Part 2 Bahama trip- The drama

Don't you love that feeling of the morning of a trip? I know I do; anticipation!! Bill and I had packed the night before, I had all of our paperwork, passports, confirmations for plane tickets, car rental and resort in my purse. I had a separate confirmation from the resort whose web page I had visited a zillion times to view the pictures. We were raring to go.

We had pre-arranged for to drive to Matthew's house in Richmond to leave our car at his place. He arranged to take a few hours off to drop us off at the airport so we didn't have to take a cab or pay for garage fees.

Our flight was leaving at around eleven a.m. It was early enough that we'd have almost a full day when we arrived in Freeport. Our plan was to pick up the car, pick up a few groceries and then check in.With map in hand and me as co-pilot all we had to do was slather on some sunscreen and we were ready for beach, sand, pool food and adult beverages.

Or so we thought!!

Now for the drama!

Let me just say this... I'm going to omit the real names of the parties (I will insert substitute names for the purpose of telling you what happen)- for now. And the reason? I have filed a complaint and am looking to be compensated to our ordeal. Needless to say until I hear from them it wouldn't be in my best interest to bad mouth them in an overt manner. If I do not get a more positive response than what I have gotten so far. I will share with you all the names. Heck, I'll probably their names whatever the outcome because it's just my nature to truthful about a consumer experience.

When we arrived at the airport and asked where our airline was checking in we were informed that they didn't fly out of Richmond. Talk about being sick to my stomach!  I had just received a confirmation just days earlier from the company I booked with.

We booked our plane tickets and car many months ago with one of those big online travel companies, lets for the sake of this post call them "hotpileofshit" You know the type of company I'm talking about they advertize all the time about giving you the best prices on tickets, hotels and cars. There are a few that have commercials on TV and I don't really have a preference I just used the one that gave me a direct flight. For the sake of this post let's call the airline we were supposed to fly with "bogusair."

Now most of you just know me and I pride myself as being pretty cool under fire. I've learned since the kids died not to sweat the small stuff. But we waited over six months and were really looking forward to this trip. I WAS beyond PISSED.

First I called "bogusair" How is it that they had those tickets for sale if they didn't fly out of Richmond? I got a big sorry for your inconvenience we'll be happy to refund your ticket price. And about new tickets? Sorry we don't fly out of Richmond so we can't help you. Really?! You're f'ing kidding me right?  At this point the porters at the airport thought my head was going to explode since I was sitting on an outside bench screaming into my phone.

Got the visual?

Then I called the people who had just days before sent me confirmation for my flights on "bogusair" direct from Richmond to Freeport Grand Bahama " "hotpileofshit." The customers service rep.  said she was sorry then told me maybe this wouldn't have happened if I would have checked the flight myself! Seriously??

Then she put me on hold for forever to confirm that "bogusair" was refunding my money. I was pretty sure the airport structure was going to tumble when I shrieked at the woman when she finally got back on the line that . "she better get me on a f'ing plane to the Bahamas and  do it now or I swear someone's gonna pay." 

From my mouth to God's ears.

As it turned out someone did pay and those someone's were Bill and I . "Bogusair" and "hotpileofshit" refused to pay any additional costs to us for their total fail in booking. We sat at the airport all day. Had to fly that night to Phillie, spend the night in a hotel and then fly to the Bahama's the next day. Do you know how cold it feels in Phillie at 11pm in the wind when you're dressed for the Bahama's?

What did this little drama cost us?

One lost day's vacation. priceless
Additional plane ticket costs, baggage fee's,Phillie hotel, fee to change car rental arrangements.....$500.00
Loss in the belief that there is such a thing as good faith. priceless

What did "the anchor"do?

I wrote a polite but straightforward complaint email to customers service at "hotpileofshit". Their response was to offer us a $50.00 credit towards our next booking and a sincere apology. Needless to say I consider the money part an insult. I contacted a consumer advocate who deals with many issues primarily travel (his name is Christopher Elliott http://elliott.org/ ) who has intervened on my behalf by contacting them about our situation. I'm hoping we'll get a more positive response now that he's involved.

What's I think.

Just watching the news lately it's clear nobody wants to take responsibility for their behavior or their mistakes. I've come to believe that these two businesses conduct themselves like government or even some low life man who beats his wife and then blames it on her. What's wrong with just saying let me be honest I made a mistake let me make it up to you?  What the hell is wrong with our society people?  "Bogusair" washed their hands of me when they refunded my money and left me stranded and "hotpileofshit" blamed it on them and slapped a paying customer in the face.

Something is seriously wrong!