For quite some time nothing happened, she was otherwise occupied, but that was fine. I knew what she wanted, when, and her budget. I was ready with what I had researched when she was ready to focus on it. Unfortunately what I found was that what she wanted was slightly out of budget and they would have been vacationing on fumes, so I made another recommendation.
Now, I'm going to preface the following by saying outright I'm not going to name names or give away any grand trade secrets or anything, but what you're about to read is true.
One cruise line was offering a 2 for 1 sale. These happen more frequently than you think on many different cruise lines. So it's just a matter of matching the available sail dates to the client's schedule. We found one that matched quite well. She asked me to send her the flyer so she could share it with her friends, so I went ahead and I did that and I made a point of reading the fine print to check the expiration date. It was the 30th. This was just the 9th, so we were good time-wise.
A couple of hours later she responds back that they want to book that cruise. Great! Happy to do it. So I go to the cruise line website and try to book with the promo code and it won't let me. I try it a dozen different ways a dozen different times...nothin'! Okay, no problem, that's why there are customer service reps to help agents, so I call the assigned number.
I explain the situation and the rep inputs it on her end and she tells me the promotion ended on the 7th or 8th (I sent it the flyer to my client after that date directly from their own website) I ask her to refer to the dates shown on the flyer and that the flyer was still available on the website. She saw my point and told me I should speak with my Business Development Manager.
*Full Disclosure: that fine print on the bottom of the flyer also states that the promotion may be cancelled at any time. Usually when it ends, it really ends. I mean it doesn't hurt to ask, but don't be surprised if you hear "no".
Anyway, my BDM gets back to me that night and verbally assures me that of course they would honor the promo and to email him, which I do.
I gotta tell ya, just trying to think of how to explain what went down for the next two months just makes my head spin. I can't relive it. I just can't. Me emailing and feeling like a harpy with few responses and even less action. More than anything else, what I really wanted right away was written confirmation that the deal would be honored. Once I got that, I felt a wave of relief. After about 7 weeks, my case was delegated to someone else and a third rep was also brought in to get it done as quickly as possible. I'm happy to report a satisfying conclusion yesterday. My clients got their 2 for 1.
I've got to admit though, if something this major was going to happen with a booking, I'm rather glad it happened within the family. They understood that I was doing my very best in advocating for them and they were as patient as they could be through the long ordeal. I'm not so sure other clients would be as patient. Would you be?