Sandals Discount SCAM!

dmg24

Sam_Bee wrote: »

It's a mistake. I don't understand why people would think otherwise.

It's a mistake. It's not a Scam.

Your only hope is sufficient exposure would make someone at Sandals realise there is a tipping point where the negative exposure outweighs the money lost by honouring their mistake.

Any solicitor who takes on your case is either not an expert in travel law, or confident that Sandals will cave in. I'd try and find out which one.

I agree on all three points!

AFAIK the great majority of Sandals customers are American (I'm happy to be corrected on that!), and I doubt that even if there was negative publicity, it would have any impact on their non UK market.

Whilst I can appreciate the disappointment/ loss of bargain for those involved, 130 bookings is nothing for such an organisation, especially when at least three quarters are likely just to accept the refund.

dmg24

These are the relevant parts of the terms and conditions for the UK site. You tick to say that you agree to them during the booking process:

Holiday contract
When a booking is made, the ‘lead name’ on the booking guarantees that he or she has the authority to accept and does accept on behalf of the party, the terms of these booking conditions. A contract will exist as soon as the confirmation invoice is issued. This contract is made on the terms of these booking conditions. It is important to check the details on the invoice are exactly as requested. In the event of any discrepancy, please contact us or your travel agent immediately.

...

Bookings / Payments
To confirm a booking and avoid automatic cancellation, the required deposit/ payment must be received in our office, or your travel agent, by the due dates as described below.

Final payment is due 56 days prior to day of departure. If a booking is made 57 or more days prior to departure a £100 per person deposit should be received in our office within 7 days of booking to avoid automatic cancellation of the reservation. For reservations made within 56-35 days prior to day of departure, full payment is due in our office within 3 days of booking to avoid automatic cancellation. If a booking is made 34-3 days prior to departure, a credit card payment is required at time of booking. Any money paid to an agent is at all times held on behalf of the ATOL holder. In default of payment by due date we reserve the right to cancel the reservation and apply cancellation charges. Please note for cruises a greater deposit may be required at time of booking. The total package price will be determined only after all specific items are selected and will be communicated to you prior to completion of the reservation. Selected items will be detailed on your confirmation invoice. The purchase price will be guaranteed against increases only once the required deposit/payment have been received. However, Sandals & Beaches UK reserves the right to re-invoice your reservation should any error or omission be made in computing the total cost of all components/ travel arrangements required. Rates are subject to change for rates beyond the control of Sandals & Beaches UK, including, but not limited to, increases in or establishment of fuel or other surcharges, departure taxes and passenger facility charges. All prices and descriptions in this website/ brochure are subject to change without notice.

All airport taxes, security charges and air passenger duty are included in all package holidays and fly-drive prices.

At time of going to press our prices include all known mandatory resort, service and energy fees/taxes. However, in the current climate it is possible, during the validity of this brochure, that certain additional surcharges, payable locally in resort may be introduced by individual hotels according to local circumstances. In such instances following notification we will do our best to contact you and ask whether you wish to continue with the booking or cancel without penalty.

In your favour is the time of contract formation (highlighted in black).

Against you is the errors and omissions point (highlighted in blue).

nortoang

trouble is i booked over the phone and these T&C's are not accessable unless you book online, they certainly didnt repeat them to me

TrevorW

Sandals Update

Had email from Linda Summers, Customer Relations at Mark Travel saying I will be completely satisfied and it will be confirmed in writing. I will keep you updated when I receive it in the post......

nortoang

wow, thats good news, was that after emailing rbecca there??

dmg24

Can we not have peoples full names please TrevorW? Not fair on them.

Sounds like good news though x

nortoang

Anyone else had any feedback yet from Sandals or Marks Travel? i sent a mail to Marks travel in teh US but still havent heard anything back

corrsy

I called Sandals regarding my booking and was told it's on the system and they didn't see anything wrong with it, however, they have still not taken the money from my account nor have I received any email or posted confirmation of a booking. The lady said yes, there has been a problem with some bookings and people were being told but she was vague, and wouldn't really enter into who/what/why and she couldn't tell me if my booking was still at risk of not being honored?

With regard to my £300 payment not being taken, I was told that there is simply a backlog but obviously I am still wary. It is also apparently due to the backlog that I have not yet received my written confirmation?

I asked for an email confirmation but was refused and the best she could tell me was my flight times.

I know for definite that my price was wrong as we are only paying £819 each for 7 nights in a Venetian Oceanview Suite in Antigua - yet, still I have not been contacted at all by Sandals or their Associate Companies???

If 130 are involved in this, I am now thinking the reason that there haven't been more on the boards is due to the fact that they haven't been told yet by phone or otherwise (don't know why). My theory is on the basis that I would know nothing about this c**k-up if I hadn't noticed this thread by complete chance on the board!

Sorry that I am moaning when my booking still seems almost valid but I'm sure you'll appreciate my predicament too.

Good luck everyone who is waiting to hear!

nortoang

Hi Corrsy,
completely understand you worrying, I think that they have had so much trouble with the people they have contacted so far that they are trying to work out what to do with the whole situation.
Yes, I think your price would be wrong as its very similar to the price we paid for the same room type in Antigua.
I booked on the Monday(2.6) and my credit card shows transaction date 3/6 and posting date 5/6>
keep watching this and i'll update what i know.

zico_2

Hi All
Thought I would join in this discussion, found it by accident a few days ago and have had the phone call from Funway.
I booked on 1st June after seeing details in Mail on Sunday, 2 weeks at Sandals Halcyon Beach in St Lucia. Cost in paper was £1403pp I believe.
Went to Sandals.co.uk website and booked it and price came up at £1263.50pp. Great I thought, got an even better bargain!
As I had BA flights, I decided to pay in full to try and avoid(hopefully) the planned fuel surcharge that BA announced it was introducing on the 3rd June!
Everything went through and got travel confirmation email detailing holiday.
On 5th June got the phone call as a message on answerphone from Funway, saying that I would need to pay £279 extra. As I had not had any dealings with Funway I rang Sandals who advised that they had to involve Funway as they were US company and could not book flights for us, had to be done in UK. They also said that they knew there had been a problem with the internet booking system. Following this I rang consumer direct for advice and was told that if the mistake had been an "innocent misrepresentation" then the company could offer full refund or I could pay the difference. The guy referred to the time ARgos advertised plasma tv's for 99p on its website and legally they were not bound to give folk who ordered at this price the goods as it was an "innocent misrepresentation".
Rang Funway and asked for full explanation and was told the same as everyone else, computer mistake. In my case the additional cost is the difference between what I paid and the price advertised in the paper so not a big deal as I had expected to pay the price in the paper anyway. However, I asked if it was possible for a goodwill gesture from Funway, and she said that Sandals will know all the guests who had these problems and will try and do something in resort, eg upgrade if available, flowers in room. As is is ulta AI a bottle of fizz is not really anything extra!! She wouldn't budge on throwing in an excursion though!! Don't ask don't get!
Anyway I was wondering how many people here booked following Mail on Sunday ad and are being asked to pay more than the advertised price in paper?
I ageed to pay the extra when balance would have been due to be paid and Funway confirmed that there will be absolutely no further costs!!!