Photo-A-Day #2114

At the beginning of the month I went to Affiliate Summit, CES and the North American International Auto Show. Initially I was only going to go to Affiliate Summit. Because of this I booked myself a SouthWest Vacation. I booked three nights at Harrah’s and a roundtrip ticket on SouthWest. I often choose Southwest because I can get round trip non-stop tickets to Vegas on SouthWest and usually they are pretty cheap. I got a good deal at $546.83 for flight and room. But that was the beginning….

I was asked to go to the North American International Auto Show by GM. Because I was asked to be there as a guest my travel to Detroit plus my hotel room was taken care of. This also meant that I would be leaving immediately after my session at Affiliate Summit. So because of that I would basically be forfeiting most of that trip that bought from SouthWest anyway. So I’d be losing out on much of what I paid for. Then there was a snow warning.

Around Christmas there was a big storm here and we got dumped on big time. There was a forecast of a big snowstorm that would hit the morning before I was to leave for my trip. I panicked and figured that my flight would either be cancelled or delayed. So, I cancelled the trip itself and bought a new ticket. Yeah, it was hasty because that virtually guaranteed that there would be no snow and yes, there was no snow, no delays nothing on the day of my original departure.

I knew that I would lose my airfare and there would be a hotel penalty for cancelling the trip. I figured it would be worth a try to see about getting a refund anyway. So I had Allison send in the tickets to see about a refund. I got this e-mail today. My comments in bold.

“Hi (No name here, how personal)
There is no refund due on this booking, the penalties were more than the package price.
Without having purchased the waiver (an overpriced scam), the penalties are $100.00 southwest penalty (why a penalty, you are already keeping my money and will resell the seat, vultures), $330.10 non-refundable air cost (I knew and accepted this before I made the cancellation) and $121.50 one night hotel penalty (that wasn’t the per night price, if that was the case then three nights would have been $364.50, fuzzy math there, fuzzy math).“

So, in addition to me not getting any refund I’m pretty sure that the leeches at the airlines will be billing me for the $4.77. Granted this is airline policy and granted that I did not buy the insurance and granted I cancelled the vacation. Do you think that a seat went empty on that flight? Absolutely not. Airlines overbook every flight these days and so in addition to getting all the money from my vacation and not having to actually fly me anywhere the airline also got paid for whomever took that seat. And the hotel, well I’m sure that they got a paying customer for the room I gave up too, it was CES that week, you know.

I sincerely dislike everything about air travel, it is so tiring, dirty, inconvenient and expensive. The more we pay now the less and less rights, less room, less amenities and less civility we get these days. Indignities suffered from the TSA, mishandling of baggage (that we have to pay for) and the endless delays, forced bumps and overbooked planes. It is sickening and I’m fed up with it. If It were feasible to travel by car or train to all of these conferences I certainly would do it and wash my hands of air travel forever.

I do have to thank some people who made this past week’s trips so awesome. Daniel M. Clark for sharing his space with me for two nights. I know how much having your own room while being away is important. And it I didn’t find someone to share a room with me It certainly would have been karma for me not wanting to share a room at another event. I’d also like to thank Lisa Gilpin and the GM crew for getting me an extra day at my the Marriott when I was stuck in Detroit. When you’ve got good people who help with the little things like that it makes a huge difference. This is in direct contrast to how I was treated by Delta when they needed people to get off the plane. I was lied to by the gate agent and basically given nothing for my troubles except additional headaches. So I figure that a bill coming to me for $4.77 is just going to be the topper on this latest foray into the sky.

I’m sure that Andy is going to love my rant for today.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

No Refund for You!

From Drop Box

The other day I did a blog post about Boloco and Chipotle and what I thought of both restaurants. I received a direct e-mail from John S. Pepper the CEO & Co-Founder of Boloco complete with direct phone line and e-mail and twitter.

John wrote a detailed and heartfelt e-mail to me referencing everything that I posted on my blog post. John gets it, he got me and my issues with the ‘pay first’ vs ‘walk the line’ concept. He offered reasoning as to why Boloco is set up this way and also alerted me to a new concept that is going to happen at Boloco called “goloco” where you can voluntarily walk the line and chose what you want in your burrito. This message showed me that I as one voice, one person who even thought he had a free burrito was worth talking to.Here is the e-mail John sent me:

“Hi Ben,

John S. Pepper
CEO & Co-Founder
Boloco“

From Drop Box

John offered me a couple more burritos to come on back and try out Boloco again. Getting freebies is cool but when someone validates your complaints and really listens to your issues is so much better. I’ll certainly take John up on his offer and go back to Boloco for those burritos. I did enjoy the taste of my burrito and look forward to my next one. Now that I understand the process of Boloco even more I see it with different eyes and I’m going to give a it a much finer look.

Conversely, Hotel chain Marriott gets things all wrong again and again. Here is an e-mail that my friend Maureen received from Marriott.

“Dear Maureen,

J.W. Marriott, Jr.
Chairman and CEO
Marriott International, Inc.“

Here is the laughable part of this letter. “our focus on taking care of you never waivered“. You might have read about what happened to Maureen after IZEAFest. Then you might have read about what I did to help get her back her money. Marriott certainly does not get it, they are too big to care about an individual guest that they sincerely wronged on so many fronts.

Marriott can certainly take a lesson from John Pepper of Boloco on Customer Service. John didn’t just gloss over my issues, he addressed them directly. His letter was not a form letter that was completely impersonal like the Marriott one that Maureen received. The Marriott letter was pretty much a slap in the face considering the tremendous amount of trouble they put her through.

Watch for my future Boloco posts.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

Boloco gets Customer Service Right. Marriot Still Does Not.

I am pissed off at the Marriott Renaissance Orlando. Their Error caused Maureen Tarpey $400+ in fees, a month of fighting to receive a piddly amount of money back and countless hours of worry and stress. They refused to refund that for her and her credit card company is not any better. Maureen did our family a selfless kindhearted favor. She took 3 days out of work to care for Eva while we were at IZEAFest. Now she is out $400.00. It is sick how credit card companies can hit you with insane fees on a mistake made by a major corporation and that once the error is fixed they still keep the money they charged in fees that never should have been charged in the first place. Oh but she did get a $100 gift card to stay in a Marriott hotel. How’s that for an added kick in the junk? Pathetic.

I am donating the money from a $100 review that I am doing through SocialSpark and I am offering the chance for 6 people to get blog reviews for the low price of $50 each to raise the $400 that Maureen was screwed out of. Only 6 spots open. Send me a message if you are interested. I’m getting her this money back.

I’ve also set up a Chip in Widget to help raise money for Maureen to cover these fees. It wasn’t fair and I am hoping that the good karma that Maureen put out by helping us comes back to her in the form of help with her fees. If you can donate anything then great. Every donation gets a tweet mention. Just leave a comment with your twitter name. Thanks.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

Marriott Screwed Maureen

Photo-A-Day #1671

So I got creative with the angles in my shot today, sure my closet is a little boring but if you look at the full size one you get a little insight into me. Today’s post isn’t about the photo. Here’s a story of ineptitude that is unprecedented in all my years of travel.

Allison, Eva and I went to Orlando for IZEAFest. We stayed at the Renaissance Orlando from September 30 to October 5th. I used my Marriott Rewards points for our room. Because we were going to be at IZEAFest all day long we needed someone to watch Eva. Our fantastic friend Maureen took time out of work to come stay with Eva from Thursday to Sunday. She refused any money for food or anything. I rented her a room for her stay. This one I paid for.

When I checked in on the 30th I explained to the front desk that I booked both rooms and I would be paying for everything for both rooms. I put down my credit card for everything. There should have been no reason at all for the hotel to take Maureen’s credit card for ANYTHING. The hotel stay overall was perfectly fine, we were able to get adjoining rooms too so that Maureen could easily take care of Eva and then go to her own room when Eva went down to sleep. The hotel itself was pretty nice but this post isn’t about that.

On Sunday I went with Maureen to check out. I got the bill and we kept the charges on my card. Maureen’s hotel room was $334.14 total. I was expecting to receive the charge on my credit card but it never came. I used the same card for my hotel room and I checked out on Monday. I was billed for the incidentals on our room. On the 17th I heard from Maureen that the hotel charged her card and that put her in overdraft and so her bank charged her over $500 in fees. She contacted the hotel to get this taken care of. Maureen first talked with a customer service rep who asked her to fax her credit card bill with the charges and the fees. The rep would talk with accounting and get the charges reversed. Easy Peasy, NOT.

On the 28th I got another e-mail from Maureen telling me that she hadn’t heard from the hotel about the charges. So she contacted them and was told that she needed to have me fill out an authorization form. I did that on the 29th and faxed it customer service. So they will be charging my credit card, as they should have. Everything was all set. Or so we thought.

Maureen contacted me last night to tell me that the hotel only reimbursed her $103 and not the rest of her fees. She gave me the name and number of the supervisor that she spoke with today. That person was Jennifer Kennett and she was not at all helpful. I called her also and left a message detailing the issue and said that this issue needs to be resolved today. I was not called back. Later Maureen received a message from Jennifer Kennett stating that she would not be reimbursed any more money and that she could lodge a complaint and to have a nice day.”

Since the phone call was not working I left a message for customer service through the online customer service form explaining the whole situation. I was automatically emailed that I would hear something in the next 3-5 business days. Another dead end.

So I looked up Marriott’s presence on Twitter and found @MarriottIntl. I then sent out a tweet” “@MarriottIntl I’ll never stay at the Renaissance Orlando again after what they did/are doing to my friend @motarpey.” Less than an hour later I saw this on my twitter stream: “MarriottIntl @motarpey Is there’s anything I can do? If so, please follow me so I can DM you. @BenSpark” So I am hoping that maybe they can help Maureen. They certainly were responsive right away on Twitter.

Actually it looks like by tweeting this issue I brought it into the light. Maureen was contacted by John Wolf one of the Marriott Tweeters. He asked Maureen for an explanation of the events which she sent in full detail (she cc’d me). Maureen has spent hours trying to resolve this and she has been lied to, hung up on and hung out to dry.

Here’s what bothers me most about this:

• Maureen was doing us a huge favor and is a fantastic friend and wonderful person, she should not have to deal with this garbage because the mistake was not hers and it should be rectified in full by Marriott.
• When I checked in I specifically gave instructions that I was to pay for everything and my credit card was to be used for incidentals. When Maureen checked in the front desk person demanded that she put down a credit card for incidentals. I was not there when she checked in but Allison was and while she explained that my card was on the account the person at the front desk still would not follow my explicit instructions.
• Maureen’s credit card should never have been taken for ANYTHING.
• If the hotel had trouble billing me, which they should not have had since I was billed for incidentals when I checked out the day AFTER Maureen. (The reason they might have had trouble was that my credit card was part of a ton of cards that may have been compromised and so I was issued a new card and number,)
• Why was Maureen told that the charges would be taken care of if she faxed copies of her credit card bill and then weeks later told that she needed to have me fax another form?
• How can a credit card company charge overdraft fees nearly twice the amount that caused the overdraft in the first place?

I will keep you all apprised of this issue but in the meantime I would not consider staying at the Renaissance Orlando ever again.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

Atrocious Customer Service from Renaissance Orlando

Anyone who was following my Travel Hell Saga (either on Twitter, Utterz or Google is not God) of my trip yesterday will be happy to know I did finally make it to my destination. My final destination yesterday was Little Rock Arkansas. I was to board a flight in Tulsa at 4:20pm to go to Memphis, TN and then another flight at 7:21om in Memphis to put me in Tulsa by 8:10pm. Easy Peasey.

Well, as I got my ticket at the Northwest self service Kiosk I see that my flight is listed as delayed. It doesn’t say till what time or anything, just delayed. So I had no where else to go I went through security and got a message from Allison telling me that my flight was delayed till 5:24pm, it would make my connection tight but doable.

However, none of the monitors in the airport reflected a delayed flight, and on the Tulsa airport website no sign of my flight being delayed, in fact when 4:20 came the boards changed to “boarding”.

That is odd since there were no gate agents and no plane. Finally gate agents arrived around 4:30 and started two lines, one for people who were going to Minneapolis (or somewhere) and the others going to Memphis. I figured that I was fine because I knew the flight was delayed and I could still make my connection so I didn’t get into line right away, big mistake. Tip #1 If you see a line forming at the gate counter get in it right away.

I finally made my way over to the counter and got in line I see that now the departure time is for 6:10pm and I would in no way make my connection. So I tried to find out online if there were other flights from Memphis to Little Rock. Unfortunately my computer was having a meltdown at the time and was of no use. (I apologize to everyone on on Entrecard for my lack of drops, my computer has not allowed multiple tabs to be open and I can’t get hardly any drops in at all.) Okay, back to the story.

As I am in line I call my manager and discuss the possibility of driving from Tulsa to Little Rock (it is only 4 hours and had I thought of doing that from the get go I would have been in Little Rock well before I was scheduled to leave the Tulsa airport in the first place.) Tip #2 If you are traveling multiple places look at a map. a 4 hour drive is much better than 8 hours in the airport.

I call our travel emergency line and the guy on the other end helps me through finding out if I can rent a car and drive and leave that car in Little Rock, after exhausting all the car companies it is a no go. So I get to the front of the line (which by the way was the end of the line too since I was so slow to get in it.) At the front of the line I am put on a flight from Tulsa to Chicago, Chicago to Little Rock on American Airlines. This would put me in Little Rock by 11:15pm. I take the ticket, go across the way to the American counter, am put on a flight from Tulsa to Dallas, Dallas to Little Rock that gets me to Little Rock by 11:00pm. Okay no biggie.

the flights are no problem, I get to Little Rock for 11:00pm drive to my hotel (minutes away) get in and turn on my computer (I did say it had a meltdown) because I had a demonstration today and wanted to make sure everything was okay.

Does this look alright to you?

About an hour later it had run through a bunch of checks and the computer was working okay. Time for bed.

A scant 5 1/2 hours later I was up refreshed and ready for a good day of demos.

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon.com. If you do please buy through our links and help support BenSpark.com. Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2010 Blog Consultant, Photo-A-Day Photographer & Daddy Blogger - BenSpark.com - Everyday Pictures... Every... Day

Travel Hell, where am I?