AARP Travel Center - very poor service

[MZ134098]

I used AARP Travel Center to make reservations to attend my sister's funeral. I booked flight, car and hotel. I had no problems. But the dates changed and I needed to return a day earlier. I also needed to add my nephew's family to my hotel reservations. And it was a nightmare!! The first agent I spoke to told me it would cost me and additional $400 just to change the flight, she then hung up on me.

I called again and the 2nd agent also said the flight change would cost $400 more. We then spent an hour going through all the other changes. She said she had canceled the previous reservations and made the new ones, but before the process was complete, she also hung up.

I called back a third time. There was so much static on the phone I couldn't here a thing that agent was saying, so she called me on another line. She told me there was no indication that I had made any changes and I would have to start over again. At that point I asked for a supervisor. She put me on hold. I waited about 15 minutes, then decided to call a 4th time on the line I had used before.

This time I got an agent named Ben, who calmly let me express my frustration, the politely walked me through all the changes. While I was talking to Ben, the agent on the other line kept coming back to tell me she was getting a supervisor. After about 30 minutes I gave up on her and continued with Ben.

Ben not only did not hang up on me, but we took each change one step at a time and he sent confirming e-mails before moving onto the next step. He also told me the flight change was only $70 dollars, not $400, and the changes for the car and hotel were over $1000 less than I had been told before. He was great. But the whole process from the time I made the first call to when I finally finished was 3 hours, the first 2 being full of frustration and miss information. I honestly don't know whether I will use their service again. 

[AARPConsumerCare]

Hi, @MaryZ134098. On behalf of AARP, I want to extend my deepest condolences for your loss. I can completely understand how frustrating this entire experience must have been for you. I'm glad to hear that Ben was able to assist you promptly and updated your reservation without any complication. We'd like to share your experience with our Member Relations team. They act as liaison for AARP service providers. Please visit https://help.aarp.org/s/article/contact-aarp to chat, text, or speak with a representative who can get you in touch with them.  Take care. - Daniela R.