On The Beach - Compensation Help

Hoping some of the more consumer rights/legal minded posters on here can help me with attempting to get some form of compensation/refund from On The Beach for a recent holiday booked through them.

- Holiday booked included flights, accommodation and private transfers for a total value of £1,197.60

- Payment was made via debit card, not credit card.

- On arrival we found the private transfer was in fact not a private transfer but we had to queue up at a taxi rank. This was not advised at any point and we only discovered this after an hour at the airport trying to find our transfer.

- Finally arriving at our hotel we found they had no record of our booking. It turns out they did have our booking but On The Beach had told them the wrong date and they weren't expecting us for another 3 days

- They put us up in an overflow apartment usually used by workers that was not part of the hotel and was located down the road in a residential block of apartments.

- Each day we asked if a room had been found for us yet only to be told no. On the day our room had mistakenly been booked for we were told they had now given it to someone else because they had to move other people around to provide us with the apartment we had been in so we spent the entire hotel in this grotty apartment, limiting access to our all inclusive facilities

- I have followed the On The Beach complaints procedure and the 28 days is up with no action from them. My request for compensation has been met with the statement that they are just booking agents so unless the hotel or private transfer company agree to a refund they have no liability.

- I have had no contact with the two company's involved since returning from holiday so on the beach are acting as middle man

All monies were paid to On The Beach and we did not receive the accommodation or transfer paid for but received lesser services or quality of accommodation in both cases.

I know On the Beach aren't covered under ABTA so can't go down that route.

I did not notify my travel insurance of the issues as I was willing to go through On The Beach's own complaints procedure which has proven fruitless so my question is where do I go from here?

- Keep on at On The Beach?

- Get in touch with my travel insurance provider?

- Try to go for a Debit Card Chargeback through the VISA scheme

- Contact an ombudsman(If so which would be the relevant one)?

- Contact Watchdog style consumer/media organisations(suggestions of which ones appreciated)?

Any advice would be gratefully received as I have paid a lot of money for something that was not received and no one seems to be liable!
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Comments

  • As you have rightly said not abta or atol protected so this rules the ombudsman type of redress and they are not packaged tour operators.

    I would try the insurance route and see if they help here but as far as I am aware with any firm that falls outside of the Atol and Abta scheme getting anything from them is much like sourcing blood from a stone.

    Not sure on the chargeback situation as that is limited to a set period of time to.
  • AndyBSG
    AndyBSG Posts: 986 Forumite
    Just contacted the Insurance company and we're not covered for this sort of claim.

    Looks like the only real option I have is for a Visa Charge Back, which I suspect won't cover this sort of thing anyway.

    Not really willing to take it to court so without an ombudsman to get involved it looks like they'll get away with taking my money for a hotel room that was never provided.
  • If the charge back fails and you have paid for a room and transfers that were not provided then I would say that surely must be a strong enough case to take on, Depending that is on where they based so if the Company claims to be UK based then I'd 100% consider doing it in your position but if they are based offshore then it is a harder battle to win, Not impossible just a lot more difficult to get going and more expense I would believe.
  • lea2012
    lea2012 Posts: 733
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    As you have already said, unfortunately on the beach are only a broker so your contracts are actually with the hotel or accommodation supplier.
    From the sounds of it the hotel are at fault. If you got a hotel voucher from on the beach with the right dates on it then the hotel will have had the same one. It sounds like they have overbooked and thought they might get away with it.
    If you have a voucher that does have the wrong dates on it then you would be at fault for not taking this up before you left.
    Did you call on the beach whilst you were there to let them know of your issues or ask them to resolve it? Again it will likely say on the voucher or in their terms and conditions that any problems must be reported at the time so that they have a chance to assist you. If you didn't call then it's highly unlikely that they will offer you any assistance.
    Finally are you sure you were in the wrong room? Does your voucher mention anything about being in an annexe building or mention anything such as economy room, special offer room or promo room etc? It could well be that you were in the room you had booked and paid for although I'm sure the hotel would have pointed this out.

    As for the private transfer, as long as their was only your party in the car then it was a private transfer. Generally it will say somewhere that this could be a taxi, minibus or whichever is available.

    I think a chargeback wouldn't work in this case. As far as I know, a company can defend a chargeback and sometimes it's not that easy to get it back. I think a proportion of your accommodation cost back might be more likely. If you look at the booking breakdown you'll see how much you paid for the accommodation and you may well get about 10% back if you're lucky.
    Lea :confused:
  • This sounds like a hotel overbooking problem. As OTB don't book with the hotel the hotel wouldn't know what dates they'd given to their supplier. If your confirmation and accommodation voucher had the correct dates, then so did the hotel. If either the confirmation or accommodation voucher had the wrong dates then it needed to be queried as soon as you received them. Did you ring the contact phone number on the voucher and report the problem at the time?


    With regards to the transfer. OTB will have booked the transfer via their supplier, who in turn will book the transfer with a local company. As long as you didn't share the transfer with anyone else, it was a private transfer no matter which vehicle eg mini bus, taxi operated it.
  • Strange how many times this firm crops up as being rubbish.
  • budgetflyer
    budgetflyer Posts: 5,949 Forumite
    Strange how many times this firm crops up as being rubbish.
    They are not the cheapest either. Both Travel Republic and Sunshine offer marginally better prices and much better aftersales
  • AndyBSG
    AndyBSG Posts: 986 Forumite
    edited 14 October 2016 at 9:31AM
    Missed something off my original post which is worth mentioning.

    The fault is DEFINITELY with OTB and not the Hotel. OTB have tried the old 'we're just booking agents you need to dispute it with the hotel' line but ignored one piece of evidence.

    It was actually On The Beach who requested the booking for the incorrect date of 8th September and the Hotel have supplied me with the original booking request direct from OTB's Maltese agent with this wrong date on.

    This is despite every single piece of booking paperwork, confirmation and online booking record showing and confirming my booking with OTB was made for the 4th.

    Things have moved on now and I have formally raised a Charge Back dispute after talking to my bank and the guy I spoke to at Nationwide told me I probably have a 50/50 chance of getting somewhere.

    He said if I had just disputed that I booked a 5 star room but got a 2 star one or that the hotel was overbooked then it's doubtful a chargeback would have worked but the fact they actually booked the room for the wrong date shows that in simplest terms what was paid for is not what was received so i've got to wait and see where this goes now.

    I've also gone back to OTB and asked for an escalation of the complaint to a more senior level as i'm not happy with the progress so far and also requested details of their external ombudsman's contact details.

    I'm assuming it may be down to the financial services ombudsman as it's the actual direct debit payment that I am disputing and asked them to confirm this(not expecting this to go anywhere but doing it more to show OTB that I am not going to let it lie and mean to get a resolution rather than accept being fobbed off).

    I've also advised them that at this stage I am preparing to make details of the dispute, along with all evidence received so far, and their attempts to avoid compensating for their own mistake available to media outlets, local press and consumer affair programmes... Doubt any of them will be interested but guessing OTB won't want to risk the chance of being on Watchdog again for the sake of a couple of hundred quid.
  • lea2012
    lea2012 Posts: 733
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    Forumite
    You've said in the post that otb's Maltese agent booked the wrong dates with the hotel. This doesn't make it otb's fault, potentially it makes it the Maltese agents fault.

    You book with on the beach, their website pulls through prices from various agents and it's all linked up. If you put a date in the otb website, that date should pull through to the agent all via their online booking system. Otb don't get a date from you and then go to their agent to book it, it's done automatically. Even if you called up to book over the phone, it's likely an agent will just book it via the website still.

    It sounds like the Maltese agent may have sent the wrong dates to the hotel when they've processed the booking, or more likely is that the hotel have fabricated an email to show to you which makes you think it's not their fault!

    Even if by some small chance on the beach did book the wrong dates, you didn't call them
    Whilst you were there to tell them of your problems so they didn't have an opportunity to help you. Had you called they may have been able to get you the right room and you wouldn't be having this issue now.
    Lea :confused:
  • Archergirl
    Archergirl Posts: 1,762
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    I can't believe people still use this company, do they not read all the neg reviews before they book?
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