Chocklatgurl

On 2-4, I "won" an auction for a 7-night stay at an Atlantic City hotel. Unfortunately, I didn't read the "fine print" before submitting my travel dates. Skyauction quickly confirmed these dates.As Murphy's law goes, I found out that same day that I would not be able to travel on those dates after all. I immediately sent an email requesting a change. (My CC had not been charged yet). Yesterday, (2-5), I rec'd an email from Skyauction saying that my dates were "non-changeable". I would be more apt to believe this had I not already called the hotel to check my reservation and found out that it had not been made. The hotel also had the dates available that I would like to take the trip. The auction said there would be a $150 surcharge for trip dates after May 20th. I am willing to pay this amount. However, I feel as if I'm now locked into this thing with my only choice being to forfeit the vacation. Has anyone had a similar experience or any advice on how to proceed? Thanks!

Christina

My only experience with Skyauction was not positive, so I can't speak from great customer service experience (totally diff. question) -- however, it seems like the only way you have to proceed is to talk to them and perhaps say what you aid in the post -- you know they didn't make the reservation yet. However, they are under no obligation to do anything as I believe their policy clearly states the dates are nonchangeable once you make them.

Regardless of what you think or even if they made the reservation yet, they may not want to change them simply because that is their policy, period, end of story. I imagine if they start letting people change their mind all the time and giving exceptions for no valid reason, it could become a big business hassle for them and a bad precedent. I don't remember anywhere in their policy saying no changes except for people who don't read the fine print and if some clerk on the phone at the hotel doesn't know about the reseravation yet.

Seamus

Just because the hotel doesn't have a reservation in your name doesn't mean the room is not booked. Not sure if Sky Auction works this way, but many sites that sell discounted rooms actually buy blocks of rooms, then assign one to your name after your purchase. So your name could be on a list of people to assign to the room/date you purchased but that administrative task just hasn't yet been done by Sky Auction.
Guess the old caveat applies - do read the fine print before buying.

babs001

Since you know the hotel has availability on the dates you really want, you might be able to change after the reservatiion has been made wby going through the hotel itself. I'm sure they want a happy customer.

Chocklatgurl

UPDATEkay, because I feel it is equally important to give commendation for positive experiences I am pleased to report that this matter has been resolved. I called Skyauction yesterday and spoke to a customer service rep (who happened to be very polite, btw) who agreed to forward my request to her supervisor. When I didn't get a call back, I called them back. The supervisor (Chris) personally took the call. He admitted that he had not looked into my request but would do so and call me back. I was a little antsy yesterday when he did not. So, I called back this morning (yes persistence probably played a part) and spoke to Chris again. He agreed to change my dates. For the record, Skyauction does not deal directly with the hotel in making reservations but goes through a supplier for "blocks" of rooms and dates. I did not know this before. Overall, everyone was pleasant and accommodating (except maybe the lady who responded to my emails). My suggestion is that you should definitely call instead of using the email. I hope this helps everyone!

Budman

Chocklatgurl, thanks for the update, and I'm glad it got resolved.

Skyauction is actually a travel agency. I won a bid of 2 tickets to Munich and my out-laws wanted to go, so I called them up, and got the other 2 tickets to go along with ours. I believe they charged an additional $25 each for the extra tickets from what we paid.