Alpharoom booking complaint

RodgerC

Hi all,

Just a bit of advice needed regarding a Alpharoom booking for a holiday next summer. I went through Trivago first for the hotel I chose and was redirected to Alpharoom website which was fine as I have booked with them before. I live in Northern Ireland but despite been in a UK website the price was quoted in Euro. (705 euros). I put in my details and clicked through to payment page (1 euro deposit) and it was still priced as 705 euros. However, when I got the confirmation and itinerary number the price has changed to £705! Which is obviously more. I rang through to them straight away but they dismissed it as a technical glitch and I had to pay the full price in pounds, not rounded down to whatever 705 euros is at the current rate in pounds. At todays rate is £635.
Is there a case to bring this to trading standards as it is not the price as advertised? Or should I write to Alpharoom with evidence of this complaint. I have all the screen grabs as evidence from all stages of the booking process.

Many thanks for any advice on this.

Caz3121

RodgerC wrote: »

I rang through to them straight away but they dismissed it as a technical glitch and I had to pay the full price in pounds

did they not offer cancellation for refund?

jpsartre

RodgerC wrote: »

Is there a case to bring this to trading standards as it is not the price as advertised?

Take it up with your cardprovider, they should be able to help you get back your money.

RodgerC

Hi. Thanks for reply’s. I don’t want to cancel or get a refund on the holiday. I just want it at the price I though I was paying for!

jonesMUFCforever

RodgerC wrote: »

Hi. Thanks for reply’s. I don’t want to cancel or get a refund on the holiday. I just want it at the price I though I was paying for!

Did you take screen prints?

Can you make a second dummy booking to see if it happens again?

Lastly do you pay upfront now or when you check in?

jpsartre

RodgerC wrote: »

Hi. Thanks for reply’s. I don’t want to cancel or get a refund on the holiday. I just want it at the price I though I was paying for!

If there's a glitch on the site, the price you want to pay was probably never available. Alpharooms has a pretty poor rep, get your cardprovider involved and book again from a more reputable site or direct from the hotel.

RodgerC

I have screen grabs from all stages of the process, including dummy booking again with the glitch still showing up so I’m sure more people have been caught out by this. They are blaming glitch on Trivago as I was redirected through them although all the glitches were on the Alpharooms side of things. I used Alpharoom several times before but will probably be my last.

Caz3121

RodgerC wrote: »

Hi. Thanks for reply’s. I don’t want to cancel or get a refund on the holiday. I just want it at the price I though I was paying for!

Their T&Cs cover what happens with errors
17. Accuracy

While we try to ensure that all details, including prices, displayed on our websites are accurate, given the large volume of products we offer, some mistakes will inevitably arise. The product information displayed on our website is taken as live feeds from the systems of the relevant Supplier/Principal’s and Alpharooms cannot therefore accept responsibility for any errors.

Notwithstanding the above, in cases where details of a product are materially incorrect we will offer you the choice of continuing with your booking at the correct price or cancelling with a full refund of money paid on that product only. We will not be obliged to offer any additional compensation for disappointment suffered.

It is possible the issue was related to having clicked through from another site, as when you look at alpharooms site direct, the prices are all £ if UK is selected (£1 deposit etc) and € if Ireland is selected as location...so if the site was set to uk all the prices would be in £ and I assume the technical glitch was that the symbol showed as €

RodgerC

Hi Caz3131,
Thanks for highlighting T&C relevant to issue. Unfortunately that Glitch was the difference in about £50-£60 which is extremely frustrating. Cancelling and rebooking at this stage will cost me more money so no point in doing that although I will look around other sites just in case. I rather Alpharooms not get anymore of my money!

RodgerC

RodgerC wrote: »

Hi all,

Just a bit of advice needed regarding a Alpharoom booking for a holiday next summer. I went through Trivago first for the hotel I chose and was redirected to Alpharoom website which was fine as I have booked with them before. I live in Northern Ireland but despite been in a UK website the price was quoted in Euro. (705 euros). I put in my details and clicked through to payment page (1 euro deposit) and it was still priced as 705 euros. However, when I got the confirmation and itinerary number the price has changed to £705! Which is obviously more. I rang through to them straight away but they dismissed it as a technical glitch and I had to pay the full price in pounds, not rounded down to whatever 705 euros is at the current rate in pounds. At todays rate is £635.
Is there a case to bring this to trading standards as it is not the price as advertised? Or should I write to Alpharoom with evidence of this complaint. I have all the screen grabs as evidence from all stages of the booking process.

Many thanks for any advice on this.

**Update**

A happy outcome, surprisingly enough! After emailing to Alpharoom about a week ago detailing the issue outlined above with screenshots of the whole booking process, they have found in my favour and offering me the holiday booking at the original Euro price which at todays rate is £628, a saving of £77!

Perseverance helps!