Booked a Wowcher “deal” and was given a airport miles away from Hotel

Jsutherland7

Hello
everyone i hope you are all well. I have a bit of an issue and I wonder if someone could guide me in the right direction. 

Basically I booked a Wowcher deal on there website to lake Garda (Italy) for May next year.

it was well priced hotel, all inclusive and flights included. So I bought it for me and girlfriend as a Xmas present for her 30th.

anyway, 2 weeks went by and I got a call from the travel agent “the travel makers” to say that there were calling to sort my flights out. 

They said the flights that I’ve been allocated are from London to Barcelona, then 6 hours later the other lay by flight to “Milan malpensa” 
I said I’m sure on the Wowcher advert it said direct flights.

they said no sorry. And as they caught me off guard (but slightly excited) I ended up having to pay a further £218 there and then over the phone for direct flights. (I felt slightly robbed)

anyway as the phone call went on the lady began to say that the hotel I wanted had been fully booked. So she palmed me
off with a 3 star with very bad ratings. 

So I called and complained and she managed to change it back to the 4 star with good ratings which I was happy about.

anyway the worse was to come. Once the phone call was over I decieded to check out how long it would take grom
the airport to the hotel.
(Milan malpensa) airport. 

3.5hrs! I was shocked that I wasn’t told about such a long journey. We are only going for 3 nights. I was furious and felt a fool!

I just feel like what a total scam. I’ve used Wowcher many times before for things and it’s always been fine. 

I’ve tried to contact wowcher and “the travel makers”n company to express my anger and feel as though the airport was chosen simply
so they could make a profit. 

I’ve asked if they can chance the airport I’m flying to to “Verona” which is 40 mins away. But they wont do it.

Ive even thought about doing the travel from Milan to lake Garda but ive been quoted 1000euro for a private tax,
3 train changes. Each an hour a go. It just seems like hell for just a 3 day break. 

Does anyone know if I have any rights here? 

I’m happy that the hotel as been secured, I’ve even contacted the hotel directly to double check that it has been reserved and they confirmed luckily. 

Im wondering if I could somehow get a refund for the flights. Otherwise I’ve just wasted £218.
and I’ll end up having to buy separate flights to Verona costing me even more.

honestly if I have to pay for more flights I may aswel have just booked through a normal website. It probably would have been 100s cheaper!
very stressful!

any advice or help would be greatly appreciated 

thank you 

elsien

Can you access the original wowcher information and small printto check exactly what it said?

Jsutherland7

elsien said:

Can you access the original wowcher information and small printto check exactly what it said?

Taken from

Wowcher small
print.
it says I get to
choose
my airports

How It Works

• Select your travel dates from our booking calendar
• Choose your departure airport and number of nights
• Purchase your voucher
• Receive your redemption link and head to our redemption page within 48 hours
• Complete your contact information
• Your holiday provider will then contact you to make your holiday booking
• Receive booking confirmation – make sure you check this!
• Then you can pack your bags and prepare for your getaway!

Also,goes on to say I will have a stress free booking. It’s been far from the truth.

Jsutherland7

I was also laughed at by the travel makers on the phone when I told them that I’d been quoted 1000 euros to get from Milan to the airport. 

It’s just not on and I shouldn’t be spoken to a treated this way. Im
not someone that is generally fussed by bad customer service but this time it’s wound me up.
we all work hard, and to be tricked into a support that is miles and miles away from
the destination hotel, given that Wowcher and the travel makers insist on saying they give a stress free experience is far from it. 

sammyjammy

It says you get to choose departure airport, I think you'll have to accept its lesson learnt not to use wowcher for such purchases again.  Its extremely unlikely you can cancel the flights for a refund.

NoodleDoodleMan

sammyjammy said:

It says you get to choose departure airport, I think you'll have to accept its lesson learnt not to use wowcher for such purchases again.  Its extremely unlikely you can cancel the flights for a refund.

It pays to read the small print obviously.

Jsutherland7

Would there be anyway I could dispute the extra £218 via my bank? Raise a dispute of some kind? 

The Wowcher deal was paid via PayPal credit. 

And the extra unexpected payment for flights later that week was using my current account. (Hard earned savings) 

silvercar

I'd be looking at the low cost airlines to see if you can make your own flight arrangements now and only use the hotel you have booked through the wowcher deal.

MyRealNameToo

Jsutherland7 said:

I’ve tried to contact wowcher and “the travel makers”n company to express my anger and feel as though the airport was chosen simply so they could make a profit. 

Well that is the purpose of companies and when you buy from another intermediary then there is another mouth to feed in the supply chain. 

It's not 100% clear where it all went wrong but unfortunately it generally looks like ignorance from you. Seems you chose MXP airport and assumed it would be direct flights where there was no promise of direct flights and MXP is a good way from Lake Garda, VRN is generally the better airport for Lake Garda but has much less flight options. 

I'd say generally short trips are proportionally much more expensive because its really worth paying the extra for the best timed direct flights etc otherwise you really can spend most your time travelling to and from your destination rather than actually being at the destination. A much longer trip can make it worthwhile saving some pennies using cheaper airports etc but extending your transfer times etc. 

Jsutherland7

silvercar said:

I'd be looking at the low cost airlines to see if you can make your own flight arrangements now and only use the hotel you have booked through the wowcher deal.

I’m guessing that would be the best option. Very annoyed about loosing £218 but i
guess ill
nave to take the loss. 

Thank you for your advice 

Alan_Bowen

I am so sorry you have been scammed by The Travel Makers. Their Trustpilot score is 1.2, every single review describes something similar to your story, ridiculous flights with long connections but an offer of alternative flights at much higher prices, hotels fully booked but others available at much higher prices. It sounds to me as though they are skating on very thin ice, legally,  here. It might be worth contacting Citizens Advice and see if their friends at Trading Standards would be interested. I have to admit I have seen loads of other Wowcher voucher offers through other travel companies and they all appear to have similar issues, hopefully those reading this will take note and avoid like the plague