I posted this in uk.legal.moderated earlier this afternoon but knowing the
wealth and breadth of knowledge washing around in here I thought I'd crave a
boon and ask your opinions as well )

Not sure if this is a travel industry thing, or a distance selling thing, or
whatever but I'm hoping that some kind soul here may be able to help.

On 11th October we used www.gtahotels.com to book four hotel rooms and the
room rate given was a grand total of 880 GBP (110 GBP per room per night,
for two nights). Gtahotels.com trade in Euro's as their base currency and at
that time they quoted an exchange rate of 1 EUR = 0.79174 GBP.

As you can see in this picture here
http://www.natureswayhealthandbeauty.co.uk/gta1a.jpg their system appears to
be converting incorrectly as they say we owe them 1260 EUR, which is the
equivalent (at their quoted exchange rate) of 998 GBP and not the 880 GBP
quoted (which would be 1112 EUR).

We ring the helpline and speak to a foreign-sounding person who tells us
that there is a technical problem with the website. She advises us to
complete the transaction because, if we wait for the problem to be sorted
the rooms may no longer be available, and she will refund the difference to
my credit card later - so we do.

We also follow this up with an email to the person concerned and ask for the
refund to be applied as soon as possible, but hear nothing. Incidentally,
that person no longer works there - or so the manager told me yesterday.

Yesterday (12 Nov, and four weeks after we made the booking), my credit card
statement arrives and an entry states "Gtahotels.Com, Lefkose, 1,260 EUR,
Turkey."

So, I call the helpdesk again and escalate it to a manager, following up
with email confirmation, and he promises to look into it.

This morning I get an email reply from them and they are saying that the
conversion calculations are correct - the actual problem was with the room
rates quoted. They say that the room rate was supposed to be 124.75 GBP per
night (instead of the quoted 110) which gives the 998 GBP (1260 EUR) that
they have (in their eyes, correctly) charged us and so we are not going to
get a refund.

OK, I know it is only an extra 30-quid per room over the two-night stay, but
given the current economic situation, that's not good. None of us can really
afford to be making this trip anyway really. We're all pushing ourselves
because it's a milestone birthday for our dad, and for various medical
reasons he may not be around much longer.

If it helps, I found this on their website:

* Gtahotels.com is accredited by the travel industry and is a proud to be
member of IATA, ASTA and TURSAB. *

Are we stuck with paying the extra or is there something I can do to get the
rooms for the original quoted price?

TIA,

John.

http://www.natureswayhealthandbeauty.co.uk/gta1a.jpg their system appears to
be converting incorrectly as they say we owe them 1260 EUR, which is the
equivalent (at their quoted exchange rate) of 998 GBP and not the 880 GBP
quoted (which would be 1112 EUR).

If you have a copy of the original order page showing the lower
prices, initiate a chargeback via the credit card, and provide them
with the costs you expected to be charged.

(other than that, refer to the answers to the same message on
uk.legal)

Colin Wilson wrote:
http://www.natureswayhealthandbeauty.co.uk/gta1a.jpg their system
appears to be converting incorrectly as they say we owe them 1260
EUR, which is the equivalent (at their quoted exchange rate) of 998
GBP and not the 880 GBP quoted (which would be 1112 EUR).

If you have a copy of the original order page showing the lower
prices, initiate a chargeback via the credit card, and provide them
with the costs you expected to be charged.

(other than that, refer to the answers to the same message on
uk.legal)

By 'eck Colin, that was quick )

Have to confess that I don't know what a chargeback is as I've never had to
do one before. If you mean get a refund and go elsewhere, gtahotels have
actually said that they are willing to give a full refund back to my card if
we don't want to pay the higher price.

Fact is, like I said, for medical reasons our dad may not be around much
longer and we do want to make this trip (it's going to be the last one he
ever makes) even if we have to pay the higher price. I was just wondering if
we have some sort of legal/moral recourse to get it at the lower quoted
price or is it just like a mispriced item in a supermarket, where they may
or may not honour it?

TIA,

John

For future reference, never allow hotels or any foreign business
to do the currency conversion before charging to your card. Always
have them charge in local currency and have the card company do the
conversion. Otherwise you will be ripped off by the local merchant
services provider with terrible rates (which includes a commission
payback to the merchant for managing to persuade you to use their
terrible rates).

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:47:36 -0000, "John" wrote:

Colin Wilson wrote:
http://www.natureswayhealthandbeauty.co.uk/gta1a.jpg their system
appears to be converting incorrectly as they say we owe them 1260
EUR, which is the equivalent (at their quoted exchange rate) of 998
GBP and not the 880 GBP quoted (which would be 1112 EUR).

If you have a copy of the original order page showing the lower
prices, initiate a chargeback via the credit card, and provide them
with the costs you expected to be charged.

(other than that, refer to the answers to the same message on
uk.legal)

By 'eck Colin, that was quick )

Have to confess that I don't know what a chargeback is as I've never had to
do one before. If you mean get a refund and go elsewhere, gtahotels have
actually said that they are willing to give a full refund back to my card if
we don't want to pay the higher price.

Fact is, like I said, for medical reasons our dad may not be around much
longer and we do want to make this trip (it's going to be the last one he
ever makes) even if we have to pay the higher price. I was just wondering if
we have some sort of legal/moral recourse to get it at the lower quoted
price or is it just like a mispriced item in a supermarket, where they may
or may not honour it?

TIA,

John


Chargebacks are used where a transaction paid for by a Credit Card (
not usually a Debit Card but Visa Debit Cards might be included) is
disputed and the amount paid by the card is £100+
These links might help explain
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.u...stic-cards.htm
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...rgebacks&meta=

Best to contact your CC company and explain the situation and see what
they say .As has been said if you have a screencap of the amount
originally shown that would help .

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:

For future reference, never allow hotels or any foreign business
to do the currency conversion before charging to your card. Always
have them charge in local currency and have the card company do the
conversion. Otherwise you will be ripped off by the local merchant
services provider with terrible rates (which includes a commission
payback to the merchant for managing to persuade you to use their
terrible rates).

And also, whenever you have to pay for anything in a currency other than
Sterling, use a Nationwide credit card - 'cos they don't charge you any
commission on the currency conversion.
--
Cheers,
Roger
______
Email address maintained for newsgroup use only, and not regularly
monitored.. Messages sent to it may not be read for several weeks.
PLEASE REPLY TO NEWSGROUP!

Roger Mills wrote:
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:

For future reference, never allow hotels or any foreign business
to do the currency conversion before charging to your card. Always
have them charge in local currency and have the card company do the
conversion. Otherwise you will be ripped off by the local merchant
services provider with terrible rates (which includes a commission
payback to the merchant for managing to persuade you to use their
terrible rates).

And also, whenever you have to pay for anything in a currency other
than Sterling, use a Nationwide credit card - 'cos they don't charge
you any commission on the currency conversion.

Thanks very much for all your replies guys, your help is appreciated.

John.

John wrote:
Roger Mills wrote:
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:

For future reference, never allow hotels or any foreign business
to do the currency conversion before charging to your card. Always
have them charge in local currency and have the card company do the
conversion. Otherwise you will be ripped off by the local merchant
services provider with terrible rates (which includes a commission
payback to the merchant for managing to persuade you to use their
terrible rates).

And also, whenever you have to pay for anything in a currency other
than Sterling, use a Nationwide credit card - 'cos they don't charge
you any commission on the currency conversion.

Thanks very much for all your replies guys, your help is appreciated.

John.

Bad form to reply to one's own post etc., but I just thought I'd let you
know that they sent an email this morning saying that they have refunded the
difference and it'll appear on my credit card statement shortly )

John.

On Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:55:18 -0000, "John" wrote:

John wrote:
Roger Mills wrote:
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:

For future reference, never allow hotels or any foreign business
to do the currency conversion before charging to your card. Always
have them charge in local currency and have the card company do the
conversion. Otherwise you will be ripped off by the local merchant
services provider with terrible rates (which includes a commission
payback to the merchant for managing to persuade you to use their
terrible rates).

And also, whenever you have to pay for anything in a currency other
than Sterling, use a Nationwide credit card - 'cos they don't charge
you any commission on the currency conversion.

Thanks very much for all your replies guys, your help is appreciated.

John.

Bad form to reply to one's own post etc., but I just thought I'd let you
know that they sent an email this morning saying that they have refunded the
difference and it'll appear on my credit card statement shortly )

John.


Good result !!!