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Sandals Discount SCAM!
loushaddick
Posts: 7 Forumite
We booked a holiday to Sandals Antigua through a travel agent 8 weeks ago and paid a £300 deposit. Earlier this week we received a flyer from sandals offering a 2 for 1 deal.
Being curious I rang Sandals to get a quote for the same holiday we had booked. The lady on the phone said that if I wanted the best deal, to book online as the prices were cheaper online and I would get a better deal. Taking her advice, I logged on and got a quote. I was amazed and very excited to find that we could get the same holiday, but with a Junior Suite rather than the basic room we had originally booked, for much less than we had paid. So much less infact, that if I cancelled our existing booking and lost our deposit of £300, we still would save £50 and have a much nicer room in with the bargin.
So, in good faith, I went ahead and booked the holiday on the website, paid another £300 deposit and then got our holiday booking confirmation email through, I was soooo excited!
I then contacted the original travel agent and explained the situation and they were very understanding, but of course we would loose our £300 through them, but cancelled our existing booking.
This was 2 days ago. We received a call this morning from the company that runs the website for Sandals, saying that there had been a website error and the price was wrong, and that we would have to pay another £1,600 if we wanted to keep our booking
. When I was able to speak:mad: , I said that they couldn't do this, we had got our confirmation and paid a deposit. She then said that in the terms and conditions that we agreed to, it says the prices can change at any time.
At this point I dissolved. This was our 10th wedding anniversary holiday and we have both worked soooo hard to save the money to be able to afford this and had been so excited to find such a deal, have a lovely room, and the first holiday on our own for 6 years since the boys had been born. My husband then took over. He rang Sandals back only to find out they were astounded that this had happened and that apparently the website is a different company (even though as a member of the public you wouldn't know this).
I know my husband intends to fight this (as now we potentially have no holiday and have lost £300) as we both feel that this shouldn't be allowed to happen, but I am just so upset. The holiday and the good deal was the best thing that has happened to me this (difficult) year. I can't believe Sandals would want this slur on their name either.
Does anyone have any ideas of things we could do to get them to honour our booking?
Many thanks, Lou
Being curious I rang Sandals to get a quote for the same holiday we had booked. The lady on the phone said that if I wanted the best deal, to book online as the prices were cheaper online and I would get a better deal. Taking her advice, I logged on and got a quote. I was amazed and very excited to find that we could get the same holiday, but with a Junior Suite rather than the basic room we had originally booked, for much less than we had paid. So much less infact, that if I cancelled our existing booking and lost our deposit of £300, we still would save £50 and have a much nicer room in with the bargin.
So, in good faith, I went ahead and booked the holiday on the website, paid another £300 deposit and then got our holiday booking confirmation email through, I was soooo excited!
I then contacted the original travel agent and explained the situation and they were very understanding, but of course we would loose our £300 through them, but cancelled our existing booking.
This was 2 days ago. We received a call this morning from the company that runs the website for Sandals, saying that there had been a website error and the price was wrong, and that we would have to pay another £1,600 if we wanted to keep our booking
. When I was able to speak:mad: , I said that they couldn't do this, we had got our confirmation and paid a deposit. She then said that in the terms and conditions that we agreed to, it says the prices can change at any time.At this point I dissolved. This was our 10th wedding anniversary holiday and we have both worked soooo hard to save the money to be able to afford this and had been so excited to find such a deal, have a lovely room, and the first holiday on our own for 6 years since the boys had been born. My husband then took over. He rang Sandals back only to find out they were astounded that this had happened and that apparently the website is a different company (even though as a member of the public you wouldn't know this).
I know my husband intends to fight this (as now we potentially have no holiday and have lost £300) as we both feel that this shouldn't be allowed to happen, but I am just so upset. The holiday and the good deal was the best thing that has happened to me this (difficult) year. I can't believe Sandals would want this slur on their name either.
Does anyone have any ideas of things we could do to get them to honour our booking?
Many thanks, Lou
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Comments
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Thats awful.
Maybe you should contact some consumer rights help if they won't honor their price.0 -
Most website retailers have an 'errors and omissions excepted' clause which allows them to vary the price if it is a genuine mistake.
What is the name of the website that you booked through?Gone ... or have I?0 -
write to the press, and watchdog, they will soon squirm !!!0
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Could I suggest that you speak to Sandals first, especially as they suggested that you book on line - and accusing them of a "scam" won't help. It looks like a good old fashioned c--k up !0
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write to the press, and watchdog, they will soon squirm !!!
I wouldn't actually follow that line, as it's unlikely that it will be picked up or resolved in time. What website did you book through? Was it not Sandal's own?
If it was Sandals website, speak to someone senior at Sandals.
If it was a 3rd party website,then they are unlikely to honour the price, as mentioned there is terms and conditions that cover this. Maybe go back to the Travel Agent, and see if they would do anything about the lost deposit if you rebook.0 -
I must have missed something - how is this a SCAM?
Am I going to have to add "scam" to "rip-off" in my theory about posting titles?0 -
When a website/shop offers a price for something it is treated as an invitation to treat and not as a contract. In the same way you have 14 days to 'cool off' so do they.
Unfortunately you dont have a leg to stand on.0 -
When a website/shop offers a price for something it is treated as an invitation to treat and not as a contract. In the same way you have 14 days to 'cool off' so do they.
Unfortunately you dont have a leg to stand on.
The DSR's do not apply to holiday bookings. There is no cooling off period for such transactions. The travel agent accepts your booking at a certain point in the booking process, as designated in the terms and conditions.Gone ... or have I?0 -
Hi Lou, welcome to the forums :hello:
As mentioned above, contact Sandals as from your post it seems they were suprised to hear about this which is more promising than the response from the website company. I do hope they sort something out (even as a goodwill gesture) as it really isn't your fault this has happened.
Make sure you're very clear about what you want from them to put things right, fingers crossed for you both
http://www.sandals.co.uk/general/contact-worldwide.cfm
http://www.sandals.co.uk/general/contact.cfm0 -
Hi,
I had the same phonecall last night and we booked DIRECT ON THE PHONE on Monday morning with Sandals. I am prepared to fight this all the way as I think this is outrageous. Please let me know how you get on:T0
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