Well I did get to go to Cuba and meet my inlaws. I will be starting other discussions about the wonderful trip, my in laws and all the good stuff. I am going to start though with my horrible travel experience. I need some advice please.
My husband and I have planned our trip to Cuba for quite some time now. We paid for everything and planned everything very carefully. The part that gets me is the Travel Agency we bought our plane tickets to Cuba with. These people are supposed to be Christians. Even use the word Christian in their name... HA. We bought and paid $2000 USD for our tickets in April. Our trip was July 26th. We got down to Florida and found out we needed a Visa that had not come in yet. Up until the day before our trip, we did not have it. Well we finally got the visa, but guess what? We had tickets for a flight but our names did not appear on the flight manifest. The travel agency's excuse?? Sometimes agencies book flights at the same time and they didn't know. How is it possible to hand me tickets for a flight, but not know my name is not registered with the airline on their flight manifest? These people had sold my tickets out from under me. Tickets to Cuba are a very hot commodity in South Florida. They did not however expect someone like me on the rear ends.
After leaving the guy a nasty message, he showed up at the airport. Only 1 hour before the flight was to leave, I saw him slip some guy some money. Within 10 minutes we were on a flight. Oh, but it doesn't end there. My return date was now 2 days later. So now I lost my connection flight back to Chicago. I called my sister and this "guy" from the agency while in Cuba to try to get my flight changed. The guy did nothing. My sister arranged another flight for me. I had to turn my rental car in 2 days early in Cuba and pay someone to take us to the airport.
Our flight from Cuba to Miami was delayed leaving, so once again I lost my connection flight. The airline wanted $1500 USD for new tickets. We decided to rent a van for half the cost and drive from South Florida to Northern Illinois. Now I am 2 days late for work and having to shell out gas money, etc.
Here is my question. I know these people do dirty dealings and do not apply by US laws for Cuba Travel. I know this because we have family that is close to people that work there. I want these people to pay me for my lost wages, car rentals, gas, etc. Should I A) go to an attorney first or B) write the agency a letter with all the costs I feel they should pay me and give them a time limit to pay me or I will go to an attorney and the US Treasury Dept.
It's not even all about money. I just don't want other people that are desperate to see their family to be denied, swindled or otherwise taken advantage of. I want these people to learn their lesson so to speak. So what do you think? What should we do?
[question posted by misheleen73]
responses and comments:
Maybe you can complain about the agency in Miami ,but you can't do anything in regards to Cuba because communist people have no morale or ethics and they don't follow any laws imposed by the U.S. [Mirita]
you would think so right.. It makes me so sick that they take advantage of people that are desperate to see their families and then claim to be Christian in the same breath !! [misheleen73]
I think you should go and consult with a lawyer first and seek help to file a suite for compensation. But it is sad that these kind of people are everywhere in the world. We have to lose not only money but time and energy as well. Anyway I'm sure that this will not happen again with any of your next trips. [sreevasu]
oh no it won't. Next time I will be more aware. Thanks Vasu, your input is greatly appreciated as always !! [misheleen73]
it is the right thing to do, to go to the attorney.i will support you from behind. it is your right.anyway, im sorry about the trip. perhaps you want to visit bali sometimes? all here is cheap. and you can see our beautiful beach.and gets tan. [diansinta]
thanks for the support. I would love to visit Bali, however I do not get tan, I just burn and peel. Very sensitive skin :) [misheleen73]
First of all, I'm so sorry this happened!!! How awful to have to experience such nightmarish travel, especially to another country. I went a nasty travel experience on my way home from London several years ago. Nothing as bad as this though. I hope the rest of the trip was good enough to somewhat make up for it. I would go with the letter to the agency first, if it were me. Give them the opportunity to right the wrong, even though they probably won't do it. At least you can say you did what you could to give them the benefit of the doubt firt. [dfn12968]
My hubby is leaning towards doing the letter first too. Not to give them a chance because truly, they had chances to fix what they did at the time. But if not to save us time and headaches. We just want them to know they can't get away with this kind of bull caca.... [misheleen73]
You are angry still because it is still fresh, If you choose to engage a solicitor and take these people on then you will be angry for some time, the attorney will get money out of you and you may end up dissapointed, Word of mouth will hurt the company and in time you will look back and laugh about it instead of spending months, years fighting them with the possability of a loss Looking at the car you went to the airport in brought a smile to my face so hopefully in a little while you will be able to show your friends and laugh about it also. [spasticseagulls]
It's not really about money either. It's about these people doing these things to people that are so desperate to see their families. There have been other families affected by them too. The thing is, there are not many agencies "allowed" to do these types of vacations in the US, so they pretty much do as they please because they are used to dealing with people that don't know as much about the law as we do. I would hate to see this happen to someone else in the future. [misheleen73]
Hi misheleen, glad to see that you are back from Cuba. I can understand how you would have been felt because of the disgusting behaviour og the travel agent. You are in the police and hence must have a clear vision about how to handle the situation. Consult some coworkers who are much aware of the legal procedure. If it was here in India we could take the case before the consumer grievences redressal forum, which has judicial capacity to look into such cases and pass verdict allowing compensation. I think there in the US you will get excellent legal coverage for such sufferings from the hands of a money crazy travell agent. [abroji]
anytime my friend... [misheleen73]
so sorry to hear about that. this sounds like a horrible agency. they are an agency in the US? If that's the case, then I'm sure you have recourse to sue the pants off them. it all sounds very shady. I'm not so familiar with the legal process in the US but I'll make a consumer complaint first to whichever consumer agency there is, and then to the travel association, and then to the small claims tribunal. hope you get your money back. and of course you could go to a travel forum and publicise their name so that people are more wary in future. [squaretile]
thank you so much. We just want to let them know that they can not keep doing this to people. It really is awful. People who just want to see their family, taken advantage of. [misheleen73]
hi michele, this is horrible indeed!! i am glad that you are back with atleast good memories from the in laws. i am sure as to how it works there but i guess, going to the attorney is a better idea, keeping aside the expense of it all. don't you have some kind of grievance cell where you can put in your written complaints with effect? whatever you choose , michelle, you should do someting to teach them a good lesson . they just cannot afford to this anymore. cheers... [mimpi1911]
thank you, I will do just that. [misheleen73]
I would contact the agency first, get everything duplicated and in writing. sent with confirmation and/or registered mail. offer them a fair time to come up with a reasonable compensation for your expenses and troubles. I would not even mention litigation, but I would mention the power of word of mouth. and let them know you are giving them an opportunity to put their works where their words are (Christian?) if they do not comply, then seek out an attorney. This way it shows good will on your part and the company can't say that they were ignorant to any problems, they would have corrected if they only knew. I generally do not trust those who feel the need to use "Ima christian" as their credibility reference. it is like going to a car sales man who self advertises as honest eddy. if the people have to tell you then they probably aren't going to show you by their actions. [Modestah]
thanks, and yes we have proof. We have the cell phone records and also we have receipts from certified mail we sent them. Something told us to send it certified.. good thing we did !! [misheleen73]
Oh Mish I am so sorry! That is just crazy. I wish I could help you but the last time ti went out of the US it was on a shop so I have no idea about the airlines. I think if you go back you should book your own flights not use an aganecy. Those people are giving Christians a bad name...I'm not like that at all! [Rickrocks8]
I know what you mean about them giving Christians a bad name. I cannot book flight tickets myself as it is Cuba. The US has the embargo against Cuba, so no airline will book a flight unless you go through an agency. They are supposed to make sure you have all you need to legally travel. I had no choice, but next time you can bet it won't be THAT agency. [misheleen73]