skyscanner and fly.co.uk scam

jpsartre

Forget these jokers (and other 3rd party bookers) and book directly from the airline instead. Inform them that you are sorry that they have been unable to verify your identity but that you do not agree to send copies of creditcard/passport. Also, tell them that you expect a *full* refund of any money paid. Since there is not yet any ticket issued, no cancelation charge should apply. If a full refund is not received or if they try to charge your card, dispute the charge with your creditcard provider. Make sure to save any correspondence, including copies of the email you send them.

The "scam" here is that they are dragging their feet on issuing your ticket. Once you send them the documents they ask for, chances are they will tell you that the price of your ticket has gone up and that you must pay more.

wooster1

I used Fly.Co.UK (FCU) myself recently and got ripped off in the process.

The initial domestic flights with FlyBe looked initially cheaper through FCU, but once the taxes were added it came in at around £40 more.
The FlyBe site had some issues recognising a Mastercard Debit card (now resolved), so I decided to stick with the flights I'd booked through FCU, sent the redacted Card/ID images requested (I had heard of this being required before on some other sites).

I heard nothing from FCU for more than 24hrs, but the next email I received from them informed me that while they were processing my payment, the price had gone up to £302 (£77 more expensive than booking direct), adding "If you are not interested in booking a ticket at the above price, please let us know by the time stated above [within 24hrs] so that we can cancel your booking at no cost to you."

I responded to the email directly (as requested) within 2hrs that I was not willing to book the tickets at the higher price stated.

Two days later I was surprised to see another email arrive from them informing me that: "Due to the lack of feedback between yourself and us, we are forced to cancel your flight booking. For us processing your booking, we charge a fee in the amount of £50,00 if the total price (flight price + taxes) does not exceed £100,00. However, if the total price exceeds £100,00, the cancellation fee increases to £100,00."

Two flights were booked (a return basically) and the charge was £50 per flight, so despite assurances that I could cancel "at no cost" they completely ignored that request and charged me £100 regardless.
(The money has been debited from my account)

Each time I contacted them (service@fly.co.uk) to point this glaring error out (including the emails in original format) they just bounced back an automated link to their FAQ site.

It looks like the next step is to send them a letter, and if no response is given from there, start a claim through the EU Small Claims Procedure.

jpsartre

Have you been in touch with your card provider? Not sure what the protection is like for Mastercard Debit cards but I'd definitely ask, just in case. You may be able to dispute the charge and avoid having to go through small claims court.

wooster1

Cheers for that. :cool2:

Tbh I thought protection would be limited on the Debit cards but I contacted the Clydesdale Bank on the off chance anyway and they're sending me a dispute form to fill out.
It might still be a long shot, but worth a pop and I have the letter to Unister Gmbh ready to go if that fails.
...and it that fails then I can probably pester them some more through the legal system.

wooster1

Clydesdale Bank refunded the £100 after contacting their fraud department.
Fly.Co.UK have 45 days to dispute the refund though, I'll keep you updated.

Permanently_confused

Hi everyone,

I know his thread is not new but I am currently having a panic about this company and would really appreciate any advice people can offer.

I am in Egypt at the moment and have just booked my flight back to the UK with EasyJet to Gatwick and need a connecting flight to Manchester and SkyScanner showed fly.co.uk to be the "cheapest".

As previouly mentioned, they do add on fees, I have had travel insurance added WITHOUT authorisation - I deselected it on the checkout option as I already have an excellent insurance policy so I do not need it. Yet my confirmation of a "request to book" - NOT a booking shows it has been added, along with other charges.

I have also received the email shown by PeterMil asking for copies of my debit card and passport to be emailed through within 24 hours or I will be subject to further charges.

Let me make clear now, I am aware I was a fool to book just on faith of SkyScanner's reputation, but I have done it and now need to deal with it.

Does anyone know where I stand on cancelling the payment and my rights? I am not prepared to email my card and passport details over and all reviews I have found talk about unauthorised payments being taken and people ending up going to EU claims court to resolve the issue of them charging price increases in the time it takes you to respond to them etc.

Travel Watchdog says avoid them at all costs, I wish I had looked first as I am now in the process of spending a fortune calling my bank from to try and sort this out.

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine!

jpsartre

See my advice in post 22.

Get a train to Manchester. It will be much quicker in the end considering that you'd have to leave plenty of time between connections in LGW.

Permanently_confused

Hi,

I just re-read your post, thank you.

TimeFlies_2

I booked a flight with this company in April. I received an email from them advising my card had declined and I was to contact them within 48 hours with my response. I emailed them 3 times within the 48 hours to advise there had been a security check on my card and the transaction could now be processed. (The call to the bank cost £15 as I work in China). I also informed them I can also pay using my debit card. There was no response. Over the next few days I sent follow up emails requesting confirmation of booking. Still no response. I was in a situation where my flight booking was of prime importance as I needed to be back in Shanghai by a certain date due to my contract.
After many attempts to contact Fly I received no response and so I booked the same flight with a different company. After over a month, I received a reminder to pay. Again I responded and explained that due to their non response I was forced into booking with another company. I still received no response. Since the I've received emails from them asking for a cancellation fee and also late payment charges. I've also received an email threatening court action and a letter has been received at my postal address also threatening court action.
I have written almost 20 emails to this company with no response. My friend in the UK has tried to phone them 3 times on my behalf. No one picks up the phone.
In expasteration I went onto the Fly website again and filled in the enquiry form there asking for someone to contact me urgently. I also emailed the CEO Mr Thomas Wagner. At last I had a response telling me that I should e-mail the complaint to a different email address and the issue would be dealt with 'as soon as possible'. For those of you interested the email address given (after 6 months of trying to contact them) is [EMAIL="service@fly-service.co.uk"]service@fly-service.co.uk[/EMAIL]. As yet, I have not had a response and I'm not holding my breath.
I've also contacted the IAFA to whom they are affilated.
I have saved every email I have sent and have kept all emails from them which have totally ignored any of the issues - there are now just demand emails.

Alan_Bowen

Firstly I very much doubt they will issue proceedings, they are based in Germany and it would be simply not commercially worthwhile. IATA is an organisation that represents airlines, they have no consumer interests at all and so long as the agent behind the website pays for the flights they ticket, IATA do not concern themselves with customer complaints. So long as they have none of your money, I would stop worrying and remind yourself to not always take the sponsored link from comparison websites, especially those that like to pretend they are based in the UK when they are not, although if you click on 'our company' on their website it is clear they are based in Leipzig and offer the email address of [EMAIL="service@fly-service"]service@fly-service[/EMAIL] as the point of contact.