Abbey Travel Charging for Consultations/Advice

kkelliher said:

I started the thread detailing what happened in my case. In my case I did have to pay for a quote. I could not have gotten a quote for my holiday without sitting down with the agent. had never been there before, knew nothing about it and didnt even know where to start.

Kalel I understand your point but as I keep saying your points do not refer to me as I had never an intention of booking on the internet or wasting anyones time but I will not be forced to be tied to a company without even having a discussion with them to see what they have to offer.

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Absolutely, I hope you didn't think that...I don't think you were timewasting at all-quite the opposite-you did want to book a holiday. My point is you weren't just looking for a quote.
As Mugsgame said, you were looking for advice.

I must question the point of having a travel agent office if you have to be charged to get "advice".

If I knew exactly where i was going, where I was going to stay and for how long, yes I agree I would email them as I wouldnt put myself through the hasstle of making my way in queing and then simply taking 5 minutes to get the quote. In this day and age I cannot see alot of people actually doing this. I would say that most people get quotes by email or phone.

Maybe I am wrong but I would think the majority of people actually going into the office are actually talor making their holidays and therefore if you decide to use Abbey you will be charged for this whereas none of the others seem to charge. This is my point.

There is no way that abbey dont get a large proportion of their bookings via their website.

Was talking to someone who worked for another long haul travel agent last night. First off he did admit they do have alot of people who come in and don't book on the first visit but most of them do come back and book with them. He can see Abbey's point but he said he works on commission and he is more interested in getting people in the door and relying on his own selling technique and expertise and competitive prices to earn commission for the sale rather than charging people for travel advice. He also pointed out that for tailor made long haul holidays that cost 1000's of Euro, people are less likely to use the internet so people are unlikely to run out of Abbey and go straight online. He said if people weren't booking with them after spending the time with the agent and getting ideas, it is more likely to be because they went and got a better quote or idea somewhere else.