I am hoping to go on safari to south Africa later this year, but I am having some issues with the travel agent that I chose. The agent has apparently made reservations and I have sent her a deposit. However, communications are an ongoing problem, and I would like to be able to switch travel agents.

Is it possible to switch agents after reservations have been made and a deposit collected? I would have no problem with the first agent receiving the proper commission that she is entitled to, and I would understand if changing agents cost some extra money. However, I’d like to know if anyone has experience doing this, and how I would go about the process. I obviously would not want to lose the reservations that I currently have. Thanks, Hector.

I would suggest you talk to that person and chk their cancellation policy and try and back out immediately. Otherwise, it might be too late.

I did this once not due to any problem with the agent, just my own change of plans. I lost $250 per the cancellation policy.

I just contacted the agent and told them why I was cancelling and my credit card was refunded, minus the fee. This is not that uncommon in the travel business.

Most agents have an escalating penalty as the trip departure date approaches, so I'd cancel now.

Please post with how it all worked out for you. Good luck.

Update as requested by atravelynn: I called the safari lodge operator to make sure that the reservations had in fact been made, and to ask about switching agents. Apparently, this is not unheard of.

I then called Nicky at Eyes on Africa, and she expects to be able to take over the reservation. I don't know how much the switching will cost me, but it will surely be worth it to me knowing the all of the other arrangements (transport between camps, reservations at non-camp hotels, and any changes) will be taken care of responsibly.

Good move HectorLopez! Many of us have been very satisfied with Eyes on Africa.

I am surprised you are still not sure how much the switch will cost you. Doesn't agent #1 have a written policy outlining cancellation penalties?

Just a thought--if ending the relationship with agent #1 does not result in a reasonable refund, you could always mention that you are posting your itinerary development on Fodors and will use agent #1's name. That's nice you have not in your original inquiry. Hopefully all will go well there will be no need for such a post. Where are you going in South Africa?

Apology and update:

I wrote the original post for this thread using the pseudonym HectorLopez. I used a pseudonym and fuzzed some details to protect both my own interests and that of the agent involved. I apologize to the community for using a pseudonym and not providing exact details.

I have completed the transfer from one agent to another. The process is simple, but potentially quite costly. To change agents, I found a new agent and agreed upon a total price for the safari. I then contacted the previous agent, told him that I was changing agent, and asked him to notify the ground handler he used to release (but not cancel) my reservations. Once my previous agent notified the ground handler, my new agent could then take over the reservation.

Now the costly part. The original agent is entitled to keep the entire deposit, and none of it is transferred to the new agent. In my case, the original agent offered to refund 50% of my nearly-$2000 deposit, and I accepted his offer. Even had he offered my no refund, I would have made the change, as I had lost confidence in his performance as a safari agent.

To answer atravelynn, I plead guilty to not knowing what it would cost me beforehand, and to not know the cancellation policies in advance. (I guess I did not see this as cancelling the trip, as I am still going to the same camps/etc that the first agent reserved). I was covered for cancellation due to illness, but I did not foresee the chain of events that caused me to lose confidence in the first agent.

What did the original agent to do make you loose confidence and $1000.

Use any name you like! Sorry about the loss, but being out $1000 is better than having the trip bungled by an inept or corrupt agent. Please post the itinerary when you have it.

<b>colind</b> -- This is the e-mail that I sent to my ex-agent, detailing the reasons for my switching agents:

“Responsiveness to my requests was the primary factor. In the recent case, I had called you on 20 April to let you know that I would have 2 extra nights available and to ask if you would check on availability at 2 lodges. I understand that there were extenuating circumstance; still, you did not send an answer until 4 May. The quality of the response was as important as its timeliness: your response was little more than a forwarded e-mail. Moreover, you did not take the time to suggest any alternatives to me, and I surely would have expected that type of information from a specialist agent.

“Another example of a problem is the apparent failure to make the reservation that I had requested during a telephone conversation in January for a second night at the Victoria Falls Hotel. In our recent conversation, you said that your record showed me staying at that hotel for just 1 night.

“Finally, I found the 20 April telephone conversation to be disturbing because of ... [<i>reason omitted</i>]. I thought your demeanor was inappropriate, and I felt uncomfortable as a client trying to quickly end a long-distance telephone conversation in those circumstances.”

<b>atravelynn</b>: Thanks for the kind words. I’ll be traveling from Boston to Victoria Falls in August, stopping over for 1 night in Amsterdam (Amstel Hotel). I’ll then spend 1 night at the Vic Falls Hotel, before continuing to the following camps:

Muchenje: 2 nights
Kwando Lebala: 4 nights
Nxabega: 4 nights

Then it’s back home to Boston via LHR (no stopover).

Am I excited – you betcha.

Rizzuto
Sorry to hear you will lose $1000 but glad you were able to change the reservations over without any problems and that you're now with an agent you feel comfortable with.
I do feel the choice of agent is really important and sometimes overlooked. If you ask someone what is important to them in an agent they will readily list issues such as promptness of response, detailed responses, quality of advice when requested and raising of issues that one has not realised/ considered and so on. And yet, so often, this goes out of the window and people just book with the agent who gives them the cheapest quote!
This is not always the case here on Fodors where many posters truly appreciate the importance of a good agent but I see it happening off-board a lot.
On my last trip (sadly back in 2004) I actually booked with an agent who had quoted me a few hundred pounds per person higher than the other one I had been dealing with. Why? Because one agent swapped me from rep to rep the first few times I dealt with them, never passing on the full information each time, then when I did get a single rep dealing with me, she made several mistakes responding to my emails (one was booking for the wrong year, another was booking a flight transfer where a water one was requested) and was simply not that helpful or knowledgeable. The other company made sure I dealt with one person throughout, ensured I knew everything I needed to know, even volunteering extra information that I hadn't requested but that they felt I might find useful, went out of their way to try and book honeymoon tents for us (the trip included a wedding renewal ceremony, exchanging of new rings and was essentially a second honey moon) and never seemed to begrudge spending time on phone or email to clarify even small details. The extra money was well worth it!