Where do I stand - cancelling a booking

[rossk26]

Hello,

I made a booking for the Pentahotel Vienna about a month ago (24/1/13) for a 3 night stay at the end of July this summer.

Today I have been charged on my credit card for that booking, over a month after it was made. I had originally worked out that it would cost me £178 after a mastercard exchange rate. However I have now been charged £190 due to a lesser exchange rate today than it was a month ago. I made the reservation through booking.com.

After a short phone call they couldn't explain why it took over a month to charge me, and that I should have been charged on the day of the booking.

Now, I have found the hotel cheaper through hotels.com (£153.46) for the same room, same hotel, same dates etc. And upon checking booking.com best price policy it appears they probably wont accept my claim despite meeting their 4 criteria Best Price Guarantee - Based on the fact it's a non refundable booking...

So I'm wondering if anyone could offer advice on where I stand and what I can do.

Can I reject the cancellation through my credit card, and not be penalised by booking.com?

tl;dr Made a reservation at hotel 1 month ago, charged today more than expect, can I cancel and not be charged for it..

 

[TrixiBuG]

You could always speak to the Hotel direct and see if they will do anything regarding the difference in price and give you an explanation regarding why it took so long to charge your account...

In regards to hotels.com and their price match it says nothing in their VISABLE T&C's regarding none refundable reservation...have you submitted a price match claim to them?

If you have and they have refused it then you need to speak to them and be insistent about there being nothing on VISABLE on their site regarding none refundable rates and price matches

I keep saying visible cause this is really important. They have to make their clear and if it is difficult to find information and T&C's then you can dispute it.

 

[Bat]

Speak to the credit card company in the first instance. I guess it depends on the T&Cs you signed up to, but I would certainly be looking for a cancellation and full refund if I were you.

 

[TrixiBuG]

On closer inspection, you have a right to cancel as they have broken terms of contract to you regarding taking payment.

As per their T&C's:

PAY NOW ONLINE OR PAY LATER AT HOTEL DETAILS

With certain hotels, you may be presented with the option to pay online immediately or to pay later at the hotel itself. If you select the option to pay online immediately, you will be charged the amount in the currency that you select immediately. If you select to pay later at the hotel itself, the hotel will charge you in the local currency of the relevant hotel at the time of your stay. Tax rates and foreign exchange rates could change in the time between booking and stay.

 

[tom_e]

Speak to the credit card company in the first instance. I guess it depends on the T&Cs you signed up to, but I would certainly be looking for a cancellation and full refund if I were you.

If you go running straight to the CC company the first thing they'll ask is have you tried talking to the retailer.
They don't want to go around snatching payments back without you at least trying to sort it first.

 

[TrixiBuG]

I would phone them and point out the section in the T&C's I quoted BELOW (see post #11)where it says that they will charge you during the booking process and say:

As per the T&C's I agreed to with yourselves at the time of booking, you were supposed to charge me immediately which didn't happen.

I have seen that the same hotel for the same dates etc is available on hotels.com for less than what you *eventually* charged me for.

I would like to request that you amend my booking to reflect this new price and refund my card with the difference. (price match) If you can not do this, I would like to cancel with a full refund - even though I paid a none-refundable rate, the terms of contract have been voided due to the late payment.

If you (the agent on the phone) can not autherise this, I would like to speak to your manager or someone who can

I have worked in the travel industry for nearly 10 years in a customer service role in call centers and we have to abide by our T&C's

 

[rossk26]

Thanks for all the replies, before I posted this thread I did contact booking.com, and they said they could not refund me the extra £12 that I have been charged.

I haven't tried to ring back to ask about a price match, as I know from the previous call they are very unhelpful and not very flexible at all. I shall give that a go now, and will quote that they failed to meet their T&C's

My only concern is that booking.com will make a case that it was the hotels responsibility to take payment, and they cannot issue a refund etc. etc...

 

[tom_e]

My only concern is that booking.com will make a case that it was the hotels responsibility to take payment, and they cannot issue a refund etc. etc...

If they try arguing that then point out to them it shouldn't be in their T&Cs that payment will be taken immediately as they have no control if it's down to the hotel.

 

[TrixiBuG]

There is no reason why they wont price match tho...it says in their T&C's:

NOTE: Should you decide to cancel your reservation, you’re still free to do so. But wait - if you can't cancel anymore (like when you book last-minute or choose a non-refundable room) we'll still accept your claim. Just be sure to contact us within 24 hours of booking.

Ahh but you booked more than 24 hrs ago...hold on I will have another root through their T&C's...

 

[div0]

As per the T&C's I agreed to with yourselves at the time of booking, you were supposed to charge me immediately which didn't happen.

I have seen that the same hotel for the same dates etc is available on your site for less than what you *eventually* charged me for.

I would like to request that you amend my booking to reflect this new price and refund my card with the difference. If you can not do this, I would like to cancel with a full refund - even though I paid a none-refundable rate, the terms of contract have been voided due to the late payment.

If you (the agent on the phone) can not authorise this, I would like to speak to your manager or someone who can

Basically this (typo's corrected in case you decide to email instead of phone).

 

[TrixiBuG]

Basically this (typo's corrected in case you decide to email instead of phone).

Thanks for that div0...

Okay so booking.com's T&C - I miss quoted above, so have removed, apologies - state the following:

If applicable and available, certain accommodation providers offer the opportunity for non-refundable reservations to pay directly to the accommodation provider during the reservation process by means of secure online payment (all to the extent offered and supported by your bank). Payment is safely processed through a third party payment processor and directly made from your bank account to the bank account of the accommodation provider. Booking.com does not make, accept or process any payment to or on behalf of the accommodation provider.

booking.com do not handle the money in any way BUT they do state that the payment will happen during the booking process - this did not happen.

So the 'example' phone conversation above still stands.

 

[Tican]

Thanks for that div0...

Okay so booking.com's T&C - I miss quoted above, so have removed, apologies - state the following:



booking.com do not handle the money in any way BUT they do state that the payment will happen during the booking process - this did not happen.

So the 'example' phone conversation above still stands.

I work for a large chain of hotels. When we receive a booking.com "saver" reservation, we have to manually run a report to find the reservation then process the payment. It's not done automatically for us, and can sometimes take a week or so for us to take payment.

 

[TrixiBuG]

I work for a large chain of hotels. When we receive a booking.com "saver" reservation, we have to manually run a report to find the reservation then process the payment. It's not done automatically for us, and can sometimes take a week or so for us to take payment.

Which is fine Tican , but booking.com do not state that in their T&C's which are agreed with them when the Op made the booking.

They (booking.com) need a disclaimer in their terms which inform the client that that there my be a delay of up to 1/ 2/ 3/ 4 weeks/ months/ years/ eons what ever when you make a booking.

To accurately do this with the chain you work for, for example, booking.com would have a contract with your chain where you guys have to take payment for booking.com bookings withing a proposed lead time.

Booking.com clearly don't have this in place, but the Op's expectations at the time of booking have not been managed in accordance to their T&C's. He has a right to a Price Match or a refund

@Tican - not having a go Please don't think I am

 

[Tican]

Which is fine Tican , but booking.com do not state that in their T&C's which are agreed with them when the Op made the booking.

They (booking.com) need a disclaimer in their terms which inform the client that that there my be a delay of up to 1/ 2/ 3/ 4 weeks/ months/ years/ eons what ever when you make a booking.

To accurately do this with the chain you work for, for example, booking.com would have a contract with your chain where you guys have to take payment for booking.com bookings withing a proposed lead time.

Booking.com clearly don't have this in place, but the Op's expectations at the time of booking have not been managed in accordance to their T&C's. He has a right to a Price Match or a refund

@Tican - not having a go Please don't think I am

I know what you're saying. It's wrong that they don't have that in their T&C's. But as far as I am aware, there is no way for us, at least, to have automatic payments. All payments are processed at site!

 

[rossk26]

Got through again to the customer service @ booking.com, and got put onto the cutomer service manager (who was English) hurray!!

Anyway she is going to speak to the hotel to discuss why the payment has been 1 month late. And see if I can have a refund for the difference in exchange rates. I'm kind of thinking I should have lead with the price match guarantee now, but as long as I get a refund that'll be good.

My only other concern now is I have another reservation with another hotel with Booking.com. For the Corinthia in Budapest. However the terms clearly state that payment will be processed upon arrival. So I don't have any qualms about that, and will just have to accept the exchange rate on the day, and not what it was when I booked.

Do you think I should mention the price match guarantee when they contact me? I think somewhere it is mentioned about if they cannot price match I can still cancel my reservation, however I will be charged to cancel my reservation...

 

[tom_e]

It's worth a shot, don't ask don't get.

 

[TrixiBuG]

It's worth a shot, don't ask don't get.

This

I hope you got the CS Managers name and contact information. Its great that she seems to be helping you out for the moment, but it can get very busy working in a CS department and sometimes things fall through the cracks.

Hopefully she will call you back today and give you some answers (I would give her till this afternoon or poss this time tomorrow) otherwise chase, chase, chase!

 

[rossk26]

This

I hope you got the CS Managers name and contact information. Its great that she seems to be helping you out for the moment, but it can get very busy working in a CS department and sometimes things fall through the cracks.

Hopefully she will call you back today and give you some answers (I would give her till this afternoon or poss this time tomorrow) otherwise chase, chase, chase!

Just had a phone call back now, they will be refunding me the difference. I also asked about the price match guarantee and she is passing it onto the price match guarantee team who will contact me later.

Is there any valid grounds in which they cannot accept the price match?

Booking.com = £189
Hotels.com = £153

The 4 agreed terms have been met:
- Same property
- Same room (or accommodation) type
- Same check-in and check-out dates
- Same room conditions (like the meal plan, cancellation policy, etc.)

If we can't match the lower price because of these 4 terms, you keep your existing reservation - including the cancellation policy.

So basically can they say, we can't match the price, so it remains the same. And with it being a non-refundable booking I'm stuck...?

Not much a "Best Price Guarantee"

 

[TrixiBuG]

Just had a phone call back now, they will be refunding me the difference. I also asked about the price match guarantee and she is passing it onto the price match guarantee team who will contact me later.

Is there any valid grounds in which they cannot accept the price match?

Booking.com = £189
Hotels.com = £153

The 4 agreed terms have been met:
- Same property
- Same room (or accommodation) type
- Same check-in and check-out dates
- Same room conditions (like the meal plan, cancellation policy, etc.)


So basically can they say, we can't match the price, so it remains the same. And with it being a non-refundable booking I'm stuck...?

Not much a "Best Price Guarantee"

The only thing I can see is that you are well outside the 24 hour booking period. They ask you to contact them inside of 24 hours of booking but I am not sure how 'concrete' that term is - its not very clear (like their whole site IMHO)

 

[rossk26]

Yeh I suspect anyway they can possibly get out of it they will! But it's worth a shot...

Still pleased to have sucesfully been granted a refund for the price difference. Thanks for all of your help with this. I think this line won it during the phone call for me

As per the T&C's I agreed to with yourselves at the time of booking, you were supposed to charge me immediately which didn't happen. If you (the agent on the phone) can not authorise this, I would like to speak to your manager or someone who can