Scams -
Beware the Dodgy Travel Agency - They can Ruin Your Holiday!
I consider myself to be a quite savvy traveller, however I was easily fooled by these people.
Their
scammy system seems to work like this:- The unwitting traveller will
book the flight and pay over the fare, fully expecting the agency to
then do their bit and immediately pay the airline for the flight. This
is certainly what I expected to happen, however NO... What actually
happens, is that they provisionally book the flight but withold the
money. The airline, quite naturally will after some time cancel the
booking. Reading the accounts of other travellers they use a variety of
excuses or none at all. In some cases they will send a poorly written
confusing email asking for bank or credit card verification code. If
the flyer checks the booking and finds that it is no longer valid then
they will come up with some excuse and ask for another couple of
hundred pounds or blame the traveller for cancellation and ask for a
cancellation fee or both the fee and an increased charge.
Even
when we discovered that they had not paid the airline and had been
sitting on our money for a month without appraising us of the situation
they tried to convince us that everything was OK and they would get us
to our destination. They were reluctant to return the money
They
seem to be working on the principle of cancelling the flights the
customer thinks they have ordered and sitting on the money, expecting
to book later when prices are lower, often being unable to find the
original flight still being available and substituting other less
suitable alternatives.
and giving endless excuses for not returning it.
My
advice would be if there are problems, get out fast and book your
flight with another proven agent or with the airline company direct,
even if it is more expensive. Recovering the money you paid will be
difficult and a lengthy process and they are likely to come up with
creative reasons for not comlying with your requests. Failing to get
away from their machinations is probably going to cost more. There will
also be a major risk of disrupted or delayed or having to take earlier
travel. Because they have booked later than expected they often put you
on flights to nearby destinations not of your choice or as convenient
as the one you chose.
How on earth do they get so many (suspicious?) positive reviews?????
Read the article by the Times Travel Writer, Duncan Craig:- https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/dream-world-travel-they-took-my-money-but-didnt-book-the-flights-svc766l5g
https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/dreamworldtravel.co.uk
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k9757503-o40-Dream_World_Travel-Air_Travel.html
https://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/dream-world-travel-london
https://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews246324.html
Beware of the Berry - it can can make you poorer
Would it be appropriate to warn your readers of a current Internet
scam. Acacia Berries are the latest slimming fad and its feasible that
they work. However there is an American Company advertising Acia
Optimum on various linked sites with special offers. One is a free
sample with customer just paying postage. However if you take up any of
their offers once they have your credit card number they will take
large amounts from your account on basis that you agreed to their terms
and conditions and have signed to join their program/club. This is
hidden away in a one liner amongst a lengthy screed on terms and
conditions so is a 'legal' fraud and I am trying to stop others being
fleeced as i was to the tune of nearly £200. Had to close account as
Banks can't stop.....Thanks Tony --
Tony Lowery
Another Scam
- UK travelers should avoid accepting a ten pound discount on their
next trip on National Express buses, you could be signing up for a
monthly direct debit of around £8.00 per month that is difficult to
stop. The information about the monthly subscription is buried in small
print. It always pays to check out the terms and conditions very carefully. The company operating the scheme is 'shopper Discounts and Rewards'. Beware! -- R Broadbent
More on shopper Discounts and Rewards.
Since my last posting I have probed around a bit and been offered more
of these deal from companies, most of which I would consider reputable
organisations - Beware of buying over the internet from the following companies:- The Trainline, Expedia, Movie Tickets, Easy Jet, Allposters, Interflora, CT Shirts.
The
way they got us was through a 'Continue' button that appeared after the
transaction was complete. National Express must have passed on our
credit card details to the company operating the racket. To have done
this without my express permission should have been a seriously illegal
act.
If you dig deep you can discover
that the US parent company Webloyalty has been hauled up in front of a
senate hearing but as yet nothing similar has happened in the UK - Check up on the
Checking up on the shopper Discounts and Rewards entry in Wikipedia - It starts with:- "shopper
Discounts & Rewards is a thieving UK company based in Kent,
England. Its parent company Webloyalty is based in the United States.
They take money out of your account without your authorisation. Beware."
On
the daily Mirror website there were comments by 90 victims who wrote in
after they published an article on the company. Enough Said - R Broadbent Lincoln
The Getty Images Scam.
We recently received a letter from Getty Images demanding £1,600 for an
image on one of our sites. We had used an image that had come with a
template we had purchased believing that it was royalty-free. Despite
being a small not very good picture we decided to pay up but out of
curiosity decided to check the internet first and found that we were
not alone and that lots of innocent people were forking out large sums
unnecessarily.
What to do: Obviously get
the offending picture removed as soon as possible and either find one
on Wikimedia Commons or purchase one from a reputable stock image
supplier. Do not under any circumstances reply to the email or
telephone one of the phone numbers or send any money. In the UK no one
has been successfully prosecuted. Getty is simply trying it on. -- Albert Morrison AceIT
More Scams - The Non- resident Indian Scam
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