Boston-based tour operator Grand Circle
Travel has changed a cancellation policy that led to most of the
complaints that caused the Better Business Bureau to give the
company an "unsatisfactory" rating.
During 2004,
consumers lodged 57 complaints, most in the categories of "credit
or billing," "refund or exchange" or "customer service" issues;
most were due to a single policy, according to Grand Circle
spokeswoman Karen Hansen.
The BBB terminated
Grand Circle's membership in October 2005, based on a "pattern of
complaints."
Paula Fleming, vice
president of communications and marketing of the Better Business
Bureau of Eastern Massachusetts, Maine & Vermont, said,
"Consumers were saying that when they purchased vacations in
advance they were not kept informed of changes made in the
itineraries till days before departing, or in some cases changes
were made on the trip."
Hansen said that
previously, when Grand Circle canceled a departure and consolidated
the passengers of two underbooked departures into one, the company
invoked its regular cancellation penalties if a customer declined
to take the rescheduled trip.
Someone could be
penalized for canceling a trip, when it was actually Grand Circle
that had canceled the trip.
After being bounced
from the BBB, Grand Circle took an action plan back to the bureau
that included changing the cancellation policy. Now if Grand Circle
cancels a departure, it takes responsibility and gives those
customers a full refund.
"We will still
occasionally have to move someone," said Hansen, "but our
guidelines are more liberal."
The BBB was
satisfied with the action plan, Hansen said, but "now they need to
see a declining pattern of these kinds of complaints before they
reinstate us."
According to BBB's
Fleming, to be reinstated Grand Circle must "work closely with the
BBB's vice president of operations to focus in on the underlying
cause or issues of the customer complaints."
The process
involves a number of steps, including the resolution of all of the
complaints. "In three years they had 136 complaints [filed against
them]," said Fleming. "They resolved 31. We administratively closed
105. That means the BBB determined the company made a good faith
and reasonable effort to resolve the issues, although the
complainant was not always satisfied with the outcome."
Hansen said the BBB
guidelines do not take into account the size of the
business.
"They categorize us
as a travel agency, so we are held to the same standard as a
mom-and-pop agency," said Hansen. But Grand Circle is one of the
world's largest tour operators.
In 2005 when Grand
Circle had 57 complaints, it had moved 155,000 passengers. The
complaints came from fewer than four of every 10,000 of the
company's customers, or .037%.
In 2006 Grand
Circle's projected passenger number is 182,000. Its BBB complaints
over the last 12 months total 33, bringing the percentage down to
.018%, or one complaint per 5,515 passengers.
Ninety-seven
percent of Grand Circle's passengers rate their trips good to
excellent on their customer surveys, Hansen said.
To
contact reporter David Cogswell, send e-mail to [email protected].