Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Refund We Didn't Think We'd Get

We just got a refund of $250 onto our credit card, and I have my husband to thank. Here's the story:

As I've mentioned numerous times, my husband and I went on our honeymoon last month. Since we had never done an all-inclusive resort before, we decided to use a travel agent to book our trip. The travel agent told us that there was a promotion going on where we got a $250 spa credit to use at the resort's spa. We booked the trip and signed the paperwork.
Fast forward about 5 months to my husband and I standing at the front desk of the resort (we're in our swimsuits and sandals, of course!). After talking to about four different people, we're informed that the travel agency shouldn't have told us that we had a spa credit because the promotion expired before our trip was even booked.
I was really bummed. I hadn't painted my toenails before leaving for this tropical paradise specifically because of the spa credit. I had imagined myself relaxing amid palm trees with a strawberry daiquiri in my hand and a friendly lady giving me a wonderful pedicure. Now I was stuck with old, half-worn-off nail polish for the duration of my vacation.
I hate complaining to companies and my husband doesn't mind at all, so he called the travel agent when we got home. We expected to get a lame excuse and for someone to hand us a gift certificate to use on our next expensive tropical vacation (which would be completely useless to us). The travel agent didn't sound very hopeful and wanted my husband to call the company that the trip was booked with. He let her know that she should call them on our behalf (jeez, what were we paying her for?).
We were both extremely surprised when the travel agent called a few days later and said that the company would credit our credit card $250!
Despite the travel agent coming through for us in the end, we will probably never book a trip through a travel agency again. They didn't provide us with any better information than we had access to ourselves over the internet. It was a good lesson learned.
Oh, and by the way, I plan on using a little of that refund to finally get that well-deserved pedicure :)

I'd love to hear about any travel-related lessons you've learned the hard way!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Becky,

Congratulations on getting that $250 back. Just think, for a 5 minute phone call, you made $250. That's $3,000 per hour! Maybe you should make a few more phone calls :)

Thanks for stopping by my blog and posting a comment on How to Recognize a Scam. I'm planning on writing a 15 chapter e-book on Things I DIDN'T Learn in College and this was one of those chapters.

Looks like you've got a nice blog going. If I can help you, let me know.

Ron@TheWisdomJournal

P.S. Congratulations on getting married! I've been married for 18 years and it seems like only yesterday that we were on OUR honeymoon.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Ron! I've really been enjoying your blog. Good luck on the e-book ... wow :)
I never thought of it as a per hour gain. $3000/hr is fantastic! I'll definitely show that to my husband :)

Shamelle said...

Wow.. Congrads.
Most of the time, we just let these things pass.Aren't you glad the call was made.

Sham
Enhance Life

Anonymous said...

It's interesting to know that you would not hire a travel agent again. We've been toying with the idea of using one for an annual trip that we make with a large group of friends from all over the country. It sounds like they don't make the job much easier though. I'm definitely going to keep this in mind when planning the trip this year!

Anonymous said...

@moneylovechange
Maybe some travel agents are better than others, but ours sure wasn't much help. Good luck on your trip planning, whichever way you decide to do it :)

wealthy_1 said...

Becky, I'm so glad you got your $250 back. I'm bummed that you didn't get the free pedicure.