bout to turn SC ><;

[Kirachan]

as i type this i am in a hotel in DC. nice week off from dealing with SCs but now i get to become one. we booked through expedia.com my mother-in-law-to-be (miltb) booked over the phone since she doesn't trust the internet (shes a little technophobic). apparently the person on the phone misheard my name and wrote my last name with a V instead of a D. thats not the sucky part, stuff happens. my miltb caught the mistake when they sent the conformation email. she called them the very next day and talked to them, they said they talked to American airlines and fixed it. because my miltb is a little paranoid she called a few times before the trip (we booked in feb) just to make sure things were still OK and my name was right, the assured her that everything was fine.

fast forward to today, we get to the airport (early thank goodness) and the ticket had the wrong name on it, meaning that technically it did not belong to me, but some nonexistent person. the charge to change my name on the ticket is $100. the american airlines desk person was very nice and when he heard what happened (and we treated him with respect, not his fault expedia doesn't know what its doing) he waived the fee. I called up expedia (before he told us he would waive it) to see if they were gonna reimburse us for this since they told us it had been taken care of. the lady on the phone told us that she had no records of us attempting to correct the misspelling. so we will be staying away from expedia from now on. I would have stayed on the phone longer but we found out the fee was getting waived and we needed to catch our flight. but we will be calling them when we get home. I won't be the one calling them but hopefully my miltb will keep in mind its not the person who answers the phone's fault.

[Gabrielle Proctor]

I don't think that you would be the SC in a case like this (unless you went completely ape shit and you didn't). You were understanding, at first, about your name being misspelled. They said they would fix the problem and handle the airline for you, it appears that they didn't...or they did and the fault is with the airline itself. Either way, you weren't in the wrong.

[Apathy]

Hopefully my miltb will keep in mind its not the person who answers the phone's fault.

Yes, that's important. But I'd still register a complaint and then use travelocity or whoever else in the future.

[marasbaras]

Not to be mean to your MILTD ... but, this is why it's best to use the Internet (versus the phone). You can check things. Details. Important details.

Or, use a bonafide travel agent with whom you have an account (usually that just means "credit card on file"). They can get you very good deals and help you in ways that Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, etc. can't or won't.

[smileyeagle1021]

we booked through expedia.com .

if I may give my opinion... that was your whole mistake right there. If you must go through a third party use an actual travel agent, otherwise always best to go through your airline/hotel/rental car direct, makes it infinitely easier to fix mistakes (you make a mistake on your reservation with the hotel direct... or even through central reservations, you can fix it with one phone call to the hotel's manager or corporate's guest relations... book online through a third party and you practically have to have a 3 way call to get everyone communicating to get it fixed).

[friendofjimmyk]

Priceline. I suggest using Priceline in the future. I went on vacation just recently and they were the epitome of awesome.

I have heard many bad things about Expedia and another Internet travel provider - Orbitz.

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

Every time I booked on the internet, something was wrong. Maybe it's me. But when there's a snafu, the person at the ticket counter would always ask, "Did you book over the internet?" And I'd hang my head in shame.

[Bramblerose]

Once again, where is teh suck? You weren't rude, you tried to get a mistake fixed. In fact, one rather wishes you miltb had notated who *said* they fixed things so they can get chewed out.

Who is it that has the tagline something like customer wanting you to make an effort isn't an SC? All you want is the job done right.

and kudos to the airline people for dealing with it in a happy way! Beats being on the no-fly list for having a difficult last name.

[Kirachan]

thanks for your support. i have told my miltb several times to just do it directly online as to avoid confusion, but she doesn't want her credit card on the internet. (she also refused to fax a paper with her SS on it to the apartment we were trying to apply for). her reasoning is that they then call later to confirm her card when shes not home so she might as well skip that step. shes very sweet but also very stubborn so i don't see her changing her ways any time soon. she answers phones at a loans office so hopefully she will know not to go off on the person at the other end of the line.

for a few minutes i was afraid they wernt going to let me fly. or that she would have to pay 100 bucks per ticket (2 planes on the way here 2 planes on the way back) cuz $400 would put a huge dent in our spending/food money. im so glad American Airlines was helpful, we will defiantly be using them in the future.

heres the kickier though, for our last few trips she has used a travel agent instead of booking it through an internet agency, but she always found her particular agent a little difficult to work with and this year they didnt return her calls so she decided to give expedia a try.
also my name is really not that hard, its a whole 3 letters. but D C V E all sound the same, especially on the phone. which is why i try to do everything over the internet, if i can order my pizza online i would rather do that than have to repeat everything 20 times to get my order across (its a little complicated).
And well im in DC and thats the important part.

[Imogene]

or they did and the fault is with the airline itself. Either way, you weren't in the wrong.

Um... how is it the airline's fault? Expedia claimed to have no record of the name change request.

[allniter]

For the most part, SC's are just scared sheep in wolf's clothing. Take away the fact that it's an employee they're dealing with and replace it with a stranger who can fight back and they crumble under the pressure.

This is why we need more good customers out there to stand in the way of SC's who bother innocent employees, cause they can't get fired. They can fight back with good cause.

[Skarredmind]

As a travel agent, I just thought I would pipe up on this one...

The only stupid thing was booking with expedia (especially with them over the phone...) They are an internet company and they can't even do that right all the time, booking with them over the phone is asking them to do the impossible. I've had numerous panicked calls from former clients who decided to try booking online only to get burned (one guy had flights from Philadelphia to Cancun... there were 4 connections, and his total travel time was 26 HOURS... Yeah, the trip online was cheaper... because there was one less day at the hotel!) and for me to try to fix it...

Sorry! I can't touch it! Not only no commission for me, but seriously, they won't let me touch it. I am not involved.

That said, you guys didn't know, I am sorry you had to learn the hard way.

On to the other end of the topic. Airlines don't pay commission anymore. Hence, your agent is probably charging you a ticketing fee, especially if you are only booking air. There is no profit for them otherwise, and very likely, more risk involved (one little mistake and the airline charges the TA exorbitant fees). I am willing to bet that if you were booking tickets only that is why the TA never called back. Its just not profitable. On top of that, if there are any problems on the airline's side, odds are they will blame the TA and try to make them look like the bad guy (I HATE the airlines if there was another option you can bet your last dollar that I would use it.) That said, not calling back is still horrible customer service, and something that a good TA would never do, but there it is.

This is what I tell my family and friends who are looking for air only packages. Look the price up on expedia or one of those sites. Write down the schedule you like, including times, airports, flight numbers, airline, and cost. Then go to the airline that own's the planes (in your case American) and book directly with them. Because you are a direct customer they will likely give you better service at the ticket counter, and if there is a problem they are DIRECTLY responsible. You won't have an agent to back you up when there are issues, but you will save a few bucks on ticketing fees, and the airlines are more likely to treat you right than someone else's customer.

As far as when you get home, don't call. Write. Write a long nasty letter, even better if you have any of the names of people talked to when the miltb called to make the corrections etc.

Keep a copy for yourself and track the timing on it. You are far more likely to get an adequate response with hate mail, than a call... and if you don't like the answer you want, don't be afraid to CC the letters to people higher up in the food chain of the company.

As far as being an SC, not at all. You dealt with a sucky company, and got burned. Don't become an SC by killing a phone rep

Feel free to PM too if you have any questions

[PepperElf]

thanks for your support. i have told my miltb several times to just do it directly online as to avoid confusion, but she doesn't want her credit card on the internet.

in a way, using a cc over the phone can be just as unsafe cos phone lines can be tapped.

but, you can also deal with many companies directly - such as airlines and hotels - over the phone.

the last time i made online hotel reservations.... i tried asiawebdirect.com cos i'd used them before... but they were so SLOW at getting the room confirmed that it was taken before they were done. i ended up calling hotels.com and booking with them, even changed a couple of my days and it was pretty good.

actually i've only had one bad time with hotels.com and that was cos i booked a room in san fran and it had "community bathrooms" (it was mentioned in the write-up so it wasn't their fault) but all my friends were like "eeek that's a bad part of town". but they dragged me into their hotel room so it was all good.

[Kirachan]

thanks for the tips Skarrdmind, i will pass them along to my miltb. but im not sure why the agent didnt call us back, we were booking a hotel and flights. the important part is that we made it here. im just glad we learned without getting burned (thanks to AA). were going to go see the memorial day parade today, i doubt we will be able to actually see it over the crowds though

[wagegoth]

in a way, using a cc over the phone can be just as unsafe cos phone lines can be tapped.

A cordless phone signal can be picked up about as easily as a cell phone. I'd be more nervous about that than putting my credit card on the Internet. Besides, her credit card information is still going to be sent around electronically between the airline and the bank and whoever else. No one does hard copy anymore. I'm surprised she doesn't realize this, since, as you said, she works in a loan office.