BEWARE - Virgin Holidays crafty credit card charge

dmg24

Consumers_Revenge wrote: »

Yes, it was on the FAQ's but it should have appeared when I entered my card details (as the person earlier in this post displayed) but it did not. They have recognised this and are speaking to the web team about it.

So the warning/ clause was missing when you booked, but no one else has had this problem? Methinks you should just acknowledge your error and move on.

Boa21

You do have to watch for this. When I recently booked flights to Las Vegas I found one site that was a few pounds cheaper than the rest, but when you get to the final page it's showed the 2% surcharge. I booked the same flights with Expedia in the end - couple of quid dearer on the flights, but cheaper overall as no credit card surcharge

jammin_2

dmg24 wrote: »

So the warning/ clause was missing when you booked, but no one else has had this problem? Methinks you should just acknowledge your error and move on.

No, to be fair it's a con, a rip off and a scam.

dmg24

jammin wrote: »

No, to be fair it's a con, a rip off and a scam.

Why? Did anyone hold a gun to the OP's head and force him to pay by credit card?

delwynshd

lets face it when you have booked your holiday through the virgin website its significantly cheaper than going into the high street shop and booking the same hol

If you pay by credit card the charge is 2% in most cases with all companys practically

The CC charge is charged to the tour operator/travel agent so they cant afford to do this free of charge it has to be passed back to the purchaser

Virgin will simply tell you that you pay it or we will cancel the holiday for you and book it elsewhere

Or they could say that you have the option to cancel and loose the deposit, and they will refund the CC charge

You pay by CC you pay the fee, if not pay by debit

Del

Consumers_Revenge_2

dmg24 wrote: »

Why? Did anyone hold a gun to the OP's head and force him to pay by credit card?

Erm, yes in a way.

Its much safer to pay by Credit Card than by a direct transaction to your bank account. Surely you know this??

The money is there in my bank account but I would never pay via this method - the credit card companies know this and thats why these charges are appearing now.. to extract more money off people - come on, wake up...

delwynshd

A CC charge has always been around, Virgin holidays are ABTA and ATOL bonded

You didnt need to pay by CC, your holiday is completely secure, you gain no extra financial protection by paying like this

jammin_2

dmg24 wrote: »

Why? Did anyone hold a gun to the OP's head and force him to pay by credit card?

I can neither confirm nor deny whether this may or may not have happened.

samblack

Credit card fees for booking holidays are a rip off - there is no way Virgin or other travel companies have to pay that high a fee for taking credit cards, they do make a massive profit out of it. But I guess, as others have said, there is the choice of paying by debit card.

jammin_2

samblack wrote: »

there is no way Virgin or other travel companies have to pay that high a fee for taking credit cards

I think the merchant has to pay their payment processor ~ 2%.

So, quite possibly, they make nothing out of what they charge the customer, and are simply no longer absorbing the cost that they themselves incur.