More confusion over Complete Savings sign-up
More on Complete Savings, the “web loyalty” scheme that costs €12 a month. We received an email from reader Pat O’Brien. “Today I have booked
Ryanair
flights to Tours,
France
, for two,” it begins. “The booking was completed perfectly. However, on the Ryanair booking confirmation page, an offer is included for ‘€15 Cash Back on my next Ryanair Booking’. I clicked the ‘continue’ button, which opens the details page for Complete Savings. I should have known there are no free lunches!
“However, under ‘Offer and billing details’, I read that I will be ‘billed €12 per month if I do nothing’. The details page seems to have my Visa details, as copied from Ryanair. Other than booking my flights with Ryanair, I did not give my Visa card details to ‘apply’ for this free offer. I have already cancelled the free offer, and I hope that I will not be billed.”
We contacted the company again. “At no point in the sign-up process does any data automatically transfer from a partner site to Complete Savings,” a spokesman said. “Our system cannot accept a membership application without the applicant manually entering their credit- or debit card details into the sign-up page. Applicants have to manually complete a clear, three-stage sign-up process to become a member.”
The company said it had “reviewed the correspondence provided [by us] and confirm that the sign-up process experienced by the consumer required them to manually enter their bank card details to sign up. We are happy to speak directly to the consumer if they have any further questions.”
Going to the chapel but stuck with unwanted room
Two months ago, Cormac McHugh and his wife were invited to a wedding in Rome. “I went onto
Booking
. com and booked a hotel,” Cormac writes. “Just when I had that done my wife said the wedding party wanted us to stay in their hotel. I went straight back on to the website and tried to cancel the booking. I also went on to the hotel website and emailed them to try and cancel. The booking was a no-cancellation one.”
He points out that the booking was for end of October 2015 and the booking was made last February.
“I tried to cancel it around three hours after the booking. I know it was a no-cancellation booking, but is there no cooling-off period when booking online? I contacted Booking.com and they said it’s up to the hotel. As I made the booking through Booking.com, is my contract not with them and that the final decision is theirs?
He says Booking.com kept blaming the hotel for not cancelling.
“The hotel that we were asked to go with the wedding party is a lot more expensive one so I was not trying to save money. I would have booked this hotel through Booking. com as that’s who the wedding party booked through. I don’t expect there is anything you can do, but just warn customers.”
We checked with Booking.com and its terms and conditions make it very clear that refunds are not allowed. In a situation like this it is down to the hotel, so we will try to chase it down with it and report back if we have any joy.
No travel tax on children flying via UK
Paul Vickers
contacted us with a money-saving tip, which we are happy to share.
“We are off on holidays to Florida during the summer, and came across a useful nugget this morning,” he writes. “Like many others, we are travelling via the UK, and I notice that they have abolished Advance Passenger Duty – Travel tax for children between two and 12. We are therefore due a refund of around £138, or €200, for our two children!”
He suggests that it “might be useful to point out to readers to keep on eye on credit card statements or to contact their travel agent to ensure that they get the refund they are entitled to.”
Done.
Singletons get a cold splash in the face from Irish Water
A reader called Ita contacted us about Irish Water. “Single people living alone will pay €30 a year more per head for water than people in multi-occupied houses,” she writes.
"Elizabeth Arnett from Irish Water told us on radio recently it was because single people use more water! Do you think for one minute that an 85-year-old widower uses more water than people living in multi- occupied houses? I doubt it! Why is Irish Water penalising single people by charging them more for water?"
We contacted the company, which said “the simple explanation is that water is used in the home for both communal purposes and individual purposes . . . There is a basic requirement for water for a home to function, and any additional people do not add as much to the usage as the first person. It is more efficient to wash clothes or cook for many people at a time than a single person. People behave differently and organise their lives differently so usage is estimated based on averages. Homes with a meter (the majority of our customers) will know exactly how much water they use.”
