Coronavirus travel disruption - latest info and your rights

Coco52

Life__Goes__On said:

Coco52 said:

We booked a package holiday with Worldwide Cruises  We were due to go on 31/05/20 but the cruise liner has cancelled all sailings , I have emailed WWC and asked to be refunded this was 4 weeks ago what they are trying to say is they won’t refund because the airline haven’t actually stated as of yet that there have cancelled all flights. My argument to WWC but this is a package holiday if the cruise is not sailing then my holiday will not be going ahead , they have yet to come back. What are my rights 

Did you just pay Worldwide Cruises? or were flights paid to another company?  Was it just one invoice with a total(including flights)?

We booked and paid for flights / hotels and the cruise to WWC just the one invoice

Life__Goes__On

Coco52 said:

Life__Goes__On said:

Coco52 said:

We booked a package holiday with Worldwide Cruises  We were due to go on 31/05/20 but the cruise liner has cancelled all sailings , I have emailed WWC and asked to be refunded this was 4 weeks ago what they are trying to say is they won’t refund because the airline haven’t actually stated as of yet that there have cancelled all flights. My argument to WWC but this is a package holiday if the cruise is not sailing then my holiday will not be going ahead , they have yet to come back. What are my rights 

Did you just pay Worldwide Cruises? or were flights paid to another company?  Was it just one invoice with a total(including flights)?

We booked and paid for flights / hotels and the cruise to WWC just the one invoice

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/my-package-holiday-has-been-changed-or-cancelled
Claim your  refund from Worldwide Cruises,  if they don't want to pay up ,  did you  pay via a card?

Coco52

Life__Goes__On said:

Coco52 said:

Life__Goes__On said:

Coco52 said:

We booked a package holiday with Worldwide Cruises  We were due to go on 31/05/20 but the cruise liner has cancelled all sailings , I have emailed WWC and asked to be refunded this was 4 weeks ago what they are trying to say is they won’t refund because the airline haven’t actually stated as of yet that there have cancelled all flights. My argument to WWC but this is a package holiday if the cruise is not sailing then my holiday will not be going ahead , they have yet to come back. What are my rights 

Did you just pay Worldwide Cruises? or were flights paid to another company?  Was it just one invoice with a total(including flights)?

We booked and paid for flights / hotels and the cruise to WWC just the one invoice

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/my-package-holiday-has-been-changed-or-cancelled
Claim your  refund from Worldwide Cruises,  if they don't want to pay up ,  did you  pay via a card?

We paid the deposit last year with bank debit and the balance with credit card , can I go back to them and demand a refund because they are obviously delaying paying our refund on the airline, they did come back 4 weeks ago and offered us a voucher on another holiday but I refused 

Life__Goes__On

Quickest way I think would be via a Chargeback on the transactions (debit & Credit card)

Raise a "Chargeback" against the transactions stating non-supply of service, (using proof of cancellation) also state that you have rejected any vouchers that you are entitled to do under English law.
Normally with a Chargeback the money is returned once it’s processed

The Worldwide Cruises can dispute the Chargeback, but it must supply evidence to the card company.

If the Worldwide Cruises is successful,  then the Chargeback is reversed and the money taken back  from your account

If that fails then it's a Section 75 on the credit card.

Coco52

Life__Goes__On said:

Quickest way I think would be via a Chargeback on the transactions (debit & Credit card)

Raise a "Chargeback" against the transactions stating non-supply of service, (using proof of cancellation) also state that you have rejected any vouchers that you are entitled to do under English law.
Normally with a Chargeback the money is returned once it’s processed

The Worldwide Cruises can dispute the Chargeback, but it must supply evidence to the card company.

If the Worldwide Cruises is successful,  then the Chargeback is reversed and the money taken back  from your account

If that fails then it's a Section 75 on the credit card.

Thank you very much I will try this 

altos

I booked with Ryanair last year a flight to alicante on the 24 th June and return on the 9th July yesterday I received an email say the 24th June flight has been cancelled but my return flight for 9th July has not been, what is my position for getting my money back but daft giving me a return flight from Alicante when I will be in the uk

Pollycat

Jtomo58 said:

We have a packaged holiday with First Choice (TUI) booked for early August. We booked before the Corona Virus and were looking forward to the holiday, however, my daughter has a history of respiratory issues and is under a consultant at the hospital and has multiple medications each day. My wife also has severe Asthma. We have taken the decision that we no longer wish to travel and take the risk. We still 80+ days from travel. We have tried to cancel, but TUI say it has to be under normal conditions, so we would loose £800. We booked on a zero deposit and paid via DD. Firstly i am not sure where the £800 figure has come from. Secondly, i have tried exceptions due to my daughter's health. They were happy to discuss until i had to inform them my insurance did not cover the deposit at which point i am told i cant cancel. I have letters from the government to say my daughter and wife is in the at risk group, and also medical records. Tui still say their exceptions policy does not apply. Quite frankly, i am disgusted with TUI, i would have thought a big company like this would have been more compassionate.  Are you able to help?

Jtomo58 said:

Jtomo58 said:

We have a packaged holiday with First Choice (TUI) booked for early August. We booked before the Corona Virus and were looking forward to the holiday, however, my daughter has a history of respiratory issues and is under a consultant at the hospital and has multiple medications each day. My wife also has severe Asthma. We have taken the decision that we no longer wish to travel and take the risk. We still 80+ days from travel. We have tried to cancel, but TUI say it has to be under normal conditions, so we would loose £800. We booked on a zero deposit and paid via DD. Firstly i am not sure where the £800 figure has come from. Secondly, i have tried exceptions due to my daughter's health. They were happy to discuss until i had to inform them my insurance did not cover the deposit at which point i am told i cant cancel. I have letters from the government to say my daughter and wife is in the at risk group, and also medical records. Tui still say their exceptions policy does not apply. Quite frankly, i am disgusted with TUI, i would have thought a big company like this would have been more compassionate.  Are you able to help?

My email's and responses from Tui, I'm sure you would agree, it's disgusting. 
Original email...

Dear Exceptions Team,

My family have a holiday booked on the xxth August 2020 leaving from xxxxx Airport to Kos, ref xxxxxxxx under the booking name Mr xxxx xxxxx

Given the current situation re Covid 19, we would like to cancel our holiday as both my Daughter and Wife remain in the at risk category and have letters from the government as such (Attached for reference). My daughter is under a consultant as she has respiratory issues and has had so from birth (Appointment letter attached). Given the seriousness of Covid 19 and the potential impacts particularly to my daughters health, we feel that the risk to continue with the holiday is too high and therefore would like to cancel with a full refund on the basis of medical conditions and the Covid Risk.

I also enclose a paragraph from our insurance company NatWest who confirm the deposit is not covered at this time. 

Please can you action the cancellation and full refund please and confirm the same. 

If you need anything else please let me know. 

Thank you in advance,

Response

I have taken a look at our exceptions policy and we are unable to offer you a cancellation with a full refund, if you were to cancel it would be under normal terms and conditions.

We can also offer you to amend your holiday free of charge to a holiday later this year or next year. You would be able to change your booking for later this year or next year to any TUI, First Choice, Marella Cruises or River Cruise we currently have on sale. If the new holiday cost is more expensive we would ask you to cover the difference and if it is cheaper we will refund you. You can call us on 02034512688 and we can change it over on the phone.

Second Email

Seriously!? I was advised by your agents this would be straight forward given my daughter's heath conditions.

You would rather I risk my daughter's health than offer a refund, even though we are over 80 days from travel!? This is disgraceful. Under normal circumstances we would love to go on holiday, my daughter can benefit from vitamin D from the sun, but given the high risk to her and even if travel restrictions ease, we do not want to risk her health and wellbeing. I have provided evidence of her situation, clearly, she is in an at-risk group.

I would urge you to reconsider, please. If I need a letter from the consultant in this regard it can be obtained.

Please reconsider. This is not something I would have expected from a highly regarded company such as TUI and First Choice.

 Regards

 Response

I have taken another look at this for you and we are unable to offer a cancellation with a full refund and can only offer to amend the holiday free of charge 

Another poster asked if your booking was for 4 people.

I think this is because the usual TUI deposit is £200 per person, so £800 would be right for deposit for 4 people.

I know TUI did a low deposit deal with the remainder of the deposit due later.

We paid £100 for 2 people and then a further £300 about a month later.

I guess as you have opted to cancel your booking, TUI are saying the deposit is not refundable.

That is in their T&Cs.

Throwaway19

Hi,

I am looking at booking a weekend away in early July with Sykes Cottages. They offer an insurance policy which mentions the following:

"COVID-19 Coronavirus

Please note that any claims relating to the COVID-19 coronavirus will not be covered under any policies purchased on or after 17th March 2020.

(Link) Full inclusions and exclusions"

My understanding is that this policy is in case I cancel with the company, then I wouldn't be entitled to a refund. However if I book this and the lockdown were to then be extended, would I be entitled to a refund if the company cancel the holiday?

Also, in the "Full inclusions and exclusions", there is no mention at all of either the words "covid" or "corona" - so I can't see that they have any specific policy.

Apologies if this isn't posted in the correct place.

Thanks.

Browntoa

A holiday for next year will be a new policy , it's most unlikely that anything covid related will be covered ( although some sort of indicate that they would cover repatriation costs regardless ? )

Throwaway19

Thanks for your reply. My query is that if we were to book for July (this year), without the insurance policy (as we have no intention to cancel and are happy to travel unless the company won't allow us to), but then the company cancelled the holiday, would they have to refund us? My understanding is that if the company cancel, and not us, then they would still have to offer a refund. Is that correct?

Edit: another note on this is that the company say they will offer free amendments (date changes) for holidays if the lockdown is extended. I'm not sure if this would make a difference?