This is not a true a rip-off, more of an example of horrible customer service. There's an element of a rip-off, as I paid for a cruise, that didn't go to all of the ports of call advertised.
In August, I used Gate 1 Travel to book a 2-people cruise going to San Juan, St. Maarten, Tortola and Grand Turk. I was especially excited about the last port of call, as I have heard Turks&Caicos islands are beautiful and I have always wanted to go. 3 weeks ago, I received my travel docs, and to my surprise, the last port of call was Nassau (which I didn't want to go to just yet, as I was planning a seperate cruise to the Bahamas.) I called the cruise line right away, and they said that has always been the case for the our sailing dates, and that I needed to talk to the travel agency.
Well, that's where my saga began. I called all in all 7 times. Each time, I talked to a different agent whose concern for the situation was clearly fake. Each one was "trying" to figure out the discrepancy and promised to have the manager call me (so they can get me off the phone, I am sure). I never got a call back when I was promised (and hence me calling 7 times!) Today, I finally supposedly spoke to a manager (was he really? I don't know... As a consultant, I have done analysis of call centers and know some of the "tricks" agents play on unsuspecting customers..). He didn't listen to what I had to say and my low blood pressure sky rocketed! He was so rude, I couldn't believe it. At the end, nothing was resolved. I was transferred to another "manager", who said he wasn't the one to talk to. Apparently, I needed to send an email to customer service. Isn't he part of that? Anyway, he gave me the wrong email too, not for resolving claims but for making reservations. Shouldn't he know this basic information? Both "managers" said there's nothing they can do for me - no refund (I didn't want that anyway, as we had been planning for this since August!), no discount - absolutely nothing to make up for the mistake.
Needless to say, I am very disappointed. I was treated like I was an annoyance to the business, not a paying customer with rights. I was bounced around like a ping-pong, just wasting time. There was no concern for the problem and no solution. This was the first time for me using Gate 1 Travel. I understand that mistakes happen for anyone but it's how you resolve the issue is what sets you apart from the competition.
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