Topic: Highstreet Robbery!

We booked a cruise on OV final voyage at the advertised price of £1699 pp only to be told 2 weeks later that the price had increased by over £1500!! We now cannot cancel, change cruise or get our £600 deposit back from :mad:THOMSON TRAVEL JERSEY:mad: Please can anyone advise the best way of handling this situation?

Many thanks...

Sounds like you should have paid the full price right away.
Not that that would help you now...


Talk about stuck between a rock and a hard place!
I'd take legal counsel on the matter if I were you.
Give your lawyer a quick ring.
.

QUOTE:

We booked a cruise on OV final voyage at the advertised price of £1699 pp only to be told 2 weeks later that the price had increased by over £1500!! We now cannot cancel, change cruise or get our £600 deposit back from :mad:THOMSON TRAVEL JERSEY:mad: Please can anyone advise the best way of handling this situation?

Many thanks...

Robbery is right.

Surely when you purchase at an advertised price and pay a deposit, that is a contract. The only change in price could be in currency fluctuation which does not apply in your case.

As advised in previous post , call your lawyer.

QUOTE:

Robbery is right.

Surely when you purchase at an advertised price and pay a deposit, that is a contract. The only change in price could be in currency fluctuation which does not apply in your case.

As advised in previous post , call your lawyer.

Something not quite right here. Paying a deposit should guarantee the price unless, and maybe we havn't been given all the facts, there was a caveat on the booking: fuel surcharges spring to mind

This booking was for the final OV voyage ~ the booking system crashed due to demand, people had thought they had paid deposits at the prices they had been quoted but a lot of agents seem to have mislead their clients and have booked them onboard when reservations opened again a week later but at a much higher price.

I think Carnival realised they were onto a winner so they shut down their booking system tweaked the prices upwards and watched a few days later as the money rolled in!

This poster is not the first to complain that the price they have paid (need to pay) is considerably higher than that which was originally quoted ~ many people with slightly more scrupulous agents pulled their bookings rather than pay the higher prices.

QUOTE:

This poster is not the first to complain that the price they have paid (need to pay)
is considerably higher than that which was originally quoted
~ many people with slightly more scrupulous agents pulled their bookings rather than pay the higher prices.

Caveat Emptor?
.

QUOTE:

Caveat Emptor?
.

QUOTE:

This poster is not the first to complain that the price they have paid (need to pay) is considerably higher than that which was originally quoted ~ many people with slightly more scrupulous agents pulled their bookings rather than pay the higher prices.

As I said, "we were not given the whole story".

QUOTE:

This booking was for the final OV voyage ~ the booking system crashed due to demand, people had thought they had paid deposits at the prices they had been quoted but a lot of agents seem to have mislead their clients and have booked them onboard when reservations opened again a week later but at a much higher price.

I think Carnival realised they were onto a winner so they shut down their booking system tweaked the prices upwards and watched a few days later as the money rolled in!

This poster is not the first to complain that the price they have paid (need to pay) is considerably higher than that which was originally quoted ~ many people with slightly more scrupulous agents pulled their bookings rather than pay the higher prices.

Sot on Shelledpea, thats exactly what happened to us. We paid the deposit of £600 for a booking to be made on March 8th at the advertised price of £1699 but as you correctly point out the system went down on the Monday again on the Wednesday and finally a booking was made on Friday, however our travel agent couldnt confirm prices, cabins or flights!
The first confirmation we received is dated Friday March 19th and still does not confirm cabins or flights but at a much higher price.
We have booked so many holidays with THOMSON TRAVEL JERSEY and travelled on OV twice so didnt have any worries...until we received the confirmation.
Have spoken to our Lawyer in Jersey, who cannot believe a company would be so pedantic over £600, but unfortunately the cost of Legal Action in Jersey would be well over £600!
We even tried to change to another P&O cruise at a cost of nearly £7,000.00 but THOMSON JERSEY wouldnt even allow that!! How bad service is that?

Would really appreciate further comments...

Martin

QUOTE:

Sot on Shelledpea, thats exactly what happened to us. We paid the deposit of £600 for a booking to be made on March 8th at the advertised price of £1699 but as you correctly point out the system went down on the Monday again on the Wednesday and finally a booking was made on Friday, however our travel agent couldnt confirm prices, cabins or flights!
The first confirmation we received is dated Friday March 19th and still does not confirm cabins or flights but at a much higher price.
We have booked so many holidays with THOMSON TRAVEL JERSEY and travelled on OV twice so didnt have any worries...until we received the confirmation.
Have spoken to our Lawyer in Jersey, who cannot believe a company would be so pedantic over £600, but unfortunately the cost of Legal Action in Jersey would be well over £600!
We even tried to change to another P&O cruise at a cost of nearly £7,000.00 but THOMSON JERSEY wouldnt even allow that!! How bad service is that?

Would really appreciate further comments...

Martin

Appalled by the situation your booking agent has seemingly placed you in, is it possible that Jersey consumer law is different to UK / English? I assume that you chose not to pay your deposit by credit card with the added consumer protection it affords the cardholder?
If I clarify the details in connection with our booking (30 nights), as experienced with our Agent (10 + bookings to date), hopefully it may assist you in resolving the recovery of your deposit matter.
In advance of bookings being taken our agent would only take card details but could not debit any deposit until reservation booking was made with OV.
With the crashing of OV’s computers on both the Monday & Wednesday, to me this reaffirmed all the more the need to use our usual agent and to whom we had conversed at some lengths on the telephone. Also spoke with him at 08:30 on the Friday (12/03) as booking lines opened at 09:00 to ensure he was on the case.
At 09:45 he rang me with 4 cabin numbers to choose from and rang back a few minutes later with the OV six-letter booking reference (allowing us to verify & update our personal details (prior to departure on OV’s own website) and firmed-up flight times for the return legs, hotel reservations & transfers.
Only then did he confirm that the deposit (£512) would be charged. The Agents own written confirmation (dated 19/03) was subsequently received.
As an aside, our agent’s service also included the fact that we were given a firm price prior to the taking of bookings. As with our booking for the OV2 30 night final cruise option last year, they arranged 2 nights in Singapore, return flights with Cathay Pacific (excellent legroom & service) via Hong Kong with shuttle to Manchester plus this time allowing us 3 nights in HK. As they are not ABTA bonded (ATOL - as several other large cruise agents) paying by credit card does alleviate concerns that the monies paid are safe.
Friends who insisted upon using their local high street agent (booked their OV2 final cruise) were also sadly disappointed – relying on the shop’s computer links on The Friday morning it came up wanting £500 + more than our booking (30N + 5N) for their 23 nights cruise only and hence outside of their budget.
One has to ask why, with their being used to the OV system your agent did not obtain the OV six-letter booking reference! – Professional negligence perhaps (ABTA issue)?
Good luck.