do not book with www.gotmyfare.com - UPDATED!!

****UPDATE!!****

after 200 calls/emails/you name it, i eventually called an AFFILIATED travel agency that we learned does the actual bookings for gotmyfare (or.. something along those lines?) and i complained to them. she said she'd call the agency directly and get them to call me back.

VOILA, 2 hours later, my agent at gotmyfare.com miraculously called me AND sent confirmation of my ticket numbers, along with an extra-shady "excuse" / reason why she didn't reply to my emails yesterday (uhh.. how about the fact that you were supposed to send me this info 2 weeks ago WITHOUT 15 vms from me..?) but WHATEVER, the end result is i DO have tickets and - hopefully / theoretically - WILL be flying to south america on monday praise the baby jeebus OH MY GOODNESS. incidentally, i still wouldn't exactly recommend this company.

*********

today's post was supposed to be about how i was going to be MIA for the next few weeks, since i'm leaving for williamsburg tonight to host a baby shower on saturday, then monday i leave for that amazing 2 week trip in south america.

well, i THOUGHT i was leaving monday for south america.

i've been unreasonably busy the past few weeks. i haven't had a chance to write about it here, but in addition to moving in with chris this month, i also got an unexpected job opportunity, so i ended up interviewing extensively with a new company, accepting that offer, and giving notice at my current job, WHILE devoting a ton of time to the scavenger hunt and also planning a baby shower remotely for a friend in a different city. so it just occurred to me the other day that i was supposed to have received my travel vouchers & confirmations from the tour operator two weeks before my departure date, which... had passed.

since i didn't have anything (checked my junk/spam boxes, yes) i thought maybe they'd real-mailed the docs, and they'd gone to my old house. so i emailed my travel agent lady asking if maybe that was what happened, since i hadn't received any documents yet.

another agent wrote back with "Hello Alice, you're going to receive the vouchers by e-mail."

i replied "yes, but i leave in 6 days! i was supposed to receive them 2 weeks before my departure!"

... no answer.

i called the main line for the agency and was sent immediately to hold music. after 10 minutes, i got a message saying "all of our agents are busy helping other customers. please leave a message! *beep*" and then you have no choice but to leave a vm and disconnect.

i called about 5 times yesterday. i left messages on the vm of the main line, and on the personal extension of my rep.

i emailed my rep 2 more times, increasingly agitated. i emailed the main "info" email alias twice as well.

i found the twitter for the company, and sent several upset tweets.

no reply. to ANYTHING.

this morning, i checked on my flight info. i had record locaters for each flight, so that seemed fine. but when i pulled the itinerary up, it had a big warning note that the flight was not ticketed. that means i have a reservation, but no ticket, because NO ONE HAS PAID FOR IT YET.

did i mention we prepaid this trip? in full? in december?

i researched the company before putting money down, since i'd never heard of the site, gotmyfare.com. there were a few complaints about not getting travel documents until the last minute (O IRONY) but i figured that was from people who didn't read the fine print saying they wouldn't get their documents until 2 weeks prior to travel. they're listed in the BBB, with an A- rating. they're supposedly legit.

i suppose it's still possible that someone will mail me my confirmation info today, with ONE BUSINESS DAY LEFT before we're scheduled to leave. but considering the business may not exist anymore from the amount of response over the past few days, i'm not counting on it. i guess i need to contact my credit card now and dispute the charges.

the worst part is that i really, really, really wanted to go on this trip. it was going to be a super amazing vacation, to a continent i've never been to, to see new places and to be able to take a real vacation away with chris.

folks, please DO NOT ever use www.gotmyfare.com. do not give them your money and do not believe their reps.

(and if anyone miraculously has contact info for this company that DOESN'T go straight to vm, pleeeease share.)