Skypicker Possible Fraud - Visa Card Trouble - Can I sue them?

Hiddden

So last Saturday we found these very cheap flights on kayak.com and went ahead with them, ignoring the absence of luggage allowance and food on board and a different city than our final destination, they charged the card but popped the message that they will send the confirmation email soon. But this wasn't all. They sent an email saying the price has gone high and we can pay the difference via Paypal and if not, they'll refund the previously charged money which will take a few days. So we decided we better not proceed and get our usual tickets from that airlines own website which is more reliable. But it wasn't that easy. The site did not accept the card for no clear reason. It was a bank holiday and the prices were going up and aup and up so we ended up rushing and confirming the payment with skypicker. They responded saying it's gone a bit higher again, feeling desparate, we agreed to pay that through Paypal and it went through all well. At night I was buying something online and Paypal didn't proceed the payment thinking it's fraudulent. I got annoyed as I had done shopping with them before.

Eventually Tuesday morning we call the credit card company and they say the card was blocked for a possible fraud and we were supposed to receive a text message about it that we never got, but now they can't do anything else but unblock the card.

An hour later we get the text that we were supposed to get 3.5 days ago.

Now we're trapped with skypicker. They still have not issued the boarding passes and as a consequent we can't verify ourselves as the passengers of those flights and moreover we have the return flight with these people and that's another pain for the way back. It's been a week of nightmare and we don't know wether we'll fly at all or end up paying extremely expensive last minute prices with the better airlines and lose all the money we wasted on skypicker.
Googling online different reviews have negative and positive feedback and some express them being fraud. However Czech Republic blogs and sites have admired this super cheap and amazing service.

Oh! Visa said they can give us a 20 Euro treat to compensate their undelivered text!

Thinking and thinking and thinking about the situation and the laws, I can't believe they can't let this go with a €20. Any idea what we could do with this?

UPDATE:

To clarify, we've got trapped with this skypicker.com who does seem fraudulent and that's because the Visa card company did not notify us about their blockage of the card, so we were unable to buy the tickets we wanted, AFTER skypicker charged the initial fee and said the price has gone up. Visa was not reachable because it was outside hours. There's any chance that we won't be allowed on these flights and that'll cost us a fortune to buy other tickets and we won't know it until the last minute.

1. Is this a case to sue the card company for not being responsible to

A. Block cards BEFORE a suspicious transaction, not AFTER,
B. notify the customer of the card blockage once the system has decided this was a fraud.

2. If skypicker is actually a scammer, how can that be tracked?

Stheno

It's not very clear what your issue is?

Hiddden

Stheno wrote: »

It's not very clear what your issue is?

Post updated.

delahuntv

you want to sue visa becasue you did not check out the site????

and then you are complaining about visa for blocking your card after a potential fradulent transaction? And you STILL think yoiu can sue them for being pro active?

Christ!

Hiddden

delahuntv wrote: »

you want to sue visa becasue you did not check out the site????

and then you are complaining about visa for blocking your card after a potential fradulent transaction? And you STILL think yoiu can sue them for being pro active?

Christ!

What site? I did check the online banking site and it said nothing about the card blockage. They were NOT pro-active by disabling the card once the transaction had gone through and not notifying the customer about this.

Stheno

Hiddden wrote: »

What site? I did check the online banking site and it said nothing about the card blockage. They were NOT pro-active by disabling the card once the transaction had gone through and not notifying the customer about this.

Seriously you've no case here and are being ridiculous, Visa can't block cards prior to a potentially fraudulent transaction they are not psychic

And they've said you were sent a text are you sure they've the right number?

delahuntv

sorry but your post is not making sense. They did block your card, or they did not block your card?

If their systems sense a fraud they bloack a card IMMEDIATELY - this is automatic and operated by Visa international. They don't have thousands of emplyees looking over the shoulders of people using the card.

the software sends a fraud message to the bank that issues the card and the bank then sends a letter to you or contacts you.

Thats how it works.

Hiddden

Stheno wrote: »

Seriously you've no case here and are being ridiculous, Visa can't block cards prior to a potentially fraudulent transaction they are not psychic

And they've said you were sent a text are you sure they've the right number?

Do you work for Visa? ((((:
They said they were supposed to send a text and they did so after three days and after having the card unblocked and complaining about this. You haven't read my post carefully I suppose. I had explained this before. (:

Stheno

delahuntv wrote: »

sorry but your post is not making sense. They did block your card, or they did not block your card?

If their systems sense a fraud they bloack a card IMMEDIATELY - this is automatic and operated by Visa international. They don't have thousands of emplyees looking over the shoulders of people using the card.

the software sends a fraud message to the bank that issues the card and the bank then sends a letter to you or contacts you.

Thats how it works.

They blocked the card after the skypicker transaction is how I read it, so transaction occurs system processes it, pings out a suspicious activity and blocks the card

Stheno

Hiddden wrote: »

Do you work for Visa? ((((:
They said they were supposed to send a text and they did so after three days and after having the card unblocked and complaining about this. You haven't read my post carefully I suppose. I had explained this before. (:

They said they sent a text you didn't get it for whatever reason
honestly you haven't a leg to stand on, just move on

delahuntv

Hiddden wrote: »

Do you work for Visa? ((((:

yeah of course I do :rolleyes: Why do people make these utterly stupid remarks when someone queries their post. It just makes your post look childish and very stupid.

Stheno wrote: »

They blocked the card after the skypicker transaction is how I read it, so transaction occurs system processes it, pings out a suspicious activity and blocks the card

doh - amazing. Visa picks up a dodgy transaction and blocks the card.

wtf do you expect me them to do? (sorry, nearly blew my cover as ceo of Visa international)

Stheno

delahuntv wrote: »

yeah of course I do :rolleyes: Why do people make these utterly stupid remarks when someone queries their post. It just makes your post look childish and very stupid.


doh - amazing. Visa picks up a dodgy transaction and blocks the card.

wtf do you expect me them to do? (sorry, nearly blew my cover as ceo of Visa international)

Eh I'm not the op I was responding to your query as to whether or not the card was blocked

I think it's a perfectly valid way for them to operate

delahuntv

Stheno wrote: »

Eh I'm not the op I was responding to your query as to whether or not the card was blocked

I think it's a perfectly valid way for them to operate

sorry - the way the OP has posted, it could very well have been his post and his logic!

I wonder if visa can give me next week lotto numbers!?

Hiddden

delahuntv wrote: »

sorry but your post is not making sense. They did block your card, or they did not block your card?

If their systems sense a fraud they bloack a card IMMEDIATELY - this is automatic and operated by Visa international. They don't have thousands of emplyees looking over the shoulders of people using the card.

the software sends a fraud message to the bank that issues the card and the bank then sends a letter to you or contacts you.

Thats how it works.

Oh sure! Of course I understand how their system works and they don't crowdsource the fraud detection system!

You mention "the software sends a fraud message to the bank that issues the card and the bank then sends a letter to you or contacts you."

Here comes the problem! They never contacted us in time regarding this.

Stheno

Hiddden wrote: »

Oh sure! Of course I understand how their system works and they don't crowdsource the fraud detection system!

You mention "the software sends a fraud message to the bank that issues the card and the bank then sends a letter to you or contacts you."

Here comes the problem! They never contacted us in time regarding this.

Do your bank have your correct contact details? Did you ever receive a text? It's hard to believe that over three daye you couldn't contact customer care tbh

Hiddden

Stheno wrote: »

Do your bank have your correct contact details? Did you ever receive a text? It's hard to believe that over three daye you couldn't contact customer care tbh

Yes they do, and yes I do happen to receive text from them on other occasions. How on earth is it hard to believe I could not contact them when they are only available Monday-Fri 9-6 except bank holidays, and that Monday did happen to be a bank holiday, and the clerk on the phone did confirm that there is no way of reaching the support outside the hours.

By the way, I came to post here to get some piece of mind and help regarding legal issues, I don't see a reason to try to justify myself to boards.ie users. (:

Stheno

Hiddden wrote: »

Yes they do, and yes I do happen to receive text from them on other occasions. How on earth is it hard to believe I could not contact them when they are only available Monday-Fri 9-6 except bank holidays, and that Monday did happen to be a bank holiday, and the clerk on the phone did confirm that there is no way of reaching the support outside the hours.

By the way, I came to post here to get some piece of mind and help regarding legal issues, I don't see a reason to try to justify myself to boards.ie users. (:

If it was a bank holiday Monday you could have called tuesday, regardless you have no reasonable argument for holding visa/ your bank to account here so just take the twenty Euro and move on

Did you get your flight tickets yet?

Hiddden

Stheno wrote: »

If it was a bank holiday Monday you could have called tuesday, regardless you have no reasonable argument for holding visa/ your bank to account here so just take the twenty Euro and move on

Did you get your flight tickets yet?

1. Experience has proven that they offer these small treats when they feel they are in some trouble with the customer.

2. The tickets are still a bit of mistery. They're slow at communication, and improffesional. No boarding passes yet, and the airline's website doesn't detect us as the passengers of that flight yet. We probably won't know until the last minute. I am also interested in knowing if there would be a way of suing/refunding the ticket company if we never get them.

Stheno

Hiddden wrote: »

1. Experience has proven that they offer these small treats when they feel they are in some trouble with the customer.

2. The tickets are still a bit of mistery. They're slow at communication, and improffesional. No boarding passes yet, and the airline's website doesn't detect us as the passengers of that flight yet. We probably won't know until the last minute. I am also interested in knowing if there would be a way of suing/refunding the ticket company if we never get them.

Rather strangely visa may be useful here. Was it a credit card you paid with?

Hiddden

Stheno wrote: »

Rather strangely visa may be useful here. Was it a credit card you paid with?

Yes, credit card and the transaction was completed right away.

Stheno

Hiddden wrote: »

Yes, credit card and the transaction was completed right away.

Then they have a facility where your bank can cancel the transaction if you do not receive what you paid for and you get refunded

Eugene Krivel

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dudara

Boards.ie: Niamh

As a result of this thread, Skypicker.com have contacted us, this is their response to the issue in the opening post:

We are sorry to hear about your card blocking. It is unclear to me if the card was block beacuse CC company thought your card was stolen or there is some issue with our system. Did you get more info about this?

As number of seats for specific price is limited, price for the flights can change very quickly as cheaper seats are sold out. Generaly, if tickets were not booked and you will not agree with additional costs, we will refund you the original payment for the booking. We will also help you to find a new alternative flight instead of the original order.

Please can you provide me more information about your order? You can send me your booking number directly to my email mentioned below and I will look into it. We can continue to solve your case via email as our company profile at this forum is not approved yet. Thank you.

In case of any other questions, you can contact our customer support on email support(at)skypicker.com or me directly at marek.lexuan(at)skypicker.com

On behalf of Skypicker.com

Marek Le Xuan
Customer Relations