hi chonie

all i would say to prices going down after you booked is that i dont think you would get your holiday cheaper its like if prices went up would you like to pay more i think you should acept the price you got and have a nice holiday

Yes Chonie and you are down only £100. For years we used to book our family holiday on 2nd January for July/August. There are six of us so we had to book early to get the holiday of our choice.

Ten years ago we booked a family holiday in Turkey £2500 and a month later the same holiday was advertised by the same company for £1200 for the same dates etc.

I contacted the Travel Agent who put me in touch with the Customer Services of the Holiday Company. I put it to them that it would be cheaper for me to cancel and rebook. I was informed to hold on and they would see what they could do. This was repeated each month until finally no compensation was offered on the grounds that I was prepared to pay £2500 back in January.

You would think that this was a massive win for the Travel Company. No way, we never booked with them again. Previously, we used to swear by that company - ten years on they have lost bigtime.

Since we have booked privately owned villas, duplexes, apartments, houses etc saving a fortune and to hell with the Travel Companies. Incidentally, the Travel Companies use the Travel Agents only for their own convenience. The would dispense with the Travel Agents willingly if they could.

It's hightly unlikely that you will get anywhere with this. Even though you have not received your confirmation, that is irrelevant.

You entered a contract with them when you gave your credit or debit card number to them. The price was fixed at that point. If you had gone back on-line and it had gone up 100 pounds & they rang you for the extra I would think you would have been on here posting a complaint. It's no different. They are a business, and business practices apply.

A similar debate has been going on UNDER "Booked 2 days ago and the flights have come down by 50%"
If I were you I would just accept that it is down to misfortune. The person on the phone will tell you anything to get the booking. Again they matched the Internet price which was the best price at the time.
Save yourself unnecessary concern and just don't look at the prices again. It just creates too much turmoil and to no avail.

Sue

thanks guys,
i no your all right,
thanks again x x

Just put it down to experience! I am due to fly to the Dom Rep in June and it is now £500 dearer. I will not be asking them to charge me the extra

Chonie although a little unlucky losing just £100 has the right to feel burned. After all, this is a holiday company she is dealing with, not the stock exchange. Her holiday is a product not an investment. OK we can argue that clothes cost less in a sale than previously sold. Fair point, but it is not treating like with like.

But, we are talking about major expenditure here i.e the annual family holiday.
Look at it anyway you like the Annual Holiday is your reward for your year's toil. The last thing people want is to get screwed by the Travel Company. It leaves a sour taste.

The Holiday Companies fuelled by cooped up Call Centre Bantam Hens do not care about the customer. Their main concern (amid the low basic wages) is commission on each holiday sold. This is how Holiday Companies breathe. The most important person in all of this is the CUSTOMER. And guess who gets screwed, yes, the customer. Times are changing and at last, the customer is fighting back and will win. As the Yanks say, 'Betcha' Chonie will shop around hard and fast next year!!!!!!

How can you shop around when there are really only two companies ?

People come on and they say I will never book with Direct Holidays again, and then post a few weeks later to say they have got a good deal with Thomas Cook. In effect they are booking with the same people again.

There is no competition left in the marketunless possibly people do a DIY which many are not comfortable with.

OK we can argue that clothes cost less in a sale than previously sold. Fair point, but it is not treating like with like.

In what way is it not treating like with like? Chonie bought a product at a price that s/he must have thought was fair at the time or they wouldn't have booked. It's now been reduced - just like the dress I paid full price for in time for the Christmas party season was in the sales. I can't see what the difference is here.

SM

The amount ?

£50 - a £100 party frock reduced by 50% in the sale! I could have taken the chance on leaving it to see if it did come down in the sale but

a) I wouldn't have been able to wear it to the 'works do' which is what i was buying it for - had to look good for my salsa demo!

b) It might have been sold out in my size before the sales anyway.

c) It was really flattering and I wanted it enough to decide that £100 was a price worth paying.

SM

a holiday is just slightly more than a dress...

anyway , i think its a case of getting the best price you can at the time , and then dont go near any holiday websites till the next time your booking a holiday

Agreed Danny and OP has said now that she realises that it is just bad luck. How many times has this happened to all of us been in a hotel abroad and discovered that someone has got the holidays for £199. This happened to me and instead of the OP being grateful they kept moaning that there were children in the hotel.
Actually 2 hotels together and 4* and the one we and they were staying in had almost no children. Still some are never happy.
Right now I was about to book a QM2 cruise on Sunday where there was a good guarantee deal. A friend was disappointed that I was going and the date was no good for her. I went back to the drawing board and found another cruise with Celebrity and now holding 2 rooms. She is still dithering and I now find that if she doesn't go and I want to book the QM2 all the rooms at the price I could have got are gone and it will now cost me nearly £600 more. I'm really cheesed off but I don't want to put undue pressure on her just a decision.

So it is swings and roundabouts where prices are concerned.

Sue

a holiday is just slightly more than a dress...

But given that the original post was about a £100 reduction on a holiday, a £50/50% reduction on a dress is a relatively harder hit but one that you just have to take on the chin nevertheless. In the end, as you and others have said, the best policy is not to ever go back and check after the event. Best simply to look forward to the holiday - or wearing that dress

SM

agreed !

I was booked to fly to Denmark with Ryanair a few weeks ago but couldn't go as I was hospitalised the week before. I was too late to amend my booking, which had originally cost me £43 and have re-booked for later this month at £53. Checking later I found it had gone down to £19 which was a bit of a blow I admit. Out of curiosity I've just had another look and it is nearly £120 so I don't think I've done too badly (though £19 would have been even better).

Sorry Guys, I know I'm labouring the point. Dresses in sales are flogged off usually off season e.g the Christmas Dress would cost less in April. What fashionable lady would wear a Christmas number coming into summer?

Holidays are different (remember a lady will buy several dresses in a year) and most people can afford only one holiday in twelve months. The last thing they need is to get screwed by the Travel Company. Chonie lost only £100. I booked a holiday for £2500 and a few weeks later the exact same holiday was advertised at £1200 by the same Travel Company for the same dates etc. The company led me to believe that they would do a deal if I would not cancel and re-book, but later they refused to negotiate.

Somebody made the point of the DIY option. Many show some fear booking this way. However, after being screwed, I took the DIY option the following year and have saved a fortune every year since. For example in the first week of September coming I paid £225 for a private apartment (sleeps 6), £130 each return Ryanair, and car rental £80. The resort is a pouplar one in the south of Spain also served by Thomson etc. And the apartment (frontline) is on the main strip.

£100 might not seem like a huge loss compared to £1300 loss I endured (over ten years ago), but £100 will hire a large enough car in Spain for a week.

I still dont see your point.

A holiday is the same as buying any product. If you dont like a 'cheap' comparator like a dress, I just bought a bathroom, that will probably go down in price in a 'sale' at some point.

I wont see that, using your wonderful terminology, as getting 'screwed' by the bathroom company. You make a choice. You buy at the time or you dont.

When she booked she must have been happy with the price.
If the price had gone up I doubt she would have rushed in to pay an extra 100 quid.

Fair enough she may vote with her feet next time. That's her perogative.

Doe

Some topics on HT are recycled on a regular basis - and this is one.

Really is a case of pay your money and take a chance.

We also get people complaining that prices have gone up when they have been waiting in case it came down a little more.

Holidays are just like any other product or service, the price does not matter. What does is the price you pay on the day.

If you thought is was a bargain when you bought it then it was.

fwh