Charter travel not accepting credit/debit cards

[Nicky Mouse]

Originally Posted by shazbazandtom

When I asked about the security a credit card gives you she said that as long as the deposit is paid by credit card then you're covered for up to £30k
Not sure how true this is

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But, they are no longer accepting credit cards

[stink08]

Having just spoken to our bank they have advised not to pay by bank transfer as its a large amount!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by shazbazandtom

When I asked about the security a credit card gives you she said that as long as the deposit is paid by credit card then you're covered for up to £30k
Not sure how true this is

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Totally true, so long as a penny goes through on the card it's irrelevant how you pay the balance you still get the CC protection

[Lynda]

Originally Posted by shazbazandtom

Lady from charter called me back. She said that if they were to continue taking cards and not charging fees (as per new laws) then they would go bust!
She said that as long as they give an alternative method of payment they are entitled to remove the option to pay by card. She said that a lot of companies will be operating this way from now on - I said that I would not be booking with them again or any company that didn't offer a card payment option.
I asked why they hadn't contacted me and she said they were 'working through customers in date order'.
I'll pay by bank transfer on the day it's due and I won't use them again.
Bad customer service

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I think that is really bad customer service, I am not advocating using credit to fund a holiday but realise that a lot of people do this then pay it off over the coming months. What happens to those people who have not got the funds already in the bank, I expect they may have to cancel and lose deposit.

[stink08]

Wanted to clarify our credit card cover so explained the situation and they said bank transfers are not a safe way to pay!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by shazbazandtom

Lady from charter called me back. She said that if they were to continue taking cards and not charging fees (as per new laws) then they would go bust!
She said that as long as they give an alternative method of payment they are entitled to remove the option to pay by card. She said that a lot of companies will be operating this way from now on - I said that I would not be booking with them again or any company that didn't offer a card payment option.
I asked why they hadn't contacted me and she said they were 'working through customers in date order'.
I'll pay by bank transfer on the day it's due and I won't use them again.
Bad customer service

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I would insist that as your contract with them allows for payment by card you expect them to honour it.
If they refuse tell them that your terms and conditions preclude payment by cheque and bank transfer and that you will happily accommodate another suggestion they have

T&C can work both ways

[Guest]

Originally Posted by stink08

Wanted to clarify our credit card cover so explained the situation and they said bank transfers are not a safe way to pay!

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They absolutely are not, it's why places like homeaway, vrbo, trip advisor all suggest you pay by credit card via their sites rather than a money transfer to the villa owner. Once the money leaves your account on a money transfer it's effectively gone, no automatic right to refund or return

[BarryL]

Originally Posted by macadoo

I suppose this was inevitable bringing in such a ridiculous law and expecting companies to just suck it up and lose money.

People want to pay by credit card when they book flights/holidays for the protection it gives and people should expect to pay for that privilege. It’s a shame the new law has taken that choice away.

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Completely agree and it's an inevitable consequence of the new law.

Companies in low margin businesses can't always absorb the typical 2.5% merchant service charge for credit card payments. "Service" charges will now be increasingly common and some will simply stop accepting cards.

The net result will be a higher price for everyone irrespective of payment method.

[Paplane]

We've got the likes of Ryanair to thank for this situation with the credit cards. Companies like them took advantage of the ability to make a credit card charge by inflating the charge so that they could keep their headline fares low. I would imaging pretty much everyone pays by card to Ryanair so it's an easy way for them to make money.

What'll happen now is that companies like Charter Travel, who presumably are a decent company with good intentions, will have to start to make an 'admin' charge on each and every booking, thus raising the cost to every customer, not just the ones who want to use a credit card.

Banning CC charges was done with the best of intentions but the effect will be that the consumers will collectively lose out in the long term. So, not a good law in my opinion.

Re charter travel, can you imagine how much the loss of the CC charge would cost them if they absorbed it? A small fortune I would expect. Give them a break, they're in a tricky situation until this all beds in. They're just trying to make a living, as we all do.

[Friday'sChild]

We flew on holiday to Jamaica with Thompson and had to pay a departure tax.

We flew on holiday to Jamaica with Virgin and didn't have to pay the departure tax as this was incorporated into the original flight price (so really its a 'hidden' cost)

Why can't travel companies just do this? I would certainly not feel comfortable booking with a company that refused card payments