Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - beware of cheaptickets.com

I recently booked a hotel stay at the Crowne Casino in Melbourne for Valentines day using cheaptickets.com. The 170A$ price was for a "deluxe" room that suited 2 people. The 170 price is less than other sites(expedia, yahoo travel). When I arrived at the Crowne there was no record of my reservation and the place was booked due to a business convention. Also the woman said she had never heard of cheaptickets.com before. After going back to talk to another supervisor multiple times they upgraded my reservation to a luxury suite on the 32 floor. I have a feeling they could have thrown me to the curb but took pity on the American who just wanted a romantic night with my significant other.

But if they never heard of cheaptickets.com and had no reservation then what did they upgrade? Did you end up repaying for the accomodation? Did you call cheaptickets.com and have them issue a refund? Did you contact your CC company to refute the initial cheaptickets.com charge? What happened?

Nice to hear you were given some kind of break by the hotel/casino.
I'd guess the manager expects that they will make back the upgrade with your other spending/gambling, given they were able to impress after you were ripped off by this fraudster. Best of luck (with your trip & a refund, not the gaming!).

I agree with kenlediver (and welcome to Flyertalk, Ken!): call your bank re arranging a chargeback for a fraudulent charge.
I would also have contacted the hotel by phone or e-mail or their website, to confirm/check my reservation (& put on a note that it is a special occasion, you've come a long way to be here etc).

If you need to talk to someone at your bank, either find a freecall international number or buy a $10 phonecard, and sort out a chargeback asap!

I hope you have a great time in Melbourne and Australia, despite the shock of all this :cool:

it is the consumer's responsibility, especially when booking through third parties, to confirm things on one's own. try calling next time prior to departure.

But if they never heard of cheaptickets.com and had no reservation then what did they upgrade? Did you end up repaying for the accomodation? Did you call cheaptickets.com and have them issue a refund? Did you contact your CC company to refute the initial cheaptickets.com charge? What happened?

No I didn't pay any extra besides the 170 I prepaid to cheaptickets.com.

2 websites yahoo travel and cheaptickets.com had tickets available for Vanentines Day. The hotel website and a couple of other travel websites showed they were booked for the evening.

No I didn't pay any extra besides the 170 I prepaid to cheaptickets.com.



I still do not get it

Hotel says they have no record of you and no booking and no knowledge of such a travel agency - you claim.

Why would they take you word you had a paid booking they do not see, from an agent they feel does not exist? You are saying you paid the hotel zip for the room yet you got a suite?

and they knew they overbooked and were just blaming cheaptickets.com. I did have a confirmation sheet with amount payed, check in date, check in time, and confirmation number on it and the cheaptickets.com logo. Of course I suppose those can be forged.

and they knew they overbooked and were just blaming cheaptickets.com. I did have a confirmation sheet with amount payed, check in date, check in time, and confirmation number on it and the cheaptickets.com logo. Of course I suppose those can be forged.


:confused:

then they wouldn't lie... they would just say "we are booked up - so here, have a suite"

Cheers

Why is it there's a certain percentage of the population that will book hundreds if not thousand of dollars with any outfit on the net but wouldn't dare try a different barber to save fifty cents? :confused:

My guess is that you cannot get a haircut on the net, only a scalping?