virgin holidays upping the price after booking for casuarina

gratomlin

on the 3rd of march i booked to go to the casuarina beach hotel in Barbados with virgin holidays, i always check the website as the prices fluctuate wildly, the price i booked was very cheap and was pleased to have booked it. 3 days later i got a call from virgin saying they made a mistake with the price and wanted another £400 or they would cancel, my initial reaction was to say no, once i booked it i far as i was concerned the booking was final and virgin could not change the price, alas that's not the case in the UK, i called ABTA to check the legality of what virgin wanted to do and apparently they can do what they like, as long as they give me the option to cancel without any charges. has this happened to anyone else

lewroll

Not saying that what you have been told by ABTA is right or wrong but I would check with another source about the legality of things in this kind of situation if I were you.

rocking69

If they offer you a free of charge cancellation, they can do this. You then have the option to keep and pay the difference or to receive a full refund.

gratomlin

rocking69, you are correct, but i just think its wrong that ALL tour operators can do this, and have ABTA back them up. i sent virgin the following e-mail, and they still wont budge.
"if you bought some shopping from Asda or Tesco and walked out of the shop and someone from customer services came up to me and said "excuse me you have not paid enough for your shopping, you paid the correct price at the checkout but we made a mistake and priced it up wrong, can you give me another 15% on top" would you pay the extra amount they were asking for?"

shaun_from_Africa

gratomlin wrote: »

"if you bought some shopping from Asda or Tesco and walked out of the shop and someone from customer services came up to me and said "excuse me you have not paid enough for your shopping, you paid the correct price at the checkout but we made a mistake and priced it up wrong, can you give me another 15% on top" would you pay the extra amount they were asking for?"

But what has happened to you is not the same as the scenario above.
Sticking with the Asda or Tesco story:
you've placed an order and paid for some shopping which was going to be delivered at a future date.
Before they items are dispatched, you are contacted and told that a pricing error had occurred and you can either pay the extra or have a full refund.

rocking69

They wouldn't have the 'funds'' to cover all the rate indiscrepancies/mistakes that can happen when booking a holiday. This is why I dont personally like the idea of booking hotels/flights seperate.