A day in the life of an independent agent…
The day I went to see Andrew Dickson one of his sales consultants Julie Ashcroft had just clinched a £4,500 booking to Sandals in Jamaica. But then it all went horribly wrong.
The customer concerned had already put a deposit down for her holiday in Jamaica with Going Places but then received a letter from the agency cancelling the holiday and asking her to return to the office to collect her deposit.
After rebooking her holiday at St Andrews Travel and paying her deposit, she went off to Going Places to collect her original deposit.
The Going Places consultant was immediately on the telephone to Ashcroft claiming that the customer wanted to cancel her new booking and rebook an alternative with them. She said the letter had been written in error by a junior and the Sandals holiday was still available. The multiple even offered to ring Cosmos, the operator Ashcroft had booked the holiday with, and cancel it on her behalf.
She then suggested she walk the customer round to pick up her deposit. Ashcroft came to Andrew for some advice. After much deliberation, he told her to allow the customer to cancel her holiday when she returns – without imposing any of the normal cancellation charges.
Ashcroft had spent a good 2hrs with the customer and lost a lucrative commission. She was obviously upset.
Dickson was disappointed but was at least pleased that the customer had promised to come and rebook any further holidays with him. The same day a Lunn Poly consultant had popped in from the shopping centre and asked to take a Thomson-owned company brochure because her office had run out.