Dear Barb's travel agency:

You're the reason people book online.

Barb I can't believe how impossible they are being. You might want to check on consumerist.com for tips on how to escalate the matter.

Does the travel agency have a facebook page or use twitter? Maybe you could leave negative feedback there or refer to what's going on and the company by name. Sometimes it takes visible bad publicity to get things to be done right.

Situation resolved-- sort of. The rugrats have new tickets. They are connecting through Atlanta, but the travel agency, after a fair amount of kvetching & moaning, is ponying up for escort fees. Mind you, they think we're being overprotective ninnies for wanting our children to be escorted between terminals during a layover of oh, 35 MINUTES. In Atlanta. But I don't care.

I'm still so mad, I could spit nails. The agent refused to tell her boss b/c she said "He's not going to want to eat the cost on these tickets for clients who think we did a terrible job & who aren't going to use us again."

Mind you, we said NO SUCH THING. We gave them ample opportunity to potentially win repeat business- after all, we're not unreasonable people. No one yelled (because Lewis was the one dealing with them), no one threatened anything. All they had to do was at least act as if they gave a shit and they repeatedly showed us they didn't. However, not only did they ensure they won't get our repeat business, they guaranteed that a LOT of people are going to hear about it. Because yes, they do have a FB page and they're dealing with a woman who uses words for a living and knows how to work social networking media. Even better, she has many, many FRIENDS who know how to work the hell out of social networking media.

Cry havoc and let loose the boobs of war, y'all.

The agent refused to tell her boss b/c she said "He's not going to want to eat the cost on these tickets for clients who think we did a terrible job & who aren't going to use us again."

Uh, no. At that point you insist on talking to her boss, and say if she doesn't put you through, you will be there momentarily in person to raise some havoc. Possibly with a camera crew.

The agent refused to tell her boss b/c she said "He's not going to want to eat the cost on these tickets for clients who think we did a terrible job & who aren't going to use us again."

The first thing you do is find a way to contact her boss and tell him that. The statistics used to be that one angry customer would tell 10 people about her experience, but now we have the internet.

That is SUCH utter bullshit, Barb.

Uh, no. At that point you insist on talking to her boss, and say if she doesn't put you through, you will be there momentarily in person to raise some havoc. Possibly with a camera crew.

Yep. Also, contact the BBB. That sort of "service" needs to be reported.

The agent refused to tell her boss b/c she said "He's not going to want to eat the cost on these tickets for clients who think we did a terrible job & who aren't going to use us again."

And if I were her boss, *I* wouldn't want to eat the costs of an employee who hides material information from me, and treats customers as lying sacks of shit. She's just asking to be reprimanded or fired.

I told Lewis, what it boils down to, is she doesn't want to admit that she fucked up in the first place. This all goes back to when the tickets were first booked and she misspelled the names, thereby having to void the tickets and start over. It was on the second set that things went wrong.

Oh, and did I tell you, she's also trying to blame the reservations systems/software, saying that there had to have been some glitch that kept the ticket from being paid for?

ANY excuse to keep from taking responsibility, I swear.

I'm definitely going to write a letter and/or call her boss-- I can't do it right at this moment because I'm so mad, I'm incoherent.

X-posted from Natter:

Quick question: Career fair for one specific company tomorrow, and I know I need multiple copies of my resume. Does it need to be printed on good paper stock, or is that over and done with now?

(I haven't handed anyone a paper resume in YEARS.)