Getting ripped off in mid air!!

Chavela · #1 03-10-2009, 05:31 PM

My mother recently visited the DR on a mission to do some investagatory work for our non-profit. She also happens to be a dog lover. She rescued a street dog in Samana and got it all it's shots, spayed and neutered. Then she wanted to get the dog-her- a home. She decided that she wanted to got to St. Croix to get the dog a home. She went ahead and rented a charter that AIRDOMCA told her would be 1,000.00 plus tax. I thought that was excessive, but it was meant to save her the hassel of driving back to Santa Domingo and taking a traditional flight. She was delayed 6 hours because of home land security strip search of the plane, and interrogation of the pilots and my mother. A nightmare. Wait, it gets better-or worse. When my mom returned to the states my dad opened the credit card bill and "Carribair" had charged them $11,000.00 for the flight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They had rushed her to sign the fax and she was unfamilar with the peso conversion. She's 65 years old and her eyes aren't that great. What can we do??!!! Please let me know her credit card company is disputing it with her. Carribair is blaming the guy Lennin at Aerodomca for telling my mom the wrong price for the plane, and saying that the 11,000.00 is the right price. Please help!!! Thank You!!

scrubmuncher · #2 03-10-2009, 05:39 PM

Wow, that's a pretty serious mistake to make. If your mother has put her signature to anything with the price on it then I doubt you will beable to do much. Her eyesight is no concern of the agents really. Bloody nasty story, hope someone can point you in the right direction.

dringa · #3 03-10-2009, 06:14 PM

Chavela - Sorry to hear this has happened to you and your mother. Here is some remedies that might be possible. I am a pilot and have flown from Samana. Call Aerodomca / SAP and ACSA - these are the current 3 operators that can provide you service right now. Get a quote for the same flight in writing. Ask them for a charter from Samana to St. Croix. Have them send it to you in writing or via e-mail. Depending on the aircraft they use, it should be around US$3000. This is about a 1 hour flight in each direction - so for them to do this flight, they will charge you 2 hours - which will bring the plane home back to SDQ. Once you have these quotes, send them to your credit card company and see if they can use these quotes to get your money back. Unfortunately, due to Caribair being shut down - they are really drained and it might take also some legal advise from a lawyer in Santo Domingo to persue this credit. I hope the above helps in some way. Sorry to hear about your problem

Lambada · #4 03-10-2009, 06:23 PM

dringa, would US$3000 be the approx price for a shared charter, or one just for one person plus dog? Or does it make no difference? I'm assuming price will have something to do with number of seats sold?

hammerdown · #5 03-10-2009, 06:29 PM

have her contact the credit card company and refuse to pay, and dispute the charge....the card company will not pay the airline company if she refuses to pay....and no it will not affect her standing with them....but she has to act soon, real soon....the card company will do an investigation and let her know of the results....but she has to be firm on the refusal to pay the total....trust me it works

dringa · #6 03-10-2009, 06:45 PM

Lambada - a charter is a charter - you are renting the plane - its not based on seats - you can have one person on board or a full load -the per hour cost really dont change in that situation

Conchman · #7 03-10-2009, 07:08 PM

How many seats did the plane have, or what type of plane was it?

IslandDreaming · #8 03-10-2009, 08:53 PM

I'm confused as to where the charter originated and ended. She mentions Homeland Security? Did thsi flight land in USA?

$1,000.00 bucks isn't going to charter much, maybe a Cessna 182 for a couple hundred mile round trip

Tamborista · #9 03-10-2009, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IslandDreaming

I'm confused as to where the charter originated and ended. She mentions Homeland Security? Did thsi flight land in USA?

$1,000.00 bucks isn't going to charter much, maybe a Cessna 182 for a couple hundred mile round trip

St. Croix is the USVI Miss Smarty Pants!

scrubmuncher · #10 03-10-2009, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IslandDreaming

I'm confused as to where the charter originated and ended. She mentions Homeland Security? Did thsi flight land in USA?

$1,000.00 bucks isn't going to charter much, maybe a Cessna 182 for a couple hundred mile round trip

I think the point is his mum is a little bad with her eyesight and misread the price, or misheard the quote, or the guy took advantage.