Bonus week breaks

[n2o666]

Hi,

 

Just posting a message in this forum to see if anyone can offer me some advice concerning VISA credit card chargebacks.

 

A couple of weeks ago I was sold over the phone a 5 day holiday over the phone. They had cold called my mum and against my better judgement I used my credit card. They told my mum she couldn't book for us as the holiday park didn't accept group bookings due to rowdiness. My mum and dad are in their sixties and me and my partner have a 4 year old child and a 5 month old baby.

 

They told me that they were RCI affiliated which I know is a fairly reputible company.

 

After making the transaction I looked on there website and in the terms and conditions there it says about having to be a couple and both of you attending a 90 minute timeshare presentation. This is obviously why my mother couldn't book for us and they neglected to mention this at the time of sale. I would not have agreed to this due to the fact that we have a young child and a baby. They also have no affiliation to RCI. They also neglected to inform my mother of this.

 

Realising this I rang EGG (my credit card company) immediately and they said they couldn't do anything as the transaction hadn't gone through and they had to honour it.

 

I rang the company mentioning that I had never been informed of these terms and conditions and the mandatory attendance of the presentation and they started shouting and being abusive with me.

 

I have since been in touch with the EGG disputes department and they have informed me that as I have no (written) evidence that they didn't inform me about the presentation they cannot dispute it for me or do a chargeback.

 

They effectively told me that the burden of proving that I was miss-sold lies with me the consumer and not the merchant. I always believed this to be the other way around.

 

I asked what would have happened if the merchant had charged my card for £1000 instead of the £170 she told me we would still be telling me the same thing as I have no proof and me giving my credit card details over the phone was an indication that I authorised the merchant for the transaction.

 

I was shocked when I heard about this as I thought that the whole concept of using Credit Cards provided the consumer with security and protection.

 

Can anyone shed any light on this and what to do next? I have already contacted VISA about this and will be writing to the financial ombudsman as I don't believe EGG are doing their duty protecting the consumer of which they make a big deal about in their marketing.

 

Regards,

 

Mark

[Dzerjb]

Hi Mark,

 

I had a similar problem with Bonus Week Breaks & Coop Visa. BWB rang pretending we were entitled to free weeks as a result of having once owned a timeshare, offered us a 7 night holiday which turned out to be 2 nights insisting we attend a high pressure sales presentation, for which they'd charged my credit card an unauthorised £172. Consumer Direct (the flash name for Trading Standards) advised me the following

 

We don’t have a template letter for this type of situation – sorry for the confusion. However a simple letter explaining what has happened and what you want is all that is needed. The only other suggestion is to keep copies of all letters and obtain proof of posting.

 

If you want to follow an example use: http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/after_you_buy/making-complaint/template-letters/faulty-goods/

In this letter ‘The ‘Sale of Goods Act’ should be replaced with ‘The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992’. It is not absolutely necessary you quote the Regulations as the trader is still in breach of contract without them. The Regulations entitle you to cancel the contract if there is a ‘significant alteration’ to an ‘essential term’ of the contract

Also, instead of ‘rejecting the goods’, you will be ‘cancelling the contract’.

 

If all the paperwork doesn't help, I'd feel like going to the place, ignoring the presentation & trashing it! Probably illegal, but I'll certainly do everything possible to make sure resort sales organisations regret using BWB.

 

Hope that helps

Dzerjb

[rosiecotton]

Bit confused here, you booked a holiday thinking it was for all of you and only later you found out otherwise, but they are still taking the money for your parents? When did you find out that this had happened and you hadn't booked what you thought you were getting - did they tell you at the time that it was fine to book for all of you?

 

If the terms of the holiday sold to you have changed, you can use the legislation quoted above as given by Consumer Direct (which, by the way, are not Trading Standards but a consumer advice service provided by the Office of Fair Trading - TS are something different entirely!).

 

You would also have an argument for misrepresentation, which would allow you to rescind the contract and claim a refund.

 

I just need to clarify the exact details first though as I'm not 100% sure what's happened from your post, sorry if I'm being a bit thick.

 

Ultimately you would need to sue both the company under the legislation mentioned above and Egg under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, in the small claims court.

[sword of truth]

We were telephoned by Bonus Week Breaks and told if we booked a certain resort in Domonican Republic in the month of May there was an offer of upgrade to all inclusive free of charge. We were told this twice, and so finally agreed to take it up. We arrived at the resort, to be told we had to pay for the upgrade to all inclusive, long story short..., ended up having to pay as were told could not go to any other resort, and they would not let us "check out" ie leave the island unless we paid. Got back to UK, phoned BWB who denied all knowledge of offering free all inclusive, said someone would ring us back ...haven't. Spoke to credit card company who certainly knew of BWB, they advised to keep clear of them!!

DO NOT TRUST WHAT THESE PEOPLE SAY , THEY WILL SAY ANYTHING TO GET YOUR MONEY, AND DO NOT KEEP THEIR WORD.