Question: I ordered three items from Sears.com three weeks ago. Two arrived, but the other — a coat for $75 — was canceled by Sears the same day I placed the order because it was no longer available in a warehouse or store.
It has been 20 days and I’ve received no refund for the canceled item. I’ve done online chat, e-mailed, and contacted Sears on Twitter and Facebook. According to @searscares, I am now on a waitlist for a “case manager” regarding my refund.
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When Lefteris Michailidis didn’t get a confirmation email from Priceline for a recent three-night hotel stay in London, he thought his bid wasn’t accepted.
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Editor’s Note: This is part two of a new Insider series on cruising. Here’s the first installation. As always, please send me any suggestions on topics or content I may have overlooked.
Not so long ago, you had to pick up a phone and call your local travel agent to book a cruise. No longer.
Although 90 percent of all cruise vacations are still bought through travel agents, not all agents are the same. You can turn to a full-service, “bricks-and-mortar” agency or an online agency. Or you could deal directly with the cruise line, in some instances.
But which option is right for you?
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I handle customer complaints for a living – the good, the bad and sometimes, the incredibly stupid.
Let’s talk about the incredibly stupid for a minute. When it comes to online transactions, I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen outrageously dumb behavior that could have easily been prevented and that cost customers thousands of dollars.
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Question: I have two small problems with Casual Male XL that I was hoping you could help me with.
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When it comes to online hotel reviews, travelers don’t believe everything they read.
Far from it.
Asked what they thought of property reviews posted by guests online, more than 8 in 10 described them as only “somewhat reliable.” While many of the write-ups are legit, they added, they believe hotels sometimes manipulate the system by posting bogus reviews. Equal numbers of travelers (7 percent) said they thought online hotel reviews were either “very reliable” or “not reliable at all.”
No “be all, end-all”
“I use sites like TripAdvisor to get a temperature or general feel for a property,” says Nathan Kam, a communication consultant who works in the tourism industry. “But I don’t consider it a ‘be all, end all’ source for information. I take what I find there and cross-check it with my other social networks — friends on Facebook, and maybe check in with my followers on Twitter to see what they have to say — and always check with a travel professional or two who might have an opinion. It seems like more work, but it’s worth the time to ensure you don’t end up with something surprising upon check-in.”
Kam’s comments reflect a majority of the reader feedback to this poll of more than 700 readers of this site and Consumer Traveler, which was conducted last week in cooperation with the Washington-based Consumer Travel Alliance.
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