“An operator to avoid.
This online travel agency is a big scam.
Firstly, when I booked the package (Flight + Hotel) on September 5, 2023, the agreement was to pay the full amount over 4 months (October, November, December and January) but last December I realised that They planned two payments in the same month of December. I had to call to delay the second payment for December until early January. They agreed but of course they charged me £10 for it. Despite this agreement which cost me £10, on December 27 they made a second direct debit for the month of December. This direct debit was declined by my bank for insufficient balance and which cost me £10 in bank fees.
Secondly, after paying in full for my vacation booked on September 5, 2023, they inform me at the last minute that the hotel will be closed and they force me to cancel my vacation instead of finding another hotel similar to my initial hotel. So I was forced to cancel my vacation booked 4 months ago and I have to wait another 7 days for them to refund me the full amount already paid. That means my January 2024 vacation is ruined. In addition, they made fun of me by asking me to cancel and rebook with another operator knowing that at the last minute it is too late and impossible to find a similar stay at the same price for September 2023.
They didn't even offer me any commercial gesture or compensation for all these costs and time wasted for nothing.
I strongly advise against this operator because they do not respect these commitments to customers and because of their unprofessional and poor customer service.
Better to pay a little more with another more serious and professional operator in order to avoid these last minute inconveniences and find yourself without a hotel or flight at the last minute and you will be forced to cancel your vacation. This was my case.
In order to obtain compensation for my damage, I decided to initiate the procedure with the ombudsman.
Below is a copy of one of these responses to my complaint:
We can offer full refund for your booking including your flights and you can look to rebook through another operator>
Kind Regards
On the Beach”
“What an awful company. They have no integrity. Don't trust your family in their hands. Booked a taxi 3 months before we went on holiday. Cancelled just days later and were charged the full price. Complete thieves.”
“Me and my family booked a holiday to benidorm for next October .My daughters partner unfortunitly died this November Ive tried loads of times to cancel the holiday sent them the death certificate they have been no help whats so ever we are all grieving the loss of jamie and shouldn't have this hassle to cancel the holiday so absolutely disgusting”
“Hate this horrible filthy arrogant company..
To summarise..
Our friends and I paid this stinking company £140 odd pound each deposit.
Unfortunately one of our group passed away..
Now they have been sending threatening letters asking for the payments for the flights..!!!
Not one mention of the person that recently died.
They are never getting a penny from us..!!
DO NOT EVER BOOK WITH THIS AMATEUR OUTFIT.
Cold,Callous, Rude and totally unprofessional…
WE HOPE THEY GO UNDER..
The sooner the better…!!!”
“I have booked an holiday with them, and they have provided me with some information for Ryanair, but Ryanair charged me £230 to make the check in.
on the beach is just taking your money and wouldn't support you or give you the write instruction.
I have also booked for the transfers to be 4 stops maximin, but it was 20 stops on the going and return.
sure i wouldn't' use them again.”
“First time using On the Beach in September 2023, paid for transfers to and from hotel in my package to Tenerife the pick up on return trip didn't happen despite following all guidance inc the hotel and English rep advise. Had to pay for a taxi almost missed flight waiting for the pick up from hotel. Never turned up. Appalling service from Sarah at On the Beach lots of lies and contradicting. Then still awaiting for complaint resolution over the specified 28 in complaint email. Latest email from Tanya (no surname or ref) today 20th Oct. Still no resolution even with clear evidence provided.
Now second trip using On the Beach to Lloret De Mar loads of hidden fees getting on to the plane and now getting ready to return home. Second complaint being logged upon my arrival.
That's twice using the same company On the Beach more fool me after the first disaster using them.
Basically from my personal experience I'd say not to use this company and use someone else which is exactly what I shall do on my next holiday.
Dissapointed and confused as to why they sit at excellent on here?
Appalling service all round on each of my two holidays using this company.”
“Absolute disaster of a company. Misdirected by staff at Stanstead and as I'm not so young it took me over 10 minutes to walk back to the correct terminal only to find I'd just missed the shuttle and as such miss my flight to paphos by minutes as they had just closed the gates. and as such Ryanair were more than happy to charge us £100 each to get on the next flight out which wouldn't be going for a day and a half later. I was going for four days so I was paying two hundred pounds extra for to lose a day and a half. We had to pay £119 to book a hotel to stay overnight. To Rub salt in the wounds On the Beach contacted us Not to see how we were but to tell us that we couldn't us the shuttle service when we get to paphos the next day. Inconsiderate and uncaring is the only words I can use to describe them. On the Beach and Ryanair are in bed together and couldn't care less about anyone else. Having saved hard for our holiday and being and ordinary low paid working man I worked hard to save for this and all I do is end up over £400 out of pocket. On the Beach are nothing but a shamless organisation who couldn't care less and that's blatantly obvious. Never ever again for me.”
“If I could give a 0 I would I wanted to book a holiday for my wife and I and my son his wife and 2children I booked for the 2of us I went to book for my son I didn’t know they had changed the date for my son and family to go 2days later cost £204 to change flights on conair and now on the beach want another £189 to change the dates of the hotel when it was there website which changed the dates another way of ripping you off be very careful I’ve learnt the hard way never again”
“I will never book with these again, the booking seemed so easy and then realised you get no extras included in the cost. They also allow you to pay for luggage that the third party airlines won't accept as it not booked through. Just returned after having to pay another £75 on top of the £100 bag (and ridiculous admin fee of £45) because the airline didn't accept the booking through on the beach. Currently reporting them to the ombudsmen for selling an item they legally couldn't.”
“On the way back to airport after our holiday the bus turned up 20 mins early and then left!
Our holiday rep from on the beach told us to be ready at 9:30. The driver was nowhere to be seen. Out of pocket we had to arrange a separate transfer.
Appalling experience.”
“Our grown up children have had there flight cancelled .In Turkey .on the beach have not contacted us at all and we have had to make our own arrangements for accommodation for them to sleep last night .you phone on the beach and there offices open at nine . should it not be a 24 hour operation.we have had to pay out of our own pocket for a room. and there holiday rep has not had the decency to call back to help.pergaps he is waiting until 9 am .plus there answer machine still says they are short staffed with COVID .”
“dont use them, its a scam
booked a break away to Tenerife, confirmed all details & paid in full only to find out 48 hours later that the flights had gone up and that it would be another 150Gbp per person, cancelled that.
booked again the following day only to be told 24 hours the hotel was fully booked, but we could have a room there for an extra £200 per person (if the hotel is booked how can it be available for an extra fee)
we will not use them again (hoping to get the money back) would never recommend them
the price they show you on their website isnt true, it changes after you have booked
Thieves”
“I booked an all-inclusive holiday with On the Beach for my family of 5 to Corfu in January 2023. We later discovered that the resort we had originally booked was unavailable, very annoying, and the team at On the Beach sourced, what we had hoped for, a like-for-like 5-star holiday on the island.
When we arrived at the hotel at 1.30am on 15.08.23, the resort didn't even have our booking. We were told that there was no room booked under our name and that they only had one family room free at the resort, which was not prepared or ready for us. As you can imagine this was extremely stressful and depressing after travelling from the UK.
The staff told us to sleep for the night and get some rest and that they would try and deal with our booking the next day. They kept our passports as they couldn't check us in until they could confirm our booking. My wife was upset as we didn't know if we'd be asked to leave the following morning - not the start you expect for your 5-star holiday.
The following day was completely ruined as we were asked to go back to the reception every hour until they could confirm our booking had been confirmed. It is impossible to relax when you have no idea if you will be allowed to stay.
At around 4pm we were told we could stay but would have to be in the room they'd thrown together quickly for us.
The fact we turned up to a hotel in the middle of the night only to be told "we don't have a booking for you" to then have the first day completely ruined as we could officially "check-in" to then realise we were stuck in this room they'd thrown together for us is just an absolute disgrace after paying so much for the holiday.
We would never book a 5-star expensive holiday to be thrown in one little room together. This is not what we were expecting and totally unacceptable.
We are very disappointed and felt like we had been misled with our all-inclusive 5-star holiday. This is not the family holiday we originally booked and paid a lot for.
Please do not make the same mistake as we did, stay away from On the Beach. We will next time!”
“I have ride to contact this company many times in realtion to a miss sold holiday and also made a complaint via email that they say will contact me back within 28 days this time scale has now over 28 days and no response this company is so anti customer service they have made it very expensive to call them I have have many issues with the holiday they sold me and simply can't get anyone from the company to listen I will not use this company again and will do everything I canto stop other people using them”
“I don't recommend it.
They canceled my reservation after almost 48 hours as my booking is no longer available MYB12541733B.
The worst was the wait to find out that they can't confirm the booking and missing out on other holiday deals.
Their website is misleading and flawed because it says prices have been updated.
I used instead lastminute.com, where you get the confirmation straight away.”
“Had to cancel a holiday in March due to illness. My insurance company are ready to pay out but I have to wait for on the beach to send out a cancellation invoice which is actually called a no-show letter but it takes some 56 days to send out, it’s funny how they can take your money, the very same day. Disgraceful service will not be booking through them again it’s just not worth all the hassle”
“Have booked to go on holiday on the 13th of this month. Found out when I looked it up, that we have been booked into a lounge and issued vouchers when this lounge will be closed at the time of us flying.
I contacted them on chat and they said they can't change the lounge to the one that IS opened as they have already issued the vouchers, despite it being their mistake!
Absolutely useless and a fine start to the holiday that will be!
Thank you very much for that ON THE BEACH!!”
“Booked a holiday with On The Beach on 1st May 2023, it has been nothing but a nightmare since then. I have tried contacting them via their complaints telephone line, only to have to wait in a queue for 2 hours. This has been experienced by many holiday makers. I thought to write a letter as a complaint, only to be told they do not accept letters anymore, only emails. I have sent emails to their so-called customer care site, only to be told it could take up to 56 days to receive an answer. My dispute with them has now been escalated to their Complaints Department, they know there is an issue with the flights that have been booked, which neither OTB or Ryanair can solve, but they continue to ask for further payments for a unaccessible holiday. Days and days of stress caused by OTB. This will probably carry on for months, this type of behaviour by a Company should be unacceptable.”
“Scammers - Avoid
Scammers! What a joke - this company shouldn’t be allowed to false advertise and mislead customers the way they do.
I booked a holiday with them online and receive a call the next day saying the booking has been cancelled as the hotel was full. What? Full? Why is the hotel still being advertised on your website as available? No answer. The next day the hotel is still been marketed on their website as available.
The following day, I found another hotel and booked it again with them to only receive a text later that day asking me to call them. When I finally got through after half a hour the first time, they wanted more money. They first said the rooms we booked are no longer available as the hotel has sold out but we can pay another £500 to book other rooms which are available in the hotel. I said I need time to think about it.
I go back onto their website to discover the rooms are still being marketed and the price had gone down from my original booking price. I called them back (1 hour to get through) to ask what is going on. They then said my original rooms are now available again but want me to pay another £300 on top of the original price. I said but they have gone down, the only answer I got was ‘this is all I can see on my screen’. So the price was again over £400 more than the advertising price live on their website at the time of the call.
What a scam! I found and booked the hotel via another company for a cheaper price who confirmed my booking immediately and not left it pending for 48 hours like this company does. It took all the excitement away from booking a holiday. Our holiday went from £4700 to £5695 with On the Beach. Con artist and this should not be allowed for them to false advertise lower prices to then scam more money out of people. Watch out for when they are adding a further £500+ service fee to the bill which you only get notified in an email after you have given payment details and confirmed payment.
Once was bad luck but twice showed what a rubbish company this is.”
