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Where Do I stand - Mislead Information on hotel booking
StuieUK34
Posts: 2,109 Forumite
Hi everyone... just so i dont get shot down, this will be a duplicate thread, as i posted in the wrong section....
I got a query as a consumer who feels mislead by receiving wrong information for a service which will cost me more in the long run.... Copy and paste from my thread in the holiday section...
This is a consumer query about getting a deposit back from a holiday company.
In short, booked a hotel though ATOL/ABTA UK operated website, namely Alpharooms.com
I paid the deposit for a hotel ready for June next year....
The advert/details for a hotel room show the total cost, and advise there is a $1 per day fee which has to be paid to the hotel directly.
So as above, advert would say cost of room is TOTAL £272.09 and the addition of $7 total paid directly to the hotel on arrival.
I have since found that i will be hit with a fee for $69.65 upon arrival at my hotel, a fee which is not advertised, stated, advised about in my booking, therefore I HAVE BEEN MISLEAD into buying a service that is not fully disclosed in terms of costs. Terms and conditions do not state additional charges.
Can i issue a claim via the small claims to get my deposit back, depsite being £57, i do not wish to continue a booking that has hidden costs, and if it werent for the fact i asked lots of questions, i would have turned up on the day and been none the wiser...
And just for info, the likes of Expedia/ebookers/opodo/hotels.com/hotelclub/etc etc etc etc all advertise same hotels as Alpharooms and costs, with the addition that these companies do state on there total costs that an additional fee is payable direct to the hotel.
Help needed please in either how to complete small claims forms, or wording from the sales of goods/services act with regards to mis-sold products/services...
That was my question to MSE readers, I then wrote to Alpharooms to request my money back:
Dear Sirs,
In accordance with ABTA guidelines, i am contacting you with regards to obtaining a a refund for £57.41 and cancelling the contract.
Particulars:
I booked a hotel via www.alpharooms.com for a room at the Excalibur hotel in Las Vegas for June 2011. The total cost for said room is £272.09.
Your detailed advertisement and conditions for this room state the TOTAL cost of £272.09 with the addition of $1 per day for telephone charges paid directly to the hotel upon check-in.
As per ‘Your’ terms and conditions, my booking is based on the above cost.
Deposit paid to the tune of £57.41
I have since learned of a ‘Resort Fee’ which hotels charge in this location. I have also learned that other UK based ABTA member booking agents advertise the same property. All of these agents clearly state in there details that the hotel imposes a ‘Resort Fee’ of $9.95 per day, which includes telephone charges and a few other things.
By booking the hotel room through www.alpharooms.com, I am lead to believe that based on the detailed information, and invoice details, my total for the hotel room is £272.09 (+ credit card charge) and the additional $1 per day paid directly to the hotel which will equate to $7.
Now, if I were not to write this complaint from learning of fee’s, and have continue with my booking via www.alpharooms.com, I believe that upon check-in in June 2011, I will be forced to pay a Resort Fee of $69.65, for which I would have no prior knowledge and unless that fee that I am unaware of is paid, I would not be able to check-in to my hotel room that I have pre-purchased.
So by acting in advance, I request that you refund me the £57.41 and cancel the contract. For ease of resolve, I am open to alternatives.
Kind regards
I then got this reply (i had spoke to them on the phone first)
Good Morning,
As previously speaking to a colleague on the 09/11, she did advise you we are only a booking agent therefore not a tour operator in which we do not have the hotels cost details as this is down to their descretion to pass the information onto us in which we do not have details of.
When booking, you have agreed to our terms and conditions in which state that if you were to cancel your booking 56+ days before check in your will be charged 20% of the total amount,
In this case, this will be your deposit already paid to us therefore you will not be entitled to a refund.
So Final reply to them was this:
Thank you for your reply dated 10th November 2010.
As per my original email (below), I have clearly stated the reason for my contract to be cancelled and refunded in full, due to your failure to provide me with the correct information regarding a hotel booking.
Therefore, as per my original email, i would like a FULL refund of £57.41 and the contract to be cancelled once refund is complete.
Please note I do not like to be mislead into purchasing a product/service without being given the correct information. As you have clearly failed to provide correct information and infact conflicting information, I will take this as far as legal powers allow me with seek of compensation, original costs and fees.
I await your response.
(and Alpharooms have emailed me twice to say they are cancelling my booking with zero refund now!)
As i said above about the likes of Ebookers/Expedia/etc etc etc advertising same hotel, same rates, blah blah blah..... The one thing they do is advise there is a resort fee on arrival. I have checked with Expedia and Ebookers in terms of there business when it comes to booking just hotel rooms, and both state they are "merely the booking agent, not the tour operator".
So back to my point, alpharooms in terms of hotels are the same as say ebookers, meaning there both booking agents, one agent shows the correct information, the other doesnt.
To put this into brief wording, if i book a seat at the cinema through there website, and they state £10 for the chair + £2 on arrival, fair enough, i know what i am buying.
If i buy a seat at a cinema through an agent for same cost, but agent fails to inform me of an additional cost, surely i am entitled to my money back ?
I got a query as a consumer who feels mislead by receiving wrong information for a service which will cost me more in the long run.... Copy and paste from my thread in the holiday section...
This is a consumer query about getting a deposit back from a holiday company.
In short, booked a hotel though ATOL/ABTA UK operated website, namely Alpharooms.com
I paid the deposit for a hotel ready for June next year....
The advert/details for a hotel room show the total cost, and advise there is a $1 per day fee which has to be paid to the hotel directly.
So as above, advert would say cost of room is TOTAL £272.09 and the addition of $7 total paid directly to the hotel on arrival.
I have since found that i will be hit with a fee for $69.65 upon arrival at my hotel, a fee which is not advertised, stated, advised about in my booking, therefore I HAVE BEEN MISLEAD into buying a service that is not fully disclosed in terms of costs. Terms and conditions do not state additional charges.
Can i issue a claim via the small claims to get my deposit back, depsite being £57, i do not wish to continue a booking that has hidden costs, and if it werent for the fact i asked lots of questions, i would have turned up on the day and been none the wiser...
And just for info, the likes of Expedia/ebookers/opodo/hotels.com/hotelclub/etc etc etc etc all advertise same hotels as Alpharooms and costs, with the addition that these companies do state on there total costs that an additional fee is payable direct to the hotel.
Help needed please in either how to complete small claims forms, or wording from the sales of goods/services act with regards to mis-sold products/services...
That was my question to MSE readers, I then wrote to Alpharooms to request my money back:
Dear Sirs,
In accordance with ABTA guidelines, i am contacting you with regards to obtaining a a refund for £57.41 and cancelling the contract.
Particulars:
I booked a hotel via www.alpharooms.com for a room at the Excalibur hotel in Las Vegas for June 2011. The total cost for said room is £272.09.
Your detailed advertisement and conditions for this room state the TOTAL cost of £272.09 with the addition of $1 per day for telephone charges paid directly to the hotel upon check-in.
As per ‘Your’ terms and conditions, my booking is based on the above cost.
Deposit paid to the tune of £57.41
I have since learned of a ‘Resort Fee’ which hotels charge in this location. I have also learned that other UK based ABTA member booking agents advertise the same property. All of these agents clearly state in there details that the hotel imposes a ‘Resort Fee’ of $9.95 per day, which includes telephone charges and a few other things.
By booking the hotel room through www.alpharooms.com, I am lead to believe that based on the detailed information, and invoice details, my total for the hotel room is £272.09 (+ credit card charge) and the additional $1 per day paid directly to the hotel which will equate to $7.
Now, if I were not to write this complaint from learning of fee’s, and have continue with my booking via www.alpharooms.com, I believe that upon check-in in June 2011, I will be forced to pay a Resort Fee of $69.65, for which I would have no prior knowledge and unless that fee that I am unaware of is paid, I would not be able to check-in to my hotel room that I have pre-purchased.
So by acting in advance, I request that you refund me the £57.41 and cancel the contract. For ease of resolve, I am open to alternatives.
Kind regards
I then got this reply (i had spoke to them on the phone first)
Good Morning,
As previously speaking to a colleague on the 09/11, she did advise you we are only a booking agent therefore not a tour operator in which we do not have the hotels cost details as this is down to their descretion to pass the information onto us in which we do not have details of.
When booking, you have agreed to our terms and conditions in which state that if you were to cancel your booking 56+ days before check in your will be charged 20% of the total amount,
In this case, this will be your deposit already paid to us therefore you will not be entitled to a refund.
So Final reply to them was this:
Thank you for your reply dated 10th November 2010.
As per my original email (below), I have clearly stated the reason for my contract to be cancelled and refunded in full, due to your failure to provide me with the correct information regarding a hotel booking.
Therefore, as per my original email, i would like a FULL refund of £57.41 and the contract to be cancelled once refund is complete.
Please note I do not like to be mislead into purchasing a product/service without being given the correct information. As you have clearly failed to provide correct information and infact conflicting information, I will take this as far as legal powers allow me with seek of compensation, original costs and fees.
I await your response.
(and Alpharooms have emailed me twice to say they are cancelling my booking with zero refund now!)
As i said above about the likes of Ebookers/Expedia/etc etc etc advertising same hotel, same rates, blah blah blah..... The one thing they do is advise there is a resort fee on arrival. I have checked with Expedia and Ebookers in terms of there business when it comes to booking just hotel rooms, and both state they are "merely the booking agent, not the tour operator".
So back to my point, alpharooms in terms of hotels are the same as say ebookers, meaning there both booking agents, one agent shows the correct information, the other doesnt.
To put this into brief wording, if i book a seat at the cinema through there website, and they state £10 for the chair + £2 on arrival, fair enough, i know what i am buying.
If i buy a seat at a cinema through an agent for same cost, but agent fails to inform me of an additional cost, surely i am entitled to my money back ?
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Comments
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Did you pay by credit card?0
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OP, how many threads have we got on this?
I've lost count.0 -
Who did you pay the money to - presumably alpharooms? Then your contract is with them, nobody else and they can't hide behind saying "We're only the agent". So their product is not "as described", so they've broken the contract and you are entitled to be put back in the position you were in before - i.e. a full refund.
Don't get into any more arguments with them. Write to them again - preferably by recorded delivery and state you expect your money back within 30 days or you will file in the small claims court, don't enter into any further correspondence unless it's for them to refund you, and after 30 days, file your claim!0 -
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Cheers Mark, thats exactly what i thought. My contract is with them, despite the end of product/service being with a 'principal'.
Paid with my visa debit card. (were talking £57 , but the principal matters most here, i dont care if i lose that amount)
Contact has stopped after there last reply, managed to speak with an ABTA member who advised i am within my rights to seek a refund for misguided contract, but for procedural purposes, i have to raise a case with ABTA first, which has been done.....
I will file the claim with small claims after I hear what ABTA do about this....
Am sure others have been in the same situation and probably got nailed over it, as the same principal can apply when booking your car into a garage, unless they tell you somthing needs doing at 'X' cost, then your not liable for extra costs.. (as far as i see it)0 -
2... This one, and the original one posted in the Holiday section,hence the words in both posts saying Duplicate..
I guess you must be stupid if you cant count past 2 ? or read the opening statement !!!!!!!
That made me chuckle. OP, some people like to have a go for nothing I think and enjoy pulling down a thread.
Going back to the thread. I had a spat with Alpharooms, due to misadvertising, despite the hotel in question providing the info on their website, and also that we had to leave the room a night early due to the ceiling leaking onto the bed.
We complained and got the standard reply about them only being an agent. They did say they'd contact the hotel. Sick of waiting and thinking they wouldn't do anything, we contacted the hotel directly stating what we required, i.e. refund for the night. Later that day, Alpharooms got back to us offering us a refund.
Now, if they were just an agent and didn't hold any responsibility, why did they give us the refund?
Surely Alpharooms have broken the contract making it null and void if they've not released details of all charges?There's a storm coming, Mr Johnson. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you're all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.0 -
Mark_Hewitt wrote: »Who did you pay the money to - presumably alpharooms? Then your contract is with them, nobody else and they can't hide behind saying "We're only the agent". So their product is not "as described", so they've broken the contract and you are entitled to be put back in the position you were in before - i.e. a full refund.
Don't get into any more arguments with them. Write to them again - preferably by recorded delivery and state you expect your money back within 30 days or you will file in the small claims court, don't enter into any further correspondence unless it's for them to refund you, and after 30 days, file your claim!
Not if they act as disclosed agent for the principal which, to be honest, it looks like. On this basis the contract is made between the OP and the hotel direct.0 -
Well, the chain is like this:
Me (the customer) books a hotel room advertised on company website called Alpharooms. In the background, this company makes a booking with 'American Tours Int', who in turn make a booking with the Hotel advertised on the Alpharooms website.
Because i dont see what goes on in the background, nor deal with that company at all, then my contract and dealings should only be with Alpharooms (and like if you have a problem with a hotel which refers to your booking, they always say refer back to the agent you booked with)......
So the fact that American Tours Int fails to notify Alpharooms of extra charges, or the fact Alpharooms fail to even look into it themselves, means as far as i can see, the amount i paid on the Alpharooms website is the total amount, and any hidden extras that appear should be paid by Alpharooms....
Shame theres not quote from the 'Goods Act' for instance that can be quoted here!
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I can count beyond two...I guess you must be stupid if you cant count past 2 ? or read the opening statement !!!!!!!
So you don't know how many either.
There's this thread.
There's Getting my Deposit Back
There's Booking Vegas hotel with Alpharooms/travelrepublic/lowcostholidays, etc
So that is three... can't be bothered to count further.
Difficult to follow a story like that.
Stupid, not me mate. :rotfl:
Yes, I like a chuckle too. :rotfl:That made me chuckle. OP, some people like to have a go for nothing I think and enjoy pulling down a thread.0 -
Guess you didnt read the line in BOLD at the top, on this thread and the duplicate thread. :doh:
The fact is, you offer no input to this scenerio, so do everyone a favour and go bother somebody else. :shhh: :wall:0
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