Missed Appointment

clg86

Me and my partner had a massage booked for yesterday in Salford Quays. It was a voucher I had bought through a website.
As I didn't have a clue where it was, I used my satnav to get us there, but as we got into manchester, we ran into a whole lot of traffic jams due to there being a bike ride!
All the major roads were blocked off and everybody was being diverted...
I tried to call the massage company several times to ask if they could direct me another way and got no answer, I also left 2 messages but they didn't return the calls. After sitting in traffic that wasn't going anywhere for an hour (and still no call from the massage place), we decided to try and get home.

Last night I received an email saying we were a no show. I emailed straight back explaining what had happened and asking for somebody to call me. I got a reply saying there would be no refund or rebooking allowed as we should have given ourselves plenty of time to get there!!!

Where do I stand on this?

paddyrg

Was it the massage places fault you were late? Why should they be penalised for you not setting off earlier/finding out where they were? Any gesture they offer will be goodwill only, they do not need to offer anything at all.

You could get in touch saying how sad you are, and will they maybe meet you partway and do you a massage for half price? They may consider it.

clg86

Firstly, at no point was I saying it's their fault!!
Secondly, we set off early enough with the mindset that there may be traffic due to it being bank holiday, and we actually got into Manchester an hour early (which I would say was plenty of time to get there and park). The satnav said we were 5 minutes away, but when you're sat in traffic that isn't moving, the best we could do at that point was to call them and explain we may be a late. They should have called me back at least.

Is it our fault that we didn't know there was a bike ride on that day?? Would it have been our fault if there was a huge accident causing the traffic delays?? Would it have been our fault if my car had broken down??

If somebody without that kind of attitude could possibly advise me, I would be very grateful.

DVardysShadow

clg86 wrote: »

... If somebody without that kind of attitude could possibly advise me, I would be very grateful.

As you already know the answer you want, perhaps you should not trouble the free thinking people here to give you answers they cannot deliver with conviction.

Hintza

The only thing you might get is some goodwill, you are entitled to nothing. You missed the appointment I'm afraid.

Tigsteroonie

clg86 wrote: »

As I didn't have a clue where it was, I used my satnav to get us there, but as we got into manchester, we ran into a whole lot of traffic jams due to there being a bike ride!
All the major roads were blocked off and everybody was being diverted...

clg86 wrote: »

Is it our fault that we didn't know there was a bike ride on that day?? Would it have been our fault if there was a huge accident causing the traffic delays?? Would it have been our fault if my car had broken down??

I can't advise but I can back you up on this. We live in Manchester, and didn't know that roads were being closed for a massive cycle event yesterday either. We tried to get from east to west Manchester and ended up turning round, going right out to the M60 at Denton and then going all the way around the outside. It wasn't being mentioned on local radio, there was no local travel news that morning (due to the bank holiday), we saw no diversion/road signs warning that the Mancunian Way was closed. It was all incredibly annoying.

Forwandert

clg86 wrote: »

Where do I stand on this?

You missed your booked appointment. Any travel issues etc are not the businesses problem. You have no rights with this one.

paddyrg

Not saying you weren't unlucky, just saying why should the massage place bear the full burden of a no-show? Hardly 'attitude', unless by that you mean people who don't agree that they should?

mikey72

It doesn't help, as I think you are stuck with the goodwill of the company, and there doesn't appear to be any, but we had a similar situation, the only thing we could do was walk the final few minutes, so I let everyone out, and parked the car up, then walked myself. Luckily everything was late, or just in chaos, so we were ok even though late. Possibly it's worth checking if all the road closure conditions were complied with, and if the event manager gave adequate notice or not, but I personally have no idea how to take that forward.

pinkshoes

The traffic wasn't your fault, but it certainly the massage company's fault either.

Either put it down to bad luck, or contact the organisers of the bike race and ask them to pay for another appointment!

EllaBeagle

I would write a letter to the massage company explaining what happened and a letter of complaint to the events company that organised the bike ride.

Hope they see your point of view and give you some alternative. If it were me in this situation I would be pretty peed off too.