Have P&O improved their relationship with travel agents ?

I booked a cruise today for a lady with P&O.

This was booked on a saver fare which means it is non refundable which I did advise at the time of booking.

Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances the lady called back to say they may not be able to travel so I did have to advise as per the terms and conditions that it was 100% non refundable.

This was fine as they knew from making the booking that this would be the case but she was understandably upset at the thought of losing the full amount so she called to speak to P&O

They told her if she had booked direct they could have helped her and that it was probably the travel agent just wanting to retain her booking.

I was angry to say the least because this is not the case. I will always do everything I can to make help my customers and if P&O would allow them to cancel I would have been happy that we could resolve the situation.

At the end of the day I want my customers to come back to me again in the future so it makes no sense to not treat them fairly.

I did call P&O but surprisingly there were no notes on their booking so I have no idea who she spoke with but the lady I spoke with did confirm that it was non refundable and it would have been the same if they had booked direct.

This really is bad customer service from P&O because it is their terms and conditions that are so strict ( not ours ) and for anyone who has booked the getaway deals in the past will know that P&O are not flexible at all.

They have no right to imply that it is the travel agent who are holding back.

Luckily my customer was able to travel in the end so there was no harm done

I read a report recently that P&O were working more closely with travel agents but I am not so sure now

They are happy for us to market their cruises and recommend them to our customers but they are still trying to entice customers into booking direct when there is no real advantage to do so

After all my customers can contact me most of the time on a Freephone number which is a direct line so need to wait in a queue system on a national rate number , I can help with any aspects of the booking including printing of tickets etc if necessary ( which P&O won’t do ) and can sometimes save money aswell.