I read Johnny Pollard's 'View from the Beach' (29th April Edition) with interest. He details that online travel agents now have excellent personal service and knowledge. I wonder then, why they consistently get such poor reviews from their customers?
http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews98729.html
Agreed as an employee of a tour operator we regularly get OTB customers contacting us directly rather than their agent!
I have booked with OTB before, they are really good, they levy an admin fee on any extras/amendments etc but sometimes if they will give you a tour operator/airline phone number so that you can avoid paying the admin fee!
They did that to me, it would have cost £70 odd to add luggage but they gave me the airline number so I could do it direct and save £30.