Possibly Scammed £2.5k

paye

Hi

I could really do with some advice on the following  as I might end up losing out on £2.5k.

My wife asked one of her cousins to book a flight ticket for herself and my kids to Canada, something which she has done previously in the past without any issues as her cousin is or rather was an agent who sells flights online.

This time around it appears the flights he has booked does not exist, even after trying all the reference numbers on the booking confirmation to manage the booking on the airline site.

We have since found out my wife cousin and his business partner has recently had some sort of a falling out and the tickets were not booked but the money has been taken out from my credit card and debited by  west jet airways and Emirates as two separate bookings. The booking confirmation we have received says Air Canada with all the names matching up but the no booking reference numbers to manage the booking.

 I am trying to get hold of my wife cousin to find out what the hell  is going on but he has gone silent.

What are my chances of getting my money back from my credit card provider and to make matters worse I have closed this account. The tickets were booked two months ago.

MorningcoffeeIV

paye said:

Hi

I could really do with some advice on the following  as I might end up losing out on £2.5k.

My wife asked one of her cousins to book a flight ticket for herself and my kids to Canada, something which she has done previously in the past without any issues as her cousin is or rather was an agent who sells flights online.

This time around it appears the flights he has booked does not exist, even after trying all the reference numbers on the booking confirmation to manage the booking on the airline site.

What are my chances of getting my money back from my credit card provider (American Express), and to make matters worse I have closed this account. 

If you've not received what you paid for, a simple chargeback.

Closing the account doesn't make matters worse.

savergrant

By the sound of it you booked in good faith through a business you trusted. If the business took your payment but has not made the booking you have been defrauded. Obviously it hurts that it was a relative but ultimately it was the business that took your money. It would be a different story if you had sent cash to the cousin and asked them to buy the tickets for you.

paye

savergrant said:

By the sound of it you booked in good faith through a business you trusted. If the business took your payment but has not made the booking you have been defrauded. Obviously it hurts that it was a relative but ultimately it was the business that took your money. It would be a different story if you had sent cash to the cousin and asked them to buy the tickets for you.

thanks for your post. I just rang up CC company , they were quite good and temporarily re-credited the amount back without too many questions, they will try get in touch with the merchant but once  2-3 weeks has passed the money will get refunded permenantly. All  partly sorted in 5 mins. 

DullGreyGuy

paye said:

savergrant said:

By the sound of it you booked in good faith through a business you trusted. If the business took your payment but has not made the booking you have been defrauded. Obviously it hurts that it was a relative but ultimately it was the business that took your money. It would be a different story if you had sent cash to the cousin and asked them to buy the tickets for you.

thanks for your post. I just rang up American Express, they were quite good and temporarily re-credited the amount back without too many questions, they will try get in touch with the merchant but once  2-3 weeks has passed the money will get refunded permenantly. All  partly sorted in 5 mins. 

Timeline for a chargeback is much longer than 2-3 weeks unfortunately. 

The Merchant has 20 days to respond to the chargeback once its presented to them but there can be backlogs in presenting it to them and similarly backlogs in processing whatever information they come back with if they dispute it. 

You oddly seem to have missed out the most obvious thing... what has your cousin said when you've asked them after finding the codes dont work? Certainly with some middleman bookings you can only log into your flight details via their own website and you arent given the information to manage the flight directly with the airline. 

NoodleDoodleMan

According to the OP the cousin has gone silent.

eskbanker

DullGreyGuy said:
You oddly seem to have missed out the most obvious thing... what has your cousin said when you've asked them after finding the codes dont work?

From OP:  

paye said:

I am trying to get hold of my wife cousin to find out what the hell  is going on but he has gone silent.

born_again

We have since found out my wife cousin and his business partner has recently had some sort of a falling out and the tickets were not booked but the money has been taken out from my American express card and debited by  west jet airways and Emirates India Web sales Mumbai as two separate bookings.


Is OP checking these retailer or Air Canada?

As westjet do fly UK to Canada.

paye

Update to the story. So it appears when my wife gave  the card details over to her cousin to book the tickets, it appears  he has booked flight tickets for his own personal use. You just can't trust anyone these days not even your own family members.

MrFrugalFever

paye said:

Update to the story. So it appears when my wife gave  the card details over to her cousin to book the tickets, it appears  he has booked flight tickets for his own personal use. You just can't trust anyone these days not even your own family members.

So your wife gave her credit card details to her cousin and DID NOT book through a website herself?

Giving someone your credit card details can often be seen as negligence on behalf of the CC holder, I hope the credit card company don't recall their refund on the basis that your wife was at fault.

paye

MrFrugalFever said:

paye said:

Update to the story. So it appears when my wife gave  the card details over to her cousin to book the tickets, it appears  he has booked flight tickets for his own personal use. You just can't trust anyone these days not even your own family members.

So your wife gave her credit card details to her cousin and DID NOT book through a website herself?

Giving someone your credit card details can often be seen as negligence on behalf of the CC holder, I hope the credit card company don't recall their refund on the basis that your wife was at fault.

I understand what you are saying, but it was no different to giving your card details over the phone to a travel agent. My wife cousin owned a travel agency buisness  or he use to until we found out he no longer owns it  until after all this kicked off.