Well the booking is still on the My Princess site. I Have a booking #. Maybe the info about is supposed to be private, but last year I had an agent from a Cruise Compete agency call me at my Home phone #. They did have my Past Passenger Number possibly yhe way they found the booking.
You could help us a LOT by describing a little more explicitly what it was that you did.
You sent a quote request to Cruise Compete. That much we follow. What did you do after THAT? Your original post implies (through silence) that Cruise Compete provided information to someone, and I'm hoping to clarify things.
Well the booking is still on the My Princess site. I Have a booking #. Maybe the info about is supposed to be private, but last year I had an agent from a Cruise Compete agency call me at my Home phone #. They did have my Past Passenger Number possibly yhe way they found the booking.
Depending on how far away you are from sailing, they can often put a hold on a cabin for a week without any problems.
As for getting your information, all they need is your name or your home phone number and they can get your Past Passenger Number without any problems. Once they have that, then they can get your name and home address. Of course, if you are listed in the phone book, all they need is your name and they can get your home address and phone number. So there are always ways around the system - unfortunately, the internet is full of information about you. Guess it depends on how scrupulous the agent is.
But I wouldn't worry about it too much since I'm assuming you did not give them any credit card information. That cannot charge your card without your permission.
As for putting a cabin on hold, you can see by the comments that this is a common practice. If the cabin is not secured with a deposit, then the cabin is released back into the system for booking.
That's why if you want a particular category of cabin and they are waitlisted or sold out, you need to keep checking as cabins may be released from being held or from a group and the category may open up again. Your agent can help you with this.
You could help us a LOT by describing a little more explicitly what it was that you did.
You sent a quote request to Cruise Compete. That much we follow. What did you do after THAT? Your original post implies (through silence) that Cruise Compete provided information to someone, and I'm hoping to clarify things.
After requesting quotes I logged on to the Princess web site to check on the price for "Princess Air". Low & behold is see XXX days to your next cruise. Exploring further I see I Have a booking number and the TA that made the booking,. Maybe the TA's on this site think this is an acceptable business practice I do not. In fact because of this I booked direct with Princess even though it was about $100/PP more. I fact I have future cruise credits with Princess and I am thankful the TA did not know about them. I also believe Cruise Compete provides more information to TA's then the say they do, I have a phone call from a past TA to prove that to me.
Depending on how far away you are from sailing, they can often put a hold on a cabin for a week without any problems.
As for getting your information, all I need is your name or your home phone number and I can get your Past Passenger Number without any problems. Once I have that, then I can get your name and home address. Of course, if you are listed in the phone book, all I need is your name and I can get your home address and phone number. So there are always ways around the system - unfortunately, the internet is full of information about you. Guess it depends on how scrupulous the agent is.
But I wouldn't worry about it too much since I'm assuming you did not give them any credit card information. That cannot charge your card without your permission.
As for putting a cabin on hold, you can see by the comments that this is a common practice. If the cabin is not secured with a deposit, then the cabin is released back into the system for booking.
That's why if you want a particular category of cabin and they are waitlisted or sold out, you need to keep checking as cabins may be released from being held or from a group and the category may open up again. Your agent can help you with this.
Pete
And you think this is OK. Remind me to never book with you.
After requesting quotes I logged on to the Princess web site to check on the price for "Princess Air". Low & behold is see XXX days to your next cruise. Exploring further I see I Have a booking number and the TA that made the booking,.
Thank you for that clarification. That's how I originally read your 1st post, but it appeared that others did not.
Have you contacted Cruise Compete to see just how this might have happened?
And you think this is OK. Remind me to never book with you.
I think you misunderstood - I was saying that unscrupulous agents can do this; I wasn't saying I would do it. I am strongly against such tactics. I would never put a hold on a cabin unless a client specifically asked me to. As one person said, I always tell people looking for a quote that the price is subject to change until booked. I might offer to put a hold on a cabin if they'd like me to, but I would never use any information in such a manner without their specific permission. Anything else is deceptive and unscrupulous. I was just simply pointing out how easy it would be if someone wanted to do it. Unfortunately, there is just too much information available out there and we really have to be careful what we give to people, especially when you're putting information out there for anyone to see, as in the case of Cruise Compete. Any agent signed up with them can do what I was referring to. I don't subscribe to them and never will. You don't know who is using the information you provide or what they're doing with it. I was just advising people to be very cautious by showing what agents can do with that information if they wanted to. Just one piece of information can lead to a whole bunch of information being gathered.
Sorry if you misunderstood me - I was trying to help by pointing out the bad side. Wasn't trying to condone it in any way.
After reading my last post, I realize that I described what unscrupulous agents can do with your information, but I didn't offer any advice on how to prevent it.
As I mentioned, if an agent has some information, they can use that to get alot more information about you. Since we're talking about a Princess cruise, I'll use them as an example.
In the Princess booking site, an agent can enter your phone number and get your full name and past guest number. If they have your name, they can get your phone number and then with that number they can call you or look up your address to put you on their mailing list. In the case of Cruise Compete, the information you enter is sent to all the agents that subscribe to their service. So your information is sent to alot of agents that you know nothing about, any one of which can use this information for solicitation.
So how do you prevent this from happening when searching for a quote?
First, try to do all business via email.
Don't give your full name. Use initials or nicknames.
If you have to enter a phone number, use a cell phone number. If you don't have a cell phone, then provide a phony number or business number.
Don't give out your mailing address.
If you get a phone call from someone that you have not given your phone number to, ask how they got it and find out why they're calling you.
If you get advertisements in the mail and don't want it, contact the company and demand to be removed.
If you belong to a forum like this one, you should not be receiving any private emails soliciting your business. If you do, report them immediately.
Once you've decided with whom to do business, then further information can be provided more securely. You can then discuss with the agent your desire to be included or not be included in any marketing they may do in the future either via email or snail mail.
For some this may sound like common sense, but there are some very pushy salespeople out there in every business, so this is one way we all have to fight back against unwanted soliciting.
After reading my last post, I realize that I described what unscrupulous agents can do with your information, but I didn't offer any advice on how to prevent it.
Very good information, Pete, but may miss the immediate point. If things are as the OP claims, Cruise Compete violated their published privacy policy - something KEY to their business model - and should be taken to task for it. They're quite specific that information provided to them is not in turn provided to the agencies. That's a much larger problem than one agent holding a cabin against just a name. That's also why I was concerned that we get full information from the OP, as it's quite an indictment of CC's practices if true, and quite a slam on them if it's not. Am presently withholding judgment until someone can present CC's side of this.
Then I'm at a loss as to how they're doing it, because when I first found out about Cruise Compete a few years ago, I sent a request for a quote on a cruise so I could check out my competition. I not only got the quotes, but I also got emails directly from agents. Perhaps it's possible that they are able to get your name via your email address. I'm not computer savvy enough to know if that can be done, but in today's world it's probably possible.
Perhaps someone else is more knowlegeable on this and can lend some insight as to how this may be happening. But from what you're saying and what happened to me, there's something going on behind the scenes.
Then I'm at a loss as to how they're doing it, because when I first found out about Cruise Compete a few years ago, I sent a request for a quote on a cruise so I could check out my competition. I not only got the quotes, but I also got emails directly from agents. Perhaps it's possible that they are able to get your name via your email address. I'm not computer savvy enough to know if that can be done, but in today's world it's probably possible.
You're quite right that it often is, but the agents aren't supposed to be getting your email address, either!
The only time an agent should ever have a clue about you is if you send them an email in response to the quotes that you receive from them VIA CC.
Your own experience seems to confirm that either CC -- as a company, or someone within CC -- is playing fast and loose with their rules. I would be interested to hear more experiences of either type, and whether anyone has ever complained to CC about the transfer of personal information, and had a response.
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