Conned on booking fees on flights!

endorfin

I have booked 2 flights to Australia via a travel agency called Economy Travels (also trading as 1der Flights Ltd) they quoted a competitive price for 2 return flights to Perth flying with Cathay Pacific.

The salesman on the phone (London number) gave me his name as 'Sean' despite having an heavy accent & speaking in very broken English. He sent the quote and initiary to my email and said to reply to it confirming all is correct. I read the email and the prices were more or less correct (seemed to have gone up a fiver each flight but no matter) I read that debit & credit cards incurred a 4% surcharge but I thought I'd swallow that. There was a line near the bottom which said:

"Booking fees should be of £65 per passenger except then the fare."

This is verbatim. Does this make sense to anyone, it doesn't even appear grammatically correct. So whilst still on the phone I asked him if there were any additional charges on top of the fare and he said no. I said what about credit card charges, he said yes 4%. I mentioned the very ambiguous line regarding booking fees above & he said no no no that's all included in the fare, I asked again and double checked and he reassured me that the booking fees were included. He kept telling me I had to reply to the email saying "all is correct" before he could process the order, he was very keen for me to do this.

I asked him for the total and all he would say was its the price in the email plus the card fees but would not mention the actual total price. I even worked out the card fees myself and gave him the total and asked him to confirm this and he confirmed this as the total but would not come to a total by himself.

I gave my card details and I was emailed the e-tickets the next day. However when I checked my bank online I found even accounting for the 4% card surcharges I had been overcharged by £135.48 which works out at £67.74 per person.

I rang up and spoke to 'Sean' again and asked about these and he said "oh those are the booking fees, they're mentioned in the email" and I said no I specifically asked you about those and you said they were included in the fare price to which he blantantly lied to me & said "no no no, I told you it was plus the fare" and when I said I would be taking it further he said you can't do anything because you have replied to the email saying "all is correct"

It is obvious that this is something he set out to do from the beginning. What I need to know is what I can do about this, do I have any recourse. The company seems to be registered in the UK under 1Der Flights Ltd but I am pretty sure that 'Sean' was in a call centre out of the country.

I paid for one half the the total with a credit card and the other half with my partner's debit card. I presume I could claim the overcharged bit back from my credit card company but could the travel agents cancel my flight if I did this? I assume the payment made by debit card has no protection? The company appears to be a member of the TTA.

I am quite prepared to go to the small claims court on principle, because of the 'booking fees' & credit card fees the flights were no longer competitive. But what are my chances. I don't believe the line "Booking fees should be of £65 per passenger except then the fare." is clear enough & when I queried it I was told that this was included in the fare.

Sorry to rabbit on, any advice appreciated here.

Donnie

You can't just claim back the overcharged bit. You'll have to just contest the whole transaction as fraudulent.

malkie76

Ouch - you've been had there

Unfortunately because you emailed accepting that 'all is correct' I think you've effectively accepted their booking fee. The verbally agreement on the phone probably doesn't count for anything, however I'd ask them for a recording of the call, but they probably won't keep something like that for obvious reasons.

I'd absolutely report them to the Trading Standards if they genuinely do operate in the UK - if they are overseas then sadly you've probably lost money.
I would also contest the entire thing with your creditcard, explaining that the booking fee wasn't transparent.

endorfin

But if I contest the whole thing with the credit card and they investigate will this mean I won't be able to fly?

My flight is on the 2nd November and I want to keep this date, returning in March 2011. So if I dispute the transaction and the credit card company investigates will this mean my flight will get cancelled?

I just want to get what I have been overcharged on refunded, its not just the amount but the principle. What he did was sneaky and underhand.

The company is registered in the uk according to companies house and has a Middlesex address. If I took them to the small claims court I doubt they would send a representive and I feel that the booking fee line is as clear as mud but if I did win the case and they didn't pay up it would cost me further to chase them up.

Donnie

I think that you know the answer. You just don't want to accept it. Contest the whole transaction and rebook your flights elsewhere or just accept the price that you paid.
What is the difference from the next best price and the price that they charged you in total?

It appears to be a vehicle that they use to be able to quote cheaper prices.

Why someone would choose book with such a cowboy outfit baffles me. It's probably someone working out of their front room.

For what it's worth, TTA have a complaints procedure

Contact

bell123321

I had a look on their website and their terms and conditions and no where does it mention there is a booking fee. The only fee's it mentions is if you have to pick up your tickets from the airport. Apprantlty they are ATOL protected, so I would complain to them if you have no luck with the company.

Donnie

bell123321 wrote: »

I had a look on their website and their terms and conditions and no where does it mention there is a booking fee. The only fee's it mentions is if you have to pick up your tickets from the airport. Apprantlty(sic) they are ATOL protected, so I would complain to them if you have no luck with the company.

What are you talking? Where is the ATOL logo?

endorfin

It seems some flights are ATOL protected with them but it says some of them aren't, it doesnt say which.

http://www.economytravels.co.uk/Terms&Conditions.php

As for using a 'cowboy outfit' please enlighten me what lengths you should go to to determine what is a cowboy outfit or not. They had an UK address, London numbers, a website, registered on companies house, have a TTA number. I may not have heard of them before but that can apply to hundreds of travel agencies on the internet.

I shall be phoning the company up again & asking to speak to a more senior person, if a refund is not forthcoming then I shall try ATOL & TTA and then perhaps finally taking the small claims route.

As for cancelling the flights & rebooking, this would be more than inconvenient since I've now made countless arrangements around those dates so this is not a realistic option. I don't see why I should have to 'grin & bear it' though, this is what they hope I shall do.

Thank you to those who offered useful advice.

Donnie

endorfin wrote: »

It seems some flights are ATOL protected with them but it says some of them aren't, it doesnt say which.

http://www.economytravels.co.uk/Terms&Conditions.php

As for using a 'cowboy outfit' please enlighten me what lengths you should go to to determine what is a cowboy outfit or not. They had an UK address, London numbers, a website, registered on companies house, have a TTA number. I may not have heard of them before but that can apply to hundreds of travel agencies on the internet.

I shall be phoning the company up again & asking to speak to a more senior person, if a refund is not forthcoming then I shall try ATOL & TTA and then perhaps finally taking the small claims route.

As for cancelling the flights & rebooking, this would be more than inconvenient since I've now made countless arrangements around those dates so this is not a realistic option. I don't see why I should have to 'grin & bear it' though, this is what they hope I shall do.

Thank you to those who offered useful advice.

Since you asked....

They have a cheap and nasty website.
There are spelling mistakes within the T&Cs.
They don't have the ATOL or ABTA logo/membership number on their website.
The name of the company is 1DER FLIGHTS LTD.

It states on the terms and conditions to which you so willingly linked

Not all holiday or travel services offered and sold by us will be protected by the ATOL Scheme. Please ask us to confirm what protection may apply to your booking.

Did you?

You didn't even know about the TTA, yet you put your trust in the them.

There were numerous amber, if not red lights; including their poor spelling and presentation and the onerous booking fee.

It's not that I'm not sympathetic. But the whole thing spells 'cowboy' to me.

They also have a £65 to £95 fee for ticket on departure. Is it an e-ticket?

tgon

Buyer beware. Have a good trip. Perth is lovely in the spring.

Moonchild

I was intrigued by their online air booker (which implies a bit of money went into the site - it's just a white label engine though). However, their bit, which highlights where you can fly to includes Honk Kong &
Buenos Aries which worries me from the offset.

I believe the TTA operates a trust account (so they do not receive your money until you receive the goods, although a bit more complex) - and emphasis on believe. A lot of reasonable sized companies use the TTA to secure an ATOL. However, an ATOL doesn't protect you for flight only bookings.

However they have a complaints procedure. You should include them as part of your complaint just to strike a mark against them (and perhaps they will refund you to get you off their back) - but be prepared to go further if need be.

http://www.traveltrust.co.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=137

I have a complaint about a Travel Trust Association member. What can I do? In the event of a breakdown of communication or a serious disagreement between a member and their customer, the Travel Trust Association can act as an independent intermediary. All complaints are dealt with in writing. Should you feel the need to make a complaint about one of our members, please detail the matter in writing and post it to:


Travel Trust Association
Complaints Department
3rd Floor, Albion House
High Street
Woking
Surrey
GU21 6BD.


Please enclose copies of any previous correspondence that you may have had with the company and any paperwork that is at all relevant e.g. receipts, bookings etc.

Upon receipt we will administer your complaint for you and ensure that you receive a response. Should the response that you receive not be satisfactory, we can then offer you an arbitration service.