More like TravelBad! (travelbag.co.uk)

Member Name: Yorkshire_man

Product:	travelbag.co.uk
Date:	02/10/03 (1418 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nothing that a reputable company doesn't have

Disadvantages: Dishonest, Leave clients stranded, No customer service

Here is a cautionary tale of how my wife and I ended up on the streets of Singapore with ...

- No money
- No accommodation
- A bad case of sleep deprivation
- And our dreams of luxurious accommodation in tatters

Be warned - it could happen to YOU if you book with TravelBag.

The nightmare begins...

In early April I was walking through Leeds when I saw the TravelBag® shop on Briggate, which is part of a chain of TravelBag® stores throughout the UK.

I was interested in booking a flight to New Zealand for my wife and myself so went into the store and sat at a desk manned by a young lady called Victoria Sims. I asked her if she could get some prices for the flight to New Zealand and left her with my phone number so that she could call me when she had obtained the necessary information.

A very special offer - or was it?

The following day the phone rang. It was Victoria with the prices for the flight to New Zealand. Unfortunately, the only flights she could get us on involved a stop over in Singapore. Victoria then told us all about this "very special offer". Not only did we get an inexpensive flight, but we got an INCREDIBLE bargain on the accommodation. Our first night in Singapore would cost us just £1 and if we wished to stay a second night it would just be another £2. It sounded too good to be true!

We went ahead with the booking there and then. Victoria took down our credit card information and our address details and told us that we would be staying in the Plaza Hotel in Singapore. She told us that the paperwork would be sent out to us prior to our trip.

At this point both my wife and I were impressed with the service we had received from Travelbag. Victoria had called us as promised. She had found us a good deal on both flights and accommodation and she had processed the booking and got the paperwork out to us in good time for our flight.

The document
s arrive

Several days later we received a pack containing the documentation. Inside were the flight tickets, an itinerary and a letter from Victoria.

The letter read:

Re: Your Final Itinerary (Book Reference: GDKGMX)

Thank you for your payment. Please find enclosed all outstanding documentation that you need for your trip.

With regard to other items that you have booked, please rest assured that we have included everything that you need to travel. You may find that within this pack you do not have vouchers for all ground arrangements that you have booked. We are currently working with our suppliers to streamline our ticketing system which means that you will not now require vouchers for all of your land arrangements.

It looked like we had everything we needed to get going on our trip to New Zealand. We hadn't planned on going to Singapore, but were now looking forward to a couple of days of luxury in The Plaza after the 14 hour flight from Manchester to Singapore.

The Flight to Singapore

We flew out of Manchester on 15th April 2002. The plane headed to Zurich where other people boarded and then it was non-stop to Singapore to arrive roughly FIFTEEN HOURS later in Singapore. By this point we were obviously VERY tired and looking forward to getting to The Plaza and getting some shut-eye.

After collecting our bags we followed all the other people on the flight to the coaches that Singapore airlines put on to take passengers to their hotel ...

... and that is when the nightmare began!

"Can I have your coupons, Sir?" said the man behind the counter at the coach departure point.

"I'm afraid we weren't sent any coupons" my wife replied. She took out the documentation that TravelBag had sent to us and pointed out the paragraph that read:

"Where vouchers have not been issued, you will need to present the enclosed final i
tinerary as confirmation of your reservation and the supplier may need to take a copy"

He gave us a puzzled look and told us he'd be back in a minute. After discussing the matter with a couple of people, one of whom looked like they could be his superior he returned and asked us which hotel we were booked into. We told him that we were booked into the Plaza and he picked up the phone and called the hotel.

Guess what? TravelBag hadn't made the reservation

It wasn't good news.

The Plaza had never heard of us. There was no booking and never had been. TravelBag hadn't made the reservation as they'd promised to.

We were then asked various other questions and then asked to take a seat. The young man went away and we sat twiddling our thumbs for about 15 to 20 minutes. Whilst we were doing this a coach driver came in and asked if anyone was going to the Plaza, which was a little bit annoying to say the least.

The young man eventually came back with the bad news. He'd called lots of other hotels and nobody had heard of us.

"There definitely was no booking in our name" he said apologetically.

He offered us two pieces of advice. Firstly, that we should call TravelBag and get them to sort it out. Secondly, that we should go upstairs and talk to the people on the Singapore Airlines customer service staff to see if they could help.

We set off pushing our trolley through the airport, up the lift, and along to the Singapore Airlines customer service desk. We went through pretty much the same routine. Out came the paperwork, lots of questions and answers, more waiting, more questions, etc. We spoke to three people at that desk; two women and one man. Another hour wasted. We were only in Singapore for a short time, but at this rate we were going to waste it all trying to sort out the mess the TravelBag had got us into.

After 20 hours of travelling we

were VERY tired (to put it politely)

In the end Singapore Airlines told us that they couldn't help. We decided to cut our losses and get in a cab and find any hotel. By this point we had been traveling for close on 20 hours and were desperate to get some sleep.

Before getting in the cab we stopped off at a hotel booking agency in the airport. The lady was very helpful and managed to find us an inexpensive 3-star hotel where we could at least get our heads down.

After a 30 minute taxi-ride we arrived at the hotel. It wasn't anything flash, but it contained beds, and that is what we needed more than anything.

We checked in and made our way up to the room. It wasn't quite what we had been expecting, but the bed was comfortable and that was what was most important at this point in out trip.

The last thing we did before falling asleep was to set the alarm clock to wake us in 3 hours so that we could call TravelBag as soon as their staff arrived in work at 9am GMT. If we'd known the kind of response we'd get from TravelBag we certainly wouldn't have bothered.

When we awoke the afternoon Singapore sun was beating down through the gap in the curtains. It was a beautiful day. The last thing we wanted to do was get onto the phone to TravelBag, but we thought it best to get the matter sorted out as quickly as possible.

We thought we had sorted the matter
out with a single phone call, but ...

At first we tried to call TravelBag on the hotel phone, but for some reason we couldn't get through. Finally, we tried using my Orange mobile phone and got through first time and after navigating the TravelBag phone system the phone was answered by the same person who we had booked with, Victoria Sims.

I explained about the hotel and after a few seconds thought Victoria replied:

"I remember now. I'm really sorry".

I told her not to worry. All we w
anted was to sort out a solution. We were okay about staying in the hotel we were in as we didn't really want the upheavel of a move just for a single night. All we asked was that TravelBag pick up the bill for the hotel for the two night, which in was about £45 per night - considerably less than it would have cost to stay in a hotel comparable to the Plaza.

Victoria said that this was fine. All we needed to do was bring back the hotel bill and we'd get reimbursed when we returned home. I agreed to that, but asked if she could just confirm this by sending a fax to the hotel to save any confusion when we arrived home. I thought this was a wise move as we've all seen those horror programmes on TV about travel companies breaking their promises so I thought it best to get it in writing just in case they "forgot".

Victoria agreed to send the fax to the hotel and I hung up and told my wife the result of the phone call. We were both happy that Victoria had sorted the matter out so promptly and at that point in time we were, despite the booking mess-up, quite impressed with TravelBag. Anyone can make a mistake, but the sign of a good company is one that can repair the damage quickly and satisfactorily - it appeared that TravelBag had done just that.

We spent a pleasant few hours wandering around Singapore and then headed back to the hotel. Before going to our room we checked with reception to see if the fax had arrived, but it hadn't. We thought this was a bit strange as Victoria had, by this point, had over two hours to respond.

A message that we hadn't been expecting

I called TravelBag from the room and asked them why we'd not got the fax and was told that one would be arriving shortly. Fine - I thought.

Shortly after, a fax was pushed under the door. It read:

Dear Mr Smithson

Following our conversation this morning I do recall the phone call we had in March discussin
g your stopover in Singapore with Singapore Airlines. However there was nothing booked and paid for or sent to you in writing that stated a package had been confirmed for you in Singapore. Please accept my deepest apologise for any misunderstanding and inconvenience caused.

Your sincerely

Victoria Sims

Specialist Sales Consultant 0113 386 1356 ext 3923

I was gobsmacked. "Misunderstanding". They had to be kidding.

The fax was from the same person who only three weeks earlier had called me at home to tell me that she had found us a great flight, but that to qualify for it we had to stop over in Singapore and that the accommodation for the stopover would be £1 for the first night and £2 for the second night.

This was also the same person who we had gone over the hotels with and decided on the Plaza.

It is worth bearing in mind that this was not a booking that took several phone calls to sort out. Everything was sorted out in ONE phone call. There was no time for a misunderstanding. She had called with the best deal she could find, we had accepted the deal and with her help had chosen the Plaza as the place we wanted to stay and then we'd given her our credit card details and name and address. It was that simple - ONE PHONE CALL.

At no time were we asked to confirm anything in writing - not the flight or the accommodation. And when we read through the letter that TravelBag sent it said quite clearly:

"With regard to other items that you have booked, please rest assured that we have included everything that you need to travel".

The same letter went on to say:

"You may find that within this pack you do not have vouchers for all ground arrangements that you have booked. We are currently working with out suppliers to streamline our ticketing system which means that you will not now require vouchers for all of your land arrangements".


I called TravelBag on my mobile and asked to speak to Victoria Sims, but instead I was put through to a Manager called Sally Terry. Sally is no expert on customer service. Indeed, it seems that Sally's total knowledge of good customer service would fit nicely on the back of a bus ticket.

TravelBag would rather run up a massive
bill on international calls to a mobile phone
than admit they've made a mistake

It is important to remember that all I was asking was for TravelBag to pay for the 3-star hotel we had to stay in because of their mistake. Instead of agreeing to this Sally Terry called me back on my mobile (75p per minute from the UK of which they had to pay half and I had to pay half) and spent over an hour arguing with me. It seems that in TravelBag's eyes the customer is NEVER right and that they would rather run up a massive phone bill than admit they have made a mistake.

By now my wife and I were very tired, upset, in a three star hotel, we'd run up a substantial mobile phone bill, we'd wasted several hours trying to sort everything out and we were no further down the line. Instead of enjoying our holiday we were being forced by TravelBag to prove that we had actually made a reservation in the first place, even though it was a member of their staff that had sorted the "special offer" out in the first place.

At the end of the conversation with Sally "Customer is King" Terry I asked her to send me another fax detailing TravelBag's position with regard to this matter. Part of it says:

"Having looked into this matter further it would appear that the Stopover Package has never been requested or confirmed to you on any of the itineraries sent, therefore we have never entered into a contract to provide hotel accommodation during your stay in Singapore".

My wife and I were absolutely livid when this fax appeared under our door. We had both been presen
t when Victoria Sims had called with the "special offer" and so we both knew (as did Victoria Sims) exactly what had been offered and what had been booked. TravelBag only need to ask themselves two questions to satisfy themselves that this is true:

1. How on earth would we have known about the offer of accommodation for £1 for the first night and £2 for the second night if Victoria Sims hadn't told us about it.

2. How would we have known the The Plaza was part of the special offer that Singapore Airlines was running if Victoria Sims had not told us.

We were told, in no uncertain terms, by Victoria Sims that the only way we could have the special price being offered by Singapore Airlines was if we agreed to a stopover in Singapore. There was no misunderstanding and the offer wasn't exactly complicated and open to misinterpretation. In a nutshell we were told:

"If you want to go to Singapore at this price you MUST stopover in Singapore and the accommodation will be charged at £1 for the first night and £2 for the second night".

Surely, the above is clear enough to convince even the worst customer service representative in the world - not if you are talking to TravelBag.

In the end we had no option but to accept our 3 star accommodation and pay for it ourselves.

People say that travel is a learning experience. Well we certainly acquired some new knowledge on our travels.

What did we learn:

1. That TravelBag representatives cannot be trusted to make travel arrangements even if they are the ones who chose those arrangements for you.

2. That TravelBag are willing to leave you in the lurch whilst you are traveling. Luckily, we were in Singapore and alternative arrangements could be made quite easily, but I dread to think what could have happened had we been somewhere more remote. One thing is for sure - TravelBag wouldn't have been any help.

3.
From our experience it appears that as far as TravelBag are concerned the customer is always WRONG unless they can prove, beyond ALL doubt, that they are actually right.

Don't be drawn in by TravelBag's claims of excellent customer service. From our experience this is all hot air and means absolutely nothing.

If you think this is an isolated case you should think again. I'm not the only person to have had this kind of shoddy treatment from Travelbag. I did a quick search of the Internet to see if TravelBag® had done this kind of thing before and what would you know - within two minutes I'd found the following.

Milford Plaza Hotel - Hotel & Excursions package not booked on arrival.

Departure Date:17-Feb-2001
Date posted: 26-Feb-2001

Arrived at hotel on Saturday eve to find no reservation for us. Hotel took credit card imprint for payment before admitting us (there were insufficient funds in account anyway). No excursion package for us (Liberty Island, Helicopter ride, World Trade etc.) Stranded in NY with not enough money to cover these basics already paid for in UK. Travelbag contacted on Monday - unhelpful and unwilling to resolve. Problem was that Travelbag not paid USA. Sorted out by ATI in NY and hotel paid on penultimate afternoon of holiday. Managed to cram in as much as possible of packages, but missed some. Much distress, upset and embarrassment caused. Holiday (second honeymoon for 10th anniversary) ruined due to not knowing if anything could be salvaged or if we would have to pay again (via wiring of funds by family in UK). We could not spend much of our holiday money (especially wanted to see Broadway show) until sorted out, but still had to eat etc. Complained to UK whilst in US, and letter of complaint sent 23/02/01. Awaiting reply.

How many more times have TravelBag® messed up people's trips and not been willing to resolve the matter?

In conclusion

What
TravelBag fail to understand is that this has nothing to do with compensation or money.

All that was required was a sincere apology and an offer to put things right at the time. People need to be able to rely on the company they have used to make their travel arrangements both before they leave home and whilst they are traveling.

People need to be able to:

- Trust that the company will book the right things (which they quite obviously didn't on this occasion)

- Trust that when things go wrong the company will be ready to help (which in this case they quite obviously were not).

If I had wanted a thousand pound compensation and two night in Raffles then I may have been able to understand their point, but I wasn't even that fussed about having exactly what we had booked (two nights in the Plaza at £1 for the first night and £2 for the second night), if they had just paid the bill for our two nights in the 3 star hotel my wife and I would have been happy.

It boils down to a couple of things - the honesty to admit when a mistake has been made and the professionalism to do something about it. From our experience TravelBag lack both.

My advice to fellow travellers is -

"THINK TWICE BEFORE BOOKING ANYTHING WITH TRAVELBAG"

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