Bluestone Wales holiday - Double £ taken from my bank accoun

beansy

Hi

I booked a holiday with Bluestone Wales costing £249. An automated payment was taken from my debit card and I received a confirmation e-mail and everything was as expected including the price of the accommodation and a £0 balance to pay.

I made a purchase using the same debit card, which I very seldom use and was shocked to see that my account was overdrawn. On checking further Bluestone had taken £491 from my account, instead of the £249 cost of the holiday, taking my account overdrawn.

I telephoned sent them an e-mail and had no reply so I telephoned them today to query what had happened and I was asked to forward a copy of my e-mail confirmation. So I did.

As I had not heard back from them I called again and was given some lame excuse that when I was looking for the holiday I had looked at various dates and accommodations and unfortunately, the page mustn't have refreshed and although the system was aware of the cost of the holiday I was booking, the page hadn't automatically updated and therefore, the wrong amount was shown on my confirmation booking. I booked and paid £249 for the holiday on 11 Aug but my bank statement shows that £491 had been taken out of my account by Bluestone on 14 Aug. I pointed out that the price had been the same over a couple of days as I didn't book it the first day I saw it for personal family reasons and waited a couple of days before booking it and the price had remained the same each time I had checked so I can't see it could possibly have been a refresh error!

I was then told that there was nothing they could do about it and if I wished to go on the holiday I would need to agree to the higher price, otherwise she would see if I could have a refund!

I told her that I wasn't happy that the increased amount had been taken out of my bank without first contacting me for approval and if there had been a pricing error on their system would it not be normal practice to contact the customer to see if they wished to continue with the booking before completing the transaction. I also asked what would happen if we had been on the holiday before noticing the increased cost and she didn't comment.

I am now waiting for another call back from the Manager, which hasn't materialised and they are no closed for the day.

If we cancel it is a bit late in the day to book something else as we were due to go on 10 Sept and have booked these dates off work and made arrangements for dog sitters. Can anyone advise me of our rights please?

Thank you. :mad:

arcon5

Did you receive order confirmation or an invoice or anything? What does that say?

beansy

Hi thank you for your reply.

Yes, I received an e-mail confirmation (extract below) which clearly shows paid in full.

Break Date: 10/09/2012 Number of nights: 7 nights Accommodation type:2 Bed CottageNumber of Adults / Children:3 adultsTotal cost:£249.00 Payment Type: Visa Debit Amount paid: £249.00 Deposit paid: - Credit card surcharge: £0.00 Balance due: - Balance: £0.00 Automatically collect balance:
Regards

ThumbRemote

It appears both you and they have agreed to a payment of £249, as per your confirmation email. Therefore you should be entitled to a refund of any extra money they've taken.

While the law is on your side, the big issue is do you want to risk going on a holiday where they may refuse you entry when you arrive?

beansy

And the unpleasantness.

However, we have been there before and the ground staff were excellent so unless they were advised otherwise, I wouldn't envisage any problems with them but I take your point.

Thanks for your support.

arcon5

Did you click a check box like 'I agree to these terms'? If so do you have a link to their terms? I cannot find them on the website, only thing I see is 'terms of use' which only relates to the website and not terms of bookings.

Or if you can look at the terms to see if it says anything about when the contract is formed. For example, some will say the contract is formed when they have accepted the order & emailed acceptance, some will form the contract on payment and include provisions for errors etc.

(Although in my experience most holiday firms will form a contract on order and include terms that allow them to cancel if a price error has occurred).

I don't agree they should have debited your account with the higher amount, especially considering the email confirmation states the lower amount. It could also be possible a contract has been formed - if so look for any terms relating to errors and omissions, then post here. In which case you could consider the difference an overpayment and seek to reclaim it from them.
If there are E&O clauses allowing them to exit the contract in such situation - it may well be they can legally rescind from the contract and refund you in full.

beansy

Sorry for the delay in posting a reply and thanks for your helpful replies.

The good news is that Bluestone agreed to reimburse me the difference charged and money finally went back into my account and we are now there enjoying our holiday.

Great accommodation and good base for touring the Pembrokeshire coast.