From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

kayannie

Greying_Pilgrim said:

Thanks for the help re computers.  But I don't think I'm the person to guide LG with computers.   

According to my bank TL are set to claim several hundred pounds out of my bank account, as whilst the computer didn't let me complete the booking transaction, the bank confirmation went through.  So the bank are willing to accept TL's request for payment, but I have nothing, no booking confirmation, no email, no nothing.  An extremely sarcastic person in TL CS claimed that the money wouldn't be taken, but if I wanted to follow it up, I need to email them - ha, job in itself to find the blessed email - alternatively, I could do live chat.  Guess what, not agents available to do live chat and they give themselves 3-5 days to get back to your email.  I wish I'd never heard of TL - or at least stopped after the first try to book online.  I'm absolutely furious with myself.  

Greying X

It's not yourself you need to be furious with! I think I would phone TL again, ask for a supervisor & tell them just what you think of them! If they want to be seen to be a reputable company, they should offer you some kind of compensation for your time & the upset they have caused you! A room FOC would be acceptable!
KA x

Greying_Pilgrim

Dearest kayannie - thank you for your kind words.  Unfortunately, since this morning I have spent some time on Tp1lot and found the complaints page for TL......... lets just say it ain't just me that this has happened to.  I do think its a  [insert rood word] business model, but clearly this is the way they do things.  I'm minded to email the CEO.  At this moment in time, all I want is for them not to take a penny from either my bank account or DH's credit card.  I have never had this happen before, the bank operative was incredulous that I'd "paid" multiple times - what do other people do when they get chucked out mid-transaction?  OK, my gut told me to not try again, after the first error message - but I thought it was cache/cookies etc etc.  And you have to get to the authentication page to proceed anyway - so if the authentification works, how am I supposed to forsee that the webpage won't follow through and confirm my booking or purchase?  (rhetorical question).  That's how it works on PI - insert dates/details/payment details - go to authentification - receive confirmation/room booking number.

i've confessed to DH, and he's mad on my behalf too.  But he advised me to go ahead and book the PI nearby.  The blooming price has gone up now 🙄 but he's invested in the holiday and wants to visit the places that we'd talked about and planned to take LG.  He doesn't want this TL fiasco to spoil the holiday.  

So i have done what he asked, and have booked the PI instead, and guess what, everything went through lovely, despite us not having to pay until we turn up.  How's that for a business model, that puts the customer somewhere near the centre of the whole process.  Argghhh. I know why we try to get what we need/want for a reasonable price, but I really wish - on this occasion - that I had steered clear of TL.  If we lose the money, we could have stayed in a really posh hotel and had dinner for the night, instead of just wanting a bed for the night to break up the driving and put us nearer to local attractions.  

Sigh, I am still so shocked that this has happened, and yes, ok, maybe not as furious at myself, but furious that you can't get anybody to deal with your issue - something else that was mentioned on the Tp1lot complaints page dossier.  

Greying X

rtandon27

@Greying_Pilgrim - while the fire is hot (so to speak) - I'd send a letter of complaint the old fashioned way by signed for delivery to:

Customer Services, Travelodge Hotels Ltd, Sleepy Hollow, Aylesbury Road, Thame, Oxon, OX9 3AT.

Reference the struggles to get through to them to resolve what is obviously their issue, sending a copy of the e-mail you have already sent them and also tell them in no uncertain trems that if it is not resolved by XYZ date to your satisfaction you will be refering them to the FCA (Financial conduct authority.)

Greying_Pilgrim

Dearest rt - you are always so good and kind to me, and know that it is appreciated, most especially when you have your own life curve balls going on.  I will see about drafting something - you're right about whilst the ire is feverish.  I really hope we don't lose our money.

Greying CX

VintageHistorian

You shouldn't lose your money, it's not your fault that the website wasn't giving any confirmation (not even an email). You may have to be firmer than you would like but as long as you're not effing and blinding staff can't start getting upset with you.

My husband recently pointed out a line that FIL uses when companies/staff !!!!!! up - "And what are you going to do to rectify this?", said very politely but doesn't give the wriggle room to foist the issue back to you that "what do I need to do?" gives them.

rtandon27

PS - if you need help refining it, MrGPT is a great tool and FREE if you are only using it on occaision - just remember it's like a brilliant child who needs specific instructions or it will try and get away with what it deems as being helpful! ...but from experience it's super handy -  I've used it to draft several of my more difficult communications and take out the colourful language and replace it with something a bit more professional and to the point!

kayannie

If you don't get anywhere with TL,  I've just thought about the free to use 'Resolver' site, recommended by Martin. I've used it a couple of times with great success. 
Good luck, hope it's sorted out sooner rather than later.
KAx

EssexHebridean

First up, raise with your bank that TL are intending to charge your card but have confirmed that you do not have a booking, and that you are disputing the charges and would like for them to be reversed. 

Oddly I had a similar issue with PI a couple of weeks ago - as did a pal of ours. It rectified itself by the following morning, and was clearly just a glitch in the system.

I'd also try and log in to the TL site to check what email address is there for you - just in case it accidentally got entered incorrectly so in fact booking confirmations have gone to the wrong place - you should be able to see the bookings there, too if they do in fact exist. 

Greying_Pilgrim

EH - I went to the bank this morning.  The person I spoke to wasn't overly sympathetic, and seemed to think I was misguided to have tried to pay 4 times.  I admit, that whilst I probably should have quit the first time the 'error' screen popped up, I thought it was cookies, or the browser I was using, so I tried again.  I explained that I had received no email, or confirmation or booking code, and I thought I made it clear that i didn't want to pay over £200 for a £50 room.  They said (at the bank), I had to take up the matter with TL.  Had I been able to 'stop' the payments at the bank, I would have done, but they showed up as 'pending', because they had been authorised.  The error page popped up during the authentification process - which is why I'm mystified that TL were able to get the money.  The bank sent me back to TL.

TL have my email correct, and I have just been on 'MyTL', and done the 'reverse' look up for me/the hotel/the date required, and it's come back with nothing booked.  So TL clearly haven't booked anything, but have a 'pending' on my money....... four times.  

I'm not sure I've done anything wrong - apart from tried too hard to book something (I should have given up at the first error hurdle).  My only hope is that the (supposed) TL policy of leaving the money in the pending folder, and then not requesting it after a couple of days, is what happens.  I only have the TL CSA garbled comment to grasp onto, that is how it is handled.  Much the same as the first CSA I spoke to this morning muttered something about TL computer systems tripping out before payments were authenticated.......... 

I shall go back to the bank tomorrow and check the status of pending payments.  

Greying X

themadvix

Sorry to hear about your TL woes GP. Very infuriating! Especially the poor customer service from both parties. I think you're right to go back and see again tomorrow - pending transactions do often appear more than once (although if you 'made' the 4 bookings and there's four transactions pending, I guess the likelihood is they will go through/aren't phantom ones). If you haven't got any bookings showing, then this sounds like a wholly TL issue - they will have to refund you if they take any money, given they've not actually booked you in. I wonder if anyone else had had problems in the last 24 hours?