Opodo charges

NanLiza

I've just booked Ryanair flights through Opodo (literally minutes ago). I've booked through them before with no problems. I carefully clicked through and took off any extra charges for insurance etc., and put in my card information. When the booking confirmation came through it suddenly said there's a £42 'handling fee' added. I've never seen this before when booking through them and it's a huge amount compared to the prices of the tickets. I called them moments later and have been fobbed off, but what shall I do now? I'm sure this wasn't itemised properly on the page.

Has anyone had any experience with them?

tomtontom

Any reason why you didn't book directly? What card did you pay with?

NanLiza

They were offering a price that was a few pounds cheaper than the direct price through Ryanair, and we're really trying to save money at the moment. (I've used them before without any extra charges so really didn't expect that).

And unfortunately used a debit card instead of credit (I don't have one) though I'm going to speak to my bank about it as well.

Caz3121

Ryanair do not authorise anyone else to see their flights (hence when people book through agents they often end up getting set up with strange email addresses as all the agent can do is log onto the Ryanair site and pretend to be you making a booking with your card details)
I expect you have ended up paying exactly the same as if you had booked it yourself on the Ryanair website plus the fee for them making the booking online instead of you

Voyager2002

If you are really SURE that there was no mention of the fee before you agreed to the payment, then contact your card issuer and request a 'charge-back'. Before doing this, please run a mock booking and be clear that you did not simply miss details of the fee.

Bottom line: you agreed to pay a specified price, and if they change the price without telling you then the transaction is invalid and the card issuer should take your money back and return it to you.

Alan_Bowen

Opodo is now owned by e-dreams, one of Europe's most successful yet complained about companies. No agent can sell low cost carriers cheaper than the airline, none pay commission so of course, hidden in the t's and c's which you ticked saying you agree, is the service fee for Opodo's profit.

NanLiza

Thank you for the replies. I'm going to try to talk to my bank about it.

tamiami

When will people understand - NO ONE will sell a Ryanair flight cheaper than Ryanair - it is IMPOSSIBLE. They will advertise slightly cheaper and then stick a big surcharge on to make some money on it. They have to make some mark up otherwise would be trading at a loss - which we all know leads to administration. Not rocket science!

glider3560

tamiami wrote: »

When will people understand - NO ONE will sell a Ryanair flight cheaper than Ryanair - it is IMPOSSIBLE. They will advertise slightly cheaper and then stick a big surcharge on to make some money on it.

Actually, that is not entirely true. I just booked a £19.99 flight for £13.99 on Opodo (advertised at £18.99 to appear higher on comparison sites presumably, then used a £5 off code from their Facebook page). They don't charge the handling/admin fee on Mastercard Debit card payments, up to a limit of one "free" transaction per customer per three month period.

The confirmation email from Ryanair shows they paid £19.99 for the flight.