Q: I booked a mother-daughter trip to Club Med Cancun. Before making the reservation, I spent two days working with a travel agent specializing in Club Med. She helped me with planning but did not look into the airport I wanted or the room type I mentioned.
I booked the trip online through the Club Med site and paid for it. I have the confirmation e-mail showing it's paid in full. I also booked the flights myself.
I contacted the travel agent and thanked her for her time. She asked me for my booking number and said she would get my file. I thought she would get a referral credit, and I was fine with that.
Somehow, Club Med changed my reservation with a deposit due of over $3,000. The travel agent contacted me and said it was due that day. But she was not my travel agent. I did not sign anything with her agency.
I had paid $4,152 to Club Med. The travel agent's invoice shows a different amount. Now I can't reach anyone at Club Med. I don't know how this happened. The travel agent tells me that Club Med will not let me check in if I don't pay the balance. I can't cancel without losing the money I paid.
I'm supposed to leave in a few days. Can you help me straighten this out?
A: I see what happened. You felt guilty about asking a travel agent for help but then booking yourself, so you figured you would let the agent take a commission on your vacation. But then things took an unexpected turn.
Travel agents, or travel advisers as they now call themselves, make most of their money by taking commissions from a travel supplier like Club Med. (Club Med reportedly pays up to 15% to agents on bookings.) So, when you asked an agent for help and she started pulling up options, she wanted to book the vacation and get her commission.
