Joe

Say you don't have an unlimited budget but you think you've saved enough bread to take a fabulous, once-in-a-lifetime vacation a place you always dreamed of going but never thought you'd ever be able to afford it. Still, you had to hunt around for a good fare. This meant calling travel agents, searching the Web, whatever it took to get the best deal. After all, we all like bargains. <BR> <BR>You find a good deal, a couple of hundred dollars per ticket better than any other agent or service can offer. You jump on it. This was say three months ago. <BR> <BR>In that time, you've called the travel agent on several occasions and they keep putting off when they are going to get you your tickets. Now the flight is about a week away and you still don't have any tickets. But the bill has shown up on your credit card. <BR> <BR>The travel agent hasn't been answering the phone for the past two weeks. All you get is an answering machine (and no returned calls), the automated system tells you the message box is full and you'll have to call back or the phone rings, rings and rings. <BR> <BR>I'm at a loss on what to do. We need the tickets because we can't fly without them, according to the airline. Tell me if this has ever happened to you and what a person can do about it. Reservations have been made for rental car and hotel, which we will be responsible for, regardless.

Jim

Is this a small time local TA or a franchised national outfit?

whosatroll

Does you credit card statement show payment went to the airline? If so call the airline and confirm you have reservations in your name. So much is done with e-tickets these days, i'm surprised you expect to have paper tickets anyway. If the charge is to the travel agent, call your credit card company and cancel it. Start searching for last-minute fares now. I'm surprised you can't cancel hotel and car rental. Have you ever traveled anywhere in your life? Is this a real person with a real problem? There are so many holes in your story i can only believe this is a troll. Your credit card company should give you some bit of protection against fraud on the part of the supposed travel agent.

duh

I say, either Joe is troll or awfully stupid.....or both!

Andy

Joe- one thing to do is this: DO you know your flight numbers and time and dates and airline scheduled? If so, all you have to do is call that particular airline,see if they have the reservations for you. If you get a yes, tell them you LOST the tkts and need them re-issed--for $50 pp they will re-issue your tickets and MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PAPER TICKETS. Are you sure you made reservation thru a legit travel agent and not some scam operation?

marco

Jos, i'm canadian but i suppose in you countries (USA) and organism controle the travel agency because generally your money have to be keep in a trust account. Anyway, you have to call this cousumers protection organisation and ask what to do. Or call a big travel agency with big reputation an ask you control the money you think to give to him for ordering the ticket you whant to bbuy with the big agencies .they surely explain to you than you are protect by a governemental organisation, <BR>remember the name and call quickly! You have to travel!!!!!

Joe

I've read some of the replies and you guys can think what you want. But frauds happen every day in this world. I didn't do anything that each and every one of you wouldn't do-- I looked for the best deal I could find because I had time. When I got the best offer, I snatched it. <BR> <BR>The excuses they gave us on the many phone calls seemed to be legit. But when the phone just keeps ringing here recently... <BR> <BR>This seemed to be a legit agency. All it takes is one idiot to respond to a serious matter to throw the thread off track. <BR> <BR>I am neither an idiot nor a troll. This is the first time anything like this has ever happened to me. I'm sure something similar has happened to somebody out there, especially with as full as this place's voice mail has been. <BR> <BR>So just let me know what you think.

suggestion

Have you tried visiting the TA in person? It'd be a lot harder for him/her to avoid you. Or is it an anonymous 800 number? Try the BBB and call your credit card company.

xxx

Joe, <BR>As others have suggested, you should check first with the airline to see if the travel agent ever made a reservation for you and paid for the tickets. If so, ask that they be re-issued. If the travel agent never purchased your tickets, call your credit card company immediately, explain your situation, and they will put the charge under dispute so that it can be investigated. In the latter case, you may not be responsible for the charge if fraud is proven. However, you would still probably have to start trying to book different flight arrangements.

amy

Joe---if the charge was made three months ago, you may be out of luck, since with most cards you only have 60 days to dispute a charge and it usually must be in writing. I would try calling the airline as suggested above regarding your reservations. Good luck. And I NEVER use a travel agent.

elvira

Even if this is a troll, Joe has brought up an important issue - what to do if your provider doesn't provide. <BR> <BR>1) Travel agents have 'ticket stock' on which they print tickets (a few exceptions, like some foreign carriers); once they have the reservation, they print the ticket. At most, that's a week; a good travel agent will be on the phone with their airline contact if it's longer than that. If the TA is waiting for the ticket from a foreign carrier, s/he will also be phoning the airline contact to get that ticket ASAP. A good travel agent is a good business person; they don't want to p**s off a client. <BR>2) If you don't have your ticket within 30 days of making the reservation, you've got a problem and dispute the credit card charge immediately (non-delivery of goods). No good travel agent would leave you hanging that long. <BR>3) At this point (90 days), bring in the full weight and power of your credit card company. *Write a letter (Fedex it) and send an email* to the credit card company, stating the non-delivery of goods (the ticket), possible fraud, and you do not want to pay interest on the disputed charge (credit card companies do this automatically if the dispute is within a certain time frame, but it doesn't hurt to state your desire). <BR>4)If your travel agent is a member of ASTA, contact them right now <BR>http://www.astanet.com/index.asp <BR> <BR>Good luck, Joe, and let us know how things work out. <BR>

Cindy

Joe, sorry to hear about your situation. <BR> <BR>Even if you made the travel arrangements three months ago, perhaps you can still dispute it with your credit card company. Maybe there was a delay in posting it. Also, I think you might have 60 days from the date it appeared on your bill. So I would call the credit card company this instant and dispute the charges, and then follow up with a letter. You might also ask the credit card company if they have any information (e.g. address) for the company. I think I remember that I had to dispute a charge, and the credit card company had some info on the company. <BR> <BR>Second, as has been mentioned, if you have a legitimate street address for the travel agent, go there and seek redress. <BR> <BR>Third, if you only have a mailing address, send a letter telling them that you haven't received your tickets, and you are now going to make alternative arrangements. Sending the letter will protect you somewhat if you buy a second set of tickets and the TA sends your tickets at the last minute. Also, it will help establish a small claims court action, but frankly, if this is a fly-by-night outfit, you may just be out the money. <BR> <BR>Sorry.

Ed

If this were a deal through a consolidator the travel agent wouldn't be issuing the ticket. And if the consolidator has gone out of business or was selling something they didn't have, then the consolidator won't be issuing the ticket either. The credit card billing will show who issued the debit on the account ... I'd bet on a consolidator. <BR> <BR>At this point, all above suggestions about various people to contact in person and otherwise are good pieces of advice. In the end, though, the odds aren't too favorable for a pleasant outcome. <BR> <BR>The value in this thread is this: if the deal looks too good to be true, it may well not be true. <BR> <BR>Joe says any of us would snatch at this deal. Ain't necessarily true. Some deals are so good they ought to be passed up. <BR> <BR>Joe also says this kind of thing has to have happened to others, and here he's probably quite right. While there's a slim chance the tickets will turn up (I have heard of such cases), the odds are much greater that Joe's been defrauded. Hundreds, in fact thousands, have been defrauded in just this kind of circumstance over the years. At some point he may want to think about contacting the local prosecuting attorney and the state's attorney general.

dan woodlief

Hey, you never know what can happen. I am all for visiting in person if you live near enough. I won a trip once and couldn't get in touch with the sponsoring travel agent for at least two weeks. My wife dropped by when out shopping one weekday and made the guy call me on the phone while she was there watching. It ended up that the travel agency went bankrupt, and the radio station refused to make good on most of its prize. At least I had close to a year to plan the trip, but when I went I had to pay for at least half of the cost.

Paige

Hey Joe, I just read this and now I'm curious. Did you call the airline to find out if you have reservations or did you get ahold of the travel agent? What happened?

Joe

Thanks for all of the answers to this complex post. This was an advertisement that I answered in the big-city newspaper that is within 100 miles of where I live. But the travel agent, which I will have more to say about at a later date, is located in a state about 1,000 miles away. <BR> <BR>Now, I know what many of you are going to say. The first thing you'll probably do is criticize me for making such a deal with an agent so far away from home. But, let me reiterate that we don't have an unlimited budget, and if we could save $500 per ticket, we were going to give it a shot. The agent sounded legitimate enough. I had the itenerary within minutes (fax). Everything led me to believe this was legitimate. <BR> <BR>This time it just turned out badly, and I probably won't do such a thing again. <BR> <BR>We still haven't received the tickets and have disputed the charges with the credit card-- our flight out is in just a few days. We still haven't been able to get in touch with this travel agent, either via the telephone or e-mail. Something's definitely fishy, and we're in the midst of taking action. <BR> <BR>Although we have had to pay more money, we have made arrangements with a local travel agent today for a similar trip, only the duration has been shortened by a day. <BR> <BR>Hopefully we'll have a good time, and thanks to all of you for replying. I actually tried some of your ideas. This board really helps.

Peg

Joe, Enjoy your trip and thanks for the warning. For the future, I have used Priceline.com eight times and have gotten some fabulous deals. I go to Paris from Atlanta and usually pay around $300-350 round trip each time. My tickets arrive at my home within two days and I have nothing to worry about. Hope they stay in business, it's been a great ride for me! P.S. I really hope that this is not a "once in a lifetime" trip for you. You'll want to return again and again and we'll help you make that happen! Bon voyage, Peg

Joe

Check this out-- <BR> <BR>We were told on July 3 that the tickets would be FedEx(ed) to us on July 5 because July 4 was a holiday. We made arrangements so that somebody would be home all day July 6 and July 7. No tickets. <BR> <BR>We waited all day July 8, still no tickets. Remember, our plane leaves on July 14. <BR> <BR>Since we've lost all hope because of the lying by this travel agent, and I think we have enough evidence to back up that assumption, we did go out and purchase other tickets from our local travel agent late that afternoon. <BR> <BR>Sure enough, the travel agent from the first company called our house on July 10 and left a message with our daughter (who is a minor) that the tickets would be in our hands July 12. Since we bought new tickets, we no longer needed those. <BR> <BR>When my wife called the diorect line to the travel agent, somebody (miraculously) answered after the second ring. My wife said "Is this (The name of the travel agency)?" The person on the other end said "NO!!!!" and hung up. <BR> <BR>My wife called back on the 800 line and there was no answer. When the answering machine kicked on, she let the agency have it with both barrels. Which, I feel, was justified. <BR> <BR>It's July 12 and we still have no tickets from that travel agent, by the way. But with the new tickets, we fly out to Charlotte tomorrow and then to Frankfurt. We will get our vacation. <BR> <BR>The bad thing is, there is an ugly cloud hanging over the trip. I was told by an investigator in our state's attorney gerneral office that we probably would be responsible for the first set of tickets, provided they arrive before we are to depart. <BR> <BR>How can this be? We still had reservations to make-- motel rooms, etc. This cannot be fair. I can't see it being fair at all. <BR> <BR>What should I do? I've already filed a report with the BBB and disputed the credit-card charge (which we won't know for 90 days). What else can I do? <BR> <BR>Please help. I'll read the replies when we return.