Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Just Say No to Travelocity

For the past four days I’ve been trying to rebook my trip for Australia and New Zealand because there was a cancellation with the company that my father is training for down there. All I want to do is change if from travel in February to traveling in April. I know my exact flights I want to change to, I’m know about the all the change fees and all of the regulations and I'm willing to pay all of that, I just need someone to make that change. Doesn’t sound that hard does it? WRONG! I’ve had more fun at the dentist than trying to deal with Travelocity to make these changes. I have spent at least nine hours on the phone with this company! That’s more than a regular day’s work! I’ve been hung up on seven times (twice by the same agent and twice by managers) and then when I finally got someone on the phone they said there is nothing we can do to help you. WTF?!? If you have ever seen a Travelocity advertisement they say “Satisfaction Guaranteed! We'll make sure everything is right.” and that “We’re #1 with customer service”. This is the biggest pile of crap!

I don’t like to throw out numbers around but I want everyone to know how big this trip is. The cost of airline tickets, hotels and cars is over $12,000 and they turn around and tell us that there is nothing they can do for us. By the way, we have used Travelocity so much in the past we’re Gold V.I.P. members and this is how we get treated. I can't imagine how they'd treat first time users.

I’ve had enough of the run around so I’m out to boycott this company until they do something for us to get this changed. So I just want everyone out there that is booking travel online, NOT to use Travelocity. There are plenty of other sites out there that I’m sure will be more willing to help then Travelocity.

3 comments:

erinannie said...

As someone who works for a related travel company, I can give you a big piece of advice and insight.

The chain of ticket purchasing goes like this-

You- Travelocity- the airline- travelocity- you.

It's more complicated with international flights.

When you change your ticket it goes like this-

You buy from Travelocity.
Travelocity holds the funds on your credit card.
Travelocity buys from the airline.
Travelocity pays the airline.
(this is why your credit card will show travelocity and not the airline name)
The airline issues the seat to Travelocity.
Travelocity issues you a ticket. And in many cases, an international ticket requires an actual paper ticket still.
You decide to change it.
You tell Travelocity.
Who then has to negotiate with the airline.
And check international databases to make sure you aren't some drug dealer, etc.
yada yada yada
its a big back and forth game.
And your credit card will likely get charged 2-3 times. And if there isn't room for it all on there, they will try to negotiate with your credit card company to allow the charges through anyway. Because your first ticket will get refunded, which takes 4-6 weeks to show. And they need to charge it again. But the card will usually allow it to go through. But Travelocity can't "buy" a ticket from the airline until your card is authorized.
Follow me?
Anyway, my point??
ALWAYS pay for the Travelocity insurance.
AND negotiate with the airline when changing, and NOT with Travelocity.
That is IF you can. You frequently can't.
That $20 insurance will save you every time!!

orangemily said...

That is ridiculous!

Julie said...

We went through travelocity once and it was such a mess at the airport--the lady that ended up helping asked us if we used travelocity. I said yup, and she said-don't use them any more. I still use them to keep an eye on rates, but that's it.