WWW.ONTHEBEACH.COM - AVOID!!!

[justindav]

I have been using OT BEACH.COM for the past three years and have to say I have not had one problem with them.
I have booked holidays for my wife and I, My wife and two kids. My wedding holiday for 20 people was booked through them and recently 30 of us to Sharm El Sheikh.

I have read some comments about the online price increasing for a credit charge charge. This is normal, when you have to pay your balance if you ring and ask for a price if paid by cheque they will minus the credit card charge. Send a cheque to avoid credit card charge. I have done every holiday like this and never had a problem.

I have never experienced problems such as being charged for flight meals. I have recently had to make a number of name changes and they waived their charge. Not many companies will do this. The sales staff/customer service I have spoken to have all been very helpful and polite. Never had the phone put down on me.

Hope this helps someone make a decision when using this company.

[Surfer Chick]

small response to blandgjab, funny that you should say to go book with somewhere to stay for accomodation because that is what on the beach do.......my accomodation when i booked through OTB was with a company called Hotelbeds!! Dont think somewhere2stay do the accom i stayed at last!! oh, and prior to that it was booked through another operator, definately not somewhere2stay though!!

[edgeofthesea]

sorry to here hogwash that this situation as happened to you i would sugggest to check that they arer abta reigistered if so contact abta straight away but the problem you have is if they are actinging on behalf of a abta agent it could be hard to retreive you hard earned cash because they wont be covered the only option then is the small claims court it would not cost much and you would get your money back that way thanks for leting us all no and i wish you well in retreiving your money back
regards .......................edge

[Surfer Chick]

K0813. and i checked the operators that i travelled with and they are also abta registered. think you will find that most people on here will have already checked abta if they have had probs!!

[pinky1983]

I have booked through otbeach.com twice in the passed couple of years. The first time I booked through them, I got a call asking to pay an additional �10 per person. I was told it was because the airline had upped their price as it was a last minute flight. Other than that we had no problems whatsoever with booking through them. We had 2 lovely holidays a lot cheaper than what other Travel Agents were offering.

[jamesjam]

we have had a lot of hols with otbeach and they have delivered everything they have advertised. We have been over the moon with all our deals, sorry you have had problems, we have been to Egypt with them and Spain.

[alisonmc]

I booked a holiday with this company on 8.3.08 for 6 people to go away. I paided my money and recieved e-mail confirming my holiday. I recived my tickets the day before departure only to find they had me travelling a week later than I should have. My family had all their bags packed and we had a villa booked. I phoned OTB and they apologised saying it was an administrative error. They could not get me on holidday next day and could not get me alternative flights. I had to cancel my whole holiday as could not get flights at so short notice. i would not recommend this company. They are a disgrace.

[thelads]

I wish I had read the reviews on this site before I booked with OTB! I oringinaly booked a holiday with them only to be phoned half an hour later, telling me there had been a mistake with the web page. I was refunded my deposit (2 weeks later!). I should have walked away at that point but thought the company was very pleasant in the way they had deat with the situation at that point. I looked for another holiday which suited my needs. I was e-mailed my confirmation, only to find I was being charged for in flight meals! I let that one go thinking the kids would need something to eat at that time anyway. I booked the holiday in August 2007. And really thought I had bagged a bargain. However...... I received an e-mail on sat 5th April telling me there was a "Major Flight Change" only problem was they didn't have an alternative flight! I was advised to check out OTB website to look for another flight. There are no flights available for the dates that I have booked for! And to top it off, they want the pleasure of charging me more money to change my flight and my accomodation arrangements. which isn't possible due to work commitments! I contacted them and was told to e-mail them. I made it clear that I wanted to speak to a person and not a computer! I was told to contact the Operations Department, only to find I was listening to a recorded message, informing me , that unless I was traveling within the next 14 days, they would only reply by e-mail! I ended up contacting Trading Standards. they have informed me of my rights. OTB claim they are not providing a Package Holiday! According to a Trading Standards Manager that I spoke to, Because the total cost of my holiday is payable to OTB they say they are responsable for changes that might arise. In other words, OTB booked my flight and my accomodation, (and in flight meals!) Trading Standards said this constitutes A "Package Holiday" because OTB booked it all for me. They have said if OTB can't find me a flight for the same dates that I originaly booked for, I am entitled to a refund, and that includes the deposit. This is because it is circumstances out of my control. I have written to them stating that they have 10 days to rectify the matter, other wise Trading Standard are more than willing to step in, I already have a case number in place, so all I can do now is sit and wait! Has anyone else been in touch with Trading Standards? If so, what was the out come?
Thanks for listening.
Catrina

[rennee]

i have just read all reviews about on the beach .com i disagree i rung up yesterday and got very helpful man, rung up today the lady i spoke to couldnt be more helpful and talkative, i explained that i had read reviews, and was worried cause didnt want to get charged extra, she explained that i would be better booking it over the phone then i could know straight away if everthing was all right with booking which it was hope to have brill holiday in turkey in 4 wks.

[Emma_j_c]

i have booked with On The Beach several times, 2 of which were last year. No additional costs were made after i confirmed the booking and i found the peopel on the phone very helpful. I was able to have 2 holidays last year because of teh price that On The Beach offer and its fantastic, some people have had bad experiences but dont let that put you off booking with them. I have now gone ahead and nbooked 2 more holidays this year, one in May and the July both confirmations of booking were what i booked when i recieved them. So No problems there once again!!

Dont put it down too much when this sort of thing only happens to a few selected people!! Sorry for them but evryone else book a holiday as they really are well worth the money!!!