Dream World Travel - No Response

MB2022

I recently had to purchase some multi city flights to the US for my boss, using their NatWest business debit card. The flights she selected were meant to be business class, on every leg and were approx. £8k. Upon completion of the booking, it became clear that only the UK leg was business class, the rest of the trip was economy. We immediately emailed the company, stating the error and asked to rebook or get refunded the cost of the flights, so that we could rebook the correct class. We received an email link to action a refund, but we would lose approx. £800 in refund fees and charges, so I haven't completed the process. This was on the advice of a DWT employee. I sent them a screenshot of the link showing that it said business, not mixed / economy class and they have gone silent. I've emailed multiple times and I've spent hours on hold trying to talk to someone only to he told I'd get a call back from the relevant person, and not receive said call back. Time is marching on and I'm worried that we will lose any right to a refund via the bank.
My question is, can we get a refund from the bank, instead of Dream World Travel? We do have an ATOL certificate. Any advice on how to proceed would be really appreciated, DWT are non-responsive.

Westin

What are the flight numbers and what ticket class has been booked for each flight segment? (This should all be on the confirmation paperwork).

Without wishing to rub salt into the wound, booking your bosses flight ticket via DWT was a big mistake. Lots of negative reviews on line.  If your boss subsequently had problems during his trip you would likely be left high and dry. A better idea would have been to book direct with the airline, use a reputable UK travel agent or even a business travel agent if there are regular flights being booked.  All would likely book things correctly in the first place and more than likely help out if problems arose.

Don't request a refund on the basis that you wish to cancel. DW likely only to give you a small refund amount back.

I have a feeling you will end up having to explain to your boss that his US domestic legs may well have to be in economy/coach as to suck it up.

JJ_Egan

Also reads as a business to business transaction .

cx6

would it be possible to contact the airline (s) direct, explain what happened, see if they can help

are you sure the internal flights even have business class? lots of us internal are one class only

Voyager2002

Some things to check:

1. Do the US domestic flights offer business class at all? If not, the whole discussion is moot.

2. Did you pay the correct economy class fare(s) for the flights that are in economy? (Perhaps you could try a dummy booking for these flights with trans-Atlantic sectors in business and domestic ones in economy, and see if that would cost less, more or the same than what you actually paid.)

3. Presuming that you were charged the correct fares for the tickets you received, contact the airlines operating the US domestic segments and ask about paid upgrades. This is a routine transaction in the USA and would be a far more cost-effective solution than pursuing DWT, particularly if the value of your time is taken into consideration.

4. If it turns out that you were over-charged for what you received (ie if you paid business class fares for economy class flights) then contact the card provider. Business-to-business transactions do not have the same protections that we enjoy as consumers so you would have to ask the card provider what they are able to do: in a case of fairly blatant overcharging I expect that you would have some protection.

MB2022

Unfortunately I didn't put my foot down hard enough, as I only ever usually book direct with the airline. Lesson well and truly learned!

So we actually booked new flights, correct class, direct with the airlines, as seats were limited and we figured we could deal with the refund separately (we obviously didn't know how poorly DWT operate at that stage)

DWT charged us higher than the rate of the full Business Class option that we eventually got direct through BA. 

Every flight has a business class option, including the domestic flights in the UK.

I have looked at the NatWest Retail Dispute  Application process, which is our next step I think. Flights were purchased on the 1st December, so I can't hang about, as there could be a within 4 months limit set on this transaction. 

I am leaning towards selecting the "problem with goods/services; services were not as described option"

As evidence I have a screenshot of the purchase summary that clearly states Business class

MB2022

The flights depart on the 8th February, so I need to make sure we don't lose the money on the basis of a no show for the flight!

[Deleted User]

DWT are useless. Chargeback is probably the only option.

Alan_Bowen

The company was subject to the 'Rip Off Britain' treatment last Thursday, January 20th which can be seen on the BBC I player for the next 12 months. Their excuses that they could not refund for flights cancelled by an airline were proven, 18 months down the line, to be lies as the airline proved it had refunded a long time ago. Reluctantly when contacted by BBC researchers they miraculously found the missing money and advised they would refund, less a £200 charge for administration! Act accordingly as they will keep you hanging on as long as they can 

MB2022

Thank you, this is good evidence for the bank, we're pursuing them that way now. To be fair, a £200 admin fee is less than the charge they were originally trying to impose. They actually offered us vouchers for the full amount on Friday, but that's not something we need/want. We had to purchase the correct flights elsewhere you see.