| Complainant: |
Mrs S Mcparland
|
| Town/City
of Residence: |
Sheffield |
We found a cheap flight advertised on the teletext website with
a company called fareworldtravel. We telephoned and booked a flight
to Sri Lanka and Mumbai for a reasonable price. This in itself
was difficult because we were often never called back. Much later
we recieved a confirmation which we signed and sent back. We later
decided to change details of the flight allowing us to visit the
Maldives instead of Mumbai.
We were told this was easy because it was all with the same airline
and the total price would be £699 each. We agreed and awaited
confirmation. This was never recieved. We telephoned several times
and spoke to two different people. One of whom told us we did
not need a confirmation. We asked again because we needed the
flight details in order to book accomodation.
Eventually the visa bill arrived with a debit of over £1600,
£200 more than anticipated. When queried we were told the
extra £200 was for tax. We were led to believe tax was already
included in the price.
IF we had been quoted the latter amount we would never have changed
our existing flights. We have since contacted another flight company
requesting a price for the same flight and have been given the
total price of £699 for the exact same flight. A bit of
a conicidence! Unfortunately those seats are now all fully booked.
If we cancel our flights with fareworldtravel we will have to
pay £300. Does anyone know of our legal rights over this
matter? Can a company take money for an amount that has never
been officially agreed upon?
=================================
I always feel that if I am going
to spend a great deal of money (699) I would never trust it to an
internet company. Even if you were to do the transaction
with a reputable company they usually have a seperate arm of the
company dealing with internet orders and the two don't mix. However,
getting back to your problem. Your first port of call should be
VISA. They will help you fight your corner, just send them all the
details, tell the company you are taking this matter up with VISA
and you should start getting some results. VISA wont allow companies
to fleece people using their system, at best you will get your money
back (doubtful though, they seem a bit of a fly-by-night-company)
at worst they would strike them off the VISA system. I hope you
get on ok with it but it wont happen overnight, this will take a
bit of time and determination to sort out. Mike Booth ..
4 November 2003
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