- Report: #1088264
Complaint Review: Smartfares - Select State/Province
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Smartfares
Select State/Province, USA
Web:
Smartfares.com
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Smartfares Bait & switch plus fraud Internet
Looking for a cheap business class airfare from New York to London on the Internet and found Smartfares whose quote for my selected dates was $10,365 for two adults for the dates we wanted to travel. Gave my credit card information and received a confirming email from Smartfares that I would receive a confirming email and electronic ticket from Virgin Atlantic within 24 hours. After 23 hours, having not received anything from Virgin Atlantic, I called Smartfares to be informed that Virgin had cancelled my reservation and claiming it was not their fault (????). I couldn't believe it and I became very angry. The person at Smartfares (Matt) Then said, "don't worry, I will rebook it and put me on hold for five minutes. He then got back on the line and told me that he had rebooked it, but the cost had gone up to $13,000. I told him that I could purchase the tickets directly from Virgin for $12,027. I accused him of a bait & switch and told him to destroy my credit card information and that I would note our situation on the Internet. Two minutes after I hung up with him, I received a call from his manager, once again saying it was not their fault and telling me that they would use their additional discount and rebook the flights at a cost of $11,365. They sent me a confirming email (which went directly to my spam folder, ((should have told me something)) and after two more phone discussions I told them to book it. They then informed me that they no longer had the reservation and now wanted to know if my dates were flexible. I went through the roof. Instructed them once again to destroy my credit card information and that I would never be in contact with them again. I then contacted Virgin Atlantic directly, got my reservations for the dates and times I wanted for $12,027. The next day I contacted my credit card company and found that Virgin Atlantic had charged my account that morning at 6:09 am for $12,027 and that at 7:45 am that morning that my credit card was charged by Smartfares for $11,365. I filed a fraud charge with my credit card company. Later in the day I received a call from Smartfares wanting me to confirm my flights (which they had changed the dates for) and I once again reminded them of our discussions the night before about destroying my credit card information and that I would be filing a complaint. My credit card company insisted that I stop using that credit card and overnighted replacement cards.
Beware!!'
