Anyone else, had frustrating situations with their Travel Agent??

[Lilly08]

I posted in the Resort section yesterday and got wonderful advice.
I called Disney to see if I could put in my Hotel request.
Well, I have to go into my local travel agent. I used a local travel agent to book my family’s Christmas Disney World trip.
I have had nothing but total nightmare situations with this travel agent. Every time they have had to fix a mistake on my account it has caused even more issues on (My Disney Experience) APP. Examples, deleted park tickets, deleted special event tickets, which effected my abilities to do dinner reservations, purchasing advanced event tickets, booking special tours.
My memory maker was deleted twice. My last issue with the memory maker. It just left me speechless. Short version, I was told at 11am, not log into (My Disney Experience) till Travel Agent got word back from Disney internet help desk. Because it could cause more issues on it. She said It would be fixed by 3pm and she would call me as soon it was up. Well, I waited till 5pm and tried calling her for news. Office had closed early... I had to wait 45mins to speak with Disney for a confirmation everything was ok and I could log into (My Disney Experience)! I still haven’t received that call from her...
Misspelled names on flight tickets, twice! This happening with photo copies of everyone’s birth certificates in front of travel agent doing the fix’s!
Every time it has happened. I’ve had to wait for the travel agent office to open...
Then they will throw the blame on Disney.
I’ve spent over 48hrs on the phone with Disney internet help desk. Which in the end I’ve had to call travel agent to resolve it..
Disney World can NOT see my Disney Package. They can not add or subtract things from it. They can’t even just add notes onto it..
I’m sick to my stomach, of just having to call them to add my hotel room request this morning.. Just another bump in my road, being a mommy to 6 beautiful girls!

 

[Weather_Lady]

I'm so sorry, OP. I had a negative experience with a prior TA, and after that, vowed never to bother with one again. It's a decision I've never regretted, and it's great to have the freedom to make changes or add things myself without having to go through a "middleman."

But, back to you. If Disney can't "see" your vacation package in its reservation system, that's a huge problem. Can you see it when you log into MDE? If it's been properly linked and you have a legitimate confirmation number, Disney should be able to pull up the details. If it can't, something is amiss.

If you're calling to make room requests, I'd imagine you're just a few weeks out from your trip. At this point, frustrating as it is, I'd just keep monitoring MDE to make sure everything stays the same. If you were earlier in the process, I'd suggest breaking away from the TA altogether, making a new reservation, on your own and managed solely by you, and then canceling all room (or room-and-ticket-package) reservations made through the TA - but if your travel date is fast approaching, that might be more trouble than it's worth. Also, be aware that sometimes, things do just "disappear" and then reappear on MDE over the course of a few hours or even a day -- I've had it happen on several occasions, where a hotel or dining reservation just didn't display for awhile, and then magically did. It's just a glitch in the system, and could be nothing to do with your TA.)

Next time, find a reputable TA (perhaps on that family and friends recommend - I know I've seen Kindom Konsultants recommended a few times on these forums), or better yet, make and manage all of your reservations yourself. Thanks to the troubles you've had, you probably know as much as the TA does about how to do so at this point!

 

[Lilly08]

Hi Weather_Lady,
I will never book through another TA.
Disney’s inability to see my package is a huge nightmare!
My package was paid in full October 13. I have it linked on MDE. But, Disney still can’t see it. They keep saying it’s due to a TA booking.
I haven’t been able to add my hotel room request through MDE.
I can see everything on MDE. I’ve had those little burps on MDE also.
Still haven’t been to TA yet this morning. UGH

 

[DisneyJoe]

When you book via a travel agent, you are giving a certain amount of control to the agent - and the Disney reservation center has instructions to respect that. In other words, if you call the Disney Reservation Center to attempt a change on your reservation, they will retrieve the confirmation number, see that it was booked via a TA, and tell you that they cannot do anything with it, it needs to go via the TA. (i.e. they "can't see it")

That being said, once your reservation is successfully linked to MDE, you should be able to book dining, special tours and special event tickets yourself. The only thing the TA would need to do is make payments and fix flights (if the flights are booked via Disney travel)

This TA sounds like she doesn't know the ins and outs of MDE and I would not let her do anything with it once you get it fixed.

You can fax your room request to the resort, a Google search should find a few sites that will tell you how.

 

[Lilly08]

Thank you everyone.
After a few wonderful Disney Veterans reached out to me.
I sat down and wrote all of the situations down. I faxed it to Disney. With the intention of having it withdrawn from the Travel Agents hands and back into my own.
I should have went with a highly rated Disney World Travel Agent.

 

[jaklgreen]

I stopped using travel agents with the invention of the internet. Plus I like to be in control of my vacations and hate the whole back and forth you have to deal with when using an agent. It used to be a good thing to use an agency because they did their jobs well and there were special advantages by booking with one. But that is long gone now. I hope your issues get resolved. Nobody should stress about a vacation.

 

[Ricky Spanish]

No
(Who uses a travel agent?)

 

[nickys]

Thank you everyone.
After a few wonderful Disney Veterans reached out to me.
I sat down and wrote all of the situations down. I faxed it to Disney. With the intention of having it withdrawn from the Travel Agents hands and back into my own.
I should have went with a highly rated Disney World Travel Agent.

Please let us know how you got on. I hope Disney can help.

 

[DisneyJoe]

No
(Who uses a travel agent?)

http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/travel-agents/millennials-travel-agents

 

[jaklgreen]

http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/travel-agents/millennials-travel-agents

Now they are even too lazy to book a hotel. LOL

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I have used Kingdom Konsultants and another agency that specialized in Disney and had good results with both, but I usually booked through them when I did a cruise to get their incentives. Those times I was still able to make my own dining reservations and fast passes because I like to do that myself. Usually when I just book Disney World or Disneyland I just do it myself.

Anyway, I am sorry you had those issues. Is the agent you went through the owner of the agency or just someone who works there? Just wondering because if it is not the owner or person in charge of the agency you really should let the owner/manager know. They would want to know that their agent is driving away future business with their ineptitude.

 

[Pixieish]

Definitely go to a TA that specializes in Disney if you're going to use a TA at all. A GOOD TA will only do what you want and will allow you to control as much as you want about your trip and will be able to offer advice where it's needed. Personally, part of the fun for me is in the planning, so I do it all myself.

 

[Lilly08]

Ajrwdwgirl, I booked with owner. Then it was turned over to a worker.
Once I have a update. I will post the info.

 

[Rumrunner]

I posted in the Resort section yesterday and got wonderful advice.
I called Disney to see if I could put in my Hotel request.
Well, I have to go into my local travel agent. I used a local travel agent to book my family’s Christmas Disney World trip.
I have had nothing but total nightmare situations with this travel agent. Every time they have had to fix a mistake on my account it has caused even more issues on (My Disney Experience) APP. Examples, deleted park tickets, deleted special event tickets, which effected my abilities to do dinner reservations, purchasing advanced event tickets, booking special tours.
My memory maker was deleted twice. My last issue with the memory maker. It just left me speechless. Short version, I was told at 11am, not log into (My Disney Experience) till Travel Agent got word back from Disney internet help desk. Because it could cause more issues on it. She said It would be fixed by 3pm and she would call me as soon it was up. Well, I waited till 5pm and tried calling her for news. Office had closed early... I had to wait 45mins to speak with Disney for a confirmation everything was ok and I could log into (My Disney Experience)! I still haven’t received that call from her...
Misspelled names on flight tickets, twice! This happening with photo copies of everyone’s birth certificates in front of travel agent doing the fix’s!
Every time it has happened. I’ve had to wait for the travel agent office to open...
Then they will throw the blame on Disney.
I’ve spent over 48hrs on the phone with Disney internet help desk. Which in the end I’ve had to call travel agent to resolve it..
Disney World can NOT see my Disney Package. They can not add or subtract things from it. They can’t even just add notes onto it..
I’m sick to my stomach, of just having to call them to add my hotel room request this morning.. Just another bump in my road, being a mommy to 6 beautiful girls!

We always book directly with Disney-they are pros and never have had a problem. I just have no interest in using a travel agent. I would rather deal directly with DIsney.

 

[jimbojones]

I stopped using travel agents with the invention of the internet. Plus I like to be in control of my vacations and hate the whole back and forth you have to deal with when using an agent. It used to be a good thing to use an agency because they did their jobs well and there were special advantages by booking with one. But that is long gone now. I hope your issues get resolved. Nobody should stress about a vacation.

The one situation where a Travel Agent is extremely helpful is complex multi destination international travel that requires lots of documents and what not (For example travel in Central Asia or Sub-Saharan Africa), but otherwise it is amazing to me that they even exist anymore.

 

[Pixieish]

The one situation where a Travel Agent is extremely helpful is complex multi destination international travel that requires lots of documents and what not (For example travel in Central Asia or Sub-Saharan Africa), but otherwise it is amazing to me that they even exist anymore.

You'd be amazed at how lazy some people are in regards to trip-planning. Or even how often someone uses a TA, shrugs off the TA's advice, then blames the TA for not having an enjoyable trip.

I have a good friend who is a Disney TA, and one of her clients booked a last-minute trip to WDW for Thanksgiving. My friend made recommendations for dining that would be attainable, since that is a really busy week for the prime locations - they demanded CRT and BOG. She managed to get BOG...I was ASTOUNDED. Then, she asked them which FP+ they wanted. The woman who booked the trip acted like they were going to have the parks to themselves and couldn't have cared less about making any choices no matter how many times my friend warned her about lines, etc. So no scheduled FP+. Trip time comes around - they missed three of their reservations because they were late (by A LOT), were complaining about how rude the CMs were for refusing to seat them at the restaurants for which they missed their reservation, and had the gaul to scream at my friend about not being able to ride anything because the lines were too long. The woman said they'll never go to Disney World again.

The "entitlement attitude" people gripe about is a real thing...as this woman clearly demonstrated. They want someone else to handle everything, act like the person doing the job doesn't know what they're talking about, and then - conveniently - they have someone to blame when everything goes wrong.

 

[DisneyJoe]

The one situation where a Travel Agent is extremely helpful is complex multi destination international travel that requires lots of documents and what not (For example travel in Central Asia or Sub-Saharan Africa), but otherwise it is amazing to me that they even exist anymore.

Many look at WDW and its parks and resorts and FP+ and ADRs and consider that overwhelming - for many it is their first trip with their family anywhere. They want and need the knowledge and handholding of someone that knows the destination.

Studies over the last few years show the use of Travel Agents to be on the rise.

 

[Hakunamatata]

I dont think I have ever had a problem with Pam and her crew at @Kingdom Konsultant

If Pam is out on a cruise or trip, there is a representative available. I dont think Ive had a problem (outside of me not being able to make up my mind).

 

[nickys]

I don't know about in the US, but here in the U.K. we have laws surrounding "package" holidays which essentially offer more protection if things go wrong.

If I just book our flights to the US via Virgin, for example, and then book our car hire direct through Alamo, and tickets through the Disney UK site, all three things are separate entities (we're DVC so don't have to book accomodation per se). Now say the Virgin flight is cancelled and we can't get out for another 2 days. Our travel insurance wouldn't cover the expense of the car hire for those missed days, or the extra cost of the tickets .... The airline would have to pay compensation, at least at present since we're still in the EU, and any out of pocket expenses (say we'd already flown to London, they should pay for a hotel for a couple nights).

If I book through a travel agent and package at least 2 items together, flights and car hire, then if that flight was cancelled, the insurance would cover those lost 2 days' worth of expenses.

Therefore I tend to do just that. Not out of laziness, just for extra protection. Of course nothing is going to compensate me for missing that coveted ADR and fastpasses for FoP.

 

[Pixieish]

I don't know about in the US, but here in the U.K. we have laws surrounding "package" holidays which essentially offer more protection if things go wrong.

If I just book our flights to the US via Virgin, for example, and then book our car hire direct through Alamo, and tickets through the Disney UK site, all three things are separate entities (we're DVC so don't have to book accomodation per se). Now say the Virgin flight is cancelled and we can't get out for another 2 days. Our travel insurance wouldn't cover the expense of the car hire for those missed days, or the extra cost of the tickets .... The airline would have to pay compensation, at least at present since we're still in the EU, and any out of pocket expenses (say we'd already flown to London, they should pay for a hotel for a couple nights).

If I book through a travel agent and package at least 2 items together, flights and car hire, then if that flight was cancelled, the insurance would cover those lost 2 days' worth of expenses.

Therefore I tend to do just that. Not out of laziness, just for extra protection. Of course nothing is going to compensate me for missing that coveted ADR and fastpasses for FoP.

It's funny you mention travel insurance...I specifically look at flights myself, so when I book our trip through Disney, I can give them the flight numbers and have them book them for me.