Dream World Travel

capstain411

Ok no excuses,  I should have checked about this dubious firm, Dream World travel, before parting with £4k for flight tickets.  Hindsight is great, but it is what it is...if we walk away for should have, could have as that might not be of much help now!

Below is timeline-

1)4 tickets booked using credit card on 11th May 2022. Travel dates August 4th. Ticket cost £4k.
2)Emirates acknowledge booking with reference number on 11th May. Email clearly states payment has not be made and fare is subject to payment within 3 days.
3) I got busy with new job so could not keep up until 25th June 2022.
4) Emirates confirmed (verbally) they cancelled the booking as DWT never paid them the money. Unwilling to give this in writing.
5) The manage booking section on website now indicates no booking with details furnished by Emirates on 11th May.
6) I contacted DWT who wrote to me citing, tickets are confirmed, and waiting in the ticketing queue and will arrive before 10th July.
7) Above seems to be their common tactic, as few days before travel, they either ask for more money or suggest customers take refund which takes months.
8) By 25th June, I had realised that I am going to be scammed, lodged charge back request with credit card. 
9) Credit card said they will put the claim across to DWT's bank with all evidence, I have provided. It is not likely money will be refunded before 4th Augst, since their crafty T&C entitles them to not issues ticket until last minute.
10) I am quite prepared for DWT to contact me couple of days before booking and either request for top-up or seek refund.
11) Now I realise, a work colleague who went through the above. Since DWT could not honour the fare he had paid for, they did not deduct cancellation fees. But had to wait for 5 months from refund. He did not apply for bank charge back.
12) My only objective for charge back is to get 100% refund 100% by not having to wait for months. My experience with only 2 charge backs I had to lodge is money came back within 2 weeks of breach of contract which i assume will be 4th Aug in this case.
13) DWT T&Cs might suggest they offering top-up and me not accepting this might be deemed as cancellation from my side hence attracting cancellation fees. But others who got scammed dont seem to have faced this so far.

Now I booked replacement tickets exactly the same particulars with Emirates and ended paying £5860 nearly £2k extra. This is fully refundable tickets and cheapest available right now.

I have coverwise silver travel insurance, but i am not optimistic insurance will cover this.

I have the will, time and bit of obsession to probably spend more money to take DWT to small claims court. Do I have valid case  to claim £2k i spent for consequential delay caused by DWT. I might seek help from solicitor as my home insurance has legal cover. 

Alderbank

capstain411 said:

6) I contacted DWT who wrote to me citing, tickets are confirmed, and waiting in the ticketing queue and will arrive before 10th July.

Now I booked replacement tickets exactly the same particulars with Emirates and ended paying £5860 nearly £2k extra. This is fully refundable tickets and cheapest available right now.

Do I have valid case  to claim £2k i spent for consequential delay caused by DWT. 

Short answer is no.

The most recent correspondence from DWT is that tickets are confirmed and will arrive before 10 July.

Nevertheless you have chosen to book duplicate tickets costing nearly £2K extra. The additional booking direct with Emirates is really a separate transaction although I can well understand why you have done it.

In the (perhaps unlikely) event that tickets arrive in time from DWT then of course you will cancel the Emirates booking so no £2K excess will exist.
If the flight time passes without tickets arriving from DWT then you can commence proceedings to recover the £4000 which you paid them. But really the additional booking is nothing to do with DWT.

capstain411

Alderbank said:

capstain411 said:

6) I contacted DWT who wrote to me citing, tickets are confirmed, and waiting in the ticketing queue and will arrive before 10th July.

Now I booked replacement tickets exactly the same particulars with Emirates and ended paying £5860 nearly £2k extra. This is fully refundable tickets and cheapest available right now.

Do I have valid case  to claim £2k i spent for consequential delay caused by DWT. 

Short answer is no.

The most recent correspondence from DWT is that tickets are confirmed and will arrive before 10 July.

Nevertheless you have chosen to book duplicate tickets costing nearly £2K extra. The additional booking direct with Emirates is really a separate transaction although I can well understand why you have done it.

In the (perhaps unlikely) event that tickets arrive in time from DWT then of course you will cancel the Emirates booking so no £2K excess will exist.
If the flight time passes without tickets arriving from DWT then you can commence proceedings to recover the £4000 which you paid them. But really the additional booking is nothing to do with DWT.

How could that possibilily be right. I would have not had to undertake alternate booking if DWT who took money from me for same tickets would have booked it in the first place. Isnt it deception to say tickets are confirmed, when no booking exists.

Yes in theory possible that DWT will furnish the tickets, but it is heavenly impossible.  The cost difference what was paid and what it might be 3 days before travel might be double.

The small sums claim is only on the assumption that DWT will not furnish tickets and my alternative booking will be used. 

Judging by their antics it is highly unlikely I will be receiving the tickets.

Olinda99

In general, if you have a contract with someone, and that other person breaches the contract then you can claim losses caused as a result of that breach eg in your case having to pay extra because fares had gone up - lost opportunity costs.

However, the contract you had with DWT was probably them acting as your agent, and I would be amazed if the t&c of that contract did not have getout clauses. Have a read of them.

capstain411

Olinda99 said:

In general, if you have a contract with someone, and that other person breaches the contract then you can claim losses caused as a result of that breach eg in your case having to pay extra because fares had gone up - lost opportunity costs.

However, the contract you had with DWT was probably them acting as your agent, and I would be amazed if the t&c of that contract did not have getout clauses. Have a read of them.

You are absolutely right. The T&Cs are ridden with getaway clauses. But my argument is based on deception. When emirates website is not showing booking, and for DWT to say tickets  are confirmed, isn’t that fraudulent activity. They took money with no intention to book tickets at advertised price.

Numerous emails to them to seek clarifications are unanswered. I have written to Emirates to confirm that booking was never confirmed.  The only evidence I have is invalid booking reference on Emirates website and video clip of phone call with Emirates citing non payment which led to cancellation of booking.

eskbanker

capstain411 said:

6) I contacted DWT who wrote to me citing, tickets are confirmed, and waiting in the ticketing queue and will arrive before 10th July.

You may have your own opinions about the likely outcome, but if DWT stated the above to you in writing then you'll have a job persuading a court that they'd already breached their contract with you ahead of that date.

Aylesbury_Duck

capstain411 said:

Alderbank said:

capstain411 said:

6) I contacted DWT who wrote to me citing, tickets are confirmed, and waiting in the ticketing queue and will arrive before 10th July.

Now I booked replacement tickets exactly the same particulars with Emirates and ended paying £5860 nearly £2k extra. This is fully refundable tickets and cheapest available right now.

Do I have valid case  to claim £2k i spent for consequential delay caused by DWT. 

Short answer is no.

The most recent correspondence from DWT is that tickets are confirmed and will arrive before 10 July.

Nevertheless you have chosen to book duplicate tickets costing nearly £2K extra. The additional booking direct with Emirates is really a separate transaction although I can well understand why you have done it.

In the (perhaps unlikely) event that tickets arrive in time from DWT then of course you will cancel the Emirates booking so no £2K excess will exist.
If the flight time passes without tickets arriving from DWT then you can commence proceedings to recover the £4000 which you paid them. But really the additional booking is nothing to do with DWT.

How could that possibilily be right. I would have not had to undertake alternate booking if DWT who took money from me for same tickets would have booked it in the first place. Isnt it deception to say tickets are confirmed, when no booking exists.

Yes in theory possible that DWT will furnish the tickets, but it is heavenly impossible.  The cost difference what was paid and what it might be 3 days before travel might be double.

The small sums claim is only on the assumption that DWT will not furnish tickets and my alternative booking will be used. 

Judging by their antics it is highly unlikely I will be receiving the tickets.

Reversing that question, why is it wrong?  I think that the principle of these being two completely separate transactions is a sound one - you have no consequential loss yet because DWT haven't yet breached their contract with you.  You have not had to undertake an alternative booking, you have chosen to do so because you have a (reasonable) suspicion that the original tickets won't materialise.

capstain411

Aylesbury_Duck said:

capstain411 said:

Alderbank said:

capstain411 said:

6) I contacted DWT who wrote to me citing, tickets are confirmed, and waiting in the ticketing queue and will arrive before 10th July.

Now I booked replacement tickets exactly the same particulars with Emirates and ended paying £5860 nearly £2k extra. This is fully refundable tickets and cheapest available right now.

Do I have valid case  to claim £2k i spent for consequential delay caused by DWT. 

Short answer is no.

The most recent correspondence from DWT is that tickets are confirmed and will arrive before 10 July.

Nevertheless you have chosen to book duplicate tickets costing nearly £2K extra. The additional booking direct with Emirates is really a separate transaction although I can well understand why you have done it.

In the (perhaps unlikely) event that tickets arrive in time from DWT then of course you will cancel the Emirates booking so no £2K excess will exist.
If the flight time passes without tickets arriving from DWT then you can commence proceedings to recover the £4000 which you paid them. But really the additional booking is nothing to do with DWT.

How could that possibilily be right. I would have not had to undertake alternate booking if DWT who took money from me for same tickets would have booked it in the first place. Isnt it deception to say tickets are confirmed, when no booking exists.

Yes in theory possible that DWT will furnish the tickets, but it is heavenly impossible.  The cost difference what was paid and what it might be 3 days before travel might be double.

The small sums claim is only on the assumption that DWT will not furnish tickets and my alternative booking will be used. 

Judging by their antics it is highly unlikely I will be receiving the tickets.

Reversing that question, why is it wrong?  I think that the principle of these being two completely separate transactions is a sound one - you have no consequential loss yet because DWT haven't yet breached their contract with you.  You have not had to undertake an alternative booking, you have chosen to do so because you have a (reasonable) suspicion that the original tickets won't materialise.

Thanks for your responses. It does help with 2nd prespective. Please if I can clarify. The small sums court option I am planning is when DWT defaults. Not as off now. BTW they were "about to call me" before I caught them. 

Apprantley the tickets no longer will be available on 10th July. Now the new deadline is 22nd July. 

Reasons are they don't book it directly but give bookings money to 3rd party, who apprantley have not paid money to Emirates hence booking not confirmed.

Sadly even more distressed travellers on FB support group mentioning about demand for more money. Or wait for refund. 

So if customers who were supposed to fly 3 days later have not received, on the balance of probability, it is unlikely I will get it either.

Aylesbury_Duck

I agree, I don't believe your tickets will materialise, but it's important to await a) it happening, and b) the manner in which it happens, so you can react in the most appropriate way.  I think what may undermine your claim for the extra sum as a consequential loss is the date of your second ticket purchase, given that it was pre-emptive.  I understand why you did so, and that it probably mitigated your losses, but it was still before the date by which they agreed to supply the original tickets.

capstain411

Aylesbury_Duck said:

I agree, I don't believe your tickets will materialise, but it's important to await a) it happening, and b) the manner in which it happens, so you can react in the most appropriate way.  I think what may undermine your claim for the extra sum as a consequential loss is the date of your second ticket purchase, given that it was pre-emptive.  I understand why you did so, and that it probably mitigated your losses, but it was still before the date by which they agreed to supply the original tickets.

Thank you again. I think that's irrelevant as the later I leave it the bigger the loss (claim) will be. Its only pre-emptive until the beach of contract happens.  

Then again it does not have any bearing on DWT transaction. I.e my back up booking did not affect DWT from booking tickets for me since they have reiterated again today and via email on 25th June that the tickets are confirmed. Albiet Emirates seems to differ. 

I have not terminated my contract with DWT. The consequential loss becomes more relevant , because I booked 3 weeks off. So travelling within that time frame is non- optional. 

I work in NHS and I simply don't have flexibility to move  holidays as these are roostered months in advance. So paying over the odds was the only option. 

Again since the backup tickets are exactly same as DWT ordered tickets, the alibi, that airlines cancelled the flights, which apparently is most commonly used excuse is not valid.The tickets on same flights are available as of today.

Small courts claim, might be not wise use of my time. But the fact they are causing so much anguish to other customers, I think I should take a stand. The worst I am bound to lose is perhaps another 5k that is if.

Aylesbury_Duck

Well, you have nothing much to lose, I agree.

You don't get any more rights for working in the NHS though, so I wouldn't employ that in your argument in a court claim.

I suspect all you'll get (at most) is a full refund of your payment to DWT.  I can't see that you've got a strong claim for the additional cost, though for the relatively modest court fee you might consider it worth a try.