Holidaygems scam

msmsarjun

I wanted to see if anyone here has had any experience with holiday gems?

I have just had a terrible experience with them. They have a habit of falsely advertising low airline ticket prices to hook you on even though they know the actual price is higher. Once you have booked the holiday and paid, they call you and tell you that the airline tickets have gone up in price and that they weren’t expecting that to happen. So now you have to pay about 20-40% extra if you want the same holiday. If you are unsure, they start their whole sale ritual where they tell you that you will never find that holiday for cheaper (which is untrue as I found out - they take a massive commission over the original price you can find elsewhere) and they tell you that even if you did, you won’t have money to pay for it as it will take a while for them to refund it - so you had as well pay extra and get it through them today. I told them I’m fine to wait as I have other funds to book the holiday with while I wait for the money to come. This annoyed the gentleman off and he hung up on me. I went to a different site and booked the same holiday for cheaper. Now I’m waiting to see if the money turns up - otherwise, I’m moving legally on multiple grounds, including false advertising and fraud.

Anyone else experience anything similar with this company?

Ganga

Why have you posted this on Holiday Bargains?

heatherw_01

This forum is just for posting holiday deals. Will move to correct forum



Hi, we move threads if we think they!!!8217;ll get more help elsewhere (please read the forum rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board. If you have any questions about this policy please email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.

Neil49

If you follow this site regularly you will come across many companies operating like this. The prices they quote aren't live and by the time they get around to booking them the price will probably have changed. If it goes down they make an extra profit, if it has gone up then they come back to you for the difference.

If you book direct with the airline and pay by credit card you are covering yourself as best you can.

Some larger companies are able to secure preferential rates with airlines when combined with hotel accommodation but these are generally long haul. Smaller companies run on very slim profit margins and have to get extra income any way they can.

richardw

Neil49 wrote: »

....Some larger companies are able to secure preferential rates with airlines when combined with hotel accommodation but these are generally long haul....

Airlines generally offer vacation or IT inclusive tour fares to everybody and they are combinable with hotel and or car hire bookings. Travel agents sometimes just sometimes market these more effectively than the airlines. They can be short haul as well.