Holiday price scam!

[IsabelleRinging]

We booked a holiday online and paid deposit via credit card.

The following day the holiday company rang and said they wanted an extra sum of money as the hotel had increased it's prices.

They gave us a choice of paying the extra or a freehmm refund.

Can they do this as it screams of false advertising to me? We are all so excited about the holiday and don't want to cancel, but equally feel we are being conned into paying more than we wanted to.

The company are also still advertising the holiday online at the lower rate.

Is this legal and AIBU to contact trading standards?

If they are still advertising the cheaper rate then do contact trading standards. Ask them whether or not you have to pay the difference.

I'm not sure, companies can't be held to it if they genuinely misprice a product, so maybe it depends how much they're asking for. I don't think trading standards exist anymore, I think its now 'consumer direct'.

How much extra is it? Could you get the same holiday elsewhere at lower than the new total?

A similar thing happened to me once and I found put then that most holiday companies have a clause in their T&C's that basically says if it turns out that they fucked up on the price- unless you pay the difference- you aren't going on holiday.

Equally, they can't continue to offer the holiday at the lower price if they have made a mistake so you might have an arguement by saying this.

They wanted an extra £150, DH told them we would think about it, he then rang them back for more details and they said it was now an extra £250! Looked elewhere and it is unavailable or quite a lot more than that, but the original price was our max really.

That sounds very wrong- is is a reputable company? If not I'd run a mile.

It sounds to me like the holiday company have made a mistake and are trying to cover themselves, and keep their profit. They should be using live pricing if they're allowing online booking. If you booked over the phone it might be different, but obviously you didn't.

I'd refuse to pay extra, and ask why they're still advertising the original price if its no longer available at that rate.

I watched something on telly, and it was all about companies behaving like this. Get a refund and go elsewhere asap

If they're still advertising the original price contact trading standards and refuse to pay

I'd be inclined to say you cannot afford to pay extra so will have a refund and hope they let you have it at the original price anyway.

Slightly different situation but we booked at a holiday park place once and they rang to say there were none of the (mid range) chalets we'd booked available so we had a choice of paying extra for a deluxe one or having a partial refund and a bog standard chalet. I said I didn't want to do either and could I have a full refund instead and she gave us the upgrade for free (I suspected she would!)

Is it with regal holidays by any chance? If so get your money back and run for the hills!