Is there a law against this?

[northernladuk]

Just ask for a breakdown of the costs.

Actually didn't a new tax kick in this month for holidays. So they may be right and just forgot about it.

Yeah I got hit with this with Ryan Air. Got asked to stump up £x.xx amount extra. Heard it was coming on the news so paid but they did advise me and I had to make the transaction. I would also have been pretty unhappy if it had just appeared on my statement as well.

[Paddy]

Booked a holiday with a card over the phone the other day.

Got an email with the invoice and they tacked on an extra £16 to what they told us we were paying over the phone. Now I know it's not a lot of money but in principle if you pay for something by giving someone your card details over the phone surely they have some kind of obligation/duty to only charge you exactly what they said they would.

Now they're saying it's airline tax that accounts for the extra but I don't really give a tulip about that. If they say "OK that will be £x what's the long number on the front of your card?" then you get an invoice for £x+16 they've either screwed up on their information at the time or are being a bit dodgy in the hope that we'll just not worry about it.

Is there a law against this - like false advertising or something?

There are laws against it but the problem is enforcing the Law. When the law makers (MPs) pass a law, anything for the consumer or common man is watered down and almost un-enforceable. On the contrary, any law in favour for banks, solicitors, local authorities etc have the full weight of the judiciary and even the criminal court. Despite what you think, you can still go to prison for debt. (Council Tax or a High Court Write brought privately).

To get you £16 back would be too costly. Just the court fees will cost you £200 + , and you may lose. Trading standards are now toothless thanks to changes in the law.

[TheFaQQer]

The law to which you refer to is called theft.

Forget about credit cards for a minute. Try this scenario.

You walk into the local corner shop to buy a loaf. That's £1.45 please says the cashier.
You hand over a £20 note and get 50p change.

Theft, pure and simple.

The contract is with the credit card company. They have significantly more clout than the individual. So see what they say.

[TheFaQQer]

Just ask for a breakdown of the costs.

Actually didn't a new tax kick in this month for holidays. So they may be right and just forgot about it.

Whether they forgot about it or not is a moot point - they offered the deal at one price, that offer was accepted, and the offer was then changed subsequently.

[TheFaQQer]

To get you £16 back would be too costly. Just the court fees will cost you £200 +

Small Claims Court is £30 to file.

Given that the case wouldn't set any legal precedent and would cost the vendor significantly more to fight it, they would settle out of court and pay up.

[Old Greg]

Or try local trading standards. Not sure if ABTA will help (if they're a member).

[Jog On]

Thanks for the replies all. We paid using a debit card so can't charge back.

They are saying it's Ryanair's tax and keep trying to fob me off onto them. I did actually call their customer service who said they'd audit the phone call and then accidentally cut me off soon after that.

I've asked them for the exact transaction records from the phone call. I suspect they'll lose/delete that. I think they forgot to add the Ryanair tax when they quoted us for the whole lot on the phone, but charging it automatically without explanation isn't the way to get around that. Also in the invoice it's listed as a transaction 'surcharge' which they told us would be £10 not £26 when they asked if we'd agree to it on the phone.

I've CC'd ATOL in all emails to them so we'll see what they say next. They keep just saying Ryanair over and over again and I keep saying "we trusted you with our card details and you helped yourself to an amount we didn't agree to".

Airline tax and mistake on their part or not - you don't help yourself to somoene's money when they've trusted you with the means to do so..

[Jog On]

OK I just googled "lowcostholidays complaints" and there are a lot of negative reviews for this company saying they've taken more than was agreed from people's accounts.

I think it's time to go straight to the regulators.

[TheFaQQer]

Thanks for the replies all. We paid using a debit card so can't charge back.

They are saying it's Ryanair's tax and keep trying to fob me off onto them. I did actually call their customer service who said they'd audit the phone call and then accidentally cut me off soon after that.

I've asked them for the exact transaction records from the phone call. I suspect they'll lose/delete that. I think they forgot to add the Ryanair tax when they quoted us for the whole lot on the phone, but charging it automatically without explanation isn't the way to get around that. Also in the invoice it's listed as a transaction 'surcharge' which they told us would be £10 not £26 when they asked if we'd agree to it on the phone.

I've CC'd ATOL in all emails to them so we'll see what they say next. They keep just saying Ryanair over and over again and I keep saying "we trusted you with our card details and you helped yourself to an amount we didn't agree to".

Airline tax and mistake on their part or not - you don't help yourself to somoene's money when they've trusted you with the means to do so..

You'll get nowhere.

Ryan Air don't give a flying toss about their customers - they are regularly mentioned in complaints about airlines not meeting their legal obligations about compensation, so I can't imagine that you'll get anywhere with their customer complaints department. Actually, I'm astounded you managed to get any response at all.

Wait until you've had the flights, then file a small claims court case

[TheFaQQer]

A guy is sitting in the bar in departures at a busy airport. A beautiful woman walks in and sits down at the table next to him.

He decides that because she's got a uniform on, she's probably an off-duty flight attendant. So he decides to have a go at picking her up by identifying the airline she flies for, thereby impressing her greatly.

He leans across to her and says the Delta Airlines motto "We love to fly and it shows".

The woman looks at him blankly. He sits back and thinks up another line.

He leans forward again and delivers the Air France motto "Winning the hearts of the world".

Again she just stares at him with a slightly puzzled look on her face.

Undeterred, he tries again, this time saying the Malaysian Airlines motto "Going beyond expectations".

The woman looks at him sternly and says "What the f ** k do you want?"

"Ahhh", he says, sitting back with a smile on his face, "Ryanair".