Alpharooms.com : price quoted in € but cc charged in STG£! Not responding to emails.

B

Blondbiddy

Registered User
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I have recently booked a flight through alpharooms.com and got a final invoice price.

When I checked my credit card it had been paid in Sterling and converted to Euro.

They won't respond to my emails.

Has anyone else had this problem?
 
Alpharooms

Because I was told the price was in Euro, therefore the price I should have paid was the price quoted to me in Euro. Not a Sterling price coverted to Euro. I have ended up paying an extra €80
 
When you proceed to "buy" on their website you are given an amount. You then have the choice to cancel or proceed. I don't understand how you can proceed to purchase without knowing or agreeing to the amount.
 
Alpharooms

I couldn't proceed online so I rang and I spoke to one of their staff on the telephone who went through the whole procedure and even asked if I wanted to pay in Euro or Sterling, to which I replied Euro. When I got my final invoice and printed it off it was in Euro for total amount due, but, when I got my credit card they had charged me in Sterling.
 
AFAIK their prices are always in sterling if booking in the UK and the actual quote you get is based on the rate that day. This can fluctuate between then and the actual date the invoice is received and processed. I have noticed slight discrepancies here before. I also know they add a booking fee so are you sure that the end price includes that as well. As a matter of interest, how much is €80 of the actual total bill percentage wise ?
 
Alpharooms

I rang the Irish number on the top of the Alpharooms website. It says clearly "all prices are in Euro". Anyway, they asked if I wanted to pay in Sterling or Euro, to which I replied Euro. I have the final invoice here which says PAYMENT CARD CHARGE €539.18. My credit card shows £539.18 which has been exchanged to Euro for €622.45.
 
If your invoice says €539.18 but they charged you £539.18 then clearly, a mistake seems to have occurred. Why not ring them again and ask what the story is? If they really charged you the wrong amount and do not want to refund you the difference, you can always dispute the charge with your credit card company.
 
Alpharooms

Thanks. I'll try the credit card company. Alpharooms have not been answering their phones only to direct to their website.
 
They have refunded me for a room that I booked but had to cancel because of the volcano situation. I am still waiting for Ryanair to refund me (cancelled flight 21st April). A second hotel that I booked direct with the hotel have not refunded me either despite their assurances that they would do so.
So I am so far pretty impressed with the service from Alpharooms.
 
I was impressed with them initially. I had previously booked a flight with them and they charged me for baggage that I had told them clearly that I didn't want and they refunded me with no problems. I can't even get through to them on the phone now - they just keep directing me to the website "manage your a/c section". I have emailed them several times but no response. I have been on to the credit card company and they have requested me to send them copies of invoice etc and they are going to take it up with them. Will see how we get on!
 
I've always rated alpharooms but have noticed quite a few posts recently with complaints. The particular nag is that they were booking ryanair directly for people and then when ryanair canceled flights its messed up alpharooms hotel bookings causing loads of problems.

They still tend to be the cheapest though so if its a good price you want its often worth the risk of the odd problem.

Hope you get it sorted Blondbiddy, in my experience their customer service is good.
 
This week I got a full refund from my credit card company. I still have the flight booked and am awaiting the correct invoice again from Alpharooms. Will let you know the results!
 
Its great that it has been sorted ,but is still worrying .,

As most people would not get their credit card statement until maybe a month later , and a lot would not even see the mistake .
 
Blondbiddy said:
This week I got a full refund from my credit card company. I still have the flight booked and am awaiting the correct invoice again from Alpharooms. Will let you know the results!
Click to expand...

Make sure your flight doesn't get cancelled!
It sounds like a genuine error by whoever processed the payment.
I know you said you couldn't get through to them.. but you got through to them to make the payment - just phone their payments line. You should try calling them up to pay the correct amount.
 
When one books a hotel room with alpharooms ,you can choose the currency, but one must be careful because it sometimes reverts to another currency if you start a new search or change location or some other parameter.
Flight cancellations are a serious problem so next time I am booking a hotel room online I am going to make sure that I haven`t booked in vain .My idea is to get on the flight first and then book on line when I get there.Also why not book for one day to see what the hotel is like.Most hotels are half empty due to the recession so its no problem really.With laptops and internet cafes everywhere this is no problem.You can also turn up at your preferred hotel and ask at the reception desk.
 
Thing with turning up at a hotel reception desk is their prices are far more inflated than the prices available online.. There is a new Irish company 24hrhotels.com doing hotels and you can pay by paypal or credit card and you are charged in the currency you select. Their prices are very competitive and seem to be a lot cheaper than alpharooms.
 
Well what if your flight is cancelled?Do you have any interest with this new irish company.You can turn up at the hotel reception and ask their rates ,knowing what they charge online. If not satisfied you can book online.
My point is you don`t want to have booked 2 weeks hotel acccomadation and then find your flight has been cancelled.
 
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