Thank you to the wonderful reservation agent who cant read military time! Thank you for telling me the boat will depart at 10pm and to check in for 8:30pm… I arrived at 8:12pm and saw the boat departing (it left at 8pm)… i now have a 5 hour wait for a boat to the wrong location and then drive another 700km!!! (or wait until Wednesday) And then you tell me “this agent has done this before.. you’re lucky you didnt have children like she did” Oh is this supposed to make me feel better??? IT DOESN’T!! You screwed up my vacation!! The free cabin is nice.. thank you but it doesn’t give me back the day i will miss!!
—Stranded in North Sydney
This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2009.
Hope they fired the agent. One time might be forgivable, but if it’s a pattern like you say, they need to replace her with someone competent. Word of mouth can be a killer in the PR department.
Yup…that is one of the most legitimate bitches I have read on here. I’d be pretty pissed too if someone screwed up my plans over something dumb like that.
I’ll know from now on to check the website for departure times. not saying that is something you should have done but seeing this bitch, i know i will the next time i go to the rock
Jeeze – just take the boat to Port Aux Basques and make the drive – it’s not that bad a drive if you go in day-light, and its rather scenic. Take your time, enjoy the rest of the province. Life exists past the over-pass yuou know – maybe explore it. Plus with the big big big big BIG bucks you will be saving by not going to Argentia, you can afford to over-night making the drive if you like. ALSO: You will prob get some kind of refund from Marine Atlantic (crown corp, please no censoring), so make the most of it! Worse case – North Sydney isnt that bad… oh wait… yea… start swimming bro…
stranded in North Sydney aahaahhhh – are they still looking for cast members for the re-make of Deliverance?
I don’t understand how ‘military time’ could account for this mistake. Did they mistake 2200hrs for 2000hrs and just guess that 2200hrs was 8o’clock or something?
Yeah Cranky, I assumed that was the problem. The schedule was in military time and the agent mistranslated it for the OP.
When I lived in Europe even the TV Guides were in ‘military time’. I prefer it to ‘regular time’
maybe they can’t read in cb
You have to be careful of military time. In the navy it’s 2000 hrs, in the army it’s 8:00pm, and in the air force, Mickey’s long arm is on the twelve and his little arm is on the eight.
I love air force jokes.
op here..
i have no idea how she screwed it up.. the customer serv rep said its been done before and people show up for the 10pm boat which doesn’t exist .. the rep sees 20:00 and assumes 10pm.
was i pissed off? you bet your ass i was.. i have to say now looking back they handled the crazy screaming crying woman (myself) well…
ustwiss.. its easy for you to say “enjoy the drive” but when i have to be back on thursdays boat in argentia its a major piss off and id rather not drive 800km across the island… if i would of ended up in argentia as planed i would f had an hour drive.. instead of 8.5 from PAB.
i told the rep that i did not have computer access and i could not get to my email for the itinerary, so i asked her to read it to me and then i read it back and she confirmed..
Lesson learned.. never trust them and always double check!! Ive already called and checked the web for my return boat lol and i will continue to look
the only compensation i received was the cabin, which i was not happy with, i will be in contact with marine atlantic tomorrow.. The $90 in fuel i had to burn, the day of travel i had to go threw etc.. now worth a cabin
they told me that it would be cheaper because i was taking PAB instead of argentia… true.. about 150 different in boat costs.. she was acting like this was a favor.. i asked for fuel reimbursement and she said “well the difference in the boat costs make up for that so we cant do that”….
i would rather pay the 150 and not have to drive 8.5 hours! which is why i didnt want to take the PAB boat!
.. ill update on what they come up with when i talk to them…
Agree with them about the cheaper fare covers the gas… but who’s paying you your $ rate for lost time ? Someone took a day of my life they have to pay for it….that’s why people ‘work’ & give up their time !
They made a big mistake & should have to pay for it .
There are worse things then being stranded in North Sydney, like being stranded in Sydney Mines, or having a labotomy.
lol.
OP UPDATE!
I just received a call from marine atlantic, i will be refunded for the crossing which they screwed up on!
I guess the final email(4th) to every person on their website stressing that if i did not have a response i would be contacting media, helped! Ok well maybe not but i guess ill never know..