Wowcher Mystery Holidays - Weekender Breaks

gar200

We just paid £198 (£99 each) to Wowcher for a Mystery Holiday Lottery style draw for holidays ranging from 3-4 nights long haul to 2 night European breaks.
We went on the assumption it would likely be a Euro City break but was still a bargain.
The deal was with weekenderbreaks.com.
The "draw" took place and we were contacted over a week later not to be notified of which holiday we had "won", but to book a holiday based on our departure airport/date choice.
##Warning##
We were given a late afternoon departure time and then immediately offered a early morning flight for a supplement of £68 - of course on a 2 night stay you'd take this option otherwise you've lost an entire day of little time you have. They also upsold breakfast at £18.
This had to be agreed immediately on the phone - they held the line until you replied to their email to confirm.
Researching the holiday then we found NO flights at the original departure time, the hotel also offers complimentary breakfast. :shocked:
Booking direct the flights/hotels booked cost less than the original £198 paid, so the Weekender Breaks have just pocketed the difference and the additional supplements.

That to me amounts to deception to obtain funds = FRAUD. :mad:

Have emailed full complaint and waiting to see what they do. But I would AVOID these deals!

BorisThomson

In future do your research before buying any Wowcher "deals", they're rarely entirely honest and often very poor value. Have you priced up the cost of buying the elements separately?

DoaM

BorisThomson wrote: »

Have you priced up the cost of buying the elements separately?

Given that the OP says ...

gar200 wrote: »

Booking direct the flights/hotels booked cost less than the original £198 paid,

... I imagine that they have.

AndJ

I've also been caught out this evening by the same company upselling from non existent flights - did you get any redress?

hollydays

Buyer beware.You liked the price when you bought it.

Pollycat

AndJ wrote: »

I've also been caught out this evening by the same company upselling from non existent flights - did you get any redress?

The poster you're asking made that one post (back in January 2018) and then logged off immediately.
I doubt you'll get a response from them.

Vicky.D

My son and his girlfriend book a £129 each 2 night mystery break in August from Gatwick.
They got Dublin flying out at 8pm coming back early in the morning on the 2nd day. This was their first time of booking something for themselves. They had to pay extra for Gatwick, then extra to change destination, then extra for a better hotel. They ended up with Venice in November with a holiday that when they priced it up themselves they were overcharged by £144.00. When they tried to speak to the holiday company that booked this on behalf of wowcher they put the phone down on him. Does anyone have any advice of where they go from here please.

Gycraig

Tried the same with me I read into it after I bought the tickets so when they offered me rubbish flights I just said I was happy with that, he put me on hold and when he came back said there was only 1 seat left on the flight so was moving me to the other flight free of charge.

Got 2 nights in Prague for 200 quid was a good holiday tbh :cool:

George_Michael

Vicky.D wrote: »

They ended up with Venice in November with a holiday that when they priced it up themselves they were overcharged by £144.00.

Provided that they paid the same amount of money that was quoted for the flights, hotel, food etc then they were not overcharged.
It's no different than going to one petrol station and paying £1.35 per litre that was advertised on the board outside then finding out that you could have paid £1.25 per litre just down the road.

hollydays

This is the way cheap holidays often work.
They aren't the best departures .
No surprises there.
It's pandering to the lazy.

Pollycat

TBH, having had one experience of Groupon as a gift from a friend, I wouldn't touch them or any company like them with the proverbial bargepole.