Expedia increased price after booking!

jfmonkfish

Hi, wondering if anyone has any experience of this -

Last week booked a flight + hotel package for two with Expedia, chose the hotel and then the flights. Then at the final checkout had the message - 'The price of your tip has decreased from £685 to £485. Book now to secure this price'

Obviously jumped at that price and completed payment straight away! (Took a screen shot at the checkout page as well, for just incase...) Anyway we get the confirmation email and they've charged us the full whack of £685 without any warning of a price increase.

Contacted them and they are taking the stance of - "When you completed the booking online, you have our promise that the price of your itinerary is already locked in. However, as much as we would like to provide your request of refund, Expedia serves as a third party intermediary with travel providers. Prices made available online are system guaranteed and are subject to change without prior notice".

I realise prices change as you browse, but to have a price increase after completeing an order is a new one for me, especially not being consulted about it after :huh:

Has this happened to anyone with Expedia, and is there grounds for dispute?

Cheers for any advice!

unholyangel

When do the T&C's say a contract is formed? What remedy are you after?

Contract formation requires a few elements and there are rules as well. For example, if you make an offer of £485 for a flight to x and 7 nights stay in x hotel, then they have the option of accepting or refusing that offer. If they accept it, it must be on exactly the same terms as the offer - if there is any variation then it will not be acceptance of the offer and instead will amount to a counter offer, which destroys the original offer. As a counter offer, you then have the option to accept or reject that offer.

If acceptance occurred, then they cannot vary the terms. Just as the contract is binding on you, it is binding on them and they cannot terminate it without also being liable for your losses.

Of course the chances of any front line staff knowing any of that is slim to none. So you may have to set out a formal complaint and ask them to pass it to their legal department.

jfmonkfish

unholyangel wrote: »

When do the T&C's say a contract is formed? What remedy are you after?

Contract formation requires a few elements and there are rules as well. For example, if you make an offer of £485 for a flight to x and 7 nights stay in x hotel, then they have the option of accepting or refusing that offer. If they accept it, it must be on exactly the same terms as the offer - if there is any variation then it will not be acceptance of the offer and instead will amount to a counter offer, which destroys the original offer. As a counter offer, you then have the option to accept or reject that offer.

If acceptance occurred, then they cannot vary the terms. Just as the contract is binding on you, it is binding on them and they cannot terminate it without also being liable for your losses.

Of course the chances of any front line staff knowing any of that is slim to none. So you may have to set out a formal complaint and ask them to pass it to their legal department.

Thank you for the considered reply! Obviously just want the price which was agreed upon at the final checkout screen, to increase the price without any consultation leaves a sour taste.

In the back and forth conversations I've had with them they seem to think the contract can be changed without notice. Think your suggestion of a formal complaint seems the best option at this point.

Interested if anybody has a similar experience?

lee1972

unholyangel wrote: »

When do the T&C's say a contract is formed? What remedy are you after?

Contract formation requires a few elements and there are rules as well. For example, if you make an offer of £485 for a flight to x and 7 nights stay in x hotel, then they have the option of accepting or refusing that offer. If they accept it, it must be on exactly the same terms as the offer - if there is any variation then it will not be acceptance of the offer and instead will amount to a counter offer, which destroys the original offer. As a counter offer, you then have the option to accept or reject that offer.

If acceptance occurred, then they cannot vary the terms. Just as the contract is binding on you, it is binding on them and they cannot terminate it without also being liable for your losses.

Of course the chances of any front line staff knowing any of that is slim to none. So you may have to set out a formal complaint and ask them to pass it to their legal department.

This sprung to mind...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/ba-cancel-cheap-flights-mistake-fares/

Similar thing?

unholyangel

jfmonkfish wrote: »

Thank you for the considered reply! Obviously just want the price which was agreed upon at the final checkout screen, to increase the price without any consultation leaves a sour taste.

In the back and forth conversations I've had with them they seem to think the contract can be changed without notice. Think your suggestion of a formal complaint seems the best option at this point.

Interested if anybody has a similar experience?

If you simply wanted a refund, that would be no issue. Whether you would be entitled to the fares at the lower price would depend - on whether there was a contract formed and whether its an obvious mistake (which I'll go over in my reply to the below quoted paragraph). But if there was no contract formed then there will be nothing you can do as they were never bound by the terms.

lee1972 wrote: »

This sprung to mind...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/ba-cancel-cheap-flights-mistake-fares/

Similar thing?

There are certain mistakes that can affect the validity of a contract. One of those is a unilateral mistake - where one party makes a mistake and the other party was aware (or should have been aware) that it was a mistake. In those circumstances, the contract is void ab initio, void from the beginning meaning that it was never valid at any time.

So a tv thats normally £2000 being sold for £50 would be an obvious mistake. The same tv being sold for £1000 might not be a mistake. Would a reasonable person look at it and think its too good to be true or believe it to be a genuine offer, really only a court can decide that.

However I'll add that in this instance, they seem to be trying to bind OP to the higher price rather than just trying to get out of a genuine mistake.