Watch out for DFDS day trip booking system flaw

We have been alerted to a flaw in the DFDS booking system which is resulting in some passengers paying £100 more than they need to for their ferry ticket.

A couple of consumers got in touch with us recently and asked us to warn Islanders to pay close attention when booking a day trip ticket over to France. They’ve also asked us to take up the issue with the ferry firm, as their complaints are having little impact.

DFDS, which took over from Condor earlier this year, is currently offering day trips to St Malo for £29 return.

However, the Islanders who’ve contacted us have found that when you visit the DFDS website, there are two ways you can book day trips – and depending which way you do it, they will either cost you £29, or a significantly higher price, in Euros, of over £100.

The Consumer Council team have tested this out ourselves on several different dates – both departing and returning on the same day, and departing one day and returning the following morning. We found the same issue on all dates we tried – with one way of booking costing £29, and the other costing us various amounts ranging from 110 Euros to 134 Euros for the same crossings on the same dates. Some of these examples can be seen pictured below.

We approached DFDS with our findings earlier this week, but haven't yet received a comment, or answers to our questions.

One consumer who contacted us about this issue told us: “It is easy to miss the Jersey offers page and easy to book the more expensive fare on the main website.

“DFDS refute this and seem to not understand my point of fair and clear advertising. I have email evidence stating they are willing to refund people if they have accidentally booked the dearer fare and they refunded someone I know the fare difference after I advised them of the special day trip offer.”

The consumer added: “I feel DFDS is deliberately allowing customers to pay extra for a product, and is only refunding the difference if the customer notices and complains.

“It just doesn't sit right with me. As a new operator here, they ought to be clear in their communications.  Their website should be easy to use and not display multiple prices for the same product.”

To ensure you get the correct price of £29 if you’re booking a day trip to France:

• Visit dfds.com
• Click ‘Passenger ferries’ at the top of the page
• Click ‘Our routes’ to reveal a drop-down menu
• Under the ‘Ferries from Jersey’ header, click ‘Day trips from Jersey’
• Select your dates
• The price should be £29.

If you’ve accidently paid a higher price for a day trip in recent weeks, contact DFDS to ask for a refund of the difference paid, and let us know how you get on.