Quoted £158 on phone, but billed €485 for hotel!

wannabemedic

I've already booked flights and transport to Heathrow, and just booked a hotel.

I spoke with a booking service who said the room would be £158, I agreed and gave the credit card details, stating again before giving the card number that this was for £158.

However, now I've just had a booking confirmation through which says €483.63, so it's in Euros, and it's also much higher. I think this may incur a charge for not being in £s, is that right? My credit card provider is MBNA.

What can I do in this situation, can I take this up with the credit card company for a refund of the difference if the agent is not listening? They say 'that's the price of the booking' but I maintain I was told it would be £158 and if they record the calls they will hear that.

Please let me know my rights here and what can be done, I understand there's something called Section 75 but not sure how that applies here. I posted this query but seeing as it's a hotel stay this may be the better place for it, thanks

jonesMUFCforever

You may want to change your header as it is misleading.

483 Euros is approximately double the price of £148 - are you sure that you have not booked for 2 nights instead of 1 or have accidently booked 2 rooms instead of one?

Who is the agent and are they based in UK?

How did you receive the booking confirmation - post or e-mail?

3rd paragragh you go on to say that price is £158 yet beginning of your post states £148 - what is correct amount?

Do you have the option of cancelling if things cannot be sorted?

wannabemedic

Thanks for the reply - It should be a triple room for 3 nights, I confirmed the cost was £148 several times and again before giving my card details - now just received an email invoice stating the total cost in euros of €483.63 :mad:

hammy_the_hammer

is the hotel at heathrow ?
edit just realised you wouldn't stay at lhr fro 3 nights
where are you going and did you book direct with a chain?
did they quote you per person ?
you can always ask for your credit card company to help ....a cancellation would probably be a satifactory conclusion to aim for with no penalty on yourself

wannabemedic

It was £158, sorry, I'm really quite annoyed about this as you can imagine :mad:

I've called the agent back (the hotel is in France) who says in fact the rate is €158 per night. I clearly stated during the call it was £158 POUNDS and again before giving my card details.

The company is plaingo.com, are they covered by this ABTA thing, the people in the call centre sound french but I hope the UK rules cover them, they've asked me to email them the details of what I just said to them, basically that I was misled into thinking it was £158 and I would like them to honour that.

Expedia shows up the total cost at £169.71 though that's not half board which is what I have been booked. It's not even including breakfast but still it's the same room indicating the price is reasonable, if they try to make out they'll be making a huge loss if it's given at £158.

Also won't I be charged for making a credit card transaction in euros? I was told it would be in £s. They should be liable for any charges I think

hammy_the_hammer

to be honest i would go down the route of just getting a no penalty cancellation...you will probably battle it out and you could possibly lose ..i hope i'm wrong and you get a result.
by the way plaingo.com doesn't exist ...where and how did you find them ?

wannabemedic

Well I've emailed them asking for it to be resolved, sorry, (typo!) the website is this one: http://www.planigo.com/

Expedia can offer it for £169 so I'd be happy for planigo to cancel it & promise no penalty then I'd go to Expedia for the same room in the same hotel for the same period of time for a better price.

Tomorrow morning I'll also contact MBNA and let them know about this. I looked at the Ombudsman's site which interestingly indicates that this could be 'misrepresentation', well that's how I see it, hope I'm right!!:

[SIZE=-1]Section 75 does not, in itself, provide grounds for a claim against a supplier. Customers must have a valid claim of breach of contract or misrepresentation under other law, such as the Sale of Goods Act or the Misrepresentation Act. If they do, then they have a like claim against the card provider for the full amount of the claim. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]The claim is not limited to the amount of the credit card transaction. Customers can claim for all losses caused by the breach of contract or misrepresentation. And this applies even if all they paid by credit card was the deposit.[/SIZE]

hammy_the_hammer

i have looked at the website and this appears to be a swiss company probably totally based in switzerland ...i see no mention of abta and they have some very rigid terms and conditions ....what made you book by phone and not online ? how did you find out about them? i don't know swiss law so ??????? your best bet is with your card company

wannabemedic

There must be swiss authorities we can turn to? I'm going to contact my credit card provider now and report this, what is the likely outcome, i.e. should I book another hotel with the guarantee that I'll get this refund in full?

wannabemedic

Just spoke to MBNA who say that there's no proof of what was said on phone and that they can't stop the payment because once credit card details are handed over that 'guarantees' the payment.

I mentioned section 75 and then she said 'oh that's completely different'. They said I should send in any proof to their legal team that I was told it was £158. However, I don't have anything, apart from the call recording which is with planigo. That is the only proof that exists.

I never agreed to pay anything more than £158 so why should I be forced to pay this amount?

budgetflyer

Surely they must have told you the FULL AMOUNT you would be billed ? I thought they had to do that b4 you authorise payment to be taken.