Customer charges and the 'fairness' test

I booked a family holiday over the weekend.  My preference actually was to wait a while longer before booking but after lengthy discussions with my wife we decided to book and give ourselves some certainty.  I wish we'd waited a little longer because yesterday evening my wife found a couple of online reports suggesting that the food at the hotel we'd booked wasn't good and indeed, there'd been an outbreak of food poisoning as recently as last month.  So, you've guessed it, we decided that we should change the booking to another (more expensive) hotel instead.

I intitially tried to change the booking online but some of the instructions were a little confusing so I rang the Thomson holidays call centre this morning.  They politely informed me that the charge for the amendment would be £50 per person, or £300 in total.  They also reminded me that their terms and conditions on their website made the amendment charges clear.

They do and I should have been certain that I was happy with the original hotel before confirming the booking.  I accept my error - and admitted it to the Thomson agent.  But that's not really my point here.  During the telephone conversation I asked them to explain why the amount is so high - after all it can't possibly cost them £300 to change a booking can it?  Indeed, it's still £300 if I do it myself online - in which case presumably it's all done without human intervention at their end.  Their explanation for the charge is:

1. It's clearly stated in the terms and conditions
   At this point I reiterated that I accept that but that I'd like to know how they calculate (and justify) the charge.
2. Fees like this are factored in to the cost of running their call centre.
   Really, how?

I did ask them to consider reducing the charge and they explained that it wouldn't be fair to do that for just one customer.  They then put it another way, "it's only fair that we charge all of our customers the same fees.  My suggestion that they may be profiteering at the expense of every customer who wants or needs to change a booking fell on deaf ears.

I've since been thinking about why I'm so cross about this.  I don't believe it's because there is a charge, it's actually because the charge appears to be unfair.  The amount doesn't seem to bear any relation to the cost of undertaking the amendment.  And this has set off two trains of thought for me.  Firstly, how prevalent are punitive charges like these?  Have they become greater and more common during the economic downturn as short term thinking drives behaviour to apply charges to maximise profit?  And secondly, do the companies that charge them assess how their application affects repeat bookings and customer loyalty i.e. is this a sound business decision?  Do customers come back and book in future years despite the charges or is it (as I believe) a poor long term decision because a customer is lost for good?  I know for example that I won't book a Thomson holiday again.

What are your experiences of what appear to be unfair charges and did they impact the relationship with the organisation?

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