By Les-Lee Roland

I just received a letter from a group coordinator for a major cruise line.  She wrote that she had just researched a complaint I had made that I had not received my full commission. She explained that I was paid what I was due, and my complaint was being dismissed.
Let’s look at the timeline of this. In February 2006, I set up a Hawaii group cruise for July.  Before the final payments were due in April, I transferred the group to a Host agency, since the commission was considerably larger and I had only sold seven cabins. I paid my final payments by the due date  The commission was paid in July or August. 
I started phoning to complain that the commission was not the right amount. First, I called the Host agency, which told me that I was responsible to check on the commissions. I phoned the cruise line and was told that someone would get back to me. By December, there was still no answer.
I guess I was too trusting and truly too busy to take the time to keep pestering the cruise line. Finally, during the Christmas holidays I took the time to check ALL outstanding commissions. What a surprise! This one was at the top of the list. 
I called again, and each person I spoke to failed to give me rhyme or reason or money. I asked to speak to a supervisor, and another person higher up on the scale. Finally, I asked for the corporate offices. 
When I could not climb the ladder anymore, I was told that when I transferred the cabins to the Host agency, I paid for seven bookings. Someone, one of the many members of the Host, had called in a reservation for the eighth cabin, and never paid a deposit.  Probably the travel agent thought that without a deposit, the reservation would expire within a few days.  Not so, according to the cruise line. They took the total amount of that booking and deducted it from the commission owed.  Following this?
Remember, this booking was never under deposit and never cancelled, just hanging there.  The cruise line said it had issued documents and sent them to the Host.  More questions and phone calls.  I called the Host and asked where these documents were.  They had no record of them. They might have arrived and since they were not aligned with any agent, they probably threw them out after awhile. No, no, no.
What about all the pre-registration documents that are a must for all cruisers? Haven’t we been told that Homeland Security has to review them in advance? Since this was a phantom booking, no pre-registration info existed.  Didn’t the cruise line catch that?  No, no, no. 
And when these alleged cruisers never showed up at the sailing, they were considered no shows.  And the amount for the cruise, the same dollars deducted from the commission, was forfeited. No, No, No.  Not for this agent!
After I wrote a convincing letter, documenting all the inquiries, all the red flags that should have alerted the group coordinator that something was amiss, the No, No, No’s turned into a belated Yes, Yes, Yes.
The missing commission of over $2,400 was issued.  It was sent to the Host agency, which had done absolutely nothing to assist me in getting it. They took their cut, and I received the rest.  That was in January. 
Now, at the end of March, I received that letter from the cruise line’s group coordinator saying that she has just gotten around to my letter of complaint, from last year.  And furthermore, no commission is due. Guess her supervisor never told her — there was something due, and I did get paid. Yes, Yes, Yes.
Is this the norm for our industry?  Haven’t we all had commission issues with a supplier?  Our industry is not like the old advertisement for Maytag.  Remember the lonely repairman sitting by the phone, waiting for someone to call with a complaint, and the phone never rang? Now people are not as complacent, and people do complain about everything. Maytag is even going to revitalize its old commercial within the next year.
JetBlue had as much publicity for its mea culpa apologies as it did for its canceling flights due to weather conditions. It managed to communicate with thousands of passengers within a couple of weeks.  And it chose to go public with a promise to make it up to everyone — past and future.
Southwest Airlines even has a person with the job title, Chief Apology Officer. So far this year he has written 22,000 letters of apology to passengers.  He must be drinking some heavy-duty mocha lattes to keep awake.  But he is accessible and he includes his direct phone line on each of his letters. 

Guidelines For Commission Collection
If you are with a Host agency, know all of its rules BEFORE you sign on. Ask questions about whose responsibility it is to follow through on commissions. 
Keep a calendar of when commissions are due.  Groups may pay a month or later after travel. Know your supplier rules in advance.
If your group booking is with a Host, check to see how many cabins in total have been booked. If you have booked five to eight or more of the cabins, know your amenities.  Are you entitled to a Tour Conductor cabin?  A reputable Host agency should make that information available to you.
If you use a consortium, the rules may be different.  Possibly your individual sales may be grouped together with other agents, and the consortium keeps the TC and may or may not give your clients any amenities.  It’s very important to know these things.
If you are totally on your own, keep a mirror near your desk.  If you have any problems, look into the mirror. That is the person who is totally responsible!
Write down the name, position and extension of everyone you speak to and the date. And repeat it back to them. “Sarah, it’s April 25 and you are going to research this and get in touch with me, let’s say no later than May 3. If I don’t hear from you by that day, I will call you back.”
Put everything in writing and fax it directly to the person in charge.  Write down the date and time the fax was sent. After allowing one week for this to be investigated, and with no response, start calling daily. Ask for the supervisor’s name and extension, and for that person’s supervisor.
Keep calm, have everything organized. Do not raise your voice, as difficult as it is. 
It is more time consuming to track commissions from car companies and for smaller amounts — especially if you have corporate accounts with lots of rentals.  It’s hard to call everyone to make certain they did use the car. But if you call to research something, you can check to see if your client was changed to another booking. Take it from there. 
With hotels, be leery of any properties that have any difficulty taking an IATA or CLIA or TRUE number. If they say that you have to fax a request for a commission after the stay, realize that you may never get it.  It’s best to deal with the 800 number or agent Web site to verify that the space is booked.  Again, get the name of the person you deal with. If it’s a foreign property, never send a pre-paid unless you are prepared to take a loss if there is a problem. The exception is if you have had prior experience with the company.
If you say, “I will never book anyone at your hotel again,” you’re wasting your time. But if you say that there is a local association of travel agents in the area that meet once a month, and this will be brought up at the next meeting, you usually get some action.
Years ago, there was a woman who used to advertise herself as “Rent a Yenta.”  Yenta is a Yiddish word for a big mouth.  She would, for a fee, write letters of complaints to companies – all companies, stores, utilities, manufacturers, etc.
I couldn’t find any record that she is still around. Maybe the travel industry did her in. But if you follow the appropriate guidelines, maybe you can collect what is rightfully yours. And if not, we always have FLIPS and FLOPS.  I don’t want to open the floodgates to be your Yenta, but if it something that does need attending to, that’s what the column is all about.
And guess what I am going to do tomorrow? Contact a cruise line because the $100 shipboard credit IT promised was not on the passenger’s account.  Oh well, it’s part of being the “unlonely” travel agent.

Les-Lee Roland is a writer and motivational speaker and has been Home Based for more than 10 years. She was named a Finalist in Travel Trade’s Travel Agent of the Year election. Her company, The Package Deal, is in Sarasota, FL. Contact Les-Lee at packagedeals@comcast.net