Double charged on a British Airways holiday

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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 18 total)

  • TiredOldHack2
    Participant

    My wife and I celebrated our joint 60th birthdays with a week in Costa Rica on a BA holiday -flight and hotel.

    The bloody hotel has just charged me for the entire stay on my Amex card, which I (as one has to) handed over when we checked in.

    BA’s customer service is (I hope) calling the hotel right now. Or maybe in a few hours’ time, given the time difference.

    And today I tried paying the penultimate slice of a very costly South African trip (three adults, CW, hire vehicle, etc). We’re starting in AMS, for all the usual reasons, and have obviously been invoiced in euros. But someone has fiddled with BA’s website, and when I clicked on the ‘make payment’ tab, it changed the outstanding balance from euros to pounds sterling.

    I’m just glad I noticed. I called the BAEC and told them, and they took a payment in euros, but if anyone else is in the same position (ie: paying off a euro balance in tranches) I’d advise you to check carefully.

    Today has not been a good day.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    At least you spotted the errors before it was too late. I check my main accounts at least once a week.

    Currently trying to resolve a problem with my ZA bank as a hotel where I stayed a few weeks ago charged my CC twice. I called the hotel and it was reversed, then they charged me again, so I end up paying twice. Now I can’t get any sense from the hotel’s accounts department so I’ve asked the bank to do a chargeback, but they want me to fill in a form at one of their branches, which would be fine if I weren’t 6000 miles away from the nearest branch.


    TiredOldHack2
    Participant

    Nightmare. At least in the UK it can be done with a phone call.


    AnthonyDunn
    Participant

    Never had a single booking issue with BA Holidays going back nearly twenty years. On the one occasion I messed up a booking with incorrect dates but, as I realised almost instantly, the BAEC Silver line were happy to sort this out FOC there and then.

    Good luck with getting this sorted – and do remember to pressure BAH to sanction the hotel in Costa Rica. The latter probably depends rather more on the former than the other way around.


    FaroFlyer
    Participant

    Phone Amex. They will put the hotel charge in suspense without question.

    Concerning the currency issue with BA, if you are registered in the UK as a BAEC member then BA will always invoice in GBP, natural really.

    Not sure what all the fuss is about.


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    [quote quote=868426]so I’ve asked the bank to do a chargeback, but they want me to fill in a form at one of their branches, which would be fine if I weren’t 6000 miles away from the nearest branch.[/quote]

    Ask them to email it to you. I had a similar problem and after a bit of a discussion they emailed it to me and I emailed it back. Though in the meantime I received the refund so it was all academic in the end!!!


    openfly
    Participant

    Interesting point….true, BA.com charges ex-Europe fares in Euros, involving extra cc charges. But, just out of interest I looked at the same fares on Expedia. They were the same, or less than BA. I called BA to ask why Expedia could be cheaper and I was told that they had industry benefits which they were passing on.
    But it transpired that Expedia charge in Sterling….bingo!
    Also, Expedia are easy to contact on the phone….no, I don’t work for them! 😀


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    [quote quote=868597]Interesting point….true, BA.com charges ex-Europe fares in Euros, involving extra cc charges. But, just out of interest I looked at the same fares on Expedia. They were the same, or less than BA. I called BA to ask why Expedia could be cheaper and I was told that they had industry benefits which they were passing on.

    But it transpired that Expedia charge in Sterling….bingo!

    Also, Expedia are easy to contact on the phone….no, I don’t work for them! 😀[/quote]

    The only problem with Expedia is if you need to change a flight, then it can be hard going (Opodo are even worse, I won’t use them), but otherwise you’re right.


    capetonianm
    Participant

    But it transpired that Expedia charge in Sterling….bingo!

    Yes, if you book on expedia.co.uk that’s true although I think there is an option to change currency, but there is nothing to stop you using expedia.nl or .ie etc and being charged in EUR, .ch for CHF etc.


    TiredOldHack2
    Participant

    [quote quote=868516]Concerning the currency issue with BA, if you are registered in the UK as a BAEC member then BA will always invoice in GBP, natural really.[/quote]

    Er, no. For flights starting in AMS, they invoice in euros. The the salient point is that the fare is quoted in euros, but they simply took 1,940 euros and asked for a payment of 1.940 pounds.


    TiredOldHack2
    Participant

    @AnthonyDunn – what irks me here is that, while it is definitely the hotel’s error, I have to wait up to 10 working days for BAH to sort it out. I did say I was going to cal Amex and get the payment suspended, but they said that this would then freeze things and make getting a repayment through BAH impossible. They asked if I could leave them to try and sort it out first, and I agreed.

    Since then, of course, I’ve heard sweet FA and I’m off to Chile at the weekend…


    AnthonyDunn
    Participant

    TOH2: Will BAH take emailed instructions? Thankfully, I’ve never had this issue with them myself but did with a Verona affiliate of HolidayAutos some years ago which tried charging multiple times for a single car hire. Thankfully, the credit card company did get this sorted and refunds issued but, yes, it is unnecessarily time-consuming and time-wasting.


    FaroFlyer
    Participant

    [quote quote=868644]

    Concerning the currency issue with BA, if you are registered in the UK as a BAEC member then BA will always invoice in GBP, natural really.

    Er, no. For flights starting in AMS, they invoice in euros. The the salient point is that the fare is quoted in euros, but they simply took 1,940 euros and asked for a payment of 1.940 pounds.[/quote]

    Hi TOH, are you a UK BAEC member, or elsewhere?


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    I’d just report it to Amex and get the money back from them. They can then sort it with the hotel and you don’t have to worry about it anymore, apart from having to fill in a form. I learnt from a friend who works for one of the major cc co’s that if there are too may chargebacks due to the merchants inefficiency, the cc co can and does suspend business with them. This is probably what worries the hotel so I’d call them and give them 24 hours for the refund to be made (ask them to email you proof as it can take a few days to reach your account), otherwise you’ll put it in the hands of Amex to deal with.


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    [quote quote=868680]I’d just report it to Amex and get the money back from them. They can then sort it with the hotel and you don’t have to worry about it anymore, apart from having to fill in a form. I learnt from a friend who works for one of the major cc co’s that if there are too may chargebacks due to the merchants inefficiency, the cc co can and does suspend business with them. This is probably what worries the hotel so I’d call them and give them 24 hours for the refund to be made (ask them to email you proof as it can take a few days to reach your account), otherwise you’ll put it in the hands of Amex to deal with.[/quote]

    I’d agree with LP. It is a common tactic for merchants to ask you not to involve AMEX, who (in my experience) are decisive at reclaiming in this sort of situation.

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