Gav's Blog

Just want to highlight to fellow Kiwi’s to avoid webjet.co.nz for booking cheap flights.

A friend and I got caught out by WebJet.co.nz today when attempting to book a cheap flight from Christchurch to Auckland. The prices they list are in Australian dollars, and even if you’re a Kiwi, they charge Australian GST on it as well (even though they are charging someone outside of Australia). We didn’t expect to see AUD prices on a .co.nz website, and didn’t pick this up until after receiving the email confirmation. Have since cancelled the flight, accepted payment of the ~AUD$12.50 booking fee (non-refundable) and rebooked on an airlines official website. They also would have charged an AUD$5 per seat booking fee once the fine print was read. Since it was an international credit card transaction, you’d have also incurred extra bank charges.

My advice – don’t be lazy, have two/three airline websites (e.g. Air NZ, Qantas and Virgin) in your bookmarks and do a quick search on each to find the best flight, and book directly through them – it doesn’t take long, this is what I do for my work flight to find the cheapest ones. Don’t use third parties for flight bookings.

Oh yeah, and the rebooked flights directly through an airline, even with the AUD$12.50 fee are still cheaper…

Update 2009-01-26: Last week I received a call back from The Consumer, and they recommended that I contact the Commerce Commission as they felt that WebJet’s practices were misleading under the Fair Trading Act and that they should be considered by the regulator.

Screen Capture of WebJet’s New Zealand home page (taken @ 2009-01-26 12:21)

The key issue here is that a New Zealand website (webjet.co.nz) is listing their prices in Australian Dollars, and this is only highlighted in small text at the bottom of the table. For a New Zealand website to properly represent the prices with no ISO currency code, the prices should be listed in New Zealand Dollars. If they want to list them as Australian Dollars, then all the prices should be preceded by the Australian ISO currency code e.g. AUD$199.

The fine print that is easily overlooked (taken @ 2009-01-26 12:23)

In addition, I am also concerned that WebJet may be falsely claiming GST on an international transaction. As I am not resident in Australia at the time of the transaction, and the fact that the prices are listed in AUD, I assume they are charging me Australian GST – which I may not be liable for as I’m resident in New Zealand at the time of the transaction.

Update 2009-01-26: I have just filed a complaint with the Commerce Commission.

Details of Complaint (so that we can assess the situation quickly):
The name of the trader (the business or the individual) that you are complaining about.
WebJet New Zealand aka http://webjet.co.nz

The address of the trader and contact details if known.
Not known. It appears that they have a virtual presence only in New Zealand.

Full details of the complaint you wish to make in chronological order; this should include all contact you have had with the trader and any explanation that that trader has given you.
On January 14 a friend and I booked a return flight within New Zealand using WebJet.co.nz for a return flight from Christchurch to Auckland. The was a trip for non-business reasons – a friends wedding in Hamilton. It wasn’t noted at the time, due to the website being New Zealand in origin (e.g. .co.nz) that the listed prices were in fact Australian. This only become apparent at such time as the email receipt was received. At this point we went about cancelling the booking, and over the next few hours were able to cancel the booking except for an AUD$12.50 ‘non-refundable’ booking fee. At the same time we returned to the website and discovered the fine print.

We cancelled the booking because of the misleading practice and because we knew that we should be able to purchase the seats far more cheaply direct from the airline. We originally went ahead with the transaction as we were unaware that it was in Australian Dollars.

What you think are the misleading or false representations that are the basis of your complaint.
1. That prices on a website with a New Zealand domain name (.nz) should be assumed to be in New Zealand dollars if no ISO currency code is prefixed to the dollar amount. It is misleading to provide an NZ website (webjet.co.nz) that contains prices in Australian dollars and onlylist this in the small print. They should either be New Zealand dollars, or all prices should explicitly have the currency code e.g. AUD$199.

2. That webjet.co.nz is claiming Australian GST for a transaction whilst I am based in New Zealand. My understanding of Goods and Services Taxes are that they do not apply for international transaction e.g. if I am based in New Zealand and the company is based in Australia. I believe that WebJet should not be charging Australian GST to customers that place their orders whilst they are in New Zealand. Alternatively, if they are registered for GST in New Zealand, I couldn’t find the New Zealand GST number on the invoice received from WebJet. Either way, some clarification around WebJet’s handling of GST is required. Note that in the attached email confirmation and invoice, there are two GST line items listed – one for $38.40 and one for $2.79 (the currency and jurisdiction for these GST’s are note clearly outlined). I assume because the invoice has an ABN number that we are talking about Australian GST.

What else would be helpful for you to supply:
* Copies of any relevant advertising.
* Photos of misleading signs involved in your complaint.
* Copies of any notes you may have made concerning your contact with the trader.
* Copies of any correspondence between yourself and the trader concerning the matter of complaint.
* Any other information or documents that you feel could assist the Commission in assessing this complaint.

Attachments.
a. Webjet Booking Confirmation and Tax Invoice ABN 84 063 430 848 (pdf) – copy of email confirmation and tax invoice from WebJet
b. – my blog where I am documenting this online
c. Two screen images taken today from webjet.co.nz indicating the issues that still exist – e.g. the misleading pricing

I have no problems with Australian dollars if on an Australian website (.au). However listing Australian prices on a New Zealand website (.nz) is simply misleading advertising and is a practise that the Commerce Commission needs to come down on hard.

Update 2009-01-26 1329: Commerce Commission has received the complaint. Now to sit and wait a couple of months.

Update 2009-02-27 1202: I’ve just got off a 15 minute call with someone from Fair Trading, and I’ve just had the opportunity to clarify my complaint over the phone. They are now going to contact WebJet, and will keep me informed of the investigation.

Update 2009-05-01: I forgot to mention that quite a while ago, I think it was March, I got a call back from ComCom, and whilst they weren’t going to take formal action, they were sending a ‘letter’ asking WebJet to change some of their practices. I recall this was going to be a clarification around pricing, as well as better identification of GST.