Zuji and my $68 lesson

[Alanslegal]

Last Saturday night at around 1155pm I booked a VA fare on Zuji to utilise their "no credit card fee" on bookings service.

VA was also having a time limited sale which ended that night at midnight so away I went and booked with Zuji (a PER-SYD o/w) for two people.

On Sunday afternoon I then receive an email from Zuji saying that they could not ticket my ticket as the fares had changed and that I had to call them to pay the difference, with the usual spiel that "prices cannot be guaranteed until tickets are issued" etc.

As the sale had ended that midnight and Zuji could no longer see those $199 tickets and VA also reverted back to $239 now I have to proceed to paying $239 instead of $199 :evil:

Anyway, a lesson learnt, I should have booked direct with VA and accept the booking fee of $6pp for domestic flights versus purchasing on Zuji which couldn't guarantee the purchase price at time of booking :shock:

 

[kpc]

Anyway, a lesson learnt, I should have booked direct with VA and accept the booking fee of $6pp for domestic flights versus purchasing on Zuji which couldn't guarantee the purchase price at time of booking :shock:

No, you should have booked much earlier in the day!

 

[Alanslegal]

No, you should have booked much earlier in the day!

If I booked it at 459pm and they closed for business at 5:00pm and no one would process my purchase till next time someone got back to work ... then I'd still be stuck

 

[cmon0005]

I was under the impression that TA's could effectively 'Hold you a seat in a particular fare bucket' for a short amount of time at the same price until it was ticketed?

I think it's plain wrong though, you were quoted $x and gave them your CC details (effectively giving them cash) why should it be your fault that they took a while to ticket it?

 

[moa999]

When I have used zuji (for similar reasons) the ticketing has occured insantaneously
I would not have been accepting it when they called saying you booked at 11.55 - the fare was available for another 5 minutes - it is their problem if they couldnt issue the ticket.

 

[docjames]

Agree, I would have expected Zuji to honour the fare.

 

[eastwest101]

When I have used zuji (for similar reasons) the ticketing has occured insantaneously
I would not have been accepting it when they called saying you booked at 11.55 - the fare was available for another 5 minutes - it is their problem if they couldnt issue the ticket.

I agree. But would also be worthwhile for the OP to check their location and clock stuff when booking online. I don't know myself, but did that VA sale fare end at 12 midnight AEST or AEDST? Assuming the OP tried to book on the zuji.com.au web site?

 

[Alanslegal]

Thanks for the comments. Yeah I was surprised there was no instant ticketing

I booked through zuji.com.au and was in SYD.

But anyway I rung up Zuji and won't honour the $199 fare. The agent (probably off-shore) wasn't too keen on helping other than pay or we will cancel.

 

[burmans]

Thanks for the comments. Yeah I was surprised there was no instant ticketing

I booked through zuji.com.au and was in SYD.

But anyway I rung up Zuji and won't honour the $199 fare. The agent (probably off-shore) wasn't too keen on helping other than pay or we will cancel.

How many other industry's would regard this as acceptable, not many I'd suggest in todays market. I'm pretty sure that our Consumer Affairs people will move on this sometime, what ever happened to the rumour of a Travel Ombudsman?

 

[docjames]

How many other industry's would regard this as acceptable, not many I'd suggest in todays market. I'm pretty sure that our Consumer Affairs people will move on this sometime, what ever happened to the rumour of a Travel Ombudsman?

Agreed, i'd be tempted to take it further (on principle, not for the sake of the ~$30).

 

[eastwest101]

Agreed, i'd be tempted to take it further (on principle, not for the sake of the ~$30).

I second that motion, if you have time Alanslegal, on the principle of the thing (not necessarily for the sake of the $68). If you had a date stamped screen capture of the fare with the time with you entering your credit card details that would help a lot. Unfortunately, hindsight is a wonderful thing and we all often make the assumption that what we want to happen online actually does happen online in a timely manner. Even if we did find out that your State Dept of Fair Trading cannot help then at least we would know something. It would be interesting to hear how Zuji explain the lack of instant ticketing in your case. I suspect that Zuji may be a bit more co-operative with a government department asking the same questions that you probably would like to ask.

Just as an aside Alanslegal one other question - when the Zuji phone call centre operator says "pay or we will cancel" what exactly are the consequences of "pay" i.e. they will charge your CC for the $239? And what are the consequences of "cancel" - what if anything can they charge you for there? Just interested.

 

[Alanslegal]

Just as an aside Alanslegal one other question - when the Zuji phone call centre operator says "pay or we will cancel" what exactly are the consequences of "pay" i.e. they will charge your CC for the $239? And what are the consequences of "cancel" - what if anything can they charge you for there? Just interested.

The person who I spoke to, well English was definitely her second language. It was very difficult to understand. I basically gave them my Zuji reference number and then queried why the ticket wasn't ticket and she said to the effect that "so you wish to pay?" And then I just couldn't be bothered so I just told her to cancel, where she responded along the lines "that you don't want to pay, and cancel?". If the person was more competent with English I probably would have pushed more and sought clarification (possibly from someone higher).

In terms of cancelling, it was no cost to me to cancel as I did not accept the price increase. Anyway, for now, I guess its case closed for me.

 

[AVC]

Where's the $68 come into it?

Two times 39 is 78, but the fare difference is 40, so wouldn't that make it an 80 dollar lesson?

And with sales, always get in early.

 

[yo yo ma]

Where's the $68 come into it?

Two times 39 is 78, but the fare difference is 40, so wouldn't that make it an 80 dollar lesson?

80 - 12 (VA booking fee 2 x $6) = $68

 

[AVC]

Ah, copy that!

You know the first time I read it, I thought for some reason the sale fare was $68.

I'm having a bad maths day.