Scam holiday advert through Wowcher

born_again

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

born_again said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

born_again said:

HampshireH said:

Doesn't your wowcher order confirmation evidence what you ordered as well as the page.

You should also be able to access the cached page to evidence this.

I would definitely be starting the complaint with wowcher

Wowcher only sell a voucher. Nothing else.
So any issues are between you & retailer.
No chargeback or S75 cover. As you bought a voucher & received one.

Not sure how a court claim would go, as again wowcher will argue you received what you paid for.

I would have thought S75 would apply to the voucher itself, if the voucher doesn’t give what was advertised I would see this as misrepresentation? 

Sadly (Thankfully) not. You paid for a voucher & got a voucher. Debtor/Creditor link. What was described when redeeming does not come into play, as Wowcher do not provide that.

I understand if you buy a £150 Apple voucher from Tesco you don't get S75 cover on the things you spend the voucher on but with Wowcher I was under the impression you was buying a voucher for a specific thing.

So if you buy a voucher for "2 nights in Vienna from Stansted or Manchester for £179" and then can't actually get that deal I would have thought the voucher itself has been misrepresented?

Think of it like using booking.com or such.
There is no Debtor/Creditor link.

Alderbank

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

born_again said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

born_again said:

HampshireH said:

Doesn't your wowcher order confirmation evidence what you ordered as well as the page.

You should also be able to access the cached page to evidence this.

I would definitely be starting the complaint with wowcher

Wowcher only sell a voucher. Nothing else.
So any issues are between you & retailer.
No chargeback or S75 cover. As you bought a voucher & received one.

Not sure how a court claim would go, as again wowcher will argue you received what you paid for.

I would have thought S75 would apply to the voucher itself, if the voucher doesn’t give what was advertised I would see this as misrepresentation? 

Sadly (Thankfully) not. You paid for a voucher & got a voucher. Debtor/Creditor link. What was described when redeeming does not come into play, as Wowcher do not provide that.

I understand if you buy a £150 Apple voucher from Tesco you don't get S75 cover on the things you spend the voucher on but with Wowcher I was under the impression you was buying a voucher for a specific thing.

So if you buy a voucher for "2 nights in Vienna from Stansted or Manchester for £179" and then can't actually get that deal I would have thought the voucher itself has been misrepresented?

I have the feeling that we have been here before, perhaps the same point in the holiday season in '23 or '24?

As far as I can recall these companies buy up left-over unsold holiday slots, a few vacant rooms here, half a dozen unsold seats on a charter flight there, etc. and load them into a spreadsheet.
Their software lists a number of destinations, dates and UK airports. The voucher code you have bought unlocks access to the software and you sort of assemble your own holiday. On-screen availability was real time; products appeared and disappeared as the company acquired new slots and buyers reserved or released them. 
Problems arose when for example there were no flights left for your chosen destination or the only available flights were inconvenient dates or distant airports.

I'll try to find relevant threads from previous years when I have time.

A_Geordie

born_again said:

Think of it like using booking.com or such.
There is no Debtor/Creditor link.

I don't think it is as straightforward as you're suggesting. Seems to me there's two main scenarios that arise when using the Wowcher platform.

Scenario A: The purchaser contracts with Wower directly. In Clause 4 of the T&Cs, Wowcher confirms that a contract is formed between the purchaser and Wowcher in relation to "Voucher Products" which is defined as goods or services offered by the Merchant. Booking.com is not a good example of this scenario because they provide the platform to allow third parties to advertise their hotels or private accommodation and the contract remains between the purchaser and third party at all times. There is a separate section where Wowcher provide their own deals and the same position above applies.

Scenario B: The Wowcher platform offers other deals such as package holidays (see Part C of the T&Cs) and in this scenario, Wowcher acts as an agent of the organiser of that holiday so the purchaser's contract will be with the organiser of that holiday. 

For a s75 claim, it seems to me that Scenario A will always be in scope as Wowcher will be the contracting party with the purchaser.

Scenario B is more of a 'it depends' situation because the T&Cs say that for ATOL protected flights or package holidays, the money paid by the purchaser is held by Wowcher, but it is silent as to other travel deals and whether the payment is sent directly to the travel organiser. If the latter applies, I should also think s75 will apply since Wowcher is only used as a payment gateway rather than holding the monies paid on behalf of a third party which would break the s75 chain in as much the same way eBay and Booking.com operate.