Do not be taken in by travel republic's "book for £1" offer. It is a scam!!

I booked a week's hotel accommodation with Travel Republic on March 1st under their 'book for £1' offer. After providing my payment details the site advised that my booking was not confirmed until I received a confirmation email.

Clearly not wanting to commit to booking flights until the hotel confirmation arrived I waited until today (12 days later) and looked to see if flights were available - they weren't. So I called TR to confirm that as I hadn't received confirmation I would need to cancel the dates.

The operator said my booking had indeed been confirmed by email and that if I wanted to cancel my accommodation I was facing a penalty charge of £300!!

While speaking to her I checked with my email provider and sure enough no record of any confirmation email from TR existed. Nevertheless she continued to sneerily intimate that either I was stupid or a liar and that I must have seen the confirmation.

It seems to me that the "Book For £1" offer is clearly a scam - a way to entrap unsuspecting travellers into committing to a booking, then promising email confirmation which never arrives, then charging horrendous cancellation charges.

If this sounds far fetched then consider this - the room type I booked was priced at £1,700 on March 1st. TR have told me I can now pay £20 to rebook to the following week but the rate I booked at is no longer available and I will now have to pay over £4,500.

Seems TR can't lose - they get £300 for doing absolutely nothing apart from falsely representing a holiday that can't be delivered and if you don't like that you can have the same holiday a week later for 3x the price.

They are operating a scam against unsuspecting consumers and I will make it my business to broadcast this message far and wide.
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Comments

  • KonkyWonky
    KonkyWonky Posts: 648
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    Why on earth would you wait 12 days for conformation?

    Are you sure you gave Travel Republic the correct email address? Did you check your spam folder?
  • YorkshireBoy
    YorkshireBoy Posts: 31,541
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    edited 13 March 2013 at 6:43PM
    KonkyWonky wrote: »
    Why on earth would you wait 12 days for conformation?
    The T&Cs give them 10 working days in which to send the confirmation.

    Having said that, I'd be chasing them up long before that deadline had passed...each day in fact if I was wanting to make other arrangements based on the accommodation availability.


    Edited to add: The £1 deposit looks to be irrelevant anyway, and has probably been used for effect! Had the OP paid a 'full' deposit the outcome would have been the same (if I've read the T&Cs correctly), ie a 20% of booking value loss.
  • johannalf88
    johannalf88 Posts: 2,827 Forumite
    I had a brief look at this recently. I thought I saw it was a part deposit? You would have to pay the whole deposit if u wanted to cancel?

    I didn't look in to the t&c- just clicked on details about the £1 deposit I think.
    :T
  • _Andy_
    _Andy_ Posts: 11,150 Forumite
    "They are operating a scam against unsuspecting consumers and I will make it my business to broadcast this message far and wide."

    LOL
  • rocking69
    rocking69 Posts: 290 Forumite
    Can they prove they sent you confirmation?
    Happy :)
  • I'm sorry to hear you feel that TR have "scammed " you. I have been booking with them for many years, I have had some amazing bargains in top rated hotels with them. I have only ever had this happen to me when I have booked with them, but over the next 24 hours I'd had received the confirmation, I usually receive confirmation before I have ended out of the site. Something has gone wrong somewhere? I have booked all my hotels for this year with them, no problem at all, all travel agents have the same T&C's in that, if we cancel we have charges to pay, any deposit is just that, from that end TR are no different, their site is quite well laid out and nothing is hidden away, it's all their for us to read right throughout the booking process. Sorry you feel you've been "scammed" but I can only speak from experience of being a long standing customer of TR... Good luck anyway
  • melanzana
    melanzana Posts: 3,953
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    I have no connections with TR, but I have always found them fantastic. Great bargains, better than any other hotel sites I've looked at too.

    I had a problem with a booking of an hotel I made recently. They have a tracking system that lets you know when they will answer. And they did. I phoned them and they sorted it out pronto.

    BTW I always book flights first, then hotels. You have many hotel choices, but not the same with flights.
  • budgetflyer
    budgetflyer Posts: 5,949 Forumite
    These low deposits are always subject to you paying the full deposit if you cancel. TR are no different from any other tour opp/travel agent in that respect.
    HOWEVER
    If you intend to just cancel, just don't pay it. They may huff n puff,threaten court etc. But they probably won't follow through.
    Its not a scam though.
  • jpsartre
    jpsartre Posts: 4,085
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    jjbuk wrote: »
    Clearly not wanting to commit to booking flights until the hotel confirmation arrived I waited until today (12 days later) and looked to see if flights were available - they weren't.

    Where are you going that has no flights available?
  • peachyprice
    peachyprice Posts: 22,346
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    HOWEVER
    If you intend to just cancel, just don't pay it. They may huff n puff,threaten court etc. But they probably won't follow through.
    Its not a scam though.


    Except OP may have agreed by accepting their T&C's that they can take the payment from the card he used at time of booking.

    Read again what you've agreed to OP, because you clearly havent read the T&C's yet.
    Accept your past without regret, handle your present with confidence and face your future without fear
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