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Who the heck is "Travofy"? (On line travel agency)

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Who the heck is "Travofy"? (On line travel agency)

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Old Jan 1, 2022, 11:39 am
  #1  
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Who the heck is "Travofy"? (On line travel agency)

I had two AA discount codes that I could not get to work while booking on-line so I called the AA reservations phone line. After finally getting the reservations agent to understand me and get the reservation entered into the system, I get a charge on my credit card for the balance due. A few minutes later I get a charge on that card for $154 from someone/something called "Travofy". Has anyone heard of them? Might they be somehow related to AA? I am inclined to dispute that charge with my credit card company.
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Old Jan 1, 2022, 12:01 pm
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Originally Posted by seattletraveller
I had two AA discount codes that I could not get to work while booking on-line so I called the AA reservations phone line. After finally getting the reservations agent to understand me and get the reservation entered into the system, I get a charge on my credit card for the balance due. A few minutes later I get a charge on that card for $154 from someone/something called "Travofy". Has anyone heard of them? Might they be somehow related to AA? I am inclined to dispute that charge with my credit card company.
What number did you call to reach the "AA reservations phone line"?
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Old Jan 1, 2022, 12:11 pm
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Travofy appears to be a third party booking company: https://travofy.com/
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Old Jan 1, 2022, 12:14 pm
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Originally Posted by Antarius
Travofy appears to be a third party booking company: https://travofy.com/
And travel agents get to charge fees for their services.
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Old Jan 1, 2022, 12:21 pm
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If you only dealt with AA directly, then there's no reason for a travofy charge. If you booked something through travofy, then that would probably explain it. The timing of the charge is curious, bt it's not in AA's interest to farm out work to a 3rd party since they usually have to pay a fee.
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Old Jan 1, 2022, 12:29 pm
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Originally Posted by PHL
If you only dealt with AA directly, then there's no reason for a travofy charge. If you booked something through travofy, then that would probably explain it. The timing of the charge is curious, bt it's not in AA's interest to farm out work to a 3rd party since they usually have to pay a fee.
The timing of the two charges is consistent with the OP's (perhaps inadvertently) using a travel agency to apply her AA credit towards the purchase of a new ticket. The balance due for the new ticket after applying the credit would appear as an AA charge, even if booked through a travel agency. The agency's fee for their services would appear as a separate, non-AA charge.
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Old Jan 1, 2022, 5:42 pm
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OP, how did you find the phone number you called?
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Old Jan 1, 2022, 5:56 pm
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https://travofy.com/terms-conditions

A skim through their T&C’s yields the following fee structure:

Fees, Payments & Refund
You are solely responsible for all charges, fees, taxes arising out of any use of your account by you or anyone else using your account.

On all flight ticket purchased online, Travofy charges an online booking service fee of up to $39 USD per person for Domestic Travel, and up to $49 USD per person for International Travel, for all passenger types. However, in many cases, we don’t charge a service fee at all. When making a reservation online, the total amount displayed is inclusive of Travofy’s service fee. If you continue with your reservation, this total amount may be charged to the credit card provided to Travofy at the time of your booking. In the event airfares increase between the time of your reservation request and the time we issue the tickets (typically within 4-5 business hours), Travofy will contact you and seek your authorization for any resulting changes in price. Travofy will never charge your credit card an amount greater than what you accepted and authorized us to charge.
Exceptions to the above mentioned service fees: Business and first class flight ticket, multi city itineraries, high fraud/high risk destinations and point of sales, foreign origination, certain low cost airlines that require manual processing as well as international airfares booked within 4 days of departure. Business and first class flight ticket - Service fees may be up to $250 USD per passenger, for all passenger types. Multi City itineraries – Service fees may be up to $100 USD per passenger, for all passenger types. High Fraud/High Risk destination cities and point of sales – Service fees may be up to $150 USD per passenger, for all passenger types. Foreign Origination and some low cost airlines that require manual handling - Service fees may be up to $79 USD per passenger, for all passenger types. International Travel booked within 4 days of departure may be subject to service fees up to $150 USD per person, for all passenger types.
Hotel : upto $27 (per night / per room)
Call Center booking service fees: Service fees for call center bookings (including complex multi-stop and round-the-world itineraries) may be higher than those charged for bookings made online. These service fees can range from $10 to $200 per passenger.
Domestic Travel = US origin and destination
International Travel = All non-US destinations destinations
Passenger Types = Adult, Child, Infant, Senior, Student, Youth, Military
Important Note:All booking service fees are non-refundable and are subject to change without notice. Government imposed taxes and fees are subject to change. YOU WILL BE CHARGED THE FINAL TOTAL PRICE AS QUOTED REGARDLESS OF ANY CHANGE OR VARIANCE IN THE SERVICE FEES. Please review the total final price carefully.
All refunds are generally made by the similar mode of payment that was used during the transaction. But when the payment was done in cash, wire transfer, the refunds are done either by cheque and online transfer. The refund of the flight tickets is normally initiated within 3 working days, when the cancellation is initiated. An e-mail confirming the cancellation will be sent to your email ID which was given at the time of booking. It is important to note that it may take 3-14 days till the money is reflected into your account which depends how fast your bank shows the amount.
Post Booking / Ticketing Service Fee
All post-booking/ticketing service fees are non-refundable and are subject to change without notice. Our fees are in addition to any airline and/or other supplier imposed fees and charges.
Also, and “agreement not to initiate charge back”:

Credit Card Disputes And "Chargebacks"
If you have any questions or concerns regarding a charge completed to your credit card in conjunction with the airline ticket charge, any Travofy processing charge or fare adjustment we ask that you contact us directly at [email protected] prior to disputing the charge(s) with your credit card company. At that time Travofy will work with you in reviewing any concerns. By accepting the terms and conditions of this Agreement, you agree to be liable for any and all credit card payments and you agree not to dispute the charges (including processing fees, airline ticket charge or fare adjustment) after the purchase has been made and your tickets and/or other products have been delivered by email confirmation. In some instances, customers frivolously dispute one of the credit card charges even though the charges are legitimate. By agreeing to the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement, the customer assumes the burden of proof if he/she wishes to contest a charge on a credit card for travel service purchased, or for any other fees, taxes or services as outlined to the customer during the booking process. The customer also agrees that the bank will not be permitted to make a chargeback against "TRAVOFY", a consolidator or an airline, until Travofy and the bank discuss the charges and the burden of proof is met. The customer also agrees not to initiate a chargeback if Travofy Marketing has abided by the terms and conditions outlined in this document (which a customer agrees at checkout / payment during the booking process).

In the event a customer initiates any unjustified, fraudulent or frivolous chargeback, or creates a chargeback for an airline ticket that the airline would normally not refund according to its own policies and regulations associated with the fare (e.g., non-refundable ticket), the customer agrees to be liable in full for a) the total reservation amount, b) any legal and collection costs incurred by us in recovering the charges as well as c) a $250 administrative/accounting penalty for the inconvenience.

In the event a chargeback is opened on a reservation which is not currently flown, Travofy and/or the airline have the right to cancel all unused segments for the reservation in question, without notice, and the customer will be liable for the full cost of the airline ticket purchased, Travofy processing fees or fare adjustment amount(s) for the reservation.
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Old Jan 1, 2022, 6:31 pm
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Originally Posted by az22
https://travofy.com/terms-conditions

A skim through their T&C’s yields the following fee structure:



Also, and “agreement not to initiate charge back”:
Holy
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Old Jan 1, 2022, 8:49 pm
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Can a lawyer chime in on the validity and legality of such terms? Am very curious if this is enforceable.

From the FCBA, I see
If the creditor's investigation determines the bill is correct, you must be told promptly and in writing how much you owe and why. You may ask for copies of relevant documents. At this point, you'll owe the disputed amount, plus any finance charges that accumulated while the amount was in dispute. You also may have to pay the minimum amount you missed paying because of the dispute.
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/article...t-card-charges

I read Finance charges to mean interest, not penalties. But not sure if my assessment is correct.
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Last edited by Antarius; Jan 1, 2022 at 8:59 pm
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Old Jan 2, 2022, 3:31 am
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It’s somewhat irrelevant as the claimant has to demonstrate they have reached out to the merchant whose charge the are disputing and come to no resolution, as part of a chargeback submission, and that seems to be what the point of the T&C is.

So reach our to Travofy to try and make sense of the charge BEFORE filing a chargeback, and make sure when you do submit one you have it backed up with evidence, otherwise Travofy hold you liable for any consequences thereof. Amazon also asks chargeback filers to repay, it’s not unusual. The question is whether it is enforceable…

The customer also agrees that the bank will not be permitted to make a chargeback against "TRAVOFY", a consolidator or an airline, until Travofy and the bank discuss the charges and the burden of proof is met.
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Old Jan 2, 2022, 8:46 am
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The real issue exposed by the OP is to be careful what number you call. A guess would be that OP made an internet search and called a number that popped up that was NOT AA, but this 3rd party.
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Old Jan 2, 2022, 10:28 am
  #13  
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Looking back at it, I think I did call a number that I thought was AA but wasn't. I'm pretty sure I got the number from the internet. I don't know if I'm stuck with the charge. If I am, it seems excessive for what they did. I think I will try to call them and see if I can work it out.

It's probably my fault, but these people fooled me about who they are. Be careful about who you talk to on the phone, even if you initiate the call.
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Old Jan 2, 2022, 10:45 am
  #14  
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Originally Posted by seattletraveller
Looking back at it, I think I did call a number that I thought was AA but wasn't. I'm pretty sure I got the number from the internet. I don't know if I'm stuck with the charge. If I am, it seems excessive for what they did. I think I will try to call them and see if I can work it out.

It's probably my fault, but these people fooled me about who they are. Be careful about who you talk to on the phone, even if you initiate the call.
Yikes. But yea, this is their business model.

Based on the T&Cs and unless a lawyer supports my interpretation above, you're probably stuck with it as a chargeback may make things worse.
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Old Jan 2, 2022, 12:08 pm
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Looking back at it, I think I did call a number that I thought was AA but wasn't. I'm pretty sure I got the number from the internet. I don't know if I'm stuck with the charge. If I am, it seems excessive for what they did. I think I will try to call them and see if I can work it out.

It's probably my fault, but these people fooled me about who they are. Be careful about who you talk to on the phone, even if you initiate the call.
Thank you for your transparency so we call all benefit from the cautionary tale.

Our "similar experience" was about three years ago and involved a for-fee website deliberately mimicking the National Park Service booking website. Right down to fonts, pictures, and background colors.

I will be very surprised if they cut you a break should you call and complain. Much as I think you were misled it strikes me that the cost in time and trouble isn't worth a protracted hassle for $154. But if you are good at arguing maybe you want to. (I worked for two different corporations in the past who employed designated litigation expert witnesses who had the gift of persuasive argument. Or maybe they were just really good at confusing people. They were paid to and enjoyed embarrassing under-prepared plaintiff's attorneys in open court).

I do suggest you consider filing a complaint with your state attorney general's fraud unit. But unless they have in office in your state of residence I'll be surprised if they can do much.

Maybe also file with the BBB. Even though they are more just a logger of complaints and their ratings carry little weight.

Finally, I also highly suggest verifying you really do have reservations. Presuming they really did book your tickets, then those are the leverage they have over you. As issuer they can cancel the reservations and disrupt the trip.

As requested by others above, I'm hopeful an attorney, but by that I mean an attorney with relevant practice specialization and experience to comment with authority, chimes in. It seems like the travel agency's T&C's purport to overrule the agreement between the card issuer and yourself, and bind the issuer to an agreement they are not party to. Especially since it would seem you would be asserting fraud.

If you have the time and funds to decide it is worth it on principle to charge back as fraud; then let us know how it goes. Your life, and if you do we would all salute you. But for $154 I'd realize I've been had and move on.

Last edited by jayer; Jan 2, 2022 at 12:29 pm
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