us the cruise money back but the TA wouldn’t pay us the airfare and the hotel and transfers, they said they only paid out in exceptional circumstances. Turns out the cruise itself was a pittance compared to the whole price. This was the first and last time we will ever book a cruise package that doesn’t include flights as part of the cruise lines fare.  I would also recommend no one ever books a package with them.

If you book a package and the tour operator is ABTA and ATOL bonded you are protected under the Package Holiday regs. Worth a look.  Any deal which includes a flight is a Package.

[amajaa]

Just now, bobstheboy said:

If you book a package and the tour operator is ABTA and ATOL bonded you are protected under the Package Holiday regs. Worth a look.  Any deal which includes a flight is a Package.

I tried all of that, got nowhere. Trouble was we cancelled when Princess said you could cancel and get your money back but a day before the Government advised no travel and all cruises were cancelled. Obviously you assume if Princess say cancel and get your money back that would be the same for the TA package. So anyone that booked the Princess package received all their money back but we didn’t. 

[bobstheboy]

4 minutes ago, amajaa said:

I tried all of that, got nowhere. Trouble was we cancelled when Princess said you could cancel and get your money back but a day before the Government advised no travel and all cruises were cancelled. Obviously you assume if Princess say cancel and get your money back that would be the same for the TA package. So anyone that booked the Princess package received all their money back but we didn’t. 

I understand. You cancelled too early unfortunately, I understand why, but Princess had given you permission but not the TA, hence they were not obligated to refund you.