Seatfrog - No upgrades available

[mad_rich]

I had a strange one with Seatfrog yesterday.

I had been bidding on a London-Newcastle upgrade and winning. Precisely two hours before departure I had a notification saying 'No Upgrades Available'.

This is different from the usual 'you've been outbid' or 'you didn't win this time' messages. It's like there were upgrades available and somebody (or some automated process?) withdrew them at the 2 hour mark.

Fair enough, they're allowed to do that, but for the preceding 2 days I was potentially committed to paying the winning bid. So this left me unable to change plans or make any changes to my underlying booking, not knowing whether I would or wouldn't be left with an upgrade on the 1930. This seems unfair. I'm more than happy to be committed to paying if there are genuine upgrades available, but this deal seems a bit one-sided.

A screenshot from the Seatfrog app showing No Upgrades Available.

 

[Train Boy]

It's like there were upgrades available and somebody (or some automated process?) withdrew them at the 2 hour mark.

I would suspect, if it were customer related, someone may have used the 'Buy it now' feature which is under the auction, but at a higher price. Therefore exhausting the available seats, causing the auction to close early.

 

[RAPC]

Sounds like somebody did the buy it now option, which takes the inventory away.

(Train Boy beat me to it)

 

[mad_rich]

Thanks both. In that case 'you've been outbid' or even 'somebody used buy it now' would have been better I guess.