LoveHolidays agree to cancel & then don't

AdderOwl

Hello all.
I booked a holiday for 7th - 11th March.
On the 2nd I asked LH if I could cancel.
They replied on the 3rd  saying that I could cancel and that that I would get £175  of the £380 paid refunded. If I wanted to go ahead to confirm.
I replied a few minutes later confirming.
I replied the next day again as they hadn't responded.
A message popped up saying they would reply in the next 5 days.
I wrote to them again on the 7th and they replied on the 8th saying they wouldn't refund as it was past my arrival date so was considered a 'no show'.
They then closed the ticket and removed my ability to contact them via a new ticket.
My question is whom do I go to now please? They agreed to refund and it was THEIR slow reactions that caused the conversation on THEIR side to go over the arrival day. 
I have screen grabs and transcripts of the conversation just in case they accidentally delete it. 

Alan_Bowen

If you have confirmation in writing then you appear to be on solid ground. I have to say a few days before departure, assuming this was a package holiday, every other operator would tell you there are 100% cancellation fees and to claim on an insurance policy. If you have it in writing, send them a copy and ask them to refund you within 14 days otherwise you will ask your CC to do a chargeback for the amount they offered. If you have nothing in writing then, good luck!

AdderOwl

Yes, I have screen grabs and transcripts of the conversation just in case they accidentally delete it. 

bagand96

Alan_Bowen said:

I have to say a few days before departure, assuming this was a package holiday, every other operator would tell you there are 100% cancellation fees and to claim on an insurance policy. 

I expect that this was a flights plus hotel booking, and the £175 back would be for the hotel that was likely flexible, the lost money would be non-refundable flights, and a LoveHolidays admin fee.

The problem here seems to be relying on email//messaging contact - these are usually processed on a queue basis hence the delays. With the short timescale, you'd have been far better actually talking to someone and getting it done in real time (although with the Covid-19 drama I expect that would have been easier said than done)

Alan is right though - if you have it all in writing, you should get it back one way or another.  Small Claims Court might be another option.

Westin

I'd agree to both the excellent responses you have already.  

Well done for keeping the screen shots/grabs.   I suspect they got bogged down with work and processing your (hotel?) cancellation slipped through.   Their problem however not yours.

It appears you are on firm ground but I suspect that they are probably still backed up with work load and to his end replies and correspondence from them may be painfully slow.

AdderOwl

oh dear... Their reviews on F eefo are awful.

AdderOwl

Complaint submitted to ABTA

AdderOwl

oops sorry, no idea why it's so large! 

dalesully

Can i ask how you got the cancellation quote. Did you have to click 'cancel booking' and choose the drop down option 'I no longer wish to travel' and then click 'continue to cancel'?
I can't see the a ticket option in 'Manage My Booking' and a bit reluctant to click this 'continue to cancel' button as i read in the terms that you may not get anything back if you cancel. I am in the same situation and have a hotel booked in Spain in a couple of weeks. Any help would be appreciated.

Westin

@dalesully : I cannot answer your first question but do please be careful pressing any cancel buttons unless you are 100% clear of the outcome.  As you are not travelling for a couple of weeks I would be inclined to wait and not do anything with that cancel button at this time. Wait for instructions from the travel operator.  Things only changed this weekend with Spain and it will take travel operators a short while to catch up with processes.

dalesully

Thanks for getting back to me. I managed to get some advice from a man that originally booked us and pressed the 'continue cancellation' button and continued with the request.
The process now is that they get in touch via 'Manage My Booking' in up to 5 days and let you know of the costs involved in cancelling and how much you get back. Then you have to confirm, or not. So will wait and see what the damage is. The problem we have is our last payment, for the holiday, goes out in about 5 days. We all booked the hotel together, as family (15 of us), so not ATOL protected, because it wasn't a package holiday, and some of us aren't covered with our insurance cover. Also because the credit card didn't have direct link to the hotel, loveholidays is seen as a third party, so getting a charge back is not looking good either. Online chat has disappeared from the site and calling them isn't happening and restricted to people who are going in 5 days. So we'll see.