Complaint Review: TLC Marketing - T-Mobile Companion Flight Promotion

It all started with T-Mobile. I have always been happy with T-Mobile's customer service. They were offering a free companion flight for all new members, existing members who added a line, or for members who renewed their lines for a new two-year contract. I have four lines that qualified for renewal, so I renewed all four lines and , in turn, received four different pin numbers when I registered for the four flights. From here, the company that was contracted through T-Moble and in charge of the flight booking arrangements for the promotion is called TLC Marketing, based out of Boston, MA.
A few weeks went by when my family and my parents (seven people total) decided on the dates and times to take our summer vacation. We decided to go to Washington DC.

There was no question of who we were going to book through. Since three of the seven flights should be free, we were going to book through the T-Mobile promotion...TLC Marketing. I tried to call first and the recording immediately said that a $30 service fee per ticket would be charged. If I booked on-line, it would only cost $12.50 per ticket. Well this saves me $75, and every penny counts these days, so I hung up and proceeded to book the tickets on-line.

As I was going through the process on-line, the website would only let me sign up six out of the seven people. I entered the information that I needed to, and it gave me a choice of several main airlines. I thought the prices were a little high, but then I thought that they hadn't deducted the free flights yet. So I continued to plug in all the information it needed. The total cost was going to be $1482.00 for three paid flights and three free flights. It did say in the small but legible writing that there are no refunds and no changes allowed. We decided to purchase the flights because now we had to book my father's flight (the seventh person) through Continental Airlines directly since TLC Marketing would only book even numbers of people.

As we were booking my dad's flight through Continental, we found the same exact flight numbers on the same exact days and times...he will be on our plane! When I saw his final purchase price, my heart just sank! I felt sick to my stomach. I had just been sucker-punched. His round-trip flight, including taxes and fees, was only $197! I could have bought all seven tickets directly through Continental for less than what TLC Marketing charged me for three with three being free...supposedly.
I immediately tried to get someone on the phone through TLC Marketing. I could only get recordings. I tried all that weekend with no success. On the recording however, they talked about a price-matching option. Without being able to contact someone human about this ordeal, the price-matching option information needed to be faxed or emailed to TLC Marketing. I did both. I thought I'd get reimbursed for the outrageous and excessive amount that TLC Marketing had just charged me.

I waited through Monday for them to respond to me. They didn't. On Tuesday, I got in touch with a booking concierge who told me that I was out of luck since I had already purchased the tickets. I was flabbergasted. I was so upset, I couldn't think straight. I asked to speak to her manager, so she transferred me. I only got the manager's voice mail, but I left a message explaining what happened and how everything was so unclear. I never found anywhere on-line that says that the price-matching option would only be honored before the purchase, not after. On the recording, it said something like they would honor it within 24 hours. Well, I sent all my info in for the price-matching within 24 hours, but apparently that isn't what they meant.

So, here I am, out a whole bunch of money that I shouldn't be out of if TLC worked fairly. In today's economy, they really shouldn't take such advantage of the consumer. So far, besides recordings, I had only been able to contact one human being...the concierge who was snide and unhelpful. I haven't received any replies on either my fax, email, or my message to her manager.
This just goes to show what kind of unethical type of company that TLC Marketing is. If its sounds too good to be true...it usually is.

Mei from tx
Spring, Texas
U.S.A.

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