Hi there, first of all, I just want to say that what I’m going through right now is nowhere near ‘tough times’, it’s more like ‘sucky times’ but I really need to vent and some kind words to ease the pain. I really hope this forum can be that safe place I’m looking for.

So, last weekend was one of the suckiest weekend I’ve ever had. I had a vacation that I had booked months in advance and on the d-day I found out that the flight had been canceled. I booked through one of those online travel agencies so the airline couldn’t help me. I tried calling the agency’s customer service but the number was no longer in service (their website and booking phone no. are still up and running, though). Long story short, my friend and I decided to cancel our trip.

We couldn’t claim any refund because we had to do that through the agency and upon searching online, we found out this agency is known for their non existent customer service. We just didn’t want to deal with the stress and decided not to pursue anything and move on. We own up to our part that should’ve been more thorough when booking and repeatedly remind ourselves that everything happened for a reason.

We also posted our experience on travel sites’ forum to warn other travelers. However, most responses berate us for not doing our due diligence and were told that it wasn’t the agency’s fault even though our post is meant to share the experience and is fact-based, not the rant type. I see this customers-blaming pattern in almost every post about bad experiences by other people, how responsibilities are heavily placed on the customers and how we are supposed to accept bad services because that’s how the ‘world goes’ nowadays. It makes me feel so helpless and sad how people emphasize money over courtesy, and how people can be very judgmental even though they don’t know the whole story.

So, to recap, I just need a few kind, encouraging words to get through this sucky time. It’s incomparable to some things you all are going through, I know, but it still sucks.

PS: Those travel forums are really not a safe place to share anything.