What Would You Do?

Basenjigirl23

Hi ladies!  Sorry I've been MIA for a while, BF and I have been busy planning a trip to Rome, Itay in September.  So last Saturday we went to the travel agency and booked our trip.  I gave the travel agent my debit card since it can be used as a credit card, and we paid in full: air, transport from airport to hotel, 5 nights, 1 day trip to Pompeii, transportation frm hotel to airport, and of course trip nsurance.  In total, $3000.  She made a copy of my card and I signed the reciept carbon copy paper thing (you know when they take an imprint of the card on a piece of paper).  Well it's a week later and my account hasn't been charged yet.  I'm a little concerned because airfare just increased on Monday/Tuesday. 
Would you call the travel agency and find out what's going on?!

peekaboo2011

I would absolutely call.  That seems really weird.

Basenjigirl23

Yeah, I just did and I left the lady a voice mail message.  I'd really be freaking out but it's a reputable company and my parents have used this lady at least once a year for like 10 years.  I just don't like that the money is still sitting there cause that tells me that the flights and such haven't been booked.
It took me a week to finally call because at first I chalked it up to the fact that we booked late Saturday afternoon, and then the bank wasn't opn on Sunay or Monday(President's Day).  Hopefully she'll call me back.  I just told her I was just following up because the trip wasn't charged to my account yet, and just wanted to make sure she didn't need anything else from my end.  Hopefully that works!

AudgiePodge

If your card wasn't run through a machine, it could take a few days.  If it was, I would call, but you might have a better answer calling your bank.  If it was sent, then there isn't anything else really the travel agent can do on her end.  I would also call your bank and make sure that that much can be charged all at once.  We booked a trip last year with FI's card that was over his $4k limit set by the bank.  He had to call and tell them so they could authorize the charge.

sparkles88

Rome sounds like lots of fun! I had a similar situation recently. I booked a flight with a Visa debit, and since it was a debit card it took about a week to clear. Of course, I was confused about why it wasn't showing up on my account, but the lady in customer service explained debit cards don't always show up immediately. I would definitely call to be sure, though.

futuremrstje

I would second calling the bank to see if there's anything going on at their end (like pp said, maybe they have a per transaction limit or something). If you don't have a per transaction limit they might say that they need a paper copy of the slip you signed or something like tha before they push the transaction through for something that large or whatever also. But definitely follow up with the travel agent as well to make sure that the flight was actally booked. I would think though that since you already sigined something last saturday that even if the flight wasn't booked, they won't be able to charge you the extra money, because it would be their fault that they didn't put things through before airfares went up...

DanieKA

Well, you've already taken the first step and left a message. As far as I'm concerned you locked in all your prices when you paid in full. You shouldn't be responsible for any increase in air fare, etc. if your travel agent waited to book. But I think the whole point of travel agents is that they can get you good deals and/or organize this stuff for you, so she should have some sort of locked rate that doesn't fluctuate hourly/daily unlike the person working on his or her own. But you never know these days. Read the fine print on any paperwork you have about what you may be responsible for. I'd hold firm if airline cost fluctuations aren't mentioned. Good luck! And sorry if this is a wall of words, I'm on my phone.

AbigailMS

I agree with PP's, also every semester when I pay my tuition (about $3000) it takes about a week for the money to come out. I talked to them about it once and they said that they're just double checking everything since it is such a large amount of money. I think that since you already paid for everything that your flights and such are locked in. I think you've done everything right so far.

Basenjigirl23

The travel agent FINALLY called me back at ten mintes to 9 last night.  She never ran my car, and said that she just ran it lat last night which is why it didn't show up.
I checked my account and it's been deducted!  Yay, I am offically going to Rome in September :-)
Thanks ladies for the advice and reassurance :-)