www.otbeach.com - any experiences ?

minorthreat

DGJsaver wrote: »

http://www.cheapholidays.com/ DO use a live system fwiw
Dan

They're also ABTA, ATOL & IATA protected, so no worries about getting your money back if anything happens, unlike many other online booking sites.

trisha

http://forum.holidaywatchdog.com/Travel-Agents-and-Tour-Operators-HW-Forum-4.html

Take a look here,I would avoid them at all costs.

I have booked with https://www.freedomdirect.co.uk
excellent service, I was given a personal freephone number of the person I was booking with, no waiting in a queue to speak to someone, I was pleased with the service and their prices were quite competitive too.

stephb34

Hi havent dealt with on the beach myself but there is a post on this forum that has been going a few weeks about having to pay extra if they wanted to take hold luggage and not just hand luggage which i dont think they were aware of until the booking was confimed. Some of the replies to that post make quite interesting reading lol.

casino_days

Recently my partner saw a Hotel she liked on the ot beach website, she clicked on "show more details" and also clicked on a video of the hotel, she liked what she saw and booked it with a £75 deposit. However, when the email confirmation came through - it was for a totally different hotel (much inferior) in the same resort!!
Several phone calls to OTbeach later,they were still denying that the wrong description was on their website, but i later recieved an email saying that our trip had been cancelled due to there "Not being flights available" - i had not evn booked flights with them! - How i wish i'd quit there and then.
I rang ot beach who said they would re-book my hotel (the inferior one) and that i would recieve an email confirmation within 15 mins. My partner was determined to book a hotel that day, so she waited FOUR HOURS - and there was still no confirmation email, so she booked another hotel with a more reputable company.
I rang ot beach and told them i wanted to cancel, but they said they "couldn't find the booking" as the computer had been down. I emailed the company, and told them i wanted my deposit back - but they replied and said i have to pay them another £75 on top of my £75 deposit just to cancel (as per their terms and conditions) they also said that if i don't agree to the cancellation charge, the booking will still be live - and they will take steps to recover the full amount(as per the terms and conditions).
I feel angry and upset that in this day and age, a company is able to treat it's customers (i had actually used them once before)in this manner.
Is there anything i can do? or will i just have to pay the money - put it down to (a bad) experience, and try and tell as many people as i can - NEVER USE OTBEACH.

snaowman

help please! i booked a hotel with otbeach.com , majorca in july, for one week for me, my wife and 2 kids. i paid for it straight away with my debit card. about 2 weeks later they sent me a letter to say the hotel i had booked could not accomadate us, and we could either choose another, and pay any difference, or cancel for free. they offered us another hotel, which we accepted in an email and asked them to send us confirmation , as they had done with the original booking.

2 weeks and 6 emails later, and they had failed to send us confirmation or update their website to confirm the change of hotel. i got worried about this incompetence and asked for a refund, to which they said i would have to pay a £60, yes 60 quid charge!.. they say i accepted the new accomadation, but i have yet to see any proof that they have actually booked anything. please help me as im getting really stressed out with all this. ive hit a brick wall with them and i dont know what to do next. i really cant afford , and dont want to lose £60 pound as a result of otbeach.com being useless.

Alan_Bowen

If you have no confirmation of a new booking, then how can they charge you to cancel it. It seems very strange that any hotel is full in July in the first place. I would contact your credit card issuer and ask them to 'chargeback' On the Beach because of their failure to be able to provide the hotel you originally booked. Most hotels have their own websites, have a look and book it for less directly! When I last looked at OTB they were adding substantially to the price of the hotel I wanted and were presumably also earning a commission from the hotel. If you cut out the middleman, less may be likely to go wrong!

snaowman

thanks for replying alan. thats exactly my point! they just say that i accepted it. but they never confimed the booking. how do i chargeback? does that work with debit cards too?

snaowman

do i just have to accept defeat? they get £60 from me for nothing?

snaowman

i had exactly the same thing happen. i actually am so angry but im just going to have to pay £60 to them

I booked a holiday in Majorca for 2 adults, 1 child and 1 infant with otbeach.com, and paid in full immediately.

I received confirmation of my flights and hotel booking.

Approx 2 weeks later I received an e-mail to say the hotel I had selected and paid for was not available despite receiving confirmation. I was told to choose another hotel of same price. Or cancel with no charge

I chose another hotel and asked for confirmation.

Confirmation was sent for 2 adults 1 child and 0 infants.

I e-mailed to asked for confirmation with correct number of people that I had paid for.

I did not receive this. I asked 3 more times.

I still did not receive this so I asked to cancel, with no charge.

I was told I would have to pay £60 to cancel.

As I did not receive confirmation of the second booking, it was not confirmed; therefore I must be entitled to my money back without this excessive charge.

[Deleted User]

snaowman wrote: »

i had exactly the same thing happen. i actually am so angry but im just going to have to pay £60 to them

I booked a holiday in Majorca for 2 adults, 1 child and 1 infant with otbeach.com, and paid in full immediately.

I received confirmation of my flights and hotel booking.

Approx 2 weeks later I received an e-mail to say the hotel I had selected and paid for was not available despite receiving confirmation. I was told to choose another hotel of same price. Or cancel with no charge

I chose another hotel and asked for confirmation.

Confirmation was sent for 2 adults 1 child and 0 infants.


I e-mailed to asked for confirmation with correct number of people that I had paid for.

I did not receive this. I asked 3 more times.

I still did not receive this so I asked to cancel, with no charge.

I was told I would have to pay £60 to cancel.

As I did not receive confirmation of the second booking, it was not confirmed; therefore I must be entitled to my money back without this excessive charge.

Thanks for telling your (sad) story about otbeach. Luckily I've never dealt with this company and probably never will after what you've told us. Let us know if you succeed in gettting a refund. Good luck.

PS: I've booked a lot of hotels with www.travelrepublic.co.uk
They have very compatible rates.