This page last updated: January 30th 2014
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January 30th 2014
January 22nd 2014
Because we really do mean it when we talk about improving your vacation
experience from the first time you call us to returning home from your vacation,
we'd appreciate it if you told us about your Avoya Travel Experience.
They asked, so I told them. Here's what I said:
For a start I don't like a firm that uses false advertising to lure in customers.
It also says "low price guarantee", yet you refused to match a competitor's
I didn't appreciate the first 'expert' you referred me to calling me a liar when
I didn't appreciate that her initial reception was to quote me the full CIE price and
The next day I talked to a different 'expert' and went through the whole process again.
Need I go on? .....
In 2 words: not impressed. Doubtful that I would EVER consider using you again.
Your site says to use you in order to "get the best price on your vacation",
which I did NOT get, and you admit it.
published on-line price. What kind of guarantee is that?
I quoted your competitor's offer and she said "That's not possible". When I gave her
the website info she finally said "I can see it but I can't do that". Not even an apology
for calling me a liar.
she 'forgot' to mention that she could give me a 5% discount until AFTER I mentioned
the competitor's 10% discount.
This time, after viewing the competitor's offer, I was assured that you could match it,
but not until "tomorrow" because it's the weekend and the person who has to process
this is not in until Monday morning. Of course you know how impressed I was to get a call
on Monday morning to say "NO, I can't offer that discount after all".
I received a phone call in response to my survey submission.
The call was from AVOYA Customer Service, but apparently was
The Rep had all the makings of the stereotypical 'used-car salesman'.
First he reiterated that "we really do mean it when we talk about improving your vacation"
From his description of the firm, they're more 'smoke and mirrors' than
Like both of their 'experts' he admitted that they had failed to offer
I pointed out that it was THEIR website and whether or not they were
Anything less is, in my opinion, false advertising and very unethical.
I reminded him that it was a documented fact that they had failed
He could not or would not address the issue of the FRAUD
The ONLY thing he offered to do was to put me in touch with
... and that it did NOT negate the fraud they've commited.
I added, if they are an ethical company they need to remove those promises
January 29th 2014
It was every bit as unsatisfactory as the entire situation so far.
all "PR" with no intention of actually adressing the problem.
The conversation was approximately 20 minutes. I have recapped
the 'gist' of the discussion below. Although I had covered the situation
in detail in the Survey, he called because he "wanted to hear it from you".
and then proceeded to pass the blame to others and proclaim Avoya's innocence.
He did nothing to improve things nor to honour the promises on their website,
other than his lame, offer detailed below. His attitude indicated that breaking
the promises basically wasn't worth discussing.
a real business. Apparently the so-called 'experts' that they referred me to
throughout the early stages of all this are merely independent firms that
he referred to as 'affiliates'. He said that HE couldn't do ANYTHING for me
in terms of honouring their stated website promises.
That was up to the affiliates to handle, he said.
the lowest price, and apparently their guarantee means nothing.
dealing with me directly or through sub-contractors that 'the buck stops with them'.
I said that based on the two promises on their website, one being a promise
of best price and the other being a guarantee of it, he ought to be issuing me
credit for the difference between their price and the documented better price
of their competitor.
Heck, most firms with a price guarantee usually offer to BEAT the competitor's
price, not just match it.
to honour either of their commitments. His response, which he kept repeating,
was that my information would be helpful to them in evaluating their affiliates
and whether or not to renew their contracts when they run out.
being perprated on their website.
"1) a person who makes deceitful pretenses;
2) deliberate trickery intended to gain an advantage".
a different affiliate to sort it out. Of course since the competitor's
offer has now expired, there is no longer even an offer to match.
But there was a published valid offer 'on the table' and both of their
'experts' saw it with their own eyes but could not or would not match it.
I told him his offer was 'too little, too late' ...
from their website. And then I hung up. What a waste of my time.
more important than ever, it has fallen by the wayside.
More and more I'm finding that companies seem to have little regard
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