HELP! Am I Being Scammed? Go to Gate

emilyjane212

Hi,

We really need some advice and aren't sure where to go for this.

My partner and I booked a multi-city flight package through a 3rd party company called 'go to gate' and we now think this might be a scam and we're not sure what to do.

They informed us via email that our flights have been cancelled with no further information. When you call them, it is an Indian call centre, we spoke to several different people, who told us several different things. 1st says the flights have been cancelled and they can process a refund for a fee of £30, which reluctantly we agreed to, then they say they cannot give us any indication of when we will receive the refund, due to the flights being cancelled by the airline and the airline not giving them a timescale. Unsatisfied by this we called back later that day and were told there was no record of our flights being cancelled, just that one of the flights had changed flight times and they had applied to the airline to get us on a later flight but would inform us by the following week.

One week later we receive an email asking us to confirm that we want a refund so they can process it, so we call them and say this is not the case and we want to know what on earth is going on and the customer service rep was so rude and said they had cancelled all the flights and a refund is being process but again they cannot give us a timescale for the refund, as they say the airlines are not giving them a timescale.

We are so upset and frustrated, as if we do not get this money back, we cannot afford to go on our trip and at this point we aren't even sure if we are getting a refund at all or if they are scammers who have stolen our money!!

Please can anyone help us? We just need some guidance on what our rights are and where we can go for support please, we spent over £2,000 out on these flights and unfortunately, we paid on a debit card, NOT a credit card. Any help you can give would be so greatly appreciated. 

onashoestring

Which airline were the flights with ? - you will be able to confirm with the airline if the flights have been cancelled and if they have refunded gotogate. 

Westin

They are not a scam and I’m not sure you have been scammed. You have just chosen to book with an online ticket seller who is based in Sweden and who will offer limiting service options.

For consumer rights you would need to see what Swedish legislation may cover you. 

They are correct about timeframes for a refund. They will only refund you when the airline refunds them. As you have also found out, they will deduct a service fee from any refund amount. 

Thankfully many airlines seem to be working to much better refund timelines than during the pandemic.  BA seems to be 7-10 days now. The other extreme is Thai who seem to still owe many to many from 2020/2021. 

I doubt they will wish to get into dialogue with you about the matter of why the flight were cancelled or the different comments made by their staff. These cheap online ticket sellers don’t really do customer service. They will just want to know if you want a refund or an alternative schedule offered by the same airline.  

As you have found it all starts to get a bit messy when travel plans change and overseas cheap ticket sellers are used.

Voyager2002

As a footnote, a credit card would not have helped you any more than a debit card.

I suggest that you make direct contact with the airlines and find out whether or not the flights in question have been cancelled and whether there are alternatives that would be acceptable to you. If so TELL your agent (both in writing and by telephone) that you want the alternative flights, NOT a refund and so they should not process the cancellation.

If the flights you want are really not operating then try to find out if the airlines have already issued refunds to your agent. In this case, if the agent is failing to pass on funds that they have already received, your debit card issuer might well be able to claw back the funds.

StuieUK34

i always thought GotoGate had a UK presence ?  so booking with them, felt like you were booking, making and paying in £ ?

Gotogate / Flight Network UK Ltd,Suite 1, 3rd Floor, 11-12 St James's Square, London, SW1Y 4LB,

Westin

StuieUK34 said:

i always thought GotoGate had a UK presence ?  so booking with them, felt like you were booking, making and paying in £ ?

Gotogate / Flight Network UK Ltd,Suite 1, 3rd Floor, 11-12 St James's Square, London, SW1Y 4LB,

I think you will find that is a mail drop set up only. Some 55 companies share that ‘office’.
https://www.companieshousedata.co.uk/a/3151210