Bad experience with Lori Cunningham/Skyscraper Tours

You'd think...
we usually don't vent publicly over client issues but whena site is created to
harm business then we must defend ourselves.

Barry Cunningham
http://www.skyscraptours.com



In article , PTRAVEL says...


"Barry Cunningham" wrote in message
...
You'd think,

We called the Fines earlier today and received an email from them that all
needs
to be in writing via email. They do not wish to communicate over the
phone.

Barry Cunningham
http://www.skyscrpertours.com

My suggestion to you all: find an impartial mediator and do an informal
(meaning no lawyers, do it over the phone, etc.) and non-binding (meaning
all parties are free to pursue whatever remedies they want if it doesn't
work) mediation. Slugging it out on the internet won't resolve anything,
and just makes it all the more unlikely that a resolution can be effected
that will please everyone.

From my point of view (and I've read the entire thread) this shouldn't be
hard to work out to everyone's satisfaction.





In article , PTRAVEL says...

Am I the only one who thinks that, now that a dialogue has been started,
it
would be better for everyone if you all simply spoke to each other on the
telephone?

"Lori Cunningham" wrote in message
...
Hi Steve

I most certainly did not tell you that I would not request a refund
from
Travel
Guard. I was aggressively requesting a refund from Travel Guard for
you.
I have
the faxes to prove this.

What I told you on the phone, was that I was going to wait until you
received
the refund from Travel Guard before writing a personal check to you. I
had full
intention of helping you on this.

Lori Cunningham
http://www.skyscrapertours.com




In article . net,
Steve
Fine
says...


Lori Cunningham wrote:
Hi Steve

I will restate what I have said befo

With the Travel Guard refund, I was in negotiations with Travel
Guard,
and had
faxed over several requests to them. They were going to refund the
majority of
your premium (and I was going to cover the difference) UNTIL YOU
intervened in
the process.

It seems to me that you have posed this attack over the $493 that you
want back
from Travel Guard. You would have received this, if you had not
intervened in
what I was trying to do for you.

Now, you have not contacted me (since hearing from Travel Guard) to
see
if I
could help you. You have not contacted me at all to try and work
out
compensation. Instead, you post a website to hurt me and my
business.

Lori Cunningham
http://www.skyscrapertours.com


Lori,

As I have mentioned before, I sent your company two emails asking for
a
premium refund. When you didn't respond I called you on July 1. At
that
time you said that you did not support our request for a refund. After
that, there was nothing to discuss. Since then we have been working
through other channels to obtain a refund.

The web site is intended to share factual information about a bad
experience we had. The creation of the site was prompted by the recent
discussion about the need to share information about TAs.

Steve

In article , Patricia Martin
Steward wrote:

On Mon, 27 Oct 2003 11:03:08 -0500 (EST),
wrote:

Can anyone feel the rumbling as the very foundation of rtc is crumbling?

Feh. This too shall pass.

----
Face your fears.
Live your dreams.

Sure, start talking about smoking vs non-smoking/ kids on cruises/ tux
or not and a whole plethora of things sure to raise the ire.... ;-)

Lloyd

I'm on the Fine's side, they have the written facts to back them up,

Just because something is on a website or news group does not make it true.

Matt Drudge loves people like you
"Anything that doesn't kill you,,,,,,,just hurts a hell of a lot" JLP20

Lori Cunningham wrote:
This was a legitimate mistake.
snip

And let the first person that has never made a mistake toss a rock!

snip
I am disappointed, that they chose public humiliation
instead of handling it with me personally.

Lori,,, your 9,999 happy clients speak volumes for you! Please do not be
upset anymore by all this. Life is too short!

Cheryl

You know, I. too, understand that mistakes happen. But sitting here
watching all of this roll by in a public forum, and I can't help but
think that I would definitely choose another travel agent if I were in
the market. I think it is vastly unprofessional to come to a public
place like this and keep arguing with your client. Regardless of who
is right or wrong, Skyscrapertours are doing their reputation no good
here.

Smile, swallow your pride, give them their $483 (or however much it
is), and stop attacking your clients in public. When you're in a
customer service industry, sometimes s**t happens. You deal with it as
best you can, and move on. But it gives potential clients little
incentive to contact you if this is what happens when something goes
wrong.



On 27 Oct 2003 15:39:29 -0800, (Wolfgang
Petrusch) wrote:

My problem is not that mistakes happen ... they do all the time ... my problem
is people spinning to get out of it ... See my comment to Lori ... The problem
had no influence on my thinking towards TA's (or at least Lori) at all ... her
response to it however had a lot ...

The customer is always right ... doesn't seem to apply .. in fact "a customer
was wrong because we say so ..." seemed the order of the day ...
Your taking steps here to help ... boosts TA's (or at least you) ... in my eyes
...

Be seeing you
In the Village
Number 6

I have to agree with you concerning the spin. If you read Lori's reply
to Margaret's timeline, you cannot come to any other conclusion!

You also have to wonder why Lori responded the way she did. To allege
slander, and not to counter the arguments made by the other side, does
not look very professional. Trying to "spin" her way out of this
situation is economically not advisable, for two reasons:
a) It is always cheaper to keep a client happy, than to attract a new
client.
b) This has been a huge PR disaster for her, which will most certainly
affect her business.

IMHO, it should never have come to this point, and no responsible TA
would have acted that way. At least I have hopes that the link to
Margaret's web page, which I sent to Travel Guard, will induce them to
refund the money in lieu of a credit.

Wolfgang Petrusch
www.deluxevoyages.com

On 27 Oct 2003 07:25:31 -0800, Lori Cunningham
wrote:

Your slanderous website and postings
are simply that and appropriate measures will be taken.

You going to sue her? For libel? In what state, pray tell?

On Mon, 27 Oct 2003 16:50:58 GMT, Margaret Fine
wrote:

Lori Cunningham wrote:

Hi Margaret

Your post(s) and website are designed to hurt my business. You seem to have
left out a few important points.

Not true. It is designed to help other people see that I've had
problems with you and they can make their decision accordingly.

this is the price any TA should pay who (ab)uses this newsgroup as a
means to freely advertise and solicit business.

Tough titties, Lori. There are no free lunches.

On 27 Oct 2003 09:35:23 -0800, Lori Cunningham
wrote:

Instead, you built a website, to publically discredit me and
my company which cannot be taken lightly.

Neither should be overt threats on a public forum.

I welcome a phone call from you now - and have always been willing to discuss
the situation.

One minute, you threaten her, the next you want to "discuss" it? If
she has any brains, she would never call you since any and all
statements she might make, without the aid of counsel, could be held
against her in a court of law.

One note: I would not have a successful cruise business (and one of the top 1%
with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity), if I made it a practice to ruin people's
vacations.

Sounds to me like you are a volume first, service second agency to me.

I do make it a practice to correct any mistakes made - and arrive at
compensation - if the mistakes were our fault.

You haven't this time.

On 27 Oct 2003 22:39:55 GMT, (joyce1155) wrote:

I'm on the Fine's side, they have the written facts to back them up, the other
party doesn't subscribe to the theory of , "the buck stops here" but rather
to the "it was Francesca's fault and she no longer works here". ( altho I am
ultimately responsible...yeah)

Cunningham is desperately playing "hide the weenie" with this
responsibility issue. it makes her looks like it should.

Guilty.

On 28 Oct 2003 06:41:04 GMT, ocrap (JLP20) wrote:

Just because something is on a website or news group does not make it true.

You calling both Fine AND Cunningham liars?