Flight Centre Incorrect Quote

[elemental]

Hi Everyone,

My wife and I booked an international trip with flight centre (return flights from brisbane),
this included a two week camping tour. and other things including accomodation in hotels,
buses etc.

flight centre printed out the itinerary which has both our names on it, the prices were 'doubled' for everything (as there is two people going) ie the bus trip might cost 40 dollars so it will have

bus trip 80 dollars.

flight centre quoted us a price, printed out the itinerary - i asked them to double check it, they said everything was correct, I checked myself, signed it.... now i find they only charged us for 'one person' for the actual tour...

I called them (as they did not realize there mistake) and they are saying we have to pay the difference... i said no, we signed an agreement - i wouldnt have signed the agreement if i had know the price would increase by an extra $1400.00

does anyone know where I stand with this? fair trading etc?

thanks

 

[trippin_the_rift]

If they've done a quote, and you've signed it then it's a done deal.

Remember..... if they can't beat the price then you fly free.

Flight centers are franchises so of course some will try and be dodgy - but stand your ground and don't give in - you are 100% in the right from the sounds of it. If they want to change the terms - then THEY need to give you something in return for your flexibility.

 

[Blackadder]

Assuming it was booked instore, here are the terms/conditions.

Retail Stores Booking Terms and Conditions

Unless it has been paid in full, then flight centre can vary the price.

 

[Travel Guru]

Flight centers are franchises so of course some will try and be dodgy

Actually no they're not, every single one of them are company owned.

There are a handful of franchised Escape Travel stores, but no Flight Centre stores.



On the topic of what to do, what i'm curious of is whether it was a package price inclusive of everything or whether you were given a complete breakdown of costs on the invoice? I'm deferring my opinion until I know that.

TG

 

[odysseus]

I need some more details too. Are both/all names listed? Are all other components doubled in price except for this tour? Does the total then match all the components listed, or is it higher reflecting as though all components were doubled?

 

[Lucky_man]

I have had similar problem with FC but on cancellation. They quoted a cancellation fee when I booked the tickets but then when I had to cancel because of an ill family member they wanted to charge that cancelation fee each PERSON and for each SEGMENT which would have been thousands (these were F and full Y tickets!). Fortunately I complained to Qantas (it included their flights) and I got a sermon from the FC operator who declared her impecable integrity, said I was wrong to question her integrity and begrudgingly gave me the refund according to contract.

Establish rationally and cool headedly what is correct and fair and then be hard - do not let them wear you down.

 

[Mal]

Welcome to AFF.

I'll also reserve my judgement for the moment, as I suspect you should have had an idea of the tour price for two people when you booked, but somehow overlooked it when it was on the quote.

I think the best general advice I can give is for you to stand your ground with Flight Centre and see where that gets you. There is also a central complaints line you can call regarding them, but I'm not aware of their number.

 

[elemental]

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for the replies, basically both our names were on the itinerary
and the prices for everything were doubled in price.

for example they did NOT have:

flights = $1000.00 x 2 = Total = $2000.00

they just had the one figure

Flights = $2000.00 (as an example).

They doubled everything, the flights, the buses, the accomodation, everything apart form the tour (they stuffed up). we signed the agreement and everything was booked...

we are the ones that noticed the price difference - I called them and they said "oh oops sorry we will add the extra $1500.00 to your bill"

I said no... this was supposed to be a budget holliday, if we had realized this was going to cost an extra $1500.00 we would not have agreed to it.

also what would have happened if we had not noticed? rocked up to the other side of the world and only had one tour paid for?

I am really not happy with flight centre over this.

Cheers everyone for your input

 

[elemental]

Oh and just to answer a few questions were were given a complete breakdown of costs on the invoice (however we were under the impression that the tour was going to cost $1400.00 for both of us not double the price)

and the total amount owing is 'accurate' in the sense that it adds up correctly to what is on the intinerary... they just forgot to double the price for the tour (which is not our fault).

 

[Mal]

Oh and just to answer a few questions were were given a complete breakdown of costs on the invoice (however we were under the impression that the tour was going to cost $1400.00 for both of us not double the price)

I do think you have recourse against Flight Centre, although getting them to swallow their loss will be the difficult bit. The customer care hotline I mentioned earlier is:

1800 117 747
Complaints & Compliments
Customer Relations
Monday to Friday 9:00AM – 5:00PM AEST


It does surprise me that an agent can think that one only tour would need to be booked, and didn't double check that with you (or specifically make note of that in the itinerary to cover themselves) . Does indicate that you may have had a new staffer - or their supervisor didn't check the quote properly before allowing it to be issued.

Then again - Flight Centre is also known as "Fright Centre", so you get what you pay for!

 

[Travel Guru]

Given that it wasn't given as a package, but instead a breakdown of individual elements (air, tours etc) was given, I find it really hard to believe you didn't have some idea on what cost you were looking at nor notice the discrepancy at the time.

Having spent 5+ years working in consulting and managing for Flight Centre before running my own agency which I do to this day, I have trouble recalling ever a time when a client didn't come in with a rough idea on what their tour was going to cost.

I don't know what brand of tour you're doing, but it would almost be naive to think you could do it for half of what you were incorrectly quoted, infact I don't think it would be possible to find any tour for close to that figure.

It's a double edged sword in my mind, on one hand yes, you do have cause to hold Flight Centre to their price, but on the other, you also have to act ethically.

Mistakes happen in travel, just like in any other industry. I cant say ive ever made a mistake like that on an invoice, but it's only because I'm so cough with checking invoices, but FC is a high pressure environment which only leads to potential errors from time to time.

I would ask Flight Centre to negotiate, but my personal feeling is you should also accept some of the responsibility, and therefore be prepared to meet them part way at least.

I'm not for a second suggesting this what happened, but no doubt there's a certain sector of society who would jump at the chance to take advantage of the TA's typo and gain financially by holding them to the price, but you have to remember (and please remember i'm not suggesting this is the case with you), that whatever loss FC take, the TA wears a large percentage of...so its not some giant multi-national thats being taken advantage of, its an individual.

In the end, i would say do what you feel is ethical and moral, and if you truly feel that FC has done the wrong thing by you (and as I said, i find it terribly difficult to believe you couldnt have noticed a discrepency in figures like this) then go after them.

Please note all of my comments are my opinion only and dont reflect that of my fellow board members.

All the best with it.

TG

 

[elemental]

Thank you Mal I will give them a call today and see what happens

 

[elemental]

The thing is guru - due to all the other items on the itinerary - we only looked at the total price
and it was cheaper (yet similar in price) to other quotes we received. I asked the person three times "are all the prices correct, can you please go over everthing and make sure it is correct"

the person replied yes everything is correct there will be no extra charges. I even went back into the store and said "my wife thinks the tour is a little cheap is this price correct" she replied "yes the price is correct"... it was only later that we looked up the price of the tour online and realized wow they have only charged us for one person to go on the tour... now we need to pay an extra $1400.00 (that we dont have!) - I just feel ripped off.

I mean basically any travel agent could say "yep this is the total cost of your trip - sign here" book everything and then go "Oh **** sorry, I forgot to add the second person you now owe us X amount of dollars extra"... its not right. I do agree with you guru that I need to do what is ethical however my main issue is not just 'trying to save some money' its the fact that I asked this person three times (four if you include me specifically pointing out to her that I didnt think the value was correct) and she still didnt pick up on it....

 

[chanteuse]

If that is the case and you really don't have the money, you could definitely cancel the booking and have a refund.

I think people are only suggesting that you may not both be able to go on the tour for the price you have paid, not that you must pay the extra money now.

 

[harvyk]

I'd suggest writing a letter. A few years back a TA booked us a hotel and a tour package. For some reason they decided that whilst the hotel booking was for two people, only one person was booked on the tour. They tried to use find print to get out of it.

I wrote a letter, explaining the facts, and that it was "unusual that I would want to book a hotel for two people, and yet wouldn't want to book 2 people on the tour", worked. I ended up sending a letter to both fair trading and the TA involved.

I suggest a letter, highlighting the fact that everything bar the tour was booked for two people. It would show that the TA made a mistake, and fair trading will oftan overrule T&C's.

 

[Travel Guru]

The thing is guru - due to all the other items on the itinerary - we only looked at the total price
and it was cheaper (yet similar in price) to other quotes we received. I asked the person three times "are all the prices correct, can you please go over everthing and make sure it is correct"

the person replied yes everything is correct there will be no extra charges. I even went back into the store and said "my wife thinks the tour is a little cheap is this price correct" she replied "yes the price is correct"... it was only later that we looked up the price of the tour online and realized wow they have only charged us for one person to go on the tour... now we need to pay an extra $1400.00 (that we dont have!) - I just feel ripped off.

I mean basically any travel agent could say "yep this is the total cost of your trip - sign here" book everything and then go "Oh **** sorry, I forgot to add the second person you now owe us X amount of dollars extra"... its not right. I do agree with you guru that I need to do what is ethical however my main issue is not just 'trying to save some money' its the fact that I asked this person three times (four if you include me specifically pointing out to her that I didnt think the value was correct) and she still didnt pick up on it....

If that's the case (and I appreciate you pointing it out as it makes things clearer), i'd be expecting FC to wear the negative.

Don't complain to the store manager or area leader, as their main focus is reducing any negative, go straight to the national complaints line as Mal suggested as they are required to report back to HO the outcome of every logged call and generally they dont care as much about reducing negatives as they do satisfying clients.

I'd definately point out that you'll be taking it further and that you've completed a stat dec in the presence of a JP to confirm what happened and they either wear it or you'll escalate it.

If that is sincerely what went on, I dont think there's any question that you shouldnt be wearing it.

Good luck, hope you get the resolution you're seeking.

TG