There are many things out of your control that can go wrong on a vacation trip. We in ECC Norway want to give you some advice on what you can and should do before you travel.
– Many of our cases are season-based, and after the summer vacation it is not uncommon that many consumers reach out to us after experiencing problems with flights, hotels, or rental cars, says director of ECC Norway, Linn Hogner Jahr.
As a consumer, there are many things you can do to be prepared if something goes wrong. We share our best tips so that your travels will go as smoothly as possible.
Useful advice before a flight
Checklist before ordering flight tickets
When ordering flight tickets, you are responsible for making sure that the information you provide about yourself, is correct. It is therefore important to make sure that the following information is correct, before you order the tickets:
- Name of the passengers (Remember that the name of the ticket must be the same as the name in the passport)
- NB! If you write the wrong name, you might have to pay a huge fee for changing the name later on
- Contact information
- Destination
- Time and date
- Avoid ordering from travel intermediaries. ECC Norway recommends avoiding using travel intermediaries when travelling. Instead, you should order directly from the air carrier or hotel. This is to avoid having to deal with more than one contracting party.
- Many travel intermediaries are non-serious and will dismiss any responsibility if something goes wrong. This often leads to you as a consumer being sent from one trader to another to get help.
- But the travel intermediary offers cheaper trips!? Yes, the travels will often be cheaper because they gather offers from multiple air carriers. If you have a stopover and there is a delay on the first flight, it often means that you do not have any rights if your second flight is carried out by another air carrier.
If the air carrier that the travel intermediary has used, cancels the trip and pays a refund, many experience that the travel intermediary keeps parts of the refund for themselves. There can be different reasons for this, but we often hear that different additional services you have paid for are non-refundable. This applies to for example administrative fees.
- Do I need a cancellation insurance? Your ability to change or cancel a booking, will normally depend on what ticket type you as a consumer buy. Some tickets are fully refundable, while others give you the right to be refunded taxes and fees.
Many air carriers also offer a cancellation insurance. It is still useful to keep in mind that this is not necessarily something you should pay for. Most travel insurances will cover cancellation because of acute sickness or other events. You should therefore check your travel insurance, so that you can avoid paying for two insurances.
Accommodation
Accommodation and holiday homes are not regulated by law, so it is important that you as a consumer remember to read the contract thoroughly before you sign.
Like ordering flight tickets, we recommend that you always order accommodation directly from the hotel, holiday home or lessor. We also have some concrete advice to what you should be aware of before you order accommodation abroad.
- Check out the lessor before you order. You can use websites such as Trip Advisor or do a search on the internet to read about others’ experiences. As a minimum, the lessor should provide information about name, address, organization number and email address. Also look for a phone number and what country the lessor is affiliated to. What country the lessor is affiliated to can have an impact on your rights.
- If you order from a travel intermediary: If you order accommodation through websites such as booking.com, hotels.com, momondo.no, novasol.com or Airbnb.com, you should be aware that the intermediary dismiss all responsibility if there is a lack of confirmation with the holiday home or hotel. This means that the rental agreement is between the consumer and the lessor. In the case of holiday homes, the lessor is often a private person (not a trader). ECC Norway does not mediate in private cases.
- When there are errors or a lack of conformity with the accommodation. Renting accommodation is not regulated by law, and your rights will depend on the agreement between you and the lessor. If the accommodation does not live up to your expectations based on the agreement, you can complain. If, for instance, you were promised air conditioning or a swimming pool, but said air conditioning or swimming pool do not work or are unavailable, you can complain. Check the agreement to find out how to complain and what you can claim. If the agreement says nothing, you should complain as soon as you find an error or a lack of conformity. Before you can claim a price reduction or in some cases a rescission of the agreement, the lessor must be given an opportunity to fix the errors or the lack of conformity.
If there are errors or a lack of confirmation, it is important that you as a consumer document this through for example taking pictures of the error.
- If the lessor does not accept a price reduction. You as a consumer can contact your bank and see if your case qualifies for a chargeback. This presupposes that you have paid for the accommodation with a bank card. If you have paid with a credit card, you have a statutory right to forward the refund claim to the bank. If you have paid with a debit card, you might also have a right of a refund from the bank, but this will be regulated by the card agreement with your bank.
Rental cars
Our most important advice when it comes to renting cars abroad, is to order the rental car directly from the lessor/rental company, and not through an intermediary. If you order through an intermediary, you enter an agreement with two contracting parties, and you will have two sets of terms and conditions to adhere to. If you have ordered through an intermediary, you should always familiarize yourself with the intermediary’s terms and conditions.
Here are our best advice to those of you that rent cars while on vacation.
- «No show». Arrive at time or notify the rental company that you will be delayed. In most terms and conditions, there is included a “no show” policy. Both intermediary and rental company can have different terms and conditions for what you as a consumer must do when you will be delayed. For example, the intermediary might demand that you have to call and cancel directly with the intermediary to have a claim for a refund.
- Lack of documentation. Check in the terms and conditions for what documentation that is necessary to rent the car. This could be a physical driver’s license, credit card in the lessee’s name, and/or other documentation. It is your responsibility to bring with you the right documentation. If you have not brought the right documentation, you will not be entitled to a refund.
- Damage on the rental car. Always examine the car with the lessor before you sign the contract. Be aware if damages are marked as already occurred or not. if you notice a damage during the examination, you should point this out at once. If you sign a form where existing damage is not marked/listed, or if you ignore an existing damage without taking a picture of it, our experience shows that the rental company/lessor will/might refuse to refund you.
- Take pictures. Take pictures of the car and eventual damage before you drive off. Also take a picture of the kilometre distance right after you picked up the car and right before you return it. Remember to turn on the time stamp on the pictures so that it can prove that the pictures were taken before delivery. This way, the pictures will be indisputable proof of existing damage.
- Sign the contract in a language you understand.
- Extra insurances. Never rent a car without knowing what the deductible for damages is and the price to reduce/remove the deductible. An insurance deductible is often called Super Cover Damage Waiver (SCDW). You can have such an insurance deductible in your travel- or credit card insurance. Many travel insurances will cover the deductible for damages on rental cars. You should contact your insurance company to hear whether you have an insurance that will cover such damages. Say no to extra insurances and products you do not want.
- Returning the car. Check the terms and conditions to find out when the lessor demands that the car will be returned. It is often a demand that you must fill up the fuel tank, or else the rental company will give you a fee. Take pictures of the whole car at delivery and go over the car with the rental company/lessor if you deliver the car within the lessor’s opening hours. If you deliver the car outside of the opening hours, it is especially important that you take pictures of the car.