If it is specified a screen print then that is what it must be. That is the "visual proof" of the cheaper price. I am a little suspicious of you comment that you sent this claim on the same day of booking. Had you already located the "cheaper deal" and were trying to make some money out of it?
Cancellation charges are specified in the Term & Conditions. What do they say?

fwh

It does not specify to email a print screen, the t&c's ask for a screen shot (the t&c's for a Triple RPrice Match are in the original post)

To request a Triple Price Match you have to send the request on the same day as making the booking. Yes, I was looking to save as much money as possible on the booking. This is exactly the same as what most people do when making any purchase on the high street, the interent should make this process easier.

These are the t&c's regarding cancellations. The issue I have is over the £350 deposit paid to suppliers. I have requested proof of the payment made by way of invoice, I am awaiting a reply.

Loss of deposit paid to suppliers:
�350.00

Supplier cancellation charges not covered by deposit:
�0.00

On The beach service charge:
�60.00 (�30.00 per person)

Total cancellation charge:
�410.00


Please note you have currently paid �1131.56, therefore to cancel your order you need to reply to this message to accept the charges and we will then refund �721.56

Please reply to this message within the next 3 days to confirm you accept the charges and still wish to cancel your booking.�

If we do not receive an EMAIL to confirm your acceptance of the charges the booking will remain active and live.

Terms of Business:

Changes and Cancellations

Should you wish to amend or change your booking, confirmation must be received in writing from the lead named passenger. Any such request will not take effect until received by us. For further details on how to cancel your booking please visit the FAQ and manage your booking section of our site.

Charges will be levied by the principal or other supplier and you will be advised of these. In addition, On the Beach will also charge a fee. Details of charges are set out below.

Cancellations more than 3 months from departure date will result in a loss of deposit, any charges over this amount levied by the suppliers and our service fees of �30pp, unless you have chosen to book a holiday at a lower cost by paying in full at your time of booking in which case you will lose all monies paid. From time to time as a special offer the deposit on a reservation may be lower than the standard amount of �100 to �150 per person (see deposit payments section). If such bookings are cancelled before the standard deposit amount has been paid you will still be liable for the difference between the standard deposit account and the amount you have paid.

Have to agree sounds a bit fishy and pre planned

AP1408
Do you not shop around for the best price when you pay for goods? It was pre planned, now the company does not want to honour the deal due to the amount of difference in the original price.

Sorry, Darren, but it seems to me that you were asked for a screenshot, and failed to send one. Regardless of what you may feel, or "what's right", the bottom line is you didn't send them what they asked you for, so, in their eyes, you failed to meet the conditions of the offer.
And in answer to your other question, I would probably just have booked the cheaper deal, and been happy with that.

I copied and pasted into an email the screen shot, On The Beach are now asking for a Print Screen. If you read the t&c's is does not ask for a Print Screen.

Sorry, mate, but when my IT bods ask me for a screen shot, I hit the "print screen" button, wouldn't dream of cut & paste, as you don't always pick up everything with C&P

Without knowing what you booked it is impossible to pass judgement as to whether the cancellation charges are correct.

I really can't understand if you had found a cheaper deal, why you would book with someone more expensive, just to try and cash in on a price match.

I have booked 2 adults and an infant to Kos for 14 nights bed & breakfast.

The cancellation charges are worked out by the principals (airline, accommodation provider etc). Depending on the airline it may be that the tickets are non refundable.

Yes i try and find the best deal, but if i found one i would book with the company who was offering the best deal in the first place and not the company who would only give you a better deal if you found one else where.

I think you have maybe tried to play the system and it has backfired.
No offence meant.

Playing the system I was not, trying to take advantage of an offer I was.

Then if you found a cheaper deal, it was in your own interest to provide exactly what was required when making your claim for the triple deal as offered by On The Beach.

Clearly you did not do this, it requested as you indicated in your initial post to "remember to include: your On the Beach order reference number, the URL of the page displaying the cheaper price and be sure to include a screen shot of the final booking page displaying all the prices and elements of the booking you are asking us to price match."

You say you sent the URL but only copied and pasted the information from the page rather than sending an actual page capture/image. The screen capture "screen shot" cannot be edited so easily (whereas copy & paste can).

Those were the Terms & Conditions of the offer by On The Beach and if you did not adhere to them, you quite simply have no comeback.

Usually, an offer is dependent on finding another price within a specific period of confirming the initial reservation with the operator who is offering the discount. Generally, you have to confirm your booking before finding the better offer for a Price Match.

It does appear or, shall I say sounds like, you found the better offer first and then confirmed your booking with On The Beach afterwards.

Whether that is true or not, it's one of the reasons the operator has asked for the information to be provided in such a specific form.

All tour operators have their own cancellation policies and you should also take these into consideration at the time of booking.

Shell
Limassol, Cyprus

For the screen shot I copied and pasted the text from the URL into the email. Accoring to On The Beach, this is not good enough as I was ment to said a print screen of the page.

My understanding would be that it if a 'screen shot' or a 'screen print' is requested this means that you need to provide them with an exact copy of what you viewed on the screen and that's not what you would have got as a result of copying and pasting into an email. It would have needed to be saved exactly as it appeared on the screen and then be sent as an attachment to your email.

I'm afraid that I tend to agree with others that this is an attempt to play the system and unfortunately by not complying with their rules you've not been abe to do tihs successfully. This sort of price matching deal is not an 'offer' - it's aimed at those who have booked in good faith what they thought was the cheapest deal available and then soon after the event find out that they could have secured a cheaper deal for exactly the same holiday elsewhere. Trying to turn something like this to your advantage by knowingly booking something that is more expensive than you could have got with a particular agent in the first place is always a risky venture - the slightest difference it what was booked and the possible cheaper alternative can make the claim void too.

It's not widely known but the reason why John Lewis can so confidently maintain their 'Never Knowingly Undersold' promise is that they negotiate so many exclusive deals with their suppliers. If the only place that you can purchase a particular model of something with that exact specification is John Lewis then you are never going to find it on sale elsewhere at a lower price! AS with any purchase the bet option is always to decide on the basis of whether this looks good value and is it being sold at a price I am prepared to pay. I'm sorry if this is not what you want to hear but you took a gamble that didn't pay off and I don't think that there is much that you can do about it now.

SM

I have to disagree with most of the replies here. If somebody asked me to send them a screenshot, I would not assume they meant a print out. I would assume they meant hitting the "Print Screen" button and then pasting the screen into an email. OTB did not state that the screenshot must be printed and, given their somewhat "colorful" history of customer service or lack thereof, I wouldn't be surprised if they had found another excuse not to honor the price match even if the OP had sent a printed screen.

A screenshot in an email is no more easier to manipulate than a screenshot that has been printed. The only difference is that one is pasted into an email and other is printed (e.g. after being Photoshopped).

Now, I don't really agree with the OP's methods...effectively trying to game the system. However, it's up to him and we shouldn't judge. OTB had the offer clearly posted and, therefore, they can't be surprised when people want to take advantage of it.

greyejectbutton

The original poster said he only copied the text from the screen - he didn't use the Print Screen option which is what OTB asked for....

I sent an email on the day of booking with my booking reference number and the URL. For the screen shot I copied and pasted the text from the URL into the email. Accoring to On The Beach, this is not good enough as I was ment to said a print screen of the page.

That's where he went wrong and they are quite within their rights to refuse it if he didn't send what they requested.

Shell
Limassol, Cyprus

Shell
If you make judgement on me, please read the original post with the t&c's copied or visit On The Beach website and click on Price Match.

Ah okay, I missed that. I thought the OP meant he pasted the actual URL (along with a screenshot). In that case, I can quite understand why OTB would refuse to credit back any money. Otherwise, anybody could type something and make it resemble text from a real travel website.

Darren from your own post you did not include a screenshot.
To make a screenshot you press the Prt Scrn button on your keyboard and then paste that into your email what you have done is use your mouse to highlight all the text on the screen,copy it and then paste it into the email.
That is NOT a screenshot,that is a copy and paste of text and therefore you have NOT followed their terms and conditions.