I have found out that Grand Circle and OAT are part of Grand Circle Corp. which is a privately owned company. I have written to the owner, Alan Lewis. I am really not asking for anything from them except for the cost of my shots and vaccinations. And I really just want him to know how disappointed I was and that I would certainly tell others about this.

Susie, please let us know the nature and timeliness of the response if you get one.

SusieQQ

Like Mike, I hope to see the company respond to you. I like your idea of asking for something specific.

Try to indicate what you would have needed to make it possible for you to reschedule your tour. Let the company know how much notice you would have needed. If you feel you have a future with them, let them know: people will work harder to preserve a relationship than to mollify a lost cause. Point out the benefits of voluntary bumping. Seek solutions for mutual gain. And again, I wish you Godspeed.

Kswl

It might be true that large-scale boycotts are effective, but given that you admit a large scale is necessary, pray tell from whence is this ‘large scale’ participation going to come? Not from all the posters here (including yours truly) who are for the most part independent travelers; our ‘boycott’ would be meaningless, as any tour company would deduce in a heartbeat.

I am not in favour of advocating ‘getting satisfaction’ when the getting of it occurs at someone else’s expense, in this instance, SusieQQs. If she refuses to use OAT again, she will give up at least as much control as she gets, since by refusing she will lose the choice of a company that offers services that are so attractive, that it sometimes gets more than enough participants to sign up for them. From this fact (not opinion) I deduce that Susie has little to gain in running a one-man boycott, whereas she might just be able to use such leverage as she has with this company to get certain of her other interests met.

I've stepped out on a limb here. Having had numerous communications with OAT in the past, I sent an email to their administration and gave them a link to this thread. I thought they might be interested in the 43 comments (so far) regarding this incident and suggested they may want to comment. I received an email back saying they would check it out. So I'll be curious if we hear from them here. It would be nice for all of us to hear "their side" of the story.

I assure you that I would certainly choose another company for future travel. None of the other companies with which we've traveled to Europe and the Orient have ever tried such a stunt. Overbooking on airlines is much less problematic since they usually put a traveler on another carrier within a matter of hours.

Suzie, I am so very sorry for your experience.

We went on the Amazon trip with International Expeditions
One Environs Park of Helena, AL
We added the Optional 5-Day Machu Picchu Extension.
http://www.ietravel.com/index.asp
We had a wonderful time! I even saw a capybara (aquatic rodent). I look forward to doing another trip with them someday. All personnel were great.

In addition to writing to the Grand Circle owner, I had sent an e-mail directly to OAT from their web site requesting vaccination cost reimbursement. I received an e-mail from an OAT "e-mail correspondent" She has asked which vaccinations I had received and the cost. She will submit it to their "Move and Change Department"(I kid you not) to see if they are valid for reimbursement.
Also, thanks to all of you who suggested other companies. I will check them out, although I am a little reticent about booking with another tour company.

I think if OAT is going to have a policy of bumping a single traveler, who is paid in full, no less. The very least they could do is tell us right up front that there is a chance that we could get bumped if a couple becomes avaluble for 1 room. At least one would be made aware of this, right up front. Booking anyway would be then at ones own risk.

When I booked my up coming trip with them, there was no mention of this policy at all.I did book as a single to start with. I told a co- worker about the trip and she is now going with me.As the tour booked up very quickly I am pretty sure had I reminded a single, I would also have been bumped. But then, I guess, I am assuming that now I won't be because I am not traveling alone now.

Knowing this now, I will not recommend them to anyone else, no matter how good the tour is.I would be afraid to book any more trips with them , as I will not take the risk.It is to bad,as up tell now, I had heard only good things about them.

Susie, I sure hope they pay for those shots. But some how that just seems, to little to late.

Sue xx yy

Please read my post carefully. I said that boycotts, on a large scale, are remarkably effective. Period. And that that is NOT what I have advocated for SusieQQ. Hmmm. I am curious as to what makes you an apologist for OAT? Or is this simply a case of,

"Give us a kick, if you please Your Majesty,

Give us a kick, if you would, Your Majesty,

Oh, That was good, Your Majesty! (from Anna and the King of Siam)

I guess a tour couldn't be good enough for me to bend over for that second kick.

Susie, the company I mentioned didn't put us on a tour. Instead, they made hotel, transportation and transfer arrangements for us. My point is that we didn't travel with anyone; there was no group tour. In that circumstance I don't see any risk of being bumped again.

Kswl

I think the word I’d use for me is ‘determined optimist’ not apologist. As I read this tale, SusieQQ isn’t upset with the service that she got from this company, she’s upset (as I would be) with the service she has been told she ISN’T going to get. Given that’s the case, to quit at this stage, without trying to make the best deal possible, would be to act like the fabled employee. The one who, upon being told he was being laid off, yelled: “You can’t lay me off (bump me) – I quit!”

While it’s always useful to have a ‘Plan B’, or what the authors of “Getting to Yes” call a BATNA, a Best Alternative to Negotiated Agreement, it’s easy to underestimate the importance of negotiating first because negotiating is harder to do than make threats. It’s also easy to overestimate the strength of one’ best alternative. Assuming SusieQQ wanted to take a tour to the destination in question, it is true that if she didn’t use OAT, she could always use another company. But as the thread already explored, it’s quite possible that other tour companies overbook as well, so switching companies alone wouldn’t suffice to solve the problems of involuntary bumping. Plus, SusieQQ has presumably already invested a lot of time and effort in picking this company as one that would best serve her needs. So, given that I respect her judgment in this regard (for who else is better qualified to know her needs?), I'm not about to urge her to simply chuck this relationship out the window. (And yes, my husband and I are optimists about marriage: it’s the only way we’ve refrained from killing each other over the last 20 odd years! :) )

Talking directly to the companies, on the other hand, might just get one somewhere. And whereas Mrs.Leonowens was dealing only with one person – the king – an organization is a multiple-person affair. If one of those people, or if even if one encounter with a given person doesn’t give one satisfaction, does it necessarily follow that every subsequent encounter with every other person in the company is going to have the same result? In my experience, it hasn’t been, which is why I’m an optimist.