Overpaid for holiday

I feel really sorry for you. What a total nightmare.

And you really, really should check your payments and bills more carefully or you'll end up the victim of a much bigger fraud.

Sorry OP but its 100% on you. You can expect others to pay because you a) didn't check the price before you hit pay and b) let them go on the trip without checking, and didn't tell them it had cost so much.

Did you really not realise until after you'd been? If i was one of the friends I'd be a bit suspicious that you knew the price had been high and had waited till we'd been on the trip to mention so that we would feel we had to pay because it couldn't be cancelled.

Sorry op, you sound a bit scatter brained financially. You should have checked the price breakdown just before doing the final click to book it. Just like you need to carefully check you entered the correct date and correct names. This is a lesson to be more meticulous when booking things and yes you really should go through your cc payments line by line.

Unfortunately, even some of the well-known platforms use not very transparent or fair practices. It’s different from retail or restaurant business. If you were quoted one price for a dress or meal, the price would be shown on the price tag or menu so there isn’t much space for ambiguity. But holidays are something completely different, and they protect themselves well by covering every eventuality in their T&C’s.

Booking.com on 2 occasions and hotel’s own website another time.

OK, I'm baffled by how this can have happened. I've never booked accommodation - or paid for anything - where the price to be paid could change while you're IN the booking process. Once you click buy or book or whatever, the price can't then change while you're putting your payment details in. The only time something like that has happened is for tickets (train and concert) where the last tickets at that price have just been bought, and in that case it doesn't increase the price, it tells you there's a problem and you can't now complete your transaction, and then you have to start again. I'd like to know what this company was so I can avoid ever dealing with them. They sound dodgy.

@Icantsleep3am
Which booking platform was that please? That definitely sounds less than transparent!

I find it very unfair to pin the all blame on OP. It happened to me more than once. I am usually diligent about money and double check everything. On 2 occasions, I checked the final total and made the booking based on the total provided on the confirmation page. Yet, when we came to check out from the hotel to pay the bill, the total amount was considerably higher. I queried the amount both times but was told that by clicking on terms and conditions when making a booking, I agreed to price increases. I mean, most of us are diligent about checking the amounts, but who reads terms and conditions? I went back to the booking confirmation, and lo and behold, I found that even though I saw the total amount with my own eyes on the screen when booking, the actual confirmation email did not show the actual amount. I started questioning my sanity, and only on checking the screenshots taken during the booking I knew that I was not imagining things! But screenshots were no good, as I “agreed” with price increases in fine print. Anyway, friends paid the difference without any issues, as they could also see the unfair tactics deployed by the booking platforms.

How long was it between you booking/paying for the holiday and going on the holiday?

And why on earth didn't you all pay each other before the actual holiday?

You can't eat a meal and then say it was too expensive and expect a discount. You can't wear a dress and then say it was too expensive and expect a discount. I'm afraid you can't enjoy the holiday and then say it was too expensive and expect a discount.

I think it's because OP's post is very confusing

She says "The booking platform and the vendor have both said I saw the price before I paid and they will not reduce it or partially refund. This is technically true but I would never have purchased it if I’d noticed."

This sounds like a contradiction because if she didn't notice the price changing then how can she agree she did see the (higher) price before paying, "technically" or not. If I added something into a basket for £1000 and at the point I clicked pay it still said £1000 then I wouldn't agree that I had "technically" seen the new price of £2000 before paying, I would be arguing "nope it never said £2000 at any point."

If what OP means by "notice" is she saw the price change to £2000 but assumed it was just a mistake and pressed pay anyway then it's on her. If it showed £1000 all the way through and then only showed up as £2000 on her credit card bill or whatever then I don't see how the booking platform can prove she definitely saw the change of price before confirming payment.

tbh if a holiday for multiple families was double the original amount, it must have been pretty high! It's not one room in a travelodge we're talking about!
It seems like a crazy amount to never have a quick look at any point between booking and holiday. It's hardly going through your cc bill line by line querying the cost of a pint of milk, I can't fathom not realising such a big cost was double what I had expected, particularly when it would also have been sent in an email, etc. If OP had queried it at any earlier point she would have had more of a chance of getting it back.

Sounds like a terrible website, even if it is ultimately your fault. To be able to price up a holiday and have it in your basket at x price, then when you click to confirm payment it doubles feels sneaky, even if you should have seen.

This is how all holiday booking sites work!

Have you checked for other reviews of the companyy/platform? I ask because this happened to us with a dodgy third party ticket platform - it turned out it was standard for them and just one of their many dodgy practices.

OP, have you checked on Trustpilot whether there are reviews saying something similar? It sounds very fishy.
of course you should have checked more carefully but it’s easy to say with hindsight.

Ea1a4ea60pp

The time to sort this out was immediately after booking, not now that you’ve been on the trip! This is a lesson in paying attention and being on top of things, OP.

As far as everyone else is concerned I think you've got to swallow it as a mistake on your part, BUT I wouldn't accept a last minute sneaky price doubling from the vendor and would look to fight it, if you paid on credit card you may have a legal channel through there for a partial refund.

Saying that though, the only thing to think about is if it was a school holiday? If you were looking at alternative dates before settling on final dates, you may find prices easily double for school holidays and you've not noticed at the time of booking?

How much did you pay surely even in an expensive month you would notice?? In theses circumstances you won't get a refund and I can't see your friends agreeing to pay double based on your mistake!
Demand pricing surely wouldn't be affected by a few people clicking is it not higher due to being peak season or a bank holiday etc? I'm staying at a hotel next week prices on their website range from £50 to over £200 a night depending which night is booked- rooms are worth whatever providers want to sell them at

This won’t help you OP, but for anyone else…
Please always take multiple screenshots through the booking process, including room upgrades and any other changes, plus the advertised price.
I have to do this every month.
when the final amount actually taken on the credit card is higher than I “contracted for” - I can then go back to the company with evidence.
It happens often.

I feel for you OP as this the kind of stupid thing I would do as I’m notoriously useless with finances.

However I don’t think you can demand the money from others.

If you hadn’t said anything to the others yet I would be inclined to fess up to what happened and say you’ll cover the cost, and hope that the others might feel sorry for you and chip in something towards the extra.

i would also be asking the company for a clear explanation of how their pricing works, but as it’s after your trip the likelihood of getting a refund seem very low.

Hold on.

You got a quote. Discussed it. Confirmed. Price doubled. You didn’t notice on the confirmation. Went on the trip. And now you want a refund?!

ha. No chance.

It is Op's fault for choosing such a dodgy site. I cannot believe that such sites exist and that Op was so careless in not only choosing this site but not checking the final amount deducted immediately and still going through with the trip.

With having done mock bookings and it seems you were charged double/twice, maybe contact Trading Standards / your card issuer to dispute. Get screen shots of it showing now as half the price you paid.