Loveholidays overcharging and huge amendment fees

james2k2

Hi All,
I've been in a long winded war with Loveholidays of talking to myself. They are extremely reluctant to respond to me at all, but the crooks of what's happened is below:
- Based on the Covid situation we decided to amend our April booking to the summer.
- They responded eventually after 2 weeks and told me a price that was a good £400 or so more than their advertised prices for the new booking so I replied and said this.
- After another delay they came back to me with a more sensible price, which I agreed to.
- Then after a while they started taking money from my account that wasn't adding up so I contacted them again to confirm.
- They then said that it was going to cost more than they said, so I felt I had no choice since they'd already been taking money and reluctantly agreed.
- I've then contacted them several times that I'm not happy about this since the advertised prices on their site are considerably less still and basically tell me that flight amendment costs are a lot!
- In amidst all this, I noticed that the outstanding amount for the final payment was wrong (too high), compared to what the booking was showing as the total so I contacted them again and they said they fixed it.
- That payment has now gone out via their automatic system and it's the larger amount still, and my account now shows a negative amount!

I've had a resolver case open now for over 4 weeks, and they've not responded once! I feel they've taken me for a ride on this occasion, and now they've effectively stolen from me (granted it's only a very small amount of around £9, but it is the principal).

Where do I turn from here? The chat is useless, I can't send messages, and on twitter they say they can't help. When I've looked at cancelling, they want to withhold £1200 as non-refundable charges! Are they having an absolute joke? This has been going on now for around 2 months. What should have been a simple amendment to a similar costing new date has turned into a costly nightmare and the company are just not doing anything to help.

Do I have any rights here? I just want the horror to go away now. I'd gladly get a full refund, re-book manually via the airlines and hotel and be done with it.

Thanks!

twopenny

Do you have anything in writing? Email or similar to agree the increased price or the negotiated price?

You should at least have an aknowledgement of the new booking.

Have you saved a screen shot of where they replied they can do nothing?

Ganga

james2k2 said:

Hi All,
I've been in a long winded war with Loveholidays of talking to myself. They are extremely reluctant to respond to me at all, but the crooks of what's happened is below:
- Based on the Covid situation we decided to amend our April booking to the summer.
- They responded eventually after 2 weeks and told me a price that was a good £400 or so more than their advertised prices for the new booking so I replied and said this.
- After another delay they came back to me with a more sensible price, which I agreed to.
- Then after a while they started taking money from my account that wasn't adding up so I contacted them again to confirm.
- They then said that it was going to cost more than they said, so I felt I had no choice since they'd already been taking money and reluctantly agreed.
- I've then contacted them several times that I'm not happy about this since the advertised prices on their site are considerably less still and basically tell me that flight amendment costs are a lot!
- In amidst all this, I noticed that the outstanding amount for the final payment was wrong (too high), compared to what the booking was showing as the total so I contacted them again and they said they fixed it.
- That payment has now gone out via their automatic system and it's the larger amount still, and my account now shows a negative amount!

I've had a resolver case open now for over 4 weeks, and they've not responded once! I feel they've taken me for a ride on this occasion, and now they've effectively stolen from me (granted it's only a very small amount of around £9, but it is the principal).

Where do I turn from here? The chat is useless, I can't send messages, and on twitter they say they can't help. When I've looked at cancelling, they want to withhold £1200 as non-refundable charges! Are they having an absolute joke? This has been going on now for around 2 months. What should have been a simple amendment to a similar costing new date has turned into a costly nightmare and the company are just not doing anything to help.

Do I have any rights here? I just want the horror to go away now. I'd gladly get a full refund, re-book manually via the airlines and hotel and be done with it.

Thanks!

Is it worth all the hassle for £9 ? i know its the principle but i would not put myself through all that stredd for that amount.

Caz3121

james2k2 said:

When I've looked at cancelling, they want to withhold £1200 as non-refundable charges! Are they having an absolute joke? 

You need to check section 9 of the terms and conditions to work out if this amount is correct

Flight: 100% of the value of the flights is non-refundable from the point of booking (including baggage, insurance, etc.). 

Accommodation: Cancellation charge will depend on whether you have booked a refundable or a non-refundable product. Cancellation charges will be specified to you at the time of booking and vary from one Service Provider to another. You should check your Booking Confirmation and any documentation for details of your specific cancellation terms.

NoodleDoodleMan

"They are extremely reluctant to respond to me at all, but the crooks of what's happened is below:"

That's no way to describe Love Holidays !!!

bagand96

You need to understand that LoveHolidays are an Online Travel Agent and not a tour operator like TUI for example.  They don't operate packages where they are controlling the entire holiday.  They just take a flight and a hotel and put it together as a package.

Whilst it seems similar to what the traditional tour operators do, the differences are big.  With a tour operator you'd pay one admin fee to move your holiday plus any additional cost.  With an OTA it's different.  They would first have to go to the airline and move the flight, this is usually expensive as flights are usually non-refundable or have high fees to move. They can only do what the airline will let them and will pass any costs to you.  They then have to go and do the same with the hotel booking, although these are usually far more flexible.

In addition to any costs from the airline and hotel, LoveHolidays will then also add their own admin fees for the work they have done.  So whilst for new bookings your holiday may seem the same price as your original, to move bookings it may be very different.

Same for cancelling, they will only refund you what they can get back themselves, less their admin fees (as shown by @Caz3121 )  Your flights are almost certainly non-refundable.