skyscanner and fly.co.uk scam

colchesterguide

Hi Lyz,

First open a case with the European Consumer Centre detailing your experience and your complaint (http://www.ukecc.net). I think they are very unlikely to want a test case in court - look at the huge number of similar complaints here and on Tripadvisor for a start! In my own case they breached Ryanairs policy of third-party sales so I hope they will be hearing from Michael O'Leary's lawyers soon!

What would be useful is some qualified legal advise - is there a lawyer in the house :-)

Peakers1982

Lyz_Fox wrote: »

I am another one who wished I had read the reports on them, placed my order for what I believed was 348, went to their confirmation screen and clicked on the no I don't want extras box, this then produced a red pop up which went to the right hand side of the screen covering the magic service charge amount and this pop up only vanished upon pressing complete transaction.
Having followed your advice on here I re did the process and I also noticed that it automatically suggests the visa electron card which has no charge so that when I removed the pop up this time round there was still no charge, but then when I selected visa debit all of a sudden the charges re appeared?!!! This is a very bad company!
When I rang up their CS I was advised that the pop up is nothing to do with them and they are not responsible for how it looks on my screen even if it is hiding part of it!
I advised that I would be in contact with my bank to cancel this transaction as this was not what I authorised, they then advised that they will take me to court for the money? will they & should I ??
Thank you
Lyz

Like Colchesterguide I refuse to pay these crooks their grubby little bonus for deceiving their customers. Go to your bank, explain what's happened and get the charges reversed. The more people that stand up to them the more likely it is they'll think about changing their disgusting tactics! They'll threaten you, as they're doing to me right now, but as has been discussed it's very unlikely they'd want to actually go to court and have a judge rule on the legality of what they're doing. Tell them quite firmly why you won't be paying (although you'll be wasting your breath) and ignore their threats and spurious extra fees. Stay strong!

Peakers1982

colchesterguide wrote: »

Can't see how they can pass on a debt that is disputed to a collection agency - they need to get a court order first. And like you I would love to see them take it to court!

Please contact the European Consumer Council and complain - the more the merrier and hopefully they will get closed down once and for all.

I have a complaint pending with the ECU!

colchesterguide

Good on you! I agree people must stand up to these crooks.

I've had a reply from the ECC to my complaint which reads:-

"Having looked at the terms it is clear that they will charge for the service they provide but what is not clear is the costs involved. I have tried a test booking and it does not suggest a fee for their service before purchasing the flights.

This could be considered an unfair term in the contract so we might be able to contact the trader on your behalf to gain an amicable resolution."

As I read this (and I'm not a lawyer so it would be nice to have this confirmed by someone who is) the ECC can't take legal action (that's not in their remit) but if Fly decide to test it legally a court would be very likely decide the T&Cs are unfair and therefore rule against them.

Peakers1982

colchesterguide wrote: »

Good on you! I agree people must stand up to these crooks.

I've had a reply from the ECC to my complaint which reads:-

"Having looked at the terms it is clear that they will charge for the service they provide but what is not clear is the costs involved. I have tried a test booking and it does not suggest a fee for their service before purchasing the flights.

This could be considered an unfair term in the contract so we might be able to contact the trader on your behalf to gain an amicable resolution."

As I read this (and I'm not a lawyer so it would be nice to have this confirmed by someone who is) the ECC can't take legal action (that's not in their remit) but if Fly decide to test it legally a court would be very likely decide the T&Cs are unfair and therefore rule against them.

I've had a reply from the ECC too. My reply was less useful than yours - they didn't bother doing a test booking in my case or give such a heartening reply, so I'm very happy to read the response you got. Here's what they said to me:

"[FONT=&quot]Based on the information that you have provided so far it appears that you have a complaint against a German based company trading as Fly.co.uk for applying an administration charge to you without informing you what the charge will be. You may be able to argue that the charge applied is unfair, however, the final decision can only be made by a Judge in court.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We advise that you make contact with the trader (preferably by way of a recorded delivery letter) outlining your complaint to them. We recommend that you allow them a reasonable amount of time in which to respond to you (we would suggest that you allow around three weeks for a response) and if your case is still unresolved after having made contact with the company, we may be able to assist further.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]We may then be able to refer your case to our counterparts in the country where the company is based for them to contact the trader in order to obtain an amicable resolution in your case. Please be advised that we provide an advice and assistance service and we cannot compel a trader to resolve a dispute or even accept our views and suggestions. A company may choose to not respond to our communications.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Whilst we will try and find a solution to your case, we cannot guarantee a positive outcome although our intervention may encourage the trader to re-assess your case."

I'd love to see what a court rules!
[/FONT]

colchesterguide

I can understand what they are saying about a final decision can only be made by a judge in court.

As they say about themselves "Please be advised that as an advice service we do not have any enforcement or investigative powers. We are therefore unable to compel the trader to accept our views or suggestions and they may even choose to not respond to our communications. Our mediation may, however, encourage the trader to re-assess your case."

So it's only when a case is tested in a court of law that we will find out how legal or otherwise the activities of Fly and similar companies actually are.