AIBU to tell a little white lie to get the price of holiday down?

[Joolsy]

Been quoted almost £700 online for a post-Christmas break at a famous holiday park. It's already got some discounts taken off but it's more than £200 more than we paid for the same holiday last year (due to a mis-quote on their part!). I want to try and haggle the price down so WIBU to ring them and say I'd been quoted, say, £550 and would like to now go ahead (lie!)....WIBU or can anyone come up a tactic to bring the price down?

Do you seriously imagine they'll take your word for it? They won't have given you a verbal quote anyway, if you can't prove the quote you're supposed to have been given you wouldn't have a leg to stand on; ethics aside.
As scams go, you really need to go back to the drawing board

This is not a scam.

I get this quite often - I've seen another similar apartment £x cheaper - my reply 'that sounds like a bargain, I'd book it now if I were you'

Surely you send the police around to have them arrested first no.

Companies know their own market. There is nothing wrong with haggling to get a better price even in the U.K. Bizarre.

Oh yes, I log it with 101

I also get asked for my 'best price' fairly regularly in those cases I'm always tempted to double it

Good grief, it isn't fraud or anything criminal! It is an invitation to treat, nothing more.

The lie is totally futile, because no holiday company is going to give you a massive discount without checking what you are saying is correct, but this is not a criminal matter in a month of sundays!

Oh yes, I log it with 101

That is a relief Costa the police spend hours of investigative time in bargain hunters, they would really appreciate the tip off.

You might call it a little white lie, the law would call it fraud.

^ this

You could certainly ask them to lower the price, but they're not bloody idiots and would just laugh at you for trying to persuade them that an unspecified person gave you a too good to be true price on some unspecified date.

I phoned them up and said I'd been quoted 50p and a bunch of grapes and they had to take my word for it and honour the deal.

They will check the price.

Try it. Unless they are born yesterday, no chance.

You can give it a go but, be prepared to be laughed at

Nope Piglet it is not fraud.

Fraud, unethical, scamming...lol.

Say you saw it for £450 OP

Of course, death - how could anyone think lying was wrong in any way.

I suppose it depends how shameless you are if you are happy to commit a criminal offence contrary to section 2, Fraud Act 2006 then that is for you. You will be committing the offence of attempt just by telling your "little white lie" - whether you are successful or not in getting the discount. By doing so you can be imprisoned for this for five years. If you had never done this sort of thing before you would probably just get a fine or maybe a police caution but whatever the result if you were caught it is still a criminal conviction. That might have some repercussions in the future career wise and may be embarrassing if it gets in the local paper/social media.

Section 2 of the Fraud Act makes it an offence to commit fraud by false representation in any form. For a representation to be false, the representation being made must be wrong or misleading, and the person making it must know that it is, or might be, wrong or misleading.

Nope Stevefromstevenage this is fraud

Well apart from the rights and wrongs, it just won't work!

I once tried to book a holiday online with a time-limited discount offer on the evening the offer ended. Unfortunately their website failed and their call centre was closed in the evening. I contacted them first thing the next day asking them to honour the discount and they refused. And refused some more. Eventually I persuaded them that for the sake of a genuine discount they were perfectly happy to offer less than 24 hours earlier it wasn't worth having a customer as angry as I was, and they honoured it. But it took a LOT of persuasion and the benefit of the moral high ground to get them to back down.

Unless you have oscar-worthy acting skills and iron resolve, there is no way on earth you'll get a discount based on entirely fictitious quote.

How is this fraud??

If this is fraud I come across it EVERY single day in my job when people 'misrepresent' themselves and tell lies for their own material gain.

lookingOld
What planet are you on that you think this would result in a prosecution?!
Clearly not a planet that has anything to do with UK law because it doesn't fall anywhere close to charging guidelines
www.cps.gov.uk/legal/d_to_g/fraud_act/

So to be clear people, this is not fraud. It might be morally dubious if you think travel agents were all a)born yesterday and b)have some duty to automatically beat any quote they hear

Anyway, doesn't look like OP is coming back. Probably too busy sunning herself on a cut price holiday somewhere

This is not fraud. They're just going to ask the OP to document the quote, which naturally she won't be able to do.

Seems like a lot of people on this thread don't get out much.

LookingOldBeforMyTime can you point us towards one case of someone being prosecuted under these circumstances?

Seems like a lot of people on this thread don't get out much

What just because people don't agree with blatant lying?

Wow.

So, what did you do OP?

I bloody love MN

You could try the "last year we only paid" line but since it seems last year was an error they honoured I doubt it will work.

If you just say I was quoted this it doesn't mean anything and they will just think know you are a lying ass and won't budge (said as an ex travel agent)