If you get straight on to Consumer advice or whatever Trading Standards are now calling themselves, they will be able to offer sound advice.

From the telling of it, the web site offer was for a different hotel and different amenities than the one they are "providing" and as such the contract should be null and void, however the Consumer Advice people should be able to tell you whether you have a hope or not.

Did you print off any of the details or web pages, are they still there etc? Is the hotel they are offering on the site? You will need all the evidence you can muster.

Just remembered this but there is no edit....

First Choice website used to have a bug with the "sit together" option on their holidays.
If you priced something up and did a "sit together", then every holiday you checked and priced afterwards reverted back to the original holiday with no warning.

I only spotted it because there are so many of us, I had to get prices for couples, couples with a child, triples etc, and noticed that with 3 adults and a child in the room it was much cheaper than 2 adults! Investigation then showed that my 2 week holiday in the Carribean in July had turned into a one week for 2 in winter in Egypt!

It may be worth playing with the web site to see if they have a reproducable bug, obviously don't go so far as to book more holidays!

The pages for your booking may even be still in your temporary files cache if you don't clean it often. If they are you may be able to print them off. You could also check your history as well in order to see what evidence you can get together.

Update, otb have contacted me by email saying they are sorry i'm not happy with my booking - and they will refund my deposit in full and cancel my hotel

PS - It's taken a lot of phone calls and emails,but credit to them for seeing sense eventually.

Glad you got the result you wanted. They must have realised they were on dodgy ground tryng to force you into booking a hotel you quite clearly didn't want !

I have just booked flights for 8 people (2 families) for our summer holiday for 2009, saw bargin flights so filled in all details as the TOTAL AMOUNT was £2,156 !! great !! NOT after they had prossesed my order for the flights taken my card details the next page said THANK YOU FOR YOUR BOOKING, to me that is it done ! NOT on the next page it tells me do you want to take hold luggage at £14 per person per way, well can't go for 3 weeks with 4 children with no luggage can you, clicked yes as thought this was confirming luggage allowance NOT it is now charging me another £224 !!!!!! have called and emailed with the attitude of "you should have read the small print" we did and it said "All airlines have a standard baggage allowance which is included in OUR online prices. " which is what we saw and our flight cost total was £2,156 . We want to cancel as this it over our buget and they are refusing to cancel ,
NEVER USE THIS COMPANY,
ANY HELP AND ADVICE FOR THIS WOULD BE GREAT AS WE CANNOT AFFORD TO GIVE PEOPLE LIKE THIS OUR WELL EARNED MONEY

Check this from their FAQ:

http://www.otbeach.com/faq.html#lowcost_flights

Mark

Have looked at all that before and there is nothing on that bit that says anything apart from luggage allowances to all airlines , the bit i am angry over is they say basic luggage allowance is included in their online price not to be added after !!!

Which airline have you got your flights with? Have a look at their faq's. They do state that for some airlines only hand luggage is included.

Check this link:

http://www.otbeach.com/faq.html#flight8

It clearly states that some airlines do charge.

Mark

No advice for you Barnet, I'm sorry I've just attempted a dummy booking on otb, and found the information really lacking I was extra careful, considering your post, yet found no information before entering my name addy etc, that would tell me about the baggage allowance (or even the flight no ). I hope you get it sorted.

all the budget airlines do this now! It is such a pain

I went away recently and booked through otb. i had no problems with them at all. Had a great trip away and found everything as it should be.
As regards Luggage. They do state that some airlines charge also when i made my booking they DID ask me if i wanted to take hold luggage (flights with easyjet) If i remember correctly i think they asked me this as i was making payment online which might explain why it wasnt showing with the dummy booking made above. It did show on my paper work that i had payed for hold luggage.
On the beach are NOT a tour operator they just book flights and hotels on your behalf if you look on any booking with them it will tell you who the hotel and flights are booked with as this also seems to confuse people.

I notice on their website they are actaully advertising some apartments that I have stayed in. They are the Avenida Apartments in Benidorm. These apartments have a sister Hotel oppopsite the Apartments this is a very nice 4 star hotel, they are showing the pictures of the hotel, but you would actually be staying in the apartments which are only a 2 Star. You are allowed to use the hotel facilities, but an unsuspecting person would book that and think they were getting a 4 star hotel based on the photographs as they dont show any picturs of the apartments, when infact your getting a clean but basic apartment.

Steve

As for the baggage. It didnt ask me if I wanted to upgrade my 15KG to 20KG. I know for fact it never because I was looking for it because I know Thomas Cooks standard allowance is 15kg. No where in my booking did it offer this upgrade. Now they are saying they can do it for me but will have to pay admin charge.

Steve

Well what can I say about OTBeach "NIGHTMARE" Booked to go to canaries for 1 week before xmas. When I made the booking I was on the telephone time after time about baggage allowance. One young man put the telephone down on me, this was "deliberate" I was not shouting on the telephone but could tell I was upset. When I printed all the paper work out and read through it I saw the section on hold luggage. This was the reason I telephoned several times. Each time someone gave me a diferent answer, no one seem to know anything. I was totally confused. Anyway the argument was that when I asked if the hold luggage allowance was included he told me its is £50-£100 per piece... when I questioned this, he got all uppity and said if you don't pay it then it will cost you double that at the airport....I didnt like his attitude one little bit. He said I should have taken that option at the time of booking. I told hime it didnt give me an option so why should I pay all this money and admin charges on top, but I swear that no drop down list came up. I argued this out with him, but in the polite manner so there was no need to slam the phone down on me (very professional). The website lets you book your holiday as if thats that, flights, hotel, and all the usual basics you would expect to be included, but no, it then asks you if you want meals adding too. So your in like a no win situation, your booking has already been made with card details taken....if you dont take the options of meals etc, and add them later, then you get the £25 admin charge on top again. Well 10 phonecalls and emails later I spoke to a man who seemed to know what he was talking about. Aparently if its a firstchoice flight, the standard 20kg baggage allowance is included in the price. He told me this is why the option didnt show up when you confirmed your holiday booking. So the young man that put the phone down on me didnt know what the hell he was talking about. Wher did he get £50-£100 from? Not only that I was quoted 3 different amounts for hold luggage. So it just depends on which flight you pick as to wheather it gives you the option at checkout.

This is not the end...When I finally arrived on holiday at the hotel, they didnt know anything about us. They said they were not informed we were coming. Luckily the lady at the reception was english, told us not to worry, we still have rooms. We were stood at reception for what seemed like a lifetime looking at all the paperwork printed out. We were so embarassed stood there, with people behind us. Its just their whole attitude at OTBeach. When you telephone them its like they can't be bothered, they just fob you off with write a letter in complaining when you're just wanting some answers.

So, I thought I will give them the benefit of the doubt as I thought it may be a one off thing, NO! I booked to go to Morocco end of September, when I put the booking through I made sure to take a closer look at everything after the first time. I looked for booking extras but they weren't showing up. You can book your basic meals and that's it, unless it an airline that it doesnt include hold baggage. If you want seats together, extra luggage allowance you have to do it after your booking. The thing that really gets to me is they charge a £25 admin charge as its classed as a change (so they say) I argued this out with them and said it should give people the option to add these before you pay. I told them I'm not changing my booking I simply want to add some extras, so they charged me a £25 admin charge for doing it as its classed as a change. After what happened with the first hotel I have been telephoning and emailing them constantly for confirmation that the hotel in Morocco will know we are arriving! I don't want to get there and be stood at reception embarrassed again.....well 2 months on and I'm no better off. They told me to ring the hotel company I found an address and tel no from all the paper work I'd printed off but the number is dead. Put the address in google earth, no such address. Telephoned OTBeach back again, they didnt know what to tell me. I've had it with them now! So I have just been looking into cancelling this holiday. I don't feel secure travelling with them at all. Their customer service stinks I have just been looking into cancelling on their site and aparently you lose your deposits and they charge £30pp admin charges on top for cancelling. I have never known a travel company charge you for cancelling 6 months before your holiday. I can understand if it's weeks, away. So.....I don't know if I should fight it or just cancel it, cut my losses - put it down to experience?

Jane

After what happened with the first hotel I have been telephoning and emailing them constantly for confirmation that the hotel in Morocco will know we are arriving! I don't want to get there and be stood at reception embarrassed again.....well 2 months on and I'm no better off. They told me to ring the hotel company I found an address and tel no from all the paper work I'd printed off but the number is dead. Put the address in google earth, no such address. Telephoned OTBeach back again, they didnt know what to tell me. I've had

Remember that it is likely that the hotel will not have your details yet ... maybe not until a few days beforehand .... this is because holiday companies guarantee to take a certain amount of rooms (of course pay less money), but don't pass details of the people on until a few days / weeks beforehand.

I don't know much about OTBeach, but as you've given them a 2nd chance I think you've got to go with them ... maybe send them a recorded letter beforehand saying reserving right to sue ... or words to that affect ... if room not available ....

I'd see what other people on here say.

Don't panic.

Mark

Yes I see where you're coming from.....but with their rather rude and laid back attitude they have in dealing with things over the phone, etc....it doesnt suprise me that the hotel didnt have our details...I just want to know if they are doing their part....good idea about the recorded letter....will try that and see what happens....Thanks
Jane

Hi Jane,

As you aren't going till September, I suspect the hotel will not know about you until August ....

Maybe you could ask OTBeach, somethong along the lines of at what point do they pass your details onto a hotel ... a week before / month, etc ... ring up as a new customer & ask ... say that you once turned up at hotel & they didn't have your booking (done via different agency - no names) so you are very nervous about booking via a online / telephone agent & want re-assurances ... or get friend to phone for you ...

Hope that helps.

Mark

Know exactly what you mean. I was never given the option to upgrade my baggage allowance to 20kg when I booked. I knew Thomas cook standard was 15kg so was looking for the upgrade to 20kg but it wasnt there on the upgrade page. By this point they had already took my card details as they do this before they forard you to the upgrade section. I rang up and was told we don't talk to peopl on the phone if they booked online, send us an e-mail and the phone was put down. I sent an e-mail and was told I wasn't offered an upgrade on baggage as they don't do this for thomas cook, so if I wanted to upgrade they could do this for me but it would £15 admin charge per person, so ended up paying £60 for 5kg extra each when if you book direct with thomas cook you can add extras free of charge at any time.

Also they added £20 each extra to our holiday as they said prices were not live and it had gone up between me booking and them conifrming everything with the airline. They don't deserve customers.

Steve