OFT/CMA/BERR - Who to contact

MasterPoo

I'm hoping you can steer me in the right direction.

I want to know who to lodge a formal complaint for what I view as false advertising by an airline.

Context
I was attempting to upgrade air tickets directly on EK website. I'd bought the original tickets directly through their website.

I chose the desired dates, the seats show up as available, seems to be a loads of options, I enter payment details, then authentication comes up for my bank and then the following message

"Sorry the modification to your booking failed, please contact your Local Emirates office", which I did, now here where the problems snowballs even further...........I contact the call centre and the price is double that what I see online.

Online Price is £1674.30
Customer Service price £3400

I reach out to Emirates on the Social networking websites, I receive the following response:

The fare difference on your preferred upgrade will entirely depend on the current available fare. Since seat availability is subject to change, the fare quote difference will also vary, not unless the transaction has been confirmed.
It might have been the case that at the time of your original lower fare quote difference, the flights were not as full, and they have since booked up or the fare levels may have been changed.
Please note that no fault was encountered as I tried to simulate the upgrade online. I would recommend you to please try again.
In case you come across any error during the transaction, please send a screenshot of the error page to ccattachments@emirates.com and let us know once sent.
Regards,
XXXXX, Emirates Facebook Team

Yes I know that they hide behind the:

The fare difference on your preferred upgrade will entirely depend on the current available fare. Since seat availability is subject to change, the fare quote difference will also vary, not unless the transaction has been confirmed

BUT I think this is unfair as their email generated after this attempted upgrade clearly states:

Please contact your local Emirates office to complete the changes.

This has now been going on for a whole month, are they really going to try and tell me that a. their system is still not fixed the "glitch" b. seats/flight are still full?

To me it feels like they're trying to force me into upgrading by paying the higher amount, but why should I if their supposed LIVE system is giving me a cheaper price?

Am I wasting my time and should I just pay the £3k?

Who exactly do I contact to lodge a formal complaint as OFT is no longer in existence but is now CMA? I could also contact BERR?

Thoughts, advice appreciated.

Thanking you!

DTDfanBoy

You're not being very clear.

Is the website currently showing an upgrade price of £1,6XX and is still not letting you book the upgrade ?

Or once upon a time did it show the £1,6XX price and someone booked the available upgrade before yourself ?

callum9999

MasterPoo wrote: »

I'm hoping you can steer me in the right direction.

I want to know who to lodge a formal complaint for what I view as false advertising by an airline.

Context
I was attempting to upgrade air tickets directly on EK website. I'd bought the original tickets directly through their website.

I chose the desired dates, the seats show up as available, seems to be a loads of options, I enter payment details, then authentication comes up for my bank and then the following message

"Sorry the modification to your booking failed, please contact your Local Emirates office", which I did, now here where the problems snowballs even further...........I contact the call centre and the price is double that what I see online.

Online Price is £1674.30
Customer Service price £3400

I reach out to Emirates on the Social networking websites, I receive the following response:



Yes I know that they hide behind the:

BUT I think this is unfair as their email generated after this attempted upgrade clearly states:



This has now been going on for a whole month, are they really going to try and tell me that a. their system is still not fixed the "glitch" b. seats/flight are still full?

To me it feels like they're trying to force me into upgrading by paying the higher amount, but why should I if their supposed LIVE system is giving me a cheaper price?

Am I wasting my time and should I just pay the £3k?

Who exactly do I contact to lodge a formal complaint as OFT is no longer in existence but is now CMA? I could also contact BERR?

Thoughts, advice appreciated.

Thanking you!

Did you sent a screenshot of the error as they asked?

As this appears to be a computer glitch and not a deliberate intention to mislead, your complaints won't actually let you get it at the original price if it's not available. It might make them fix it a bit quicker than they would otherwise though.

mgdavid

MasterPoo wrote: »

.........
To me it feels like they're trying to force me into upgrading by paying the higher amount,..........

I don't see that anyone is forcing you to upgrade. The online price is pretty obviously faulty in some way otherwise the transaction would have gone ahead and cleared OK.

MasterPoo

They tried to fix it, and for 24 hours it was the £3K figure, but then reverted back to £1600 figure.

MasterPoo

callum9999 wrote: »

Did you sent a screenshot of the error as they asked?

As this appears to be a computer glitch and not a deliberate intention to mislead, your complaints won't actually let you get it at the original price if it's not available. It might make them fix it a bit quicker than they would otherwise though.

Yes I did send them the screen shots AND the emails they sent displaying the £1600 number asking me to call to COMPLETE the transaction.

callum9999

MasterPoo wrote: »

They tried to fix it, and for 24 hours it was the £3K figure, but then reverted back to £1600 figure.

So you know £3k is just a glitch and the £1.6k figure being shown is a mistake then?

MasterPoo wrote: »

Yes I did send them the screen shots AND the emails they sent displaying the £1600 number asking me to call to COMPLETE the transaction.

What a standard pre-prepared statement says is irrelevant. Though you can complete the transaction by calling them - you just don't like the price being offered.

MasterPoo

DTDfanBoy wrote: »

You're not being very clear.

Is the website currently showing an upgrade price of £1,6XX and is still not letting you book the upgrade ?

Or once upon a time did it show the £1,6XX price and someone booked the available upgrade before yourself ?

Maybe you should ask questions without being insulting!

I've kept an eye on the website, I clear my Cache/cookies, when I log back onto their website it recognises that I'm a NEW customer as opposed to a returning customer.

I have been trying to upgrade over the last month and I keep getting the same price with Cache/Cookies cleared, at different times. Seats are STILL available.

MasterPoo

callum9999 wrote: »

So you know £3k is just a glitch and the £1.6k figure being shown is a mistake then?



What a standard pre-prepared statement says is irrelevant. Though you can complete the transaction by calling them - you just don't like the price being offered.

Yes you are right, I do not want to pay £3k, but surely the onus is upon them to ensure that the pre-prepared (pre prepared being the operative word) statement is correct and not misleading?

callum9999

MasterPoo wrote: »

Yes you are right, I do not want to pay £3k, but surely the onus is upon them to ensure that the pre-prepared (pre prepared being the operative word) statement is correct and not misleading?

It is indeed - doesn't mean they have to honour it though. By your own admission it looks like they've tried to fix it - these systems are incredibly complex.

So if you sent the screenshot showing the wrong price, what did they reply to that with?

MasterPoo

callum9999 wrote: »

It is indeed - doesn't mean they have to honour it though. By your own admission it looks like they've tried to fix it - these systems are incredibly complex.

So if you sent the screenshot showing the wrong price, what did they reply to that with?

They have ignored my screen shots and the emails I forwarded onto them, hence I want to report them.