When The Booking Goes In The Books
I work in a small PR Agency that handles international clients. We have an office manager, but booking travel is handled by the teams themselves. I am very junior and have been tasked to book a flight to the US for my boss on relatively short notice, about ten days in advance.
Client: “Please book a flight for your boss to DC for our meeting.”
Me: “Are you sure you want me to do it? If we book it, you’ll have to pay our service as per the contract, but if you book it yourself, it’ll be cheaper. I give you all my boss’s data, no problem.”
Client: “You book it.”
Me: “No problem.”
I book the flight, my boss flies to DC, and attends the meeting.
At the end of the month, we send our invoice, and we get a call:
Client: “Why do I have to pay several hundred Euros on top of an already very expensive flight?!”
Me: “That’s the reason I suggested you book the flight for my boss.”
Client: “Is there anything you can do about it?”
Me: “I’ll check with the owner, but I have my doubts. Let me get back to you.”
The owner didn’t waive the fee, and the client asked in a civilized manner, so no harm done, but read your contracts and don’t outsource services that you can easily do yourself!
