“We don’t have prices yet” or, Why I hate the Flight Centre

Four and a half months, five travel agents and a few fits of frustration (tears included) later, we have FINALLY confirmed our travel arrangements which makes it all official - I’m getting married on November 17th, 2008 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! It finally feels real.

What an ordeal.

In this installment, I will regale you details of my terribly disappointing experience with the Flight Centre. Sorry it might turn out to be quite long but keep in mind, I’m self-editing as a go along, so it could be much worse!

I really should have started this blog six months ago when I got engaged and first started this whole destination wedding business. But I didn’t, so now I’m trying to get caught up and what might have been a whole series of posts is now one big long story.

Here goes…

The first travel agent we went to was at Marlin Travel (in Oakridge Centre, for all you Vancouverites) - roughly eleven months before the time we thought we’d like to get married (fall 200 . She seemed like a nice enough lady, the kind that I imagine spends her spare time sewing patchwork quilts and baking cookies for the new people who just moved in down the road. She seemed willing and capable and said she’d look into some options and send us an email. So we waited… and waited. And never got back to us.

I was a little surprised but thought, Pshaw! Fine then, I’ll go elsewhere!

So just before Christmas, I decided to go to the Flight Centre.

And that’s when the most disappointing travel agency experience of my life began.

I went to the Flight Centre partly because they’re everywhere (they must be pretty good if they’ve done so well for themselves, right?) and partly because there was one right in my office building (how handy). The guy I spoke with, Mark*, seemed MUCH more helpful than the first lady; in his flamboyantly lovable (read: gay) way, he was able to give some real feedback e.g. don’t forget, Cuba doesn’t get American imports so some say the food is not as good; or, just remember that although it’s gorgeous, stay away from the Pacific side of Mexico if it’s white sandy beaches you want. Now this is the kind of insight I was looking for!

He armed me with brochures and said they didn’t have pricing yet for the fall, but he should soon and he’ll let me know.

The warning bells should have gone off just about…. NOW… but they didn’t. I mean, how was I supposed to know? It was pretty early, so maybe they didn’t have pricing. I’d wait.

Over Christmas, I narrowed it down to 4 resorts in the Dominican and then on January 2nd, emailed them to him. This was his response:

Hi K, Thanks for your e-mail. I will get to work on this right away. Expect it to take a couple days as the wholesalers take 48 hours to price out group quotes. I will take a look at all options and make my recommendations.

Another week later, I emailed him again, along the lines of, “hey, just checking in, any prices?”. He replied he didn’t have the pricing yet.

Another week later, I went there in person and remembered why I liked Mark in the first place - he was so cheery and cajoling and hey, who didn’t love a man who appreciated your cute outfit? He said, you guessed it, he didn’t have pricing yet but (as a consolation prize?) he was in fact able to make recommendations based on my list of 4 resorts and promised to email me.

Sadly, ‘cheery’ does not equal competent.

A few days later, he still hadn’t emailed me so I had to email him and he finally sent me those “recommendations”.

I almost fell off my chair.

THIS is the first email I got from my Flight Centre travel agent… the MANAGER of the place, no less:

HI k, The majestic colonial is located in Punta cana along one of the most gorgous beaches in the world.Apart from the fantastic and friendly sevice you’ll recieve at this LUXERY resort as well as the outstanding reputation of the weddings planned at this reort i recommend it for the food alone!! It’s AMAZING and nobody in you party will be dissapointed. It has SEVEN resatraunts to choose from NOT INCLUDING the buffet. Eveything is specialized from Steaks to seafood to eastern Cuizine to Local caribean specialties.

This resort has a Giant chapel located on the Property and you will enjoy the following perks as part of your wedding package.

… followed by text and pictures CUT AND PASTED FROM THE RESORT WEBSITE. I couldn’t believe it.

This is the advice he’s giving me? ‘Outstanding reputation of the weddings’… based on what evidence, pray tell? What he read on TripAdvisor? I’d read that too. And ’seven restaurants’? Who cares - all the resorts on my list had seven restaurants and food, although important, was definitely NOT in the list of top 5 priorities which I had clearly delineated for him in my emails.

(And yes, the atrocious spelling sent shivers of revulsion through me. Call me a snob, but if someone can’t even spell, I can’t help questioning their intelligence. Just sayin’.)

That email was followed by one containing his second “recommendation”:

Hi K, The Pahia Principe Punta Cana is all about food food food!! It has a total of ELEVEN restraunts!! Eight of which are Ala Cart includig specialties in seafoos, steaks caribbean and mexican.They even have a “Gastronomic sociaty ” dedicated to making the cuisine world class. Check this out !! http://www.bahia-gourmet.com/en/losrestaurantes.htm

My rep at sunquest recommended this resort for it’s wedding planner. She told me that from all the resorts this is the one that she only hears FANTASTIC feed back.
I have not sent anyone to this resort for a wedding but all of my clients that have booed at this resort come back and thank me for it.

This barely lucid email was also followed by info cut and pasted from the resort website.

I felt a mixture of surprise, frustration and… indignation. Because really, how retarded do you think I am?? Thanks a lot….. FOR NOTHING.

But being the optimist I am, I thought I’d give him one more chance to redeem himself. (Have you noticed that it was always and every single time ME who initiated the communication?? Isn’t he the one who’s supposed to keep me abreast of developments or non-developments, as it were???).

By this time, it had been exactly six and a half weeks since I gave him my resort short-list, more if you count my first visit to his office. I emailed him one more time for an update.

And this time, he didn’t even deign to respond.

&$@*&!!?????!?!?

You’ll be happy to know (or maybe not? it would have made for a much better story) that I resisted the urge to march on down there and give old Mark a piece of my mind. I instead tried to breathe deeply (hysterics were not that far away) and look to the Universe for peace and guidance… and to my family and friends (Facebook friends, that is) for suggestions on a new travel agent to contact.

The best part is, I still walk by that Flight Centre almost daily. I always surreptitiously check to see if Mark is there, and half dread the possibility he sees me and calls me over, and half hope he does so I can tell him how much he sucks and how he’s made me (and everyone else I know) really doubt the professionalism of the Flight Centre.

If it happens, I’ll let you know.

I subsequently got in touch with not one but three more travel agents - that’s a story for another day, though… this story is already long enough! - none of whom ever uttered the words “we don’t have pricing yet” and who all responded to my emails and phone calls in a manner befitting a travel agent: promptly and courteously (and with no spelling mistakes!).

So the moral of this story? Well there are a few.

1. If the agent tells you they don’t have pricing yet, do not wait until he situation deteriorates to the point where you are stressing out completely and causing your fiance to have second thoughts about starting this whole wedding business in the first place - go get a second opinion somewhere else immediately.

2. If your agent doesn’t come to you with period updates on what’s going on, get a new agent.

And of course…

3. Be wary of the Flight Centre. I’m sure there are exceptions to the rule but if the guy I dealt with is any indication of the type of agents they hire (and he was the manager?!) then… well, just be wary.

* Though I’m sorely tempted to, I haven’t revealed Mark the travel agent’s last name since somehow, doing so seems sort of cowardly. The day I finally do face him to tell him exactly how much I think he sucks (if that day comes), then I definitely will. Or if you really want to know, contact me.