Bolton Abbey price discrepancy
Yesterday I booked online for Bolton Abbey site for early July but I discovered there is a discrepancy in price between that quoted in the handbook and the fee shown on the website. The book is cheaper by £4.70 p/n for two people.
I contacted the Club today and it's no exaggeration to say I felt I was being stonewalled. They kept repeating the website is correct and felt no obligation to honour the printed prices in the book. We haggled and, as I was losing the will to live in the face of meaningless repetition, I accepted a £5 voucher which was slightly over 50% of the overcharge on my two night booking.
However, I later received a call to say the book is right and the website wrong so the lower price would be honoured. It was the right thing to do but what a shame it was necessary to have to argue for so long with award winning customer service staff to achieve that result.
The moral of the tale is to always check prices in both the book and the website. Who knows how many other discrepancies exist.
I see the Bolton Abbey prices have not yet been amended on the website although my booking now reflects the lower price.
Comments
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Well done TW. I wonder how many members have been overcharged because of the discrepency, and if those members will be reimbursed!! I very much doubt it. It always pays to check the advertised prices.
I had a similar discussion concerning mid week discounts, but without your success.
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I was what you might call persistent, Nellie. I also told them it would appear here, although the tone of my post could have been different if the outcome wasn't favourable.
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Thanks for flagging this up TW. One of our favourite sites. We shall make sure we check prices if we make any Club site bookings in future.
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It's not something I would previously have thought of doing and only spotted this by accident. I need to check my other bookings now.
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Wonder how many others have a similar discrepancy? Will the CC's HO admit to being wrong publicly?
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We encountered a slightly different attitude in Tesco on Saturday. Having bought a £10 meal deal with our shopping, on checking the receipt found the discount had not been applied. This amounted to over £8. On bringing this to their attention at customer services, apart from some unnecessarily complexed maths, you could not fault the response. They admitted it was their error, so refunded the £8 plus the same again. Result, a happy customer.😃
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That's a response I'd expect. Maybe not the refund back double, but very nice. At least acknowledging the error and agreeing to book price as printed or a simple I'll call you back once I have confirmation of correct price. Personally I'd agree to book price, once I'd checked it out, then flag it up to managers etc.
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Legally the club can charge a different price from the handbook but it does sound very bad from a customer relations point of view. The figure in the book is an offer to sell and nothing more. They really do need to flag up the book price as incorrect as if not long term it could be regarded as fraud if not dealt with. In the short term a note on the web page and an amendment with the magazine are needed and for site booking staff to make this clear if taking phone bookings. Mistakes in pricing do happen but you have to deal with this and the supermarkets attitude is the way ahead, if they show a price they will generally let you have it for that if you flag it up.
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Yes, I would expect a better response like 'I'll check this and get back to you asap'. However, I'm sure that when you booked in at the site you would be charged the correct price. This will always be a problem when there are two or more places where prices are quoted, human error will always play a part. It always pays to be vigilant.
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"I'm sure that when you booked in at the site you would be charged the correct price."
I admire your optimism, Nev.
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Just had a look, but prices are the same, so I assume it's been updated since your post and phonecall TW. A rather shabby response though; what was wrong with admitting their mistake in the first place? It must have been obvious to them that the price in the book differed from that on the website (once you'd pointed that out!) so an error on their part.
I have also had the same response from Tesco as SteveL when I've pointed out an overcharge, no quibbling, just an apology and a refund, which is how it should be.
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I see it's been updated on the website now, Ina. It was the 4 June - 14 July band in which my booking fell.
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Well I suppose that's a plus, TW.
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At least they've removed the discrepancy. It's hard to believe staff hadn't checked it earlier.
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Nothing about the way they work at EGH surprises me these days.
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It's all ended well for me but only after a struggle. I hope the story may help someone else.
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Thank you for spotting this anomaly. This has since been rectified, and all bookings made for Bolton Abbey Club Site will pay the correct fee for their stay upon arrival.
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Thanks for the update, Ro. Some people will get a pleasant surprise then when they come to pay.
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