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Report: #1296808

Complaint Review: Kiwi Travel - Appleton Wisconsin

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: Sandy — Appleton Wisconsin USA
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  • Kiwi Travel 3020 E College Ave # N, Appleton, Wisconsin USA

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This was the most exhausting and questionable experience I have ever been through.  Kay makes promises, in writing, then backs out on those promises even when confronted with her own email facts.  She has her employees screen her calls, directing them to say she is with clients.  She will not return calls or emails, instead she directs her employees to send emails.  

My daughter is doing International Studies abroad and I was unable to book a flight for a full year out.  Kay indicated if I booked through her she could waive a flight change fee for my daughters return flight.  When it came time to changing her return flight she backed out on her promise and tried to make more money off of me. She then told me to handle it myself so I called the airlines only to find out their was no change fee if they could book a return flight on a date that was at the same dollar amount.  The airlines did not charge me but Kay informed me it was going to be $150.00 without her "waiver" (now her partial waiver) and that without the waiver it would have been $350.00.  I called into the airlines twice to see where this $350.00 charge came from and both calls did not come up with that dollar amount.  The closest charge would have been $250.00 so I picked a different date......Kay didn't think of doing.  She told me I didn't inform her.  Again, I have an email to show I did.

Kay also emailed me that there was no space available, strange....... I was able to book the flight back. 

Kay made blame to me that I had not contacted her back in a timely manner on a confirmed return date for my daughter and that is why there was a change fee......I was able to book the flight back for free.

As far as customer service, it took 4 weeks to book the tickets with Kay.  My husband stopped initially and I emailed and called for weeks.  Her reply's, if any, were promises to complete the bookings. 

Additional failed customer service:  I had a 5 hour layover in one city and called the airlines to see if there were any opens seats for me to grab at an earlier time.  There were none.  Because Kay had indicated she had a good rapport (in our early stage of her selling process to me) I called Kay to see if she could assist........she text me the toll free number for the airlines and told me to call. 

Kays emails to me were angry, in all caps, emotional, and very unprofessional.  Her details, even on flight information, were incorrect.  Her responses became very unorganized and full of errors.  

I would highly recommend staying away from this Travel Agency.  Very stressful and absolutely no support. 

Sandy

 

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 03/30/2016 11:37 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/kiwi-travel/appleton-wisconsin-54915/kiwi-travel-incredibly-horrible-customer-service-and-professionalism-appleton-wisconsin-1296808. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
1Author
0Consumer
1Employee/Owner

#2 Author of original report

Kiwi Travel

AUTHOR: - ()

POSTED: Tuesday, May 31, 2016

And........this was how things were handled, as she writes in her rebuttal.  Always a reason/excuse for her lack of customer service and hiding behind her empolyees.  What does cheap have anything to do with the bullet points I provided anyway?  If I wanted cheap I would have chanced booking myself but I wanted expertise.  Although Kay has the experiense in the travel industry she very much lacks in professionalism and customer service.   Well, I thought she had experience anyway but based on what she was going to charge me vs what Air New Zealand (didn't) charge me for a change date...this is  now questionable.

I was actually talking to a girlfriend of mine about this experience and couldn't believe the look on her face.  She had asked me if I had booked through Kiwi Travel, as I had not mentioned the name of the business.  She then explained her experience back on 911.  Kay would not return calls to my girlfriend and 3 other couples to reschedule flights.  After weeks of calling, my girlfriend, and the three other couples stopped payment on their credit card for lack of follow through.  Their trip to Hawaii was booked through a different agency.  What are the chances of me speaking about this and someone else having the same negative experience?!!

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#1 REBUTTAL Owner of company

After 37 years and 50,000 clients, I guess one or two can't be pleased

AUTHOR: Kiwi Travel - (USA)

POSTED: Tuesday, April 05, 2016

Actually there are two sides to every story, and I have additional points to be made on her claims, along with my own emails.

They wanted cheap. They asked me to check flights out of Chicago, Milwaukee and Appleton. They wanted to fly Southwest airlines with connecting flights with Air Pacific. This way they would have had to pay for 2 lots of luggage, pick up their luggage on the west coast, and transfer them to another flight. I suggested they could go out of Appleton with a nicer itinerary and more convenience, and transfer to Air New Zealand, as they are rated almost #1 in the world and I have a good rapport with them. 

Usually when a travel agent books a flight, tickets need to be paid within 24 hours. Air New Zealand waived that requirement weeks after she was looking online herself. 

Again, she would not have received this service anywhere else. Because of my loyalty to Air New Zealand, they allowed me to ticket the space she would not have got anwhere else.

The client took weeks to make a decision. She was lucky I have the rapport with Air New Zealand, because they moved the space for me to keep the price the same.

The original plan was to email once they arrived in new Zealand with her daughter's return. By the time she resonded to me to let me know, the space was not available. Therefore there was an added cost for the higher fair and the change fee of $200.00 was still waived. 

In response to not responding, I did respond until she became nasty and I then emailed her Air New Zealand's phone number and told her to handle it herself. The flight eventually booked was for the 6th, this date was never given to me or it would have been done immediately. 

After all my time and efforts to give the client a wonderful experience, my efforts went to the wind.

Again, the change fee was never reneged on. I am a person of my word.

To sum up, they wanted cheap, which I understand in a way, but for a trip like this, a few dollars more or actually almost the same, this was the way to go. I would like to finalize by saying that my staff is always polite, professional and respectful. I wouldn't emply anyone that provided anything less. I never need my staff to cover for me and would never ask them to do so.

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