Debit Card Charges

On The Beach Holidays - www.onthebeach.co.uk
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Guest's review of On The Beach Holidays - www.onthebeach.co.uk

“Debit Card Charges”

★★☆☆☆

written by on 21/08/2012

On the beach charge you for using your debit card even though they are not charged by the banks. This is disgraceful and adds £25 - £30 to your holiday unneccessarily.Travel republic and various other travel companies don't do this so why should they. I won't travel with them again or recommend them to any friends.

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Onthebeachcustomerservices's Comment

Written on: 22/08/2012

Travel republic do add fees for debit and credit cards charges. Individual companies have their own fee structure for credit and debit cards and we do make it clear wehat the fees are. We do keep our flight and hotel prices as low as we possible can without impacting the profitability of our business as you would expect and we do offer full ATOL protection which currently travel republic do not, so you are completely protected on all elements of your holiday.

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Bollocks2U's Comment

Written on: 01/09/2012

See previous comments, I think the general public can see through your responses - The bottom line is you are charging customers when in reality you are not being charged yourself !! Lets hope the office of fair trading clamp down on this type of business practise in future.

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Onthebeachcustomerservices's Comment

Written on: 30/08/2012

Of the 700,000 people we send away most people pay using credit cards not debit cards although of course this fluctuates. The average holiday is less than you are calculating on, so the average fee is much less.... but as you correctly point out we do charge a fee and we do tell people what the fee will be before they book.

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Bollocks2U's Comment

Written on: 29/08/2012

Sorry, I,ve just looked at the last but one comment from OTB. You say you send 700,000 people away each year so if we do the Maths, at £25.00 per couple DEBIT card carges that works out at about £8 Million. Please don't tell me you give that to Barclay's (Merchant) because no one on this planet will believe that !!!

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Bollocks2U's Comment

Written on: 28/08/2012

Sorry, it wasn't feedback it was criticism of OTB for ripping off customers !! Enough said !

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Onthebeachcustomerservices's Comment

Written on: 28/08/2012

It is more than the 3p you mention but putting that aside we are committed to providing transparency to our customers and we review all comments on this site to help us provide a better more transparent experience. We send over 700,000 customers away each year and have a 93% recommendation - every year more than half our bookings come from recommendations . While we adimit we sometimes make mistakes, it's what we take from these that it is important - we have listend to you (your comments have been seen by the management team here at OTB) and we will be reviewing the way we show our charges on the site. many thanks for your feedback.

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Bollocks2U's Comment

Written on: 28/08/2012

Absolutely right, Barclaycard merchant do charge you a fee - 3p to confirm an electronic transaction - not £25.00 !! I think anyone reading all your responses realise the type of company you are and will hopefully avoid in future.

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Onthebeachcustomerservices's Comment

Written on: 28/08/2012

Hello, We do make it clear on our booking pages that you will be charged specific fees, if you use cards. It is your chocie whether you wish to proceeed wih the booking or not at this stage. Our bank happens to be Barclaycard (merchant provider) who do charge a set fee per transaction and we also have to pay a fee to a payment gateway company plus the cost of administrating ie reconciling all transactions. We accept all customers have the choice to book their holiday with whoever they wish.

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Bollocks2U's Comment

Written on: 24/08/2012

If one person reads this article and realises what a bunch of squirming sharks you really are and doesn't book with your company then this has been well worth while. I never expected to get a refund as you would lose millions refunding everyone. Hiding behind invisible services that you say you do that other companies don't just masks the issue. The bottom line is that you charge for using a debit card when the banks don't charge you. Whick bank do you use that charges you for debit card transaction ? I'm sure the world would love to know ? The three high street banks I have asked have all said no !!

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Onthebeachcustomerservices's Comment

Written on: 24/08/2012

When a customer use their debit card we are in fact charged by our bank - we pass that cost on, some companies do not but then will find a way to charge you on other things that perhaps we do not charge, for example, many online travel agents "mark the bags up "on hold luggage, we do not do this. Some companies add in 4 bags for 4 passengers automatically even if you only want 2 or 3 bags say, again we do not do this. So different travel agents have different policies. I take your point about the transparency of the credit card fees and I can assure you, we are reviewing this and we will testing some alternatives ways of displaying the pricing information over the coming weeks and months to see what works best for our customers.

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Bollocks2U's Comment

Written on: 23/08/2012

Sorry, but once again you do not answer the question ! Why do you charge fees for DEBIT cards when no bank charges you. These extra services that you mention like ATOL protected,on site reps etc should be included in the holiday price NOT through charges to cards. Customers want to see transparency in what they are paying. As for telling the customer about the charges, these are in font size minus10 in brackets underneath the final invoice. I know that Easyjet charge £4.50 per card transaction (they are as bad as you). If you layout all the costs instead of hiding them or charging for something that you don't get charged for you would have more transparency and not upset customers with hidden charges.

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Onthebeachcustomerservices's Comment

Written on: 23/08/2012

We offer services that travel republic do not offer, we offer ATOL protection and in- resort reps at not cost to you as a customers for peace of mind in resort, should anything go wrong or you need to book a tour or excursion and we also have our own airport transfer business. However I take your point regarding charges, we are actually reviewing the way we display our credit and debit card charges as we want to make them even more transparent. I am sorry you feel we have let you down.

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Bollocks2U's Comment

Written on: 22/08/2012

This is a typical response, don't answer the question from your own company - Why do YOU charge for debit card transactions when you are not charged by the banks. You are certainly not the cheapest in the marketplace for holidays. Last time I went with Travel Republic they did NOT charge me for using a debit card and you DO NOT Make it clear when booking. In hindsight I should have stayed with Travel Republic - Lesson Learnt !!

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