Q – We’ve been reading this blog and one particular section has really made me angry. We have been booking our own travel for almost twenty years. Yes, there have been glitches, but most of the time things worked out and we’ve had some marvelous times. But we always felt we were getting a deal by bypassing travel agents. Now that we understand how the system works, it seems that we were charged thousands of dollars for services we never received. Since two companies, tour operators, received most of our business, we are thinking we should demand some money back for all the times we traveled and were charged a price that included the travel agent’s fees for stuff we never received. We never, for instance, got any advice about insurance and we got badly burned twice. Again, we never used a travel agent. Is this a complete waste of time and how should we approach it?
A – It could be a waste of time but it might be worth the effort. You would need to carefully document the money you spent over the years with each company. You would then show that the travel agency commission was built into all of the payments you received. You would next show the types of services an agent would have performed for their built-in fee – and point out you never received those services. You might assume an average built-in commission of 12-15% and demand a refund using specific percentages of what you paid. You can assume that everything you paid always included the commission.
You have, in our view, been ripped off over the course of many, loyal years. We seriously doubt that any tour company or cruise line will give you back the funds you are due, but they very well may offer a response that, in some way, recognizes their appreciation for your past support.
