horrible experience with 321 travel complaint warning

[twoweegirls]

warning on 321 travel. Do not use 321 travel - their terms and conditions are unfair according to guidance on unfair terms in package holiday contracts - 'a standard term is unfair if contrary to the requirements of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations arising under the contact, to the detriment of the consumer'. they rattle through terms and conditions of seatsavers very quickly - I stopped the salesman several times as could not hear him well and could not understand his accent and queried why I was being asked for credit card details before I was given flight times. I was told not to worry about that and just to email them back as soon as I was emailed flight details if not happy. Literally 5 mins later, I was told by telephone that my flight from Glasgow to Majorca (usually 2.5 hrs direct with several flights a day under £100 and sometimes under £50) would take 13 hours with a 7 hour stop. They assumed that because I was travelling alone with 2 small children, that I would pay them more than was quoted to get a direct flight or change airport to make it cheaper for them. I said this was ridiculous and they said I had agreed to their terms and conditions of seat savers, which allows them to route you anywhere. I was very unhappy with this and called my credit card, who immediately cancelled my card, but 321 travel had already 'pre-authorised' £300 from my card. This entire event happened over the course of twenty minutes. There is no way that they could have incurred any kind of cost, which would justify them taking £300 from my card. Having read other reviews of their practices, I would not trust them to try to re-arrange any kind of trip, in case they re-route us or add further charges, as they have done with others. I would never have given them my details, but the salesman said just to email them if flights not suitable. Other package holiday contracts guidance says 'terms excluding or limiting a suppliers' obligation to respect either oral or written commitments made by their agents have the potential to be seen as unfair', so allthough they read through terms and conditions, it is still equally important what the salesman says. At the very least their terms are very unfair, but I did not believe that I had any contract with them or they could take money from my card until flights were agreed.I had not considered that a company could be so misleading to do this, when there are very cheap short flights available. The credit card is disputing it and they say that preauthorisation is very unusual.It could take up to 8 weeks to sort out. I am a hard working single mum and £300 means the difference between us having a short 4 night holiday abroad or not. I have had to tell my kids that we cannot go afterall, as the company has kept our money. I don't know how these guys can sleep at night.

go to trading standards with this. go to abta. write to your MP. make a fuss. this is the only way to a) stop them and b) get some money back. if you paid by credit card ask your card provider to stop the amount but do it quickly. go back to the credit card company and tell them what has happened. people with sharp business practices rely on us not to be bothered to complain and this is why they get away with it. contact BBC watchdog as well. they will be interested. good luck. also tell them that this is on MN and if they don't sort it it will hurt their business. post something on tripadvisor too.

Update on a problem with 321 travel.
I thought it was worth one more call to 321 travel, rather than trying for weeks to get the money back and I have to say that their customer service was a completely different experience this time and they were very helpful.
As prices and availability had changed, the solution has involved a change of date, duration and airport, with a late outward flight, but I am ok with this, as they have included the extra night of accomodation and carparking for free. They are also adding in resort transfer, which apparently was not included originally.
Still finding it a bit of a hassle sorting stuff with their admin - confusing confirmation, as lots of stuff incorrect and don't know what is happening with the room, which should have been a triple, as paying adult prices, with no reductions for my two kids.
At least it is nearly organised and we are going on a holiday. I am grateful for the effort that 321 travel have made to sort this out.

321 TRAVEL IS JUST A BUNCH OF CROOKS - STAY AWAY

Hi everyone who is tempted to use this company to book a holiday. I am sorry to disappoint you if you thought you had a hot deal from them. They are most dishonest people I have ever had the misfortune to deal with.

THE PRICE AGREED IS NOT WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO BE CHARGED FROM YOUR ACCOUNT IF YOU MADE A MISTAKE OF GIVING THEM THE CARD DETAILS WHICH THEY WILL PROMPTY ASK YOU TO PROVIDE IN ORDER TO BOOK FOR A DISCOUNTED HOLIDAY WHICH IS ACTUALLY NOT AVAILABLE.

See my experience below and I thought I was alone until I check feedbacks from other customers...

I recently found a 3 days city break to Amsterdam advertised by this company on Holiday Discount Centre website. The advertised price was £132 per person or £264 as it was myself and my girlfriend. So I call the company to book this holiday and a guy by the name of Frank answered. He confirmed this deal was still available and proceed to ask me my debit card details so he can go ahead with the booking while the deal WAS still available. So I naively gave him my card details straight away. After 10 minutes He called me back to say the deal was after all no longer available but proposed an alternative which was £19/person more expensive to original quote (or £151/person). He convinced me that this deal was available and that if I choose to go ahead the total cost of my holiday would be £302. So I agreed to go ahead and make the booking.

However, when I checked my account I noticed 321 Travel took £402 off my account instead of agreed £302. I phoned them thinking this was done in error and that the unauthorised £100 would be refunded back to my account. To my surprise I was told that the additional £100 is charged separately for "Agency bonding fees" (THIS IS NORMALL CALLED ATOL fee which some companies pass on to the customers but the government states that it should be only £2.5 and should be included in the total holiday cost). So I asked to speak to Frank again (the guy who made the original booking) but he was no where to be found!! and I was told "someone will call you regarding this matter" the guy then hang up. I have since phoned several times and each time I am told "someone will call you back" and hung up as usual. I have sent my complaint by emails too but these have also gone unanswered. I am now going to write to ABTA for formal complaint but it's exhausting process and not sure I will get my money back at the end of it.

SO YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR HARD EARNED CASH, BETTER STAY AWAY FROM THESE CROOKS.

Dear all

I am writing to give you an update on the above.

I AM GLAD TO CONFIRM THAT THE MANAGER OF 321 TRAVEL GOT IN TOUCH WITH ME AND APOLOGISED FOR THE WAY IN WHICH MY COMPLAINT WAS HANDLED. HE TOOK FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR REMEDY AND PROMISED TO CHANGE PROCEDURES SO THAT CUSTOMERS WILL BE CLEAR AS TO THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF MONEY TO BE TAKEN OUT OF THIER CREDIT/DEBIT CARD IN FUTURE.

Furthermore, I got £50 refund and a £150 worth voucher for my next booking with 321 travel. I am overall very satisfied with the outcome of my complaint and very thankful to 321 Travel management for swiftly and satisfactorily dealing with this issue and more importantly for taking into account my feedback and that of other customers to improve the quality of their service.

Whatever the representative may have said back then, they seem to be still trying it on. I have just had £76.00 added to what I was told was the final price... (ongoing).

321 Travel are a load of crooks we went on to discount holidays and there was just what we wanted accommodation in the location we wanted it was advertised for£246 per person for a 4 night stay over Easter for the 3 of us stopping in an apartment on the costa del sol leaving from East Midlands which is an airport we could get to easy straight away we were told that the price was no longer correct and it had gone up by £20 per person so we said ok and paid them then the next thing we know was they called us back and said he had to let us know that we would have to stop of at Dublin for 5 hours we said that wasn't an option he said he would go away and have a look at other flights we then got a call from someone else called David a very very rude man who said can I ask why you can't travel from Dublin like we had to explain we were traveling with a cancer patient and arranging the break around his chemo he then said the other option was to leave a day later for the same price so now our 4 night would be 3 nights we then told him that wasn't an option either I then said we would have to cancel and have another look for a different holiday he said he would go and see it he could cancel it and I said this was advertised leaving from East Midlands and it didn't say anything about its stopping of anywhere else he said we just say we will get you from A to B and flights can change anyway he called us back and we were told we had a few options they could cancel the accommodation but we would lose £50 each from the flights I said what for half an hour he said the had reserved the seats or he had found flights which were direct but the were more expensive leaving from Birmingham or East Midlands he said they would be £50 or £33 they said they would pay £13 through curtosy Nd we would then have to pay the £20 I said what choice do we have as he wouldn't give us all our money back never ever would I us this company again I have booked with loads of companies and never have I had this teletext holidays booked us for a break and had to change it due to flights but they offered us extra days free transfers all sorts I really would like to complain but don't know who to complain to