Prime Holidays 

Misleading Scam – Avoid Prime Holidays (Booked via Wowcher for June 12th)

I booked a holiday through Prime Holidays via Wowcher for 12th June, believing it was a trip to Amsterdam. The listing was clearly advertised as an Amsterdam getaway, and the presence of a Trustpilot badge made the deal seem legitimate and trustworthy.

After payment and confirmation, I was shocked to learn that the actual destination was Eindhoven — a completely different city over 1.5 hours away from Amsterdam. This was never made clear at the time of booking, and the deal was obviously designed to mislead customers.

I tried contacting Prime Holidays to sort this out, but they dodged my calls and eventually blocked my number. Instead of offering help, they tried to gaslight me, saying the trip was never advertised as going directly to Amsterdam — which is completely false.

This is unacceptable. I feel scammed and deceived, and I demand a full refund immediately. I would also urge Wowcher to take responsibility for promoting such misleading deals and investigate Prime Holidays’ practices.

Prime Holidays should not be allowed to operate. Avoid at all costs.

I booked a “holiday” via Wowcher’s website for 4 nights in Rome from Manchester airport for two people - £748 including booking fee. I added the dates of travel as 23rd - 27th May and the holiday was agreed on this basis. The issues started as soon as I picked up the phone to Prime Holidays.

The booking agent from Prime called me to begin what I can now see is their famous ‘upsell’ process, asking if I’d like to go to Spain instead for ‘only’ £89 more per person, it’s really quite ironic they try to charge you extra to go to a destination you don’t even want to visit and didn’t ever agree to booking…my answer was no, we booked a holiday for Rome and that’s where we plan on going.

Then comes the terrible flight reveal - advising our flight times are at 12pm from Manchester, with a 6 hour layover in Brussels both on the way and on the way back, meaning we’ll arrive into Rome at gone 11pm. By far from ideal, but I confirmed back shortly after to proceed on that basis. Suddenly Prime email me to say sorry those flights are no longer available, and they are unable to offer ANY flights at all to Rome (odd, because I can see plenty of flights online).

They then have the cheek to say as a ‘goodwill’ gesture they can see what other countries are available on different dates - so basically, a completely different ‘holiday’ to what I purchased, and no doubt with lots of extra fees to squeeze in as much profit from their holiday SCAM as is physically possible.

We are now stuck in a painful process of engaging with Wowcher who continue to advertise the very same holiday on their website on the dates I’m being told cannot be fulfilled. They have slopey shoulders and I shouldn’t be surprised given the Competition and Markets Authority recent calls for them to change their selling practices. This is false advertisement and it’s completely irresponsible of a company of their scale to be knowingly selling fake holidays that never existed in the first place. I’m stuck in the loop of Wowcher batting me to Prime Holidays and vice versa to discuss a refund for a holiday that is non existent.

Trying to deal with the customer service team at Prime Holidays is like pulling teeth, it takes multiple attempts to try and get through and when you finally do the call abruptly cuts off, it appears their phone line is as dodgy as their business practices.

As neither Wowcher nor Prime wish to respond to my many requests for resolution, I will attempt a chargeback and will be lodging a formal complaint with FOS, Trading Standards and Action Fraud. Failing that, we’ll be taking them to court.

I’ve had one of the worst customer service experiences I’ve ever encountered with Prime Holidays.

I purchased a Wowcher deal for a Lake Garda holiday in June. What I received from Prime Holidays was:

- Unacceptable holiday “options” including a 5 hour layover in Spain to come back to the UK from Italy, a hotel located in Milan (3 hours drive to Lake Garda), and a holiday in Krakow, Poland (not even the same country!) — all subject to additional charges at over 100% markup from the advertised price via Wowcher.

- Repeated promises to send alternatives “within the hour,” which were never followed through. I had to chase constantly.

- When I asked to book the only option given to me that was actually for Lake Garda (after finding suitable non-layover flights at £35 per person which I was happy to book and pay for myself on top of the Wowcher) I was told, less than a week after being sent this option, that the holiday had "reached capacity." and that it was no longer available. Why sell more vouchers for a specific location and date than you have availability for??

I requested a refund, having never received the product I paid for. They refused, hiding behind the fact that the Wowcher voucher had been “redeemed” — something required just to begin communication!

Their communication has been disjointed, unprofessional, and unhelpful throughout. I’ve been ignored, deflected, and sent irrelevant options over and over again. At no point have I been offered the holiday I purchased or a suitable equivalent.

Prime Holidays is unreliable and misleading. I strongly advise others not to trust this company with your money or your travel plans. They operate with no accountability and provide a shockingly poor customer experience, as can be seen by the many, many other negative reviews on this platform

They do not deserve any stars at all. Literally a scam. I would beg people if I can to avoid them! It's disgusting that they are even trying to get away with it. I cannot believe that Wowcher are giving them a platform. I will never be purchasing from Wowcher once again. I will do all that I can do to get a refund. Other people have explained in their reviews very well how they are scamming so I will not even get into it. Unfortunately, like myself most people are only seeing these Trust Pilot reviews after they have already made payment to Wowcher :( We must bring this 'company' down. I am not going to let them get away with it. SHAME TO WOWCHER. They are just as worse

Wouldn't even give one star!! I actually thought Wowcher was a reputable company, more fool me!
This would be the scam of the century if so many people hadn't outed them! Only writing this review because I've seen from other people that have been scammed that it's the only way to get the refund I'm legally entitled to. Whilst prime holidays stop replying to anybody requesting a refund, apparently they get in contact begging you to take down your honest review in order for them to go under the radar and continue to scam people. Everybody working for prime holidays are the lowest of the low. Prostitution has more integrity than purposely ripping off and lying to people who make an honest living! Wowcher know exactly what they are doing and are just as bad, if not worse, as they specifically put the refund policy in the fine print which makes you feel more comfortable with the purchase, then they only give you one way to contract them, take days to reply, and then pass you straight back to the scam company that they have partnered up with. The price being offered on Wowcher are for trips that don't exist. They don't even offer the choice of hotels that they show on Wowcher, don't fly into the same city that they advertise the trip to, and try to charge extortionate prices to give you anything close to what you originally booked. Wowcher states that you save up to 57% but you actually end up paying more than double what the trip is actually worth! DO NOT make the same terrible mistake that I have!!! These people rob you of your money, your sanity and you self respect. The worst company I have ever dealt with in my life by far!!!

One star because you give zero! I purchased a three day holiday for two to Lake Garda, Italy via Wowcher. The details of the holiday were specified in advance; return flights from Manchester on specific dates, with three nights in a specified hotel with breakfast included. (I was aware airport transfers were not included). It all seemed great for a price I was willing to pay. But that all changed when the vouchers were redeemed. We were passed to Prime Holidays to get the details of the flight times, only to be told the holiday was not available (even though Wowcher were still advertising it and selling it for the dates we purchased). Prime holidays are scammers and Wowcher are facilitating the scam! It's now clear the holiday I purchased never existed. Prime Holidays just lure you into the purchase though Wowcher with a too good to be true offer. They then say its no longer available, refuse a refund on the basis that you redeemed the vouchers, and then comes the scam. They have your money and make out your only option is to pay even more money to go to a different destination, on different dates. Wowcher refuse to engage in any refund discussions, even though you made the purchase through them. They just try to palm you off to Prime Holidays. Prime Holidays refuse to refund and you go round and round in circles.

Hi like a lot of people I am in the process of trying to deal with the complete and utter rip off and scam that is Wowcher and Prime Holidays - we got a voucher for a trip. Turns out it was all complete mis advertising and a lie - flights to a destination over 2 hours away from the offer, long lay overs on the flights and surcharges for changes when we can find direct flights and accommodation much cheaper ourselves.
Do not touch Prime Holidays with a barge pole they are a complete Scam if you want further proof check out their reviews on trustpilot, Martin Lewis website, facebook etc.
We are now in the process of contacting trading standards, the financial ombudsman and passing it on to our credit card company to deal with getting our money back.
This did make me say WOW as in WOW ive been totally scammed and treated very badly.

The company is a scam. Holiday sold does not exist. They take the money and tell you there is no flight. Try to force you to pay a lot extra and won't refund. I now do not trust Groupon because Groupon is not honouring the sale and won't refund the money they collect for this scammer either

It would appear i am not the only one to be scammed by this company via wowcher, booked a 3 night stay in krakow with an austwich trip but they are asking for hundreds more to honour what they offered. In dispute with wowcher but they are not engaging. Don't fall for this offer.

This is scam company and will try and force you to purchase more by using high pressure and refusing to end the call. Don’t not buy anything from them on wowcher or via them.

Not even worth 1 star !!!

Purchased a 4 night break to Krakow for £209 , upon redeeming I had flight options come through, our check in date was the 17th May -21st may, the flight times where leaving gone 10pm so we wouldn't actually arrive in Krakow until the Sunday morning, flight times back are 5.45am Wednesday morning, so technically we would only be getting 3 days instead of the 5, tried emailing wowcher to which they passed the blame to prime holidays , rang prime and they said it's up to wowcher, wasting time going back and to, probably to get me passed the '14 day cooling off period'
Extra costs have arisen for flight times and hotels and admin fees, none of these were stated on the original purchase page , so it's completely false advertising , I have opened a dispute with PayPal, I have reported to the financial ombudsman, reported to trade and standards, reading other reviews people have said they will be taking them to a small court which will be my next move . AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID SCAMMERS!!!!!

Scammers and law breakers.

We (along with many others) are having issues claiming our refund through Prime Holidays.

Discussion through Prime Holidays direct email address, Wowcher contact via WhatsApp *and* an issue raised through Wowcher’s facebook messages has been ineffective.

Our holiday voucher was purchased through wowcher after checking potential flight times that would correspond with our proposed holiday. We immediately attempted to confirm details with the company oil order to get everything in place. They offered up flights that did not meet the minimum guaranteed time in out location and attempted to up-sell us to flights ( an extra £99 per person).

When we questioned this, they said that the cost we had paid was based on availability and was not guaranteed, having done a private search for these flights we were able to see the the ‘free’ flights they offered us did not even exist and the ‘up sold’ flight had plenty of availability and cost less the the £99 pp they were attempting to charge us.

After looking up the company on trustpilot we discovered that many people have been scammed this same manner and had either paid extortionate amount for their holiday (through various hidden surcharges) or ended up not receiving the trip that they had booked. With this in mind we had lost all faith in the company and chose to take advantage of the 14-day right to a change of mind refund.

When we requested this Prime continually ignored the request and made counter offers, then tried to state that we were not entitled since we had ‘redeemed’ the vouchers. According to the Wowcher T&Cs we are still entitled to our refund regardless as the holiday is not yet booked (Prime have confirmed with us in writing that nothing has been booked), they still refused to refund our money.

* "If not redeemed within 48 hours, the voucher will auto-redeem, and the customer should contact the travel agent to book. This does not impact the customers right to a change of mind refund within 14 days unless the holiday is booked."

Use of public information available through companies house shows that they are not trading from the address they provide on their email, and the SIC codes for the only active company matching their name are not the codes used for a travel agent.. this has further destroyed any professional credibility.

I would request that for your own professional integrity, you immediately process the refund we are entitled to.

We are now taking this matter to the Financial Ombudsman and suggest all others do the same.

Bought a trip to krakow via wowcher, prime then contacted me to say I had 2 choices for my 3 night trip.
Either have a seven hour stop over in Munich on the way back with the airport being 2 hours from the airport or pay another £80 per person to just fly direct to my destination.
Avoid at all costs

Originally purchased a wowcher voucher for a trip to Krakow for the auschwitz tour this year and was mislead into thinking that the voucher was for two people. After I purchased it I got an email from prime holidays saying that the holiday was automatically validated and the wowcher is for one person only. I then rang the company up and asked them why it was not clearly advertised that you need to buy two of these vouchers for the trip. They said that was advertised clearly on the page. Checked back on Wowchers website and I scrolled down right below the reviews that the voucher purchased only applies to one person. Called prime holidays back and asked them if anyone else have been misled in this way and they told me they have never heard of an incident. Yeah right! Do not get a holiday through this company, unprofessional and greedy. Also wanted me to pay another £100 to downsize the room from a two person to a one even through I have already paid for the room on wowcher.com, told me also that I don't qualify for a refund being as I have approved the holiday personally even through they automatically accepted it and did not ask me on any other period. Avoid this company, go to reputable company or a local travel agent. Highly unprofessional.

STAY AWAY! Redeemed 2 £99 Wowcher vouchers to Barcelona. They offered terrible flight times with a 6.5 hour layover in Mallorca. They wanted £79 more for good flights and a change of hotel. I declined.

Every time I called I was put on hold for 15-20 minutes only to be told there were “delays with the system”.

Was told they would call back twice, they didn’t.

I then got an email saying that there was only 1 seat left. My options are, change the dates/times or destination, at an added cost!!!

I’ve already informed Wowcher via WhatsApp. Hopefully I get my money back.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS. NOT WORTH IT.

Don’t use use this company. I was transferred to them from Wowcher. They are asking for more money for direct flights, otherwise I have to spend all day in Majorca airport when I’m
only going to Barcelona for 3 days. They are really difficult to deal with and not at all helpful. They are refusing to refund me my money but are requesting more and more money. Avoid at all costs. Terrible. Details of extra costs are not disclosed until you have redeemed the voucher. Do not use!

Poor service in general, can't get hold of no one and when I did they cut me off. They reckoned they phoned me but had no record of a missed call from them on my phone?
Basically I've had to fend for myself and sort this mess out. I had bother checking in with the details they gave me took me an age.
So Zoe Williams and Deepika of Prime Holidays hang your heads in shame and book your ideas up!

I bought a two-day trip to Barcelona from Wowcher. After redeeming, they transferred me to this company. They tried to make me pay £99 extra for the trip I bought for £79 so I can stay there for 2 days. If I don't pay extra money I have to wait all day at the airport, such as Milan or Stokolm from London to Barcelona, when I could fly 1.5 hours directly. I am still waiting for the result. A completely lying company.

Absolutely terrible so called travel agent company. They pretty much conned us after we purchased an experience package from Wowcher for a short holiday to Poland. When redeeming the voucher the provider demanded that we pay hidden surcharges to get what we already paid for. When we refused to pay extra they dropped the extra charges and booked into a hotel in the middle of nowhere which was disgusting. When contacted about this they said they would call us back and get this resolved, which was a complete delay tactic since they did nothing to help and refused to give a refund. Which makes no sense. I would avoid Wowcher and Prime holidays like the plague. Got to be the worst company in history.

Avoid this company!! Appalling customer service and will scam you.
You won’t be given what you paid for and then they will constantly refuse a refund, on top of that you can’t ever get hold of anyone or even get a straight answer.