Give Me My Money Back!

As we were careening around NZ I took some time every few days to send a note to the young woman who planned our vacation.  I was having a great time so most of what I wrote was positive but I also pointed out the occasional screw-up or discrepancy in our itinerary in what I believe was a kind, calm, factual manner, even though I paid good money for my trip so I didn't expect any mistakes ever in its execution.  Seriously, though, I learn more from correcting my mistakes than I do from my sailing through things with flying colors.  Sometimes SuperK and I found trails or restaurants or sites that we thought were very good and I wanted to pass this info along.  A couple of times the things we did were better suited for someone who may have been about 82 years younger than we were.  I don't think I complained or I whined or I cast the trip in a dark manner.  I really love to travel and it gives me great pleasure passing tips and shit along.

At the end of the trip our planner sent a nice, non-defensive explanation of why things may have diverged.  She has to link information that her literature department compiles - which she admitted is usually but not always up to date - with information that different tour operators who are actually in NZ provide.  There was one tour that was mangled and one that was frayed so I asked for some consideration on this - one of the hazards of pre-booking far in advance is that you have paid your bill and they gots your money and if you don't show they keeps your money.

This woman writes me back and says that we will be getting a full refund for both tours.  KK and I kick this around - we want to be fair - and decide to tell her that we'd be happy with half of that. The tours were messed up but not disasters.  I expect a certain amount of confusion on a long trip like this.


Her response:  "This is why the feedback you provide is so valuable when you return. For each accommodation, excursion, and tour, we have an accompanying text block in our system that prints in your documents.  Part of the reason we go on our trips each year is to go through and edit these to be sure they are accurate and up to date. If the person doesn’t update these right away or information is misconstrued, this can cause small details and descriptions to be incorrect or outdated. We have a product team that works on these text elements which is who I have given all your feedback to. They are now in the process of contacting the suppliers, finding out why these elements weren’t already updated and make the necessary changes. 

I want to thank you again for taking the time to provide all of this feedback. I actually have a little folder here of the pieces you’ve brought back that I have already given to my product team. I know you had to deal with some inaccuracies that I apologize for but you are really helping my team here as well as future travelers with all these notes.

I feel pretty good about this.  I feel like I helped someone out, an organization, even.  Maybe someone will have a better trip in the future because I did this.  I bet that the advice wouldn't have been given much consideration if I had been angry or belittling or demanded a full refund  - I can only imagine that a tour planner has to deal with all kinds of budgets and expectations and temperaments.  What is luxurious for me may be a shack for someone else.  And, as usually happens, when I'm fair with someone I receive rewards in kind.  I didn't pitch a bitch so I'm getting a much bigger refund than I expected, and with a huge amount of peace of mind.