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

wannabemedic

Yes, that's what I think too. I expressly stated "£158" immediately before reading my credit card details, but MBNA say that unless I can provide written proof that this was the case, they can't do anything, but they will 'look into it'.

At no point during the call was any other amount stated. They say fthe call recordings are for internal use only and are private. I think that means they know they are wrong as if they hand that over they'd be screwed. Never did he mention any price higher than £158, otherwise I'd have booked with Expedia.

Sadly it looks like companies can do whatever the hell they like and we consumers have to pay up. They could have put £5999 on the invoice and apparently I'd have had to pay that, complete nonsense!!! :mad: :mad:

bengal-stripe

wannabemedic wrote: »

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:

A triple room for three nights at a total cost of GBP 148 (or GBP 158) seems to me pretty cheap (unless it's a hostel).
If it was EUR 158 per night, then that would tally (more or less) with EUR 483.63.

Alfrescodave

I dont think you say when you're actually going but if you have time can you not speak direct to the hotel and cancel the room. They will then refund your credit card -its worth a try.
Put the phone down and ring the hotel back and ask if they have any rooms and what the price is.

wannabemedic

The invoice says €158 per night. I agreed to €158 in total (expedia is £169.71 total), at no point was any other amount mentioned - I thought this was a condition of booking, that we have to be told the amount being charged to the card? I know when dealing with UK call centres they are crystal clear about what will be charged. Not these conmen.

They refuse to release the call recording which I think is because they know they've messed up. The difference with this one is they've added breakfast and dinner on - I phoned the hotel and they were confused about how the agent has charged us for meals when there is a wide choice of menu and therefore a variable cost The booking has been made with planigo and they want to charge 1 nights stay if we cancel. They are intentionally ignoring the fact they've overcharged us bigtime.

doodle_bug

I wouldn't touch Planigo with someone else's barge pole. You have to be careful booking on hotel websites because a lot of it is through Planigo. Not saying anymore on them, must be plenty of dirt on here about them, you've probably been stitched up.

wannabemedic

Well as far as I'm concerned I never agreed to pay anything more than £158 and now they're refusing to correspond. What should I do, stay at the hotel or just stay elsewhere and risk having to pay even more if the refund doesn't go through?

The hotel said the booking was made via planigo so they wouldn't be able to refund it.

I can't find any other topics referring to planigo, I used the forum search

Voyager2002

Personally, I would push the credit card provider a little harder. They certainly have the power to insist on listening to the tapes of the telephone call (or doing a chargeback if the company refuse to budge). So if you get no joy from telephoning MBNA, at least ask them which manager is responsible and put your complaint in writing.

Perhaps some kind person who is better informed than I am could say something about the legal position of the credit card company?

jimsmum

you've been scammed mate
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g188553-i58-k297509-Beware_Planigo_com-The_Netherlands.html
and
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Reviews/Planigo_com__6542029

wannabemedic

Hey people - could you help me out here once again?

I've been in contact with MBNA who put the transaction in dispute for the last few months - they said they had made a 'claim' and that in 45 days if planigo don't dispute the claim i'll get the refund.

Apparently they can't do a chargeback because visa class it as a 'weak chargeback'. She said something about the merchant not putting my card number on and that made it a weak transaction. So basically the merchant used a loophole to prevent themselves paying up... what does that even mean??? :mad: :wall:

It's now over 45 days later and I just got the letter from MBNA saying they refunded £158 - but why not the whole amount

I am really annoyed with how MBNA handled this and I want to take this further but I don't know what to quote - do I say it was misrepresentation to push MBNA into proiding the rest of the refund - that's what section 75 is for, isn't it?

jonesMUFCforever

I would have thought the reason being is that they have refunded the overpayment.
I don't know if you stayed at the hotel or not but the booking was valid - you were quoted £148 total - they charged you more - now you have been refunded the difference.

In my book a result - especially if you have read some of the other posters about this site and clicked on the links.