Claiming compensation for travel agent mistake

claire16c

tlj7 wrote: »

Well that's me told good and proper eh!
However I would like to state that I am the complete opposite of the type of person some of you have judged me as. I hate complainers and have previously not had cause to, or seek any compensation - hence my genuine question on this forum.
We picked the Hilton, by the Flamingo from Trip Advisor and emailed the Virgin shop to ask them if they could book this. They confirmed yes and the invoices stated the name and the street name, so we had no reason to doubt this and no one mentioned there were 3 Hiltons in Vegas. We had asked for flights to/from Manchester so when told they couldn't do Manchester, we naively accepted this.
From your responses our request for an upgrade was obviously a lot to ask but we were not aware of this, not being in this situation before. We assumed it would not be a big deal for such a large company, bearing in mind it was their mistake.
So thanks for the advice, I think it sounds as though we didn't do so bad after all. This is what these forums are about after all - just a shame I feel like I have been slated and judged for it!

If they said they could book it for you and gave you the street name then it was their fault.

They also told me they could book me a flight that went from Orlando to Miami, then Tobago direct.

Once Id paid a deposit I got an intinerary from them showing my flights that went Orlando - Miami - Barbados - Tobago (plus refueling in Grenada!). And the Miami flight left before the Orlando one arrived..

So I believe you because I know how stupid they are.

ferf1223

claire16c wrote: »

If they said they could book it for you and gave you the street name then it was their fault.
.

The street name for both locations would be the same, though - Las Vegas Boulevard South...both the north and mid-strip locations are on LVB S.

If the OP didn't realise that there was more than one, I'm not sure that there would have been any reason to say 'by the Flamingo' but in any event - I would guess that the Virgin rep heard the name of the hotel - checked it was in their system - confirmed they could book it...I'm not sure that the agent would have seen anything other than the hotels that they offer - so wouldn't necessarily know that the hotel they were quoting for was different to the one the OP wanted.

photome

tlj7 wrote: »

Well that's me told good and proper eh!
However I would like to state that I am the complete opposite of the type of person some of you have judged me as. I hate complainers and have previously not had cause to, or seek any compensation - hence my genuine question on this forum.
We picked the Hilton, by the Flamingo from Trip Advisor and emailed the Virgin shop to ask them if they could book this.The y confirmed yes and the invoices stated the name and the street name, so we had no reason to doubt this and no one mentioned there were 3 Hiltons in Vegas. We had asked for flights to/from Manchester so when told they couldn't do Manchester, we naively accepted this.
From your responses our request for an upgrade was obviously a lot to ask but we were not aware of this, not being in this situation before. We assumed it would not be a big deal for such a large company, bearing in mind it was their mistake.
So thanks for the advice, I think it sounds as though we didn't do so bad after all. This is what these forums are about after all - just a shame I feel like I have been slated and judged for it!

The one you wanted and the one they sent you to both have the same street name..Las Vegas Boulevard, are you sure you had the right one on your invoice.If you did then Virgin are at fault although as I sadi before getting the Paris instead was better IMO

Posted and then saw Ferf had posted the same and she puts it better than me. Its unlikely that the person booking knew there three Hilton GV in Vegas

tlj7

I have checked the info and the Hilton GV that we chose via Trip Advisor is called HGV at the Flamingo - hence our mentioning it. However our invoice only stated HGV, 2650 Las Vegas Boulevard South (the address for the north end). So I assume from this that we would have been charged for that one. We still had the original email request and response from Virgin, which we emailed as proof of our booking for the Flamingo one. They accepted it was their mistake.
Overall I think we seem to have done very well from this, so thanks for enlightening me - I have been compensated! It also highlights that I will always check the exact address in future too.

bagand96

Its easy to see how the confusion happened, even though you asked for Hilton GV at the Flamingo, the agent probably didn't realise there were 2 in Vegas, so looked in their system and found "Hilton GV Las Vegas" and went ahead and booked. You didn't realise there was 2 either so had no reason to double check the address etc and t didn't become apparent unti you arrived.

With regards to Manchester flights, Virgin only fly to Las Vegas and Orlando from Manchester, not San Francisco. So it probably was better (cheaper) to book a London originating and Arriving flight.

I may have missed it but did you even have to stay a night in the wrong Hilton? Or was it sorted on the same day?

Either way, you are correct in saying that you came out well from it. The upgrade to the Paris was good and would have cost them. Moving you to a Manchester flight free was also very good (this would have cost a fortune for any passenger just wanting to do it).

Other than claiming the costs of taxi and phone calls, I doubt there's anything more for you in this, Virgin did very well.

ferf1223

bagand96 wrote: »

With regards to Manchester flights, Virgin only fly to Las Vegas and Orlando from Manchester, not San Francisco. So it probably was better (cheaper) to book a London originating and Arriving flight..

Not sure if that's the case - we book open-jaw tickets with Virgin as we stop off in Chicago to see family, then return from Vegas and usually there's not much if anything in the price difference between a direct return, and sometimes it's cheaper than a direct return to Vegas. The MAN service runs less frequently though

I agree that you can see how the situation occurred and glad that the OP feels things worked out in a satisfactory manner after all.

tlj7

We stayed one night at the Hilton, whilst awaiting a reply from Virgin in UK, due to the time difference.

So what are "open jaw tickets" then?

Thanks for the advice - I'm learning all the time!

ferf1223

into one airport, out of another = open jaw/multi-city...we've done the LHR->ORD, LAS->LGW with Virgin many times...then booked ORD->LAS separately...as we know we are staying in Illinois for a few nights to visit family, so minimal risk of anything going wrong that would screw us over on the ORD->LAS flight since booking it separately means it's down to us to sort it out if we miss that flight.

pelirocco

There might not have been any seats left in PE anyway , airlines dont seem to have any problems selling the higher class seats , on a few occasions we have tried to upgrade with money they havent had any left