by Chrissy Iley
I should know by now there is no such thing as a free lunch or a cheap ticket. But just quite how expensive a cheap flight with Omega Travel Group became has been very upsetting. For a start it wasn’t really that cheap; nearly £500 to go from London to Los Angeles in May. Not even peak season. It was booked over a month in advance for a friend to leave on May 4.
On the Saturday before she became stricken with the terrible lurgies that were going around. Obviously Omega Travel with US Airways would rather she infected the whole plane because the ticket was simply not transferrable. This is something we knew about and no doctor`s letter, which would have been difficult anyway it being bank holiday, would have helped.
We called to try and delay the ticket a couple of weeks but it was going to cost £400 plus any difference in fare to change it . There would have been a a difference as it would no longer be an advanced purchase.
The lady on the phone said we would get the tax of £105 fully refunded so that is what we opted for. We thought tat was the cheaper option. As least some thing back instead of paying more out …….
But then came the small print scam. Over email we discovered we had to pay £50 service fee to process a tax refund. We had to print out a form and scan it. Not everybody has printers and scanners, particularly people who are buying cheap flights. They might not have an office or business centre at their disposal. And now we were only going to get £50 back in 8-12 weeks and we were now told it would not even be guaranteed. So more time spent – perhaps pointlessly – more negative energy to get at the most £55 and maybe nothing. How bad did we feel? Very
It seemed like extremely hard work for a small and maybe no refund….. so I emailed them and suggested that they made it hard work on purpose and asked what they did with all the tax that people did not claim from flights.
I got several replies, all the same. They began `Dear valued customer` to which I always reply `clearly I am not` and they told me to go ahead with the printing and scanning and maybe getting £55 after the Omega admin fee of £50.
Like annoying typing parrots. They did not address my question Just told me it was in the small print and kept inviting me to try to get £55 back on the £500 flight that was not taken.
Who would sit in the seat I had bought? Where does the tax go? To the airline? To Omega? No reply – just Dear Valued Customer Print and Scan this form…..
I told them a dozen times life was too short to work this hard for £55 and then have to wait so long. Too short to keep wishing I had gone Expedia.
And what were they going to do with MY money? And they just kept telling me the admin fee was in the small print. Not answering the question.
I wont be getting my £105 because the idea of paying £50 to maybe get £55 back in 8-12 weeks is abhorrent to me.
It is just too stressful and I am just too angry. Yes, it is in the small print but the lady on the phone never mentioned it. Getting a £105 back from £500 felt much better than paying £400 plus to change the ticket but now we don`t have that option. I have literally thrown money away.
Again I ask who is going to be sitting on that seat I paid for? And who is going to get the tax i paid ? The airline? Omega?
Just how many people feel as angry as I do once they realize they rented a contract of doom and the money is never coming back. I feel tricked, duped and all I have for £500 is over a dozen emails highlighting small print, calling me Dear Valued Customer.
Never again, Omega Travel. I have paid a dear price but i will never be your Dear Valued Customer. And I urge everyone else not to be.