Credit Card Dispute, Urgent resolution needed?

Jacka87

I am havving a dispute with a company regarding airline tickets. I have booked flights which I dfound on skyscanner and booked and paid for them via the site but they are bought through a third party called travel trolly. The flights are actually with quatar airlines.

The flights I found where flying at 8am and thsta what I boooked (my girlfriend did the typing I observed to make sure the details where correct). We entered credit card details etc and then booked the flight. I then went to bed. I checked my confirmation email the next day and discovered the fligt time was wrong. I called travel trolly assuming it was just a typo but they said it was the time I booked. I informed them it wasnt but they assured me it was. I then said ok, well can we just change it to the correct time and they said no your booked on that flight now, if you want to change it will be £360. Needless to say I was not happy.

I have raised this as a dispute with my credit card provider based on the fact that they havent provided me with the product I purchased, flights at 8am not 2pm. The issue I have now is that being as the product is flights I need a resolution prior to the flight taking off. I am trying to work out my chances of winning the dispute or just giving up. If I win last minute then great I get my money back but have no flights, if I buy alternative flights then I lose then I am lumped with 2 sets of flights either way I am stumped.

Has anybody got any advice as to the chances of winning on a dispute like this? I think the dispute boils down to the fcat that I am saying I entered the correct details whilst travel trolly are insisting they booked the correct flights based on what I entered as there systems are automated and I must have made the mistake. Though they failed to recoognise the problem on the phone as they kept saying the date was correct and asking my problem. I think they failed to realise there was 2 flights to that destination at completly different times. If its my word versus theres how likely am I to win. Should I give up now to remove the stress of not knwoing and hence not knowing if I should buy alternative flights or not???

Any help appreciated. This is driving me mad with worry about possibly needing to stump up an extra £750 quid for flights that I may or may not get back. Whole holiday is a nigtmare now and it was meant to be a dream hol to abu dhabi to watch the gp :-(

MPH80

Being honest - I doubt you'll have much luck.

IF their systems are automated as they claim - then it's hard to see how the system changed the flight time on you. After all - it wouldn't have reselected just one flight - but two as you'll have to connect in Doha. A system that did that on a regular basis to a travel agent would be causing them no end of complaints.

I'd also suggest that if a 6 hour change of flight time is causing you a major concern then you need to allow more time in your flying schedules - I sat on the ground at Heathrow for 3 hours the other day for a minor technical fault. These things happen - but if you don't allow for some delay or the possibility of a mis-connect in your schedule then you're likely to end up disappointed when flying. Not criticism - just honest observation from someone who does a reasonable amount of flying.

Now what might happen is that the chargeback forces them to do a proper review of their systems and find that there was, indeed, an error - but without proof on your side - I don't see how it'll hold together.

This thread on trip advisor presents a bunch of mixed views of TravelTrolley and their parent Southall Travel: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k6736156-o20-Anyone_used_Travel_Trolley-Air_Travel.html

M.

meer53

If you have proof that you booked flights at 8am then you have good grounds for a dispute. If not, you're stuck with either flying at 2pm or paying to change the time.

I don't know when you're flying but a dispute can take weeks to be resolved, you need to make a decision now if you're flying soon.

Jacka87

Thanks for the feedback already.

I am aware that flights can be delayed, that sort of stuff has happened to me before and although its annoying I tend to at least accept it.

My main problem here is that the company, travel trolly, although they clainm there systems are automated I really doubt they are. For example, it took 3 phone calls to them befpre they realised there was 2 flights on the day as they kept asking what my problem was as the date they had was the same as what I was saying. I genuinely beleive they havent noticed this and booked a flight at the wrong time.

My main issue with the delay is that its now effectively a planned delay upon my arrival and means I have paid for a hotel room that I simply wont use, not becuase of weather or anything else but because they have booked me on the wrong flight, the connection flight also has the same problem though at least they still match.

In terms of proof, well I never took a screen grab of every screen so its effectivley my word (with my partner who went through everything with me to avoid these types of issues) againt the company.

I think I will have to just accpet it and plan around it.

thanks again.

MPH80

Jacka87 wrote: »

My main problem here is that the company, travel trolly, although they clainm there systems are automated I really doubt they are. For example, it took 3 phone calls to them befpre they realised there was 2 flights on the day as they kept asking what my problem was as the date they had was the same as what I was saying. I genuinely beleive they havent noticed this and booked a flight at the wrong time.

I can understand the frustration. For reference - there's actually 5 QR flights leaving on the 1st of November at various times.

I used to work for an online retailer. We used to get people who would ring in swearing blind they'd only ordered 1 of a product or selected a particular day for shipping once a week or so. These almost always got escalated to me as the technical bod to investigate in case there was a genuine problem. In 99 times out of 100 I was able to search the weblogs and activity records we had and prove the person selected the wrong quantity or the wrong day and then show they were shown this repeatedly on their screen on confirmation pages thanks to the logging we used.

Now - I'm not saying that you did select the wrong time - as you said you were watching your wife do the selection you the whole time - but I want to give you some insight as to how many times we, at my old place of work, used to hear this and indeed how dismissive it's easy to get of that story.

I'm not saying it's right to get like that - just trying to put a context there.

My main issue with the delay is that its now effectively a planned delay upon my arrival and means I have paid for a hotel room that I simply wont use, not becuase of weather or anything else but because they have booked me on the wrong flight, the connection flight also has the same problem though at least they still match.

Yes - I can understand the annoyance here too - but if your flight (from what I can see on the ITA Matrix system as the most likely connection pairing) is now getting in at 4:30am - you might appreciate that hotel room!

In terms of proof, well I never took a screen grab of every screen so its effectivley my word (with my partner who went through everything with me to avoid these types of issues) againt the company.

Which is the real shame of this. Having that confirmation screen would be very useful.

I would suggest your best tactic would be to write (and I mean recorded delivery) to their MD outlining your situation - maybe he'll admit it is a manual system/keying error - but be dispassionate in any letter you send and remain factual. Emotional complaint letters tend to get emotional responses!

It's worth noting that for anyone else reading this thread, when you use skyscanner, you have to be very careful that the flight you select on skyscanner is the flight displayed on the relevant site.

I've just gone through the process to see if I can replicate it here for our OP - I selected Qatar as the airline ... clicked through to TravelTrolley, who promptly searched again and offered a) Gulf air instead of Qatar as the first result and b) the Qatar flight was a different time to the one I clicked on on Skyscanner (I went for the 3:15pm flight).

Just a cautionary note!

Jacka87

MPH80, I think that what you are sayng with regards to checking when skyscanner puts you through is very important. I think that if there was an error on my side (though I still dont beleive there was) then this would have been when it occured. You have said its something for others to take caution of, I am 100% making sure that it doesnt happen to me again.

With regards to the requirement for the room, the flight lands at 4am I beleive, by the time I get out of the airport and travel to the hotel I suspect it will be half 5, personally I would happily load up on coffee and get on with my day having napped as best I can in the plane but I appreciate many others would fancy a couple of hours sleep.

I think we are in a posistion where I have limited options and I would like to get teh stress of worrying about all of this out of the way. So I may just live with the situation, though I am very much not happy about it. In the mean time I am awaiting a response from my credit card provider.

Thanks again for those who have commented.

dalesrider

Jacka87 wrote: »

Has anybody got any advice as to the chances of winning on a dispute like this? I think the dispute boils down to the fcat that I am saying I entered the correct details whilst travel trolly are insisting they booked the correct flights based on what I entered as there systems are automated and I must have made the mistake

To be honest I'm surprised that your card provider took this on. You have NO proof. Odds on that the company will provide a copy of the details that were entered and that will be the end.
All these form based systems have a print out option.

As to timescales. Your card provider will have advised you. It will have been 45 days. That is how long the company have to reply. But they may have quoted 60 days as often 1st rejection is bounced back if it is felt the evidence is not strong enough. Which to be honest I can not see as you have no proof at your end.

bigadaj

Airlines will also never guarantee flight times, they can change often between booking and travel, if the changes are significant then they may offer a change of date or even a refund but there is no obligation.

Bit of a shame that you're chnaging at Doha as the second leg can only be an hour or so, presume it was a good deal as a direct with etihad or emirates would have been more convenient.

We flew Qatar last year, they were good but not quite five star as advertised, nowhere near Singapore, but still a good airline. We had a stopover of four hours one way and used the lounge, would be well worth it as they have showers as well as food and drink, might be worth you looking imto.

Jacka87

bigadaj wrote: »

Airlines will also never guarantee flight times, they can change often between booking and travel, if the changes are significant then they may offer a change of date or even a refund but there is no obligation.

Bit of a shame that you're chnaging at Doha as the second leg can only be an hour or so, presume it was a good deal as a direct with etihad or emirates would have been more convenient.

We flew Qatar last year, they were good but not quite five star as advertised, nowhere near Singapore, but still a good airline. We had a stopover of four hours one way and used the lounge, would be well worth it as they have showers as well as food and drink, might be worth you looking imto.

The reason we are stopping at Doha is mostly down to the fact that we where on the same plane as some friends that we are meeting in London. Im assuming that the flight was the cheapest they could find at the time.

I am going to cancel the dispute because it saves me worrying about the outcome and means I can plan around. The stop over is short, I think its 1hr 50, which is nothing by th etime you get on and off plane anyway.

As before thanks again for advice.