Not Pleased w/First LL Experience - Cannot make reservation and LL not responding

[mountainlover]

Hi! I am havinga problem with a reservation in Victoria, BC. I cannot get any availability for the time-frame of the package and Luxury Link will not respond to my e-mails. I also checked availabitiliy prior to bidding...now I'm going to be out $800. any suggestions? i am checking the BBB for complaints against LL...i will also advise all my friends that it is not a good deal since there are evidently no refunds or recourse if there's no availaibty for the packages you buy.



very disappointed.

[bonniejoy03]

Hi mountainlover. Here is my suggestion: Please call LL directly through their toll free number. Please ask for customer service and explain your situation directly with them. Please give them a chance. I have consistently had and continue to have, wonderful experiences with them. I know that they will be helpful.

[lhbrown]

Hi mountainlover,
Bonniejoy03 is right, give LL Customer Service a call on their toll free number. Nancy Taylor is the lady you want to ask for, she is terrific.

[PierreandBetty]

Hi Mountain Lover:



You did the right thing. You took your complaint to the Community. I know I'll get the wrath from the Community VIPs for saying this but, like you, I tried to get in touch with Luxury Link customer service through phone calls and e-mails when I had a grievance and never received a reply. Once I wrote about my complaint in the Community chatboard things started moving.

[jsattapr2]

mountainlover, actually, Luxury Link recently promoted Nancy Taylorand she has handed off her prior Customer Service responsibilities to Susan at: [email protected] A direct email to Susan or a call to her on the Luxury Link toll free telephone number 1-888-297-3299 should get you on the road to a timelyresolution.

[mountainlover]

Thanks to all for the great replies - very helpful!



Sadly, LL's hours are not helping me out here! i've taken your advice and called...will e-mail Susan now - thanks js2!



Unfortunately LL cust svc hours are not up to my expectations for an online travel site either. They are not open 24 hours or even on weekends...which is QUITE inconvenient. as a 24/7 web business with ALL online commerce, they should be open better hours. Not to mention the fact that they are selling travel! travel requires worldwide time zone acess and customer service access. They need to keep up with the rest of the internet travel world, in my humble opinion. I don't have time during work hours on Monday morning to deal with this and my travel was supposed to be for Memorial Weekend!



I'm in quite a mess now. sorry to whine, but i'm very frustrated. will keep trying via mails.

[obrienkf]

Dear Mountainlover --- although I haveonly oncefaced the challenge that you have now (and I agreed with the hotel to accept a lesser room than the one that I purchased, and they were very apologetic for that), I have always been very conscious of the 'blackout' periodsdescribed inthe travel offers. When the offer says 'blackout periods may apply during major events....' it usually means the place will be sold out -- and they wont honor the LL certificate, because they can sell the room at full price, or at a premium rate due to demand. Same goes for 'holiday weekends', and in the case of hotels in Canada AND the USA, holiday weekends in one, are normally seen as holiday weekends in the other --- that is the nature of extensive cross border tourism.I suspect that many who have been buying from Luxury Link try to have that mid-week flexibility in their travel, as it is sometimes very hard to know if a small village in Portugal, or Greece or somewhere will have a 'special event or holiday weekend' when you want to visit, and the hotel intends to sell at full price, not the discounted travel that is available through LL.



Others who have purchased, and who could not use their package, have 're-offered' it in the community, and sometimes someone else will buy it. That may be an option for you. (Don't put your email on LL, but invite private messages from anyone who is interested within that feature on LL.)



My advice to others ... if your travel dates are very fixed, make sure that hotel has agreed in email to honor the purchase for the EXACT dates that you are restricted to travel,on the basis of anLL voucher. Otherwise, use the 'BUY NOW' option, not the 'BID NOW' option. These are substantially discounted travel offers in the BID feature. If I ran a hotel, and offered discounted rates through LL, to fill rooms mid-week, oroff season,I'd have "black out periods" too.



kind regards

[lhbrown]

Hi jsattapr2,
Thanks for the information that Nancy Taylor was promoted and the new LL Customer Service contact is now Susan. What is the new LL function of Nancy now and how did you find out? Was there an announcement, or newsletter, etc.? Also, I can't find the LL "About US" and the newsletter section anymore on my computer. Have they been moved?

On the difficulties of reaching LL Customer Service on the phone, I agree with you mountainlover, it is hard if you happen to live in a different time zone with 9 to 12 hours of time difference. It involves setting your alarm clock for some ungodly hours. It would be nice, if LL could man the customer service on a 24 hr basis, but perhaps they aren't quite big enough yet for that. If and when they do, we will probably see higher auction prices and handling fees to accommodate this service.






Message Edited by lhbrown on 05-18-2008 01:39 AM

[jsattapr2]

LL-Travelfan, I called the office in LA regarding a customer service question and was informed of the change. I did not ask about Nancy's new responsibilities. Here is the link to the "About Us" section:



http://www.luxurylink.com/about/abt_main.php

[lhbrown]

Hi jsattapr2,
Thank you for your reply and the link. I am sorry mountainlover, that you are still having problems, but I trust that Susan, the new Customer Service person will handle your problem as efficiently as Nancy Taylor did in the past. Let us hear how you finally resolved your problem. Good Luck.




Message Edited by lhbrown on 05-19-2008 04:53 AM