Bad service at Travelocity fyi
 

Greetings,

I am just sending out an alert regarding poor service from Travelocity. We booked an itinerary to Greece through them, and an Olympic Air schedule change required a change in the tickets. I have thus far spent 6 hours trying to get this accomplished, have been on hold interminably, (the service center appears to be in India and the reps are very difficult to understand), was told we had to take our paper tix to the airport within 36 hours to be changed by Delta, 3 hours later we were leaving the airport with no changed tickets (wrong information) and the end result is that we have to send our tix FEDEX at our expense to Travelocity San Antonio with a letter explaining the situation. The rep continuously emphasized that it wasn't their fault rather than concentrating on how to fix the problem. I have a strong feeling that this is only the beginning of the saga and I am terrified to send off paper tickets after the incompetence and lack of care to date. I would strongly suggest using an alternative to this company.

HI Robyn--a travel nightmare!! So sorry to hear of your woes. On a cynical note...Isn't it wonderful how "outsourcing" is improving our quality of life?

PS--I hope you made copies of everything you fedexed to them....The more I think about your situation, the more annoyed I become. Travelocity "sells" travel arrangements. Imagine taking a defective cosmetic or piece of clothing back to Macy's (just to use an example most people would know) and having the clerk spend his/her time telling you that it was not Macy's fault. Of course it is not Macy's *fault*!! But it *is* their responsibilty b/c they sold it to you!!!!

Keep us posted on this. While I had no idea Travelocity outsourced to India I am not surprised - it seems whenever you call a "800" number these days you are connected to a call center overseas and people who you cannot understand (and who do not understand you). I have found that in most cases they read from a "script" - they have stock answers for everything and I believe they are reading word for word off the screen in front of them.

Call back again and insist to talk to a supervisor (frequently their English will be easier to undertand and insist on being given a number in the U.S. If they say no just keep insisting. I hate doing things like that,but sometimes it is necessary to be forceful (not nasty, just forceful). Obviously they have an office in San Antonio if you were told to send tickets there, surely someone there can talk to you.

Interesting since Travelocity is doing a huge ad campaign that they will make ANYthing right that is wrong.

Hi all--thanks for the feedback--I did talk to a supervisor on the last go-around--that was who told me to send them FEDEX. I have since sent a letter to the PR agency who is referenced in their customer bill of rights (what a joke!) with a note that they may wish to follow up with actual, to the Office of the President and of course to consumer relations. I am nervous about sending it all off --haven't done so yet--will definitely make copies--as we leave for France on Tuesday for 2 weeks and heavens knows what will happen in between.

The killer in all this is that they do not "own the problem". The supervisor kept telling me how it was Olympics schedule change--as if this doesn't happen every day. Poor poor customer service. Will definitely update. I said I would like a call from Management on Monday before we leave--don't hold your breath, but you never know.

Thanks for the support.

Take care,
Robyn France

Just out of curiousity, Robyn, have you spoken to Olympic? What do they say about all of this or are they disavowing responsibility too?

FYI, I bought my husband a airline ticket on travelocity once instead of through the airline directly. When I tried to reserve a seat and get him a boarding pass online, I was informed I couldn't do it b/c I had booked through travelocity. That was the last time I'll use them for anything other than research.

Seems strange. I have gotten seats with Expedia and Hotwire. Even changed to better seats last week with Hotwire ticket.

"Imagine taking a defective cosmetic or piece of clothing back to Macy's (just to use an example most people would know) and having the clerk spend his/her time telling you that it was not Macy's fault. Of course it is not Macy's *fault*!!"

And I have actually experienced this with clothing! Item fell apart in wash and store refused to take it back.....

Hi Gretchen--we too have used Hotwire, Expedia and Priceline--all with excellent results. This is our first Travelocity effort.

Robyn-

Everyone is now outsourcing to India.

I made reservations with USAIR and the day I called to charge the tkts, that agent said the first agent ( an outsourced agent) screwed up..And I was stuck with a more exp .tkt...Then this same man said as of July, ALL of USAIR's TKTG centers will be outsourced to INDIA ( who I also have a HARD time understanding)...

So all............be forewarned.......

Hi all--we leave for France in the morning so I may not be able to fill you in for a while--but the best thing I did was send a note to the PR contact referenced in their "Customers Bill of Rights". She definitely gets it and has written immediately this morning that she would have Travelocity call within 48 hours. We FEDEXED the tix and required signature on receipt. I have since heard from a consumer specialist by email who will also follow up--said someone would be calling but we won't be here to get respond. The outsourcing is an issue but for me the bigger issue was not owning the problem until it was fixed. That is customer service. Hopefully, the Greece tickets will be here when we return. Thanks for all the info--didn't know about USAir complete outsourcing--too bad.

Take care,
Robyn France