Hi all

I'm having a problem getting my point through to Omega Flight Store.

Late December, I was planning a family vacation.

I attempted to book 4 flights via https://book.omegaflightstore.com.

The during payment, the site started to suffer errors and would not complete.

I took screenshots of the site errors during my attempts.

Eventually I got an email declining the booking from Omega.

Therefore, I ended up going to a competitor (and paying more for the flight).

Once that flight was booked, I suddenly and unexpectedly got an email from Omega that the booking has been confirmed.

At no point during the booking process did the site ever complete the payment process.

It literally just errored out every time.

I went ahead and contacted Omega online to explain the situation,

provided the screenshots as evidence in order to get a refund.

As it was the website that was at fault, was expecting some fair play.

Instead, the support staff just do seem to read the notes that I put in the case.

A phone call later (on the same day as the booking) I managed to get the tickets voided.

I only ever got a partial refund from them.

They claim that according to the T&Cs I must pay £30 per ticket to void the booking.

As the booking was made on Boxing day,

Support could not escalate to management until a working day,

but was promised a phone call will be made to discuss the matter.

I'm yet to receive this phone call.

Attempts to get management to call me have been futile.

The support staff don't seem to read the comments that I had previously made

(they even included that it is my responsibility to void the tickets on the same day as the booking....which I had already done).

They wont escalate to management nor will the forward me to the complaints department.

Can anyone offer any advise?

What payment method are they charging the £30 (or other flight cost payment) to?.

Eventually I got an email declining the booking from Omega.

I'd say this is the definitive document. The website didn't just fail to respond, they expressly emailed to you declining your booking. Simple contract law. You made an offer to buy tickets, the refused (in writing) to accept your offer. As any law student could tell you, without Offer and Acceptance there is no contract and any later emails purporting to accept the booking have no effect because your offer has lapsed after being declined. As there's no contract it's irrelevant what website says about voiding tickets, the website t&cs don't apply to you because there was no contract. So they have no authority to charge you anything. Simplest way to get the money back is a chargeback of some sort, depending what sort of card you were using.

I used a debit card to make the booking so a charge back is not going to work.

After sending the declined email with one booking reference and after I made another booking with a different company, I was presented with another email stating the booking was accepted under a different booking reference. I did try to get the site to respond properly.

They are charging what appears to be a £30 admin fee per ticket to void the booking, £120 in total. They keep stating its my responsibility for not waiting for a confirmation email and I have entered a contract when clicking the submit button. I cant be responsible for their websites failures. The payment stage is where the booking failed and as far as I was aware, the booking never went through. How can it possibly be authorized if the payment stage failed?

l. They keep stating its my responsibility for not waiting for a confirmation email and I have entered a contract when clicking the submit button.

You did wait for the confirmation email, it confirmed your booking was declined! The contract can't possibly be made when you clicked submit. What if by the time your submission arrived the flight had sold out! Only a court could say for sure but I'm confident a court would say clicking the submission was the offer and their email response the acceptance (or declinature in this case). Anyway I think you can charge back debit cards. Which card system was it, Visa?

I managed to brute force my way to a manager but ended up getting cut off twice.

They did see the declined email and he was a bit surprised it was sent out. like an idiot, I didnt send them the declined mail before. Thought I did.

Anyway, they have sent me a mail stating that they are looking at it and to await a "positive response".

I made the booking with a Visa Debit card. Im probably way out of date here, but I thought chargeback only applies to purchases over £100 per item made via credit card. Am I that out of touch?

I made the booking with a Visa Debit card. Im probably way out of date here, but I thought chargeback only applies to purchases over £100 per item made via credit card. Am I that out of touch?

You're thinking of a Section 75 claim, totally different thing

Searh for 'Visa Debit Chargeback' and you'll find plenty of explanations. This one for example

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?473624-Section-75-and-Charge-Back..-gt-Whats-the-difference-and-how-to-utilise-them

No minimum amount on Visa

“I took screenshots of the site errors during my attempts.”

...attempts... plural...

Did you hit submit more than once?

If so, it is entirely possible that your first hit was declined, generating the decline email and one unique locator number and then another hit was successful which resulted in your delayed confirmation with another unique locator reference...

I did try the booking again. The Website again failed to function at the payment stage. It actually gave an error. The Declined Email appeared half an hour later and after I made the booking with a competitor.

Omega are denying that they have done anything wrong. They continue the lay the blame at my feet and are not budging, even with the declined email and the screenshots showing the website failures. This was at the payment stage where the site failed. Surely, at payment if the website fails to function properly, the payment cant be considered authorized can it?

You've reached deadlock with them. I'd just get on with a Visa chargeback.

How does this look?

[

 

Debit/ Credit card company address] Dear [customer services manager's name],

Claim under Visa Chargeback Scheme rules –

 

I am writing to you in connection with the purchase of a set of Airline Flights on 26th December 2017 from Omega Travel LTD. I enclose the following documentation which provides details of the transaction:

Declined Payment Notice

Evidence of Website Failure during Payment Authorization

I paid for 4 flights using my Natwest Debit card.

The total cost of all flights was £179.36.

£59.36 has already been reimbursed but there remains £120 outstanding.

As the OmegaflightStore Website had failed during the payment Authorization Phase, No payment could have been authorized and subsequently taken by Omega Travel Limited and therefore no contract should have been established. Further technical problems from Omega Travel Limited of sending confirmations in a timely manner resulted in these flights getting Double Booked.

 

 

The transaction for the purchase of the Airline flights was less than 120 days ago and accordingly, I am writing to request a refund of the above amounts under the Chargeback Scheme rules.

I look forward to your prompt response.

Yours faithfully,

 

 

I didnt write this letter, but instead made a claim online via Natwests site. Will see what happens.