Your Stories: ‘Even if it’s difficult, I always like to find a way to help my clients’

Alicia Brown, the assistant manager of Your Co-op Travel in Sedgley, Dudley, shares how she often goes the extra mile to help clients in need. She talks to Juliet Dennis.

Q. How did you get into travel?
A. I studied travel at college after school. I got a job at a call centre for Your Co-op Wolverhampton as maternity cover. I was only there a few months. At that time it was so competitive and difficult to get a job with little experience so I ended up working in a care home looking after elderly and dementia patients for a few years. I’ve always loved looking after people but I missed travel so much.

In 2015 my mum was going to Mexico and I went into the Wolverhampton Your Co-op shop to see if I could book myself on the holiday. I was talking to the girls about the iSell system and one of the ladies got me an application form. She really pushed for me to be given a chance. I’d kind of given up on working in travel so I was elated!

When we started to come out of Covid, people were getting their refunds and looking forward to their holidays

Q. How did you manage during the pandemic?
A. During the November lockdown I worked through most of the pandemic at home. Customers got so angry. I’m just glad I was trained to deal with irate situations from my time at the care home. When we started to come out of Covid, people were getting their refunds and looking forward to their holidays. My wedding was cancelled; I was due to get married on June 19, 2021 and it was a case of trying to plan a new wedding while working full time from home. We were lucky; we ended up getting married on July 31 last year.

My wedding was cancelled; I was due to get married on June 19, 2021 and it was a case of trying to plan a new wedding while working full time from home

Q. Tell us about your customer who had a delayed passport?
A. Ellen is a care worker in Glasgow. She booked a holiday to Tenerife in December 2021 for herself, her 16-year-old daughter and daughter’s boyfriend to depart in March 2022. Her daughter didn’t have the extra months needed on her passport for travel to the EU post-Brexit, but was told by the Passport Office it would take two weeks to renew. In mid-March, she still had no passport. We managed to move the holiday to April 18.

The 12 weeks came and went and two days before she was due to fly, she had a text to say the passport was with the courier but would not be delivered until the day before the holiday. I phoned Jet2. They were fantastic. We managed to get the holiday moved to April 20 at an extra cost of £200 and reduced the holiday from seven to five days. But on the day before the new departure she got another text to say the passport wouldn’t arrive until after she had left for her flight. She called to say she would have to cancel.

Two days before she was due to fly, she had a text to say the passport was with the courier but would not be delivered until the day before the holiday

Q. What did you do?
A. I decided not to give up. If there was a glimmer of hope I was going to get her to Tenerife! I know how hard it is to be a care worker. My customer really deserved that holiday and I wasn’t going to let a passport issue ruin it for her. I told her I’d make a few calls. I called the courier company’s head office and delivery depots 18 times. The passport was with the delivery people; that was what was so frustrating. My customer was in tears: she’d given up. I spent all morning on the phone, I think in the end they got sick of me because when I told Ellen to call the depot again, it worked.

She got an email with an address to collect her passport the evening before her flight. Luckily, she had packed a few days before. I don’t think her daughter knew how touch and go it was. I called her at 9pm and she’d got it. Relief just swept over me. They got their flight the next morning. It was all worth it. She has just contacted me to book another holiday, for 2023. She says she just wouldn’t book with anyone else!

In the end they got sick of me because when I told Ellen to call the depot again, it worked. She [could] collect her passport the evening before her flight

Q. Do you often go the extra mile?
A. Even if it’s difficult I always like to find a way to help. I’ve always done it so it doesn’t faze me. If it was me, I would want someone to help me the way I helped Ellen.  If there is a problem, I like to find a solution.

Have you had any other passport delays or tricky situations to deal with?

We had another passport issue that was touch and go. I called the delivery company and asked if my client’s passport would be delivered in time. They spoke to one of the drivers and the passport came the next day, the day before the customer was due to fly.

We had a customer who got a call from the tour operator on the morning of travel to say their hotel had burnt down in Menorca

She was going with a big family group and we’d agreed if she couldn’t get there we’d get her a flight a couple of days later. Jet2 was brilliant, but in the end we didn’t have to change the booking. Then, a few months ago we had a customer who got a call from the tour operator on the morning of travel to say their hotel had burnt down in Menorca. There was no other hotel available for her to go to. We managed to get a £50 per person goodwill gesture and got her 20% off a stay at Iberostar in Majorca with Tui.

When someone on the other end of the phone is willing to work with you it makes it so much easier

The girl on the phone from Tui was great. When someone on the other end of the phone is willing to work with you it makes it so much easier. In the end my customer only left a day later than planned.