InkBlog

The site had not paid our Paris hotel; the hoteliers then charged my credit card nearly €900

My wife and I paid £1,886 for a package holiday with Railbookers. Our four-star hotel in Paris took an imprint of our card on arrival in case of any extras. Two weeks later, I found the hotel had debited €896.04 from my account. It explained it had received no payment from Railbookers.

I asked Railbookers for a speedy refund and received an automated response aiming to “provide the best possible solution available” within 30-60 days. I heard nothing more for four weeks, so I called and, after holding on for 25 minutes, was told I could not be put through to customer care.

JS, Uckfield, East Sussex

“The wait is over!” trumpets Railbookers website, somewhat tactlessly given the 60-day deadline it allows itself for responding to customers.

In your case, it might never have been over if you hadn’t turned to the media. By the time I intervened, 46 days had passed since your refund request. But there’s nothing like pending publicity to focus the mind: you were contacted within 24 hours of my overtures and, amid profuse apologies, promised your money back.

The company remains coy about communicating. It has so far failed to respond to my requests for a comment.

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