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#11
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Bad experience with Lori Cunningham/Skyscraper Tours
Wolfgang Petrusch wrote: I wish Lori would respond here, Look back 5 posts in this thread and you will see that Lori has already responded. Her post was at 10:25am. sue |
#12
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Bad experience with Lori Cunningham/Skyscraper Tours
"CupCaked" wrote LOL! If you're referring to me, George, you're way off base and need to reset your targets. I wouldn't even know how to use an anonymous coste account. Karen, you really should work on your overwhelming need to be the center of attention. Not every post on r.t.c. is about you. If I have something to say to you, I'll say it plain and clear so even you will understand it. -- George in PA http://www.countryside-travel.com Norwegian Dawn http://www.cruisemaster.com/dawn.htm Sleazy 3 - Carnival Conquest http://www.cruisemaster.com/sleazy3.htm The Mother of All Group Cruises http://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com |
#13
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Bad experience with Lori Cunningham/Skyscraper Tours
Lori,
Margaret already addressed well several of your points. I'll address those points where I have something to add. Lori Cunningham wrote: Hi Margaret Your post(s) and website are designed to hurt my business. You seem to have left out a few important points. Our web site is designed to help inform other consumers. It's no different from other posts to this list or to a travel web site about problems people have had, except in this case a web page makes it easier to present the complex information and provide access to the supporting materials so people can judge for themselves. 1. When you first contacted me about Alaska 2004, you asked specifically for cruisetour 15. This is a VERY important note - you asked for a specific cruisetour - number 15. Since the cruisetours had not been loaded in the system with Royal Caribbean, I emailed you the cruisetour 15 itinerary for the 2003 season. Yes, in hindsight, I should have noted that the itinerary provided was based on Royal Caribbean 2003 itinerary and was subject to change. What you left out of this is that I strongly suggested that you wait until the brochures arrived for the 2004 season so that you would be sure that you had the correct cruisetour. But you did not want to do this - and provided information to book Cruisetour 15 based on 2003 information. So, I did as you requested and booked cruisetour 15. You're right--that is an important note. So people can judge for themselves, we added Margaret's original email to you to the web page (http://www.mindspring.com/~mefine/skyscraper) in the first entry of the timeline. Margaret has already quoted the relevant part. She asked for a "similar" tour, not 2004's cruisetour 15 as you stated. The key point, though, is that you sent Margaret email titled "Vision of the Seas cruisetour 15 - no pricing - but here is the itinerary" containing the following: 6/27/04 Anchorage 6/28/04 Anchorage to Denali 6/29/04 Denali 6/30/04 Denali 7/1/04 Denali/Talkeetna 7/2/04 is the start of the cruise FRI Seward, Alaska 9:00 PM Docked .... You said above "I emailed you the cruisetour 15 itinerary for the 2003 season." But note that the dates you provided are for 2004. When Margaret contacted you to book that itinerary, you accepted the reservation without informing us that the itinerary you offered did not exist. 2. NOW, Francesca did make a mistake and booked you for 2003 - not 2004. This was a human error and was corrected immediately to place you on cruisetour 15 for 2004. These mistakes can happen. 3. When the cruisetour 15 was confirmed by Royal Caribbean for 2004, I sent the itinerary to you via mail - to have you verify that this is the cruisetour that you wanted for 2004. Because the brochures were not available - I wanted you to confirm that cruisetour 15 for 2004 was what you wanted. 4. You received the itinerary in the mail and immediately called Francesca to cancel the cruisetour 15 - because it was not what you wanted. This was a hastily made decision - and everything could have been corrected at this point - if you had allowed me to mail the brochure to you - so that you could find the cruise tour that you DID want. But you did not wait for me to suggest this - you just cancelled the cruisetour w/out seeking advice. 5. As for me not cooperating with Travel Guard, that is a flat out lie. I faxed Travel Guard repeatedly to have everything corrected for you. BUT Travel Guard notified me that you were intervening in the process and because of this - they were confused and were reviewing the situation. And Margaret, I informed Steve of this - and asked him to let me handle the situation with Travel Guard - but to no avail. When I talked with you July 1 we wanted a full refund, which you said you did not support. After I talked with you I talked with TravelGuard. They told me the same thing they told Margaret: Francesca had verbally requested a refund for the overpayment but she had never followed up in writing as required. 6. Another situation that you left out, is that Steve asked me to help you find the cruisetour that would fit your needs (through another cruise line - after the Royal Caribbean cruise was cancelled). But because of the communication between us, and your insistance to refuse my help, I advised him that it was probably better if he found another travel agent. He did not seem happy that I suggested this. You're incorrect on a couple of points. When I called you requesting a refund on the travel insurance premium, you said you would not support that. But you offered to find us a cruise-tour that met our needs, and I was willing to see what you found (Margaret never insisted that I refuse your help). However, when I mentioned that I felt that your past actions (selling us a package that did not exist) could be considered fraudulent and would not tolerate any further problems, then you said that it would be best if I found another travel agent. At the end of the call I was unhappy that you were not willing to acknowledge or correct your mistake. Just so there are no misunderstandings: On 6/21 I sent Francesca email stating that we would like to cancel the cruisetour and receive a refund of the insurance premium. Francesca said that we needed to talk with you about the premium. I sent you email requesting a premium refund on 6/24. (I'd be happy to post those emails too.) On July 1 talked with you and asked for your support in receiving a refund from TravelGuard. You said that you would not support that. So, there are always 2 sides to a story. Your slanderous website and postings are simply that and appropriate measures will be taken. You know that I did everything that I could to try and help you out. "Slander" only applies when the statements are false. Everything we have said is true, and some of the supporting material is provided on the web site. Many of the other statements are based on information provided by neutral third-parties (RCI, TravelGuard). If there are verifiable mistakes (e.g., TravelGuard confirms your statements), we'd be happy to make corrections. |
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Bad experience with Lori Cunningham/Skyscraper Tours
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Bad experience with Lori Cunningham/Skyscraper Tours
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#16
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Bad experience with Lori Cunningham/Skyscraper Tours
Oh... BTW - Tomorrow I am going on a two night cruise on the Serenade of the Seas with Barb. In January Hey you did not say my name! I am saddened!! hahaha George do not even let these people get started! these are the reasons I had stayed away from here seems like there is less and less CRUISE TALK! More talk about who is not a good TA and who is unhappy with how the GCCs are run etc etc... Susette Join us on our Annual Group Cruise 29Nov03 Navigator of the Seas Check out our new website: www.cruiseoutlets.com |
#17
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Bad experience with Lori Cunningham/Skyscraper Tours
Hi Steve
I will restate what I have said befo With the Travel Guard refund, I was in negotiations with Travel Guard, and had faxed over several requests to them. They were going to refund the majority of your premium (and I was going to cover the difference) UNTIL YOU intervened in the process. It seems to me that you have posed this attack over the $493 that you want back from Travel Guard. You would have received this, if you had not intervened in what I was trying to do for you. Now, you have not contacted me (since hearing from Travel Guard) to see if I could help you. You have not contacted me at all to try and work out compensation. Instead, you post a website to hurt me and my business. Lori Cunningham http://www.skyscrapertours.com In article . net, Steve Fine says... Lori, Margaret already addressed well several of your points. I'll address those points where I have something to add. Lori Cunningham wrote: Hi Margaret Your post(s) and website are designed to hurt my business. You seem to have left out a few important points. Our web site is designed to help inform other consumers. It's no different from other posts to this list or to a travel web site about problems people have had, except in this case a web page makes it easier to present the complex information and provide access to the supporting materials so people can judge for themselves. 1. When you first contacted me about Alaska 2004, you asked specifically for cruisetour 15. This is a VERY important note - you asked for a specific cruisetour - number 15. Since the cruisetours had not been loaded in the system with Royal Caribbean, I emailed you the cruisetour 15 itinerary for the 2003 season. Yes, in hindsight, I should have noted that the itinerary provided was based on Royal Caribbean 2003 itinerary and was subject to change. What you left out of this is that I strongly suggested that you wait until the brochures arrived for the 2004 season so that you would be sure that you had the correct cruisetour. But you did not want to do this - and provided information to book Cruisetour 15 based on 2003 information. So, I did as you requested and booked cruisetour 15. You're right--that is an important note. So people can judge for themselves, we added Margaret's original email to you to the web page (http://www.mindspring.com/~mefine/skyscraper) in the first entry of the timeline. Margaret has already quoted the relevant part. She asked for a "similar" tour, not 2004's cruisetour 15 as you stated. The key point, though, is that you sent Margaret email titled "Vision of the Seas cruisetour 15 - no pricing - but here is the itinerary" containing the following: 6/27/04 Anchorage 6/28/04 Anchorage to Denali 6/29/04 Denali 6/30/04 Denali 7/1/04 Denali/Talkeetna 7/2/04 is the start of the cruise FRI Seward, Alaska 9:00 PM Docked ... You said above "I emailed you the cruisetour 15 itinerary for the 2003 season." But note that the dates you provided are for 2004. When Margaret contacted you to book that itinerary, you accepted the reservation without informing us that the itinerary you offered did not exist. 2. NOW, Francesca did make a mistake and booked you for 2003 - not 2004. This was a human error and was corrected immediately to place you on cruisetour 15 for 2004. These mistakes can happen. 3. When the cruisetour 15 was confirmed by Royal Caribbean for 2004, I sent the itinerary to you via mail - to have you verify that this is the cruisetour that you wanted for 2004. Because the brochures were not available - I wanted you to confirm that cruisetour 15 for 2004 was what you wanted. 4. You received the itinerary in the mail and immediately called Francesca to cancel the cruisetour 15 - because it was not what you wanted. This was a hastily made decision - and everything could have been corrected at this point - if you had allowed me to mail the brochure to you - so that you could find the cruise tour that you DID want. But you did not wait for me to suggest this - you just cancelled the cruisetour w/out seeking advice. 5. As for me not cooperating with Travel Guard, that is a flat out lie. I faxed Travel Guard repeatedly to have everything corrected for you. BUT Travel Guard notified me that you were intervening in the process and because of this - they were confused and were reviewing the situation. And Margaret, I informed Steve of this - and asked him to let me handle the situation with Travel Guard - but to no avail. When I talked with you July 1 we wanted a full refund, which you said you did not support. After I talked with you I talked with TravelGuard. They told me the same thing they told Margaret: Francesca had verbally requested a refund for the overpayment but she had never followed up in writing as required. 6. Another situation that you left out, is that Steve asked me to help you find the cruisetour that would fit your needs (through another cruise line - after the Royal Caribbean cruise was cancelled). But because of the communication between us, and your insistance to refuse my help, I advised him that it was probably better if he found another travel agent. He did not seem happy that I suggested this. You're incorrect on a couple of points. When I called you requesting a refund on the travel insurance premium, you said you would not support that. But you offered to find us a cruise-tour that met our needs, and I was willing to see what you found (Margaret never insisted that I refuse your help). However, when I mentioned that I felt that your past actions (selling us a package that did not exist) could be considered fraudulent and would not tolerate any further problems, then you said that it would be best if I found another travel agent. At the end of the call I was unhappy that you were not willing to acknowledge or correct your mistake. Just so there are no misunderstandings: On 6/21 I sent Francesca email stating that we would like to cancel the cruisetour and receive a refund of the insurance premium. Francesca said that we needed to talk with you about the premium. I sent you email requesting a premium refund on 6/24. (I'd be happy to post those emails too.) On July 1 talked with you and asked for your support in receiving a refund from TravelGuard. You said that you would not support that. So, there are always 2 sides to a story. Your slanderous website and postings are simply that and appropriate measures will be taken. You know that I did everything that I could to try and help you out. "Slander" only applies when the statements are false. Everything we have said is true, and some of the supporting material is provided on the web site. Many of the other statements are based on information provided by neutral third-parties (RCI, TravelGuard). If there are verifiable mistakes (e.g., TravelGuard confirms your statements), we'd be happy to make corrections. |
#18
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Bad experience with Lori Cunningham/Skyscraper Tours
Lori:
With the recent threads on TA ethics in this forum, I have been following this situation more closely than I normally would have. After reading your reply, I cannot find Margaret's web page the least slanderous, because she makes some valid points, which you did not respond to in your reply. a) Quoting travel insurance at $330.00 and charging $483.00, is, IMHO, an unauthorized charge. b) Stating in an e-mailing to client on May 29 that the deposit will soon be charged, but client's credit card had actually been charged on May 16, I simply do not know what to say to that. c) RCCL is uasually extremely fast with refunds. Clients having to call the cruise line themselves 4 months later to request the refund, is not my idea of customer service. Skyscraper Tours has obviously made several mistakes with this booking, and apparently has not been working flat out to correct them in the client's best interest. Again, I would be very careful calling Margaret's web page slanderous, with the facts as they have been established here so far. Wolfgang Petrusch www.deluxevoyages.com snip So, there are always 2 sides to a story. Your slanderous website and postings are simply that and appropriate measures will be taken. You know that I did everything that I could to try and help you out. Lori Cunningham snip |
#19
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Bad experience with Lori Cunningham/Skyscraper Tours
"Susette405" wrote Oh... BTW - Tomorrow I am going on a two night cruise on the Serenade of the Seas with Barb. Hey you did not say my name! I am saddened!! hahaha Woo-Hoo! Looks like another Unholy Trinity..... another match made in cruise heaven. Just think about all the carnage and damage we can do to the shrimp supply in two days! See you tomorrow.... -- George in PA http://www.countryside-travel.com Norwegian Dawn http://www.cruisemaster.com/dawn.htm Sleazy 3 - Carnival Conquest http://www.cruisemaster.com/sleazy3.htm The Mother of All Group Cruises http://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com |
#20
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Bad experience with Lori Cunningham/Skyscraper Tours
Hi Wolfgang
Answers below: In article , Wolfgang Petrusch says... Lori: With the recent threads on TA ethics in this forum, I have been following this situation more closely than I normally would have. After reading your reply, I cannot find Margaret's web page the least slanderous, because she makes some valid points, which you did not respond to in your reply. a) Quoting travel insurance at $330.00 and charging $483.00, is, IMHO, an unauthorized charge. This was a legitimate mistake. The trip cost was $2500 per person, but when Francesca called in the insurance to Travel Guard, the rep (or Francesca who is no longer with Skyscraper Tours, Inc),must have accidentally put $3500 and charged the premium accordingly. $2500 vs $3500, surely you can see that this was a mistake - and the mistake was going to be corrected BUT the Fine's cancelled the booking before the request of refund was processed by Travel Guard. b) Stating in an e-mailing to client on May 29 that the deposit will soon be charged, but client's credit card had actually been charged on May 16, I simply do not know what to say to that. Once again, mistakes can happen. We did have, once again, Francesca involved in this portion - and that is my ultimate responsibility and I will take the heat - but Francesca is no longer with Skyscraper Tours, Inc. c) RCCL is uasually extremely fast with refunds. Clients having to call the cruise line themselves 4 months later to request the refund, is not my idea of customer service. You are absolutely correct. This is just a further problem when the cruisetour was accidentally booked for 2003 and not 2004. Royal Caribbean placed an automatic $500 cancellation penalty because of this mistake. Thus, we had to negotiate with Royal Caribbean to get them to waive the penalty. It is something that hardly ever happens - and it was a first for me to have them do this. RCI's philosophy was that the cruisetour was booked for 2003 and was subject to cancellation penalties so, the correct 2004 booking would have the same penalty. RCI did not fully believe that an honest mistake was made, and what they were trying to avoid is someone cancellation a penalty booking, moving it to a future cruise, and thus negating the penalty. Skyscraper Tours has obviously made several mistakes with this booking, and apparently has not been working flat out to correct them in the client's best interest. Again, I would be very careful calling Margaret's web page slanderous, with the facts as they have been established here so far. Mr Petrusch, I have admitted mistakes made on the booking. I also worked very hard to obtain compensation for the client. The Client, on the otherhand, did not want to work with me. Mr and Mrs Fine did not contact me to seek compensation before making this post. Also remember, that the last time that I heard from this client was in July!! They waited until late October to express their dissatisfaction?? AND they did not express their dissatisfaction to me - but to a board. I know that an equitable agreement could have been made between the Fines and me. I am disappointed, that they chose public humiliation instead of handling it with me personally. Wolfgang Petrusch www.deluxevoyages.com snip So, there are always 2 sides to a story. Your slanderous website and postings are simply that and appropriate measures will be taken. You know that I did everything that I could to try and help you out. Lori Cunningham snip |
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