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NEW INTERNET AUCTION SITE OFFERS
TRAVEL AS LOW AS $1.00
  One of America’s travel
marketing organizations has launched a new Internet travel site which features
no-reserve, one-dollar opening bid auctions on lots often valued at thousands
more. For example, users can bid on a round-trip flight to Hawaii via Northwest
Airlines starting at one dollar (U.S.). There are round-trips to London via
Virgin Atlantic from New York, Washington, D.C., Miami and several West Coast
cities. The site charges no fees and is relatively easy to use.
 SkyAuction.com also
minimizes many restrictions that were typically required by airlines. For
example, a round trip to South Africa on Virgin Atlantic has no minimum stay
and up to a one-year maximum stay. Another typical offering is a one-week tour
of Kenya for two with an opening bid of one dollar with no reserve. A similar
tour of Kenya is usually valued at over $5,000.
 The features offered at
this site make it convenient and easy to bid online. The Multibid function allows users to bid on multiple auctions
simultaneously. Compared to other on-line auctions, this function helps in
eliminating time-consuming steps that require registration and other delays.
SkyAuction.Com also uses Autobid
technology, which allows bidders to set a maximum bid, and then the server only
bids up the price at the minimum incremental bid. This helps allow bidders to
win an auction at a more economical level.
 Another notable feature of
the site is the special student area, which offers discounts for students up to
the age of 34 years. Two other features: anyone can browse the site (even
before they register), and there is no fee. The site has redundant servers and
multiple connections into the Internet. There are also a wide variety of
products at auction, and more are added daily. Most auctions are listed for one
week.
SkyAuction.Com was created
by Magical Holiday, Inc. of New York, which markets tours around the world.
Magical Holiday has been noted for its tours to Africa, and student and
missionary travel.
For more information:
http://www.SkyAuction.Com
Edited by Kristie Philips
We thought Skyauction.com sounded great and recommended it to others
but not everyone has had a perfect experience---so proceed with caution.
Here's what some of our readers had to say...
SkyAuction ripped me off for $746. In dealing with them, I found they have the
worst customer relations I have ever come across. They're a nightmare.
On Oct 17 my bid won their auction [507436]: Roundtrip
USA/Egypt via United/Lufthansa, and the following week my credit card was
charged $746. To this day - over four months later, I still have no ticket and
they still have my money. I've written them 15 emails, from 10/18 to the most
recent on 2/17 (six of which have been to Sal Esposito, Chief Operating Officer).
But I either got no response, or been lied to. I've also phoned them 5 times,
and twice they were incredibly rude.
They never got me a booking. For two months they didn't get
me any flight dates despite all my emails and calls. Finally I gave up and
asked them to just refund my money and credit my charge card back - I spoke to
Sal Esposito and he said he'd "take care of it." But he didn't, my
credit card has not been credited. And they haven't contacted me nor answered
my emails about it.
Yee
I noticed that you had comments from another user regarding Skyauction.com. I also have had a very bad experience with this company.....
I "won" an auction on 2/4/00. Two weeks later I finally heard from the company informing me that they were working on my reservations. During this 3 week period, my reservations sat in "pending" status. Due to
unforeseen circumstances, I had to cancel the trip on 2/23/00.
I called the company to cancel (I'm having to pay a $50 charge for this - this charge is not noted at all on the website) & strangely enough, at the same time, my reservations went from pending to active. Now I get to haggle with my credit card company & try to dispute a $2000 charge for a trip that I am not taking.
I would advise all of your users NOT to use skyauction.com - if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Could anyone give me tips on where I can complaint about Skyauction, an auction house that specializes in travel, air ticket...
I won a ticket from Skyauction on Sept. 7th, I already paid with my credit card more than a month already. After many messages, they booked the
flight for me, but they have not delivered the ticket as promised two weeks ago. I sent many messages to inquire about the status of the ticket, they did
not reply, and one time they replied back by asking me to call their office number in New York. The first three times I called with busy signal, for 30 minutes, then I was able
to connected, then the call was dropped. I called immediately after that, then when I tried to talk with the operator,
then she put me on hold for 5 minutes, I had to drop the call since I did not know if they were going to serve my call (I called
long distance from California to their office in New York). I really don't want to make a fuss about this, but obviously they really have a problem
with customer service and their process, and it looks like that they don't care (once they took your money!!). I think after 15 messages and almost two months waiting for the ticket
from Skyauction, I need to do something about it.
I called the airline, they told me that I need to have the ticket in order to get on the airplane for the trip.
I would appreciate if you have any tips for me to get the ticket from them since I already made all travel arrangement for this trip.
Hung Le
I too 'won' an auction on Jan. 29th. R/T tickets for 2 to Puerta Vallarta Mexico with Air from Cleveland.
It took MANY inquiries to get a final total price. Finally, I did receive the information.
I had to change my preferred travel dates for which they charged me an additional 50 bucks to change even though nothing was actually confirmed with the airlines yet because they needed my money first. So, why did they charge me 50 bucks? Who knows.
I FINALLY received my airline tickets. To my surprise, there were no seat numbers assigned, so I called the airline direct to find out what was going on. SkyAuction had me booked twice for the same flight and no seats were assigned. Why? Who knows. The airline agent told me that had I not called, the double booking would have probably 'cancelled'
each other out, so when we arrived to board, we would have been screwed. I got the airline agent to assign seats.
THEN, after the ticket hassle, I dig further into my package hoping to find a hotel reservation letter of some sort verifying our reservation. But, what did I find? An RCI TIMESHARE EXCHANGE CERTIFICATE!!!
I have emailed Skyauction several times about this, but, surprise, surprise, no answer.
NO WHERE on their website does it mention TIME SHARES...so, who knows what I actually bought, or what I will be forced to sit through when we arrive. I have been in direct contact with the hotel, and if need be, to RCI to find out what is going on.
SkyAuction needs to improve their customer service, and add additional information to the website concerning fees, penalties, timeshares, etc.
BUYER BEWARE.
Dear TravelLady,
Can you give me a number to call at skyauction.com? I won an auction and cannot access their reservation system, and cannot get anyone to return my emails. They also don't
list a number on their website and Verizon is on strike so I can't call information to get a number.
Thanks. Dave
In a nutshell, bought 2 tickets ($1K), gave date 3 weeks in
advances, got back $300 increase on original price if i want to use those
tickets! Reason mentioned: 'The original contract this auction was based on no
longer exists' and booking problems.
Two words: STAY AWAY. Period. Here is their phone#:
212-355-3660
Thanks for posting the above and help it would help others.
We'll keep you updated if we get any further information.
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