Travel Troubleshooter: Club Med wants another $3,000 for a vacation I already paid for

Q: I booked a mother-daughter trip to Club Med Cancun. Before making the reservation, I spent two days working with a travel agent specializing in Club Med. She helped me with planning but did not look into the airport I wanted or the room type I mentioned.

I booked the trip online through the Club Med site and paid for it. I have the confirmation e-mail showing it's paid in full. I also booked the flights myself.

I contacted the travel agent and thanked her for her time. She asked me for my booking number and said she would get my file. I thought she would get a referral credit, and I was fine with that.

Somehow, Club Med changed my reservation with a deposit due of over $3,000. The travel agent contacted me and said it was due that day. But she was not my travel agent. I did not sign anything with her agency.

I had paid $4,152 to Club Med. The travel agent's invoice shows a different amount. Now I can't reach anyone at Club Med. I don't know how this happened. The travel agent tells me that Club Med will not let me check in if I don't pay the balance. I can't cancel without losing the money I paid.

I'm supposed to leave in a few days. Can you help me straighten this out?

A: I see what happened. You felt guilty about asking a travel agent for help but then booking yourself, so you figured you would let the agent take a commission on your vacation. But then things took an unexpected turn.

Travel agents, or travel advisers as they now call themselves, make most of their money by taking commissions from a travel supplier like Club Med. (Club Med reportedly pays up to 15% to agents on bookings.) So, when you asked an agent for help and she started pulling up options, she wanted to book the vacation and get her commission.

You knew that, so when you booked the stay yourself, you gave her your confirmation number and allowed her to take over the booking. That's where this drama should have ended. But it looks like Club Med repriced your vacation and presented your agent with the new bill. I spoke with your travel agent, and she had no idea why Club Med wanted another $3,000 from you.

Your agent reached out to Club Med. Apparently, their accounting department made a mistake and "repriced" your vacation package (that's industry-speak for charging more). The company reinstated your original booking — minus the $3,000.

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit consumer organization. Contact him at elliott.org/help or chris@elliott.org.