Originally Posted by
juuceman
It's a credit card. You have absolutely zero liability on charges you don't authorize. Look over your bill and dispute the charges if they're not valid or recognizable. Use Apple Pay and it'll immediately pop up every time a charge is made to your card.
For me, the convenience of not having to do anything other than email and/or call the agent to confirm a booking more than removes any anxiety I have over the agent storing my Amex number in his or her system, whether a high security agency-administered one or an Excel file on their desktop.
That's actually a fairly naive perspective. You can dispute a charge but it is only temporarily removed. The merchant can send in a rebuttal and the credit card company could side with the merchant and reissue the charge.
Sure 100% fraudulent charges will undoubtedly be removed, but if it's a discrepancy with the amount or fees the agent is charging, or even a miscommunication, you could be liable still.
And I'm sorry but I don't want to waste my time dealing even with fraudulent charges when some easy safeguards would prevent it. Furthermore the merchant (travel agent) has responsibility here... there is PCI compliance for one. I'd be pissed if my credit card and personal information was held on an Excel file!
Originally Posted by
FlyingDoctorwu
1099 contractor is probably more of a USA reference. It refers to someone who is an independent contractor of a company. W2 would be issued to someone who is considered an employee...
One question I have is how is the credit card information stored locally by an agent. I understand that they probably input it into the GDS when a reservation is made, but how does the agent keep that information.. or is it stored in the GDS as a profile for each client?
FDW
Correct, by 1099 I was just referring to the fact that they are a contractor and not an employee of anyone. Basically an independent sales rep working on commissions.
exactly. I can't book in GDS without a credit card number... and I have no idea what a 1099 contractor is either. If you are willing to put your name, date of birth and credit card into expedia or United.com to issue an airline ticket I don't think the safeguards there are any better or worse than what used to store info in a GDS system or with a top tier agency like the one DavidO works with for example.
The big blow up thread attracted a lot of attention within the world of travel agents and seems to have brought a lot of new faces to the board. Opportunity knocks perhaps?
Maybe the old fashioned local agent is best for someone who is really worried about this sorta things. I'm sure there is a Virtuoso agent in almost everyone's home town. From a trustworthy point of view, both DavidO and myself have been nominated for awards in Virtuoso. I think that speaks volumes.
Please please please don't get defensive. I am not saying you, DavidO or any other agent is inherently shady. But also don't act like fraud or theft of identity or situations don't exist. I experienced this first hand.
I'll use agents in the future, but I'm just posting this to opens other peoples eyes to be a bit safer and have a smoother trip. That's all.
Congrats on the awards!
<edit>Also putting your credit card into an e-commerce system like Expedia is completely different than giving it over the phone to an agent that writes it down on a sticky note, passing it along to a tour operator that sticks it in a word doc, etc. Worlds apart in regards to security.