Think I have been ripped off

shudd1967

I booked a holiday for a week in June last week after searching on Teletext holidays - now I have a feeling I have been well and truly ripped off! I copy and paste the email I have sent to Airborn, although when I booked via the number on teletext holidays it said the ncompany was holiday heros.

" I searched for the holiday on teletext holidays and spoke to one of your advisors to check the price. The holiday ref was XXXXXXXX at £137 per person.
When I asked for more details the sales agent told me that particular flight had sold out but there was a better flight at a more convenient time but the price was ��165.40 each for everything excluding transfers. The original flight was leaving Bristol at about 0400am and then the return one was leaving Lanzarote at approx 0200am. I confirmed with the agent that there was no extras, everything including luggage was included except for transfers in Lanzarote and there would be no added Charges whatsover.
I rang my partner and then called your agent back to book. Once details had been taken he informed me there a 3% charge for credit card bookings, that I accept with no issue. After all had gone through it was mentioned there was a £9 per person airport tax which did annoy me as I should of been told this at the first phone call.
The total should come to £359.32. £330.80 plus £18 tax plus 3% CC fee.
Problem 1 - So why have I been charged £376.98? There is not even a breakdown on your invoice which is shocking.
Problem 2 - I was told twice this included baggage, it was not said only cabin baggage or anything like that, I was told it included baggage. When I asked how much I was told 10KG but could upgrade later. The invoice today states NO hold baggage which I am also furious about as this now is an additional cost I should of been made aware about at the time of booking.
Problem - 3 - Later in the day i decided to book my airport parking and as I could not remember the flight times exactly I went on the Bristol airport website to check. There are no flights at the times the agent had told me on the first telephone call, so where did the price that I initially rang up about come from? I have even phoned Bristol airport and checked and they confirmed it. I also checked the lanzarote airport website and no flights are allowed to leave there between certain hours - certainly not at 0200am.

I believe I have been, to put it mildly, ripped off and I want some action now. I stil want the holiday but I want the £17.66 refunded, I also want hold luggage included at no extra cost to me and I want to know why a holiday was offered at a price of £137 on a flight that did not exist. As this is why I initially rang i believe the holiday should be given to me at £137.00 per person.
If I had been aware of all of the additional costs I would NOT of booked."

Dunno what the outcome will be but surely they cannot offer a holiday on a flight that doesn't exist. When I looked at Bristol airport website and saw this my heart sank, I decided to just wait and see what came through the post in case there where other issues, then I checked my CC statement at the weekend and saw a higher figure than expected my heart sank even further.
I sent the email to them this morning and copied it in to my local trading standards, not heard from Airborn yet surprise surprise, so if anyone has any further advice or guidance I would appreciate it!

delwynshd

Do you know who the airline is?

If the flights which I suspect are with Ryanair they will give you 10kgs hand luggage but to fit everything you need into a bag of this size is just not gonna happen

They charge 40 pounds per hold bag and allow 15 kgs so this is gonna jump your holiday cost way up

The extra 20 quid I would say is the card charge that ryanair charge, regardless of the type its always 10pp

The have charged you a 3% charge on the holiday and forgot about the 10pp with ryanair which is only added at the end screen

Small companys are useless you have been taken for a ride here

Mr_Lahey

From what i read on here and various other sites it is common practice for companies on teletext to do this.

I would cancel and get a full refund stating that you were completely misled.

Call Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06 for more info if the agent won't budge.

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/

These guys will know better than anyone your rights and the best avenues to go down.

withabix

Teletext Holidays prices aren't live - that's your first problem. Teletext Holidays pages are just adverts - a bit like looking in the Sun or the Express.

What times ARE your flights? You haven't said.

shudd1967

Yes the flights are with ryan air - or as the sales agent called the flights, premium flights which did not alert me they were Ryanair.

The flights now are going out at 7 in morning and coming back mid morning from Lanzarote, its the only flights in and out of Bristol to Lanzarote on a wednesday.
I will have a look at consumer direct, thank you.

I know that about teletext hols, online, which is why when I rang I asked and asked again is this the final price, but even a non live system should not show the price of a holiday on a flight that doesn't exisit?

Grrr!

delwynshd

I dont know what else to say but I dont think you'll have any luck with getting monies back from the agent

They may cancel the hotel and refund you. Leave you with the ryanair flights, therfore you could try and shop about for a cheaper hotel

Have you got an idea of what the flights came to ?

It will be on your statement

Del

shudd1967

Interestingly there is no breakdown of anything on the confirmation invoice which I think they are required to do.

I still want the holiday, I would be happy with the refund (or an explanation that makes sense regarding the extra £18 or so) of £18, plus they pay for hold luggage. Be nice to get priority boarding as compensation for this but not pushing for that!
I also want to know where they got the original price from and why they quoted non existance flights as as far as I am concerned thats fraud and should be acted upon.

Didn't some other company get fined for doing this last year? i remember reading about it on here, i am sure!

shudd1967

Just an update, on Friday i recieved a letter from ABTA giving me some advice and that they were also looking into the complaint and a reference number re the complaint.

Since April 20th I have sent 30 - 40 mails to Airborn, I have had read receipts from the sales team but no read receipt from the admin and not a peep from them, not even an acknowledgment.

I rang about 5 times last week and was unable to get through to the admin dept despite holiday, yet got straight through to sales, when I asked for information about who was the CEO or Md and head of customer service so I could make a complaint the stroppy young lady actually hung up on me!

So Friday I resent the chain of emails, the subject line being ABTA resonse to my complaint about airborn - lo and behold within an hour I had a reply from someone asking the times of my calls as they wanted to listen to the tapes.

I know what was said on the calls, I took notes! We shall see what happens next week, if no outcome by Wednesday ABTA are taking it forward.

Will keep you updated!

shudd1967

delwynsholidaydeals wrote: »

Do you know who the airline is?

If the flights which I suspect are with Ryanair they will give you 10kgs hand luggage but to fit everything you need into a bag of this size is just not gonna happen

They charge 40 pounds per hold bag and allow 15 kgs so this is gonna jump your holiday cost way up

The extra 20 quid I would say is the card charge that ryanair charge, regardless of the type its always 10pp

The have charged you a 3% charge on the holiday and forgot about the 10pp with ryanair which is only added at the end screen

Small companys are useless you have been taken for a ride here

I actually went online on the Ryan air website this week and added hold luggage, it was only £15 each which surprised me. I am slightly concerned I have done it wrong as when you book a flight thru them its at least double that isn't it? I booked an extra 15KG checked luggage each and it came to £30. I am happy with that (even though I want that refiunded by airborn) but just a tad worried I have booked the wrong thing!

CAE

Here is a link to Ryanair fees.

http://www.ryanair.com/en/questions/table-of-fees

One bag in June up to 15kg is £15 each way.

So if you both took a bag the total cost would be £60.

We have booked one bag, and hope to get the rest of our stuff into hand luggage. I WILL learn to pack light - or at least one of us will have to!

shudd1967

I think I better log on again, I wonder why it didn't give me the option of doing it both ways? very odd?