Virgin Holidays - What's My Rights?

bradders1983

14 days is out the window at the moment given every holiday is cancelled and every travel company will also have staffing issues. You are going to need to have some patience.

In any case the court system has also ground to a halt so that wont be any quicker. 

Browntoa

Good luck with money claim online.

Huge backlog of cases building up as they are only dealing with priority stuff. Will be many months before anything happens.

ComicGeek

Have you actually managed to speak to them before about whether they are issuing a refund? We were supposed to be travelling around the same time, and they said that it would take up to 45 days to refund - still some weeks off that yet. Unrealistic to expect it within 14 days at the moment.

neilanthonyfitness

Westin said:

@neilanthonyfitness: Have you tried searching and pricing up a day or two either side. That might make a difference.

I have indeed, and unfortunately it is right across the board

neilanthonyfitness

ess0two said:

neilanthonyfitness said:

Westin said:

tc76 said:

Due to the cov-19 , I was looking to move my holiday with virgin to next year, they told it's free transfers and admin I just have to reprice the holiday. I got a quote of 7225 00 for the same holiday for next year.. but when I went to book it as I already had a booking and was moving they are now charging me 8400, basically they have my money already so no discount or loyalty please beware of virgin I have travelled with them for years but never again once I get this sorted out . Just making everyone aware they are profiting from the customers unfortunate predictament 

So what was the explanation when you asked them about the difference between the quote (£7225) and what they wanted to charge (£8400)?

I found this same issue.

Looking to rebook my trip from May to August, and noticed that the cost online has gone up £700 per person in 24 hours.

They are obviously desperate to recoup some of the margin they've lost through the Covid crisis and are charging people over the moon for holidays, knowing that even if they have to give a refund, it'll take 10 weeks to be received back by the customer, by which time the prices will either be even higher or availability will have vanished

Surely, August will be more expensive than May ?

It is, and that's why i looked for 10 days in august rather than 14 days in may, and originally found a like-for-like price .

however that like-for-like price had gone up by 700 pounds per person in 24 hours.
and i have cleared cookies and checked on other devices, and still showing the same result.

unfortunately all my money is with virgin as this is a rebook, so without being able to contact them (which i can't by phone or text or message, because they are blocking all customer contact) i couldn't have booked the like-for-like prices

onesixfive

We are due to fly to USA with Virgin Holidays on 1st May with Virgin. 
Their website has recently been amended & allows option to re-book or cancel but only to 27th April bookings:

Due to the ongoing situation regarding COVID-19, the Foreign Commonwealth Office have advised against all but essential travel. Therefore, with known airline cancellations, the following holidays will not go ahead as planned:

• Any holidays departing before 27th April 2020.
• Any Caribbean holidays departing before 1 May 2020.

As I understand it, USA travel is restricted indefinately per Foreign Office Travel Advice.
I am simply cut off if I call Virgin. 0344 557 4321 / 3140  plus an auto reply via text/twitter ?
I'd prefer a refund (almost £4k). I need the money.
I'm told I've to wait until 72 hours before I was due to fly - (28th April?) before Virgin will even contact me to discuss & I've heard it could be a further 90 days for refunds??
Now that the post-Easter rush is over, surely they should be more flexible?

onesixfive

neilanthonyfitness said:

So, I'm due to go on a 14 day holiday to Disneyworld with Virgin Holidays, all paid for, on the 22nd May. 

Virgin have basically stopped any communication with any customer unless they are travelling within the next 72 hours. This means that 98% of their customer base are not able to speak to them through any format relating to their current trip. 

I'm just looking to rebook my holiday from May to the end of August, and I've been keeping an eye on prices over the past few days, thinking about what I currently have booked with them and not wanting to pay any extra. I've managed to find a deal on their website for the end of August which is like-for-like, and then lo-and-behold 24 hours later, that price has gone up £700 per person! Bear in mind there is no way to communicate with Virgin to amend my booking, so we are at the hands of Virgin and their inexcusable price hikes.

Surely they can't get away with shutting off all communication with their customers, and then massively increasing the cost of their holidays. Ridiculous, and they have lost a long term customer through all this.

Hi - I too am so frustrated at not being able to contact them. 
I tried the original staff who I booked with at Virgin Holidays, but got an auto-email "I am not in the office for 8 weeks, until mid-May and I will have no email access during this time." - good old Richard Branson - 8 weeks unpaid leave!!
We are due to go to USA 1st May - I was going to offset against Caribbean next May 2021, but I am loathe for them to hang onto my £4k for another 12 months. Particularly based on this latest service! plus What if they go bust?  
You'd think now the post-Easter rush is over, they'd at least open a few more lines, or use the laid-off staff to take these calls!

onesixfive

ElCarlosL said:

Has anyone had any luck getting through to Virgin Holidays for either rebooking or a refund? I should have departed on 2nd April, but instead I’m spending hours on hold and getting nowhere despite them originally stating they would contact me nearer the departure date. Appreciate the voucher expires in July, but with the 2021 dates we looked at already ‘unavailable’ on their site, I’m keen to get a refund started to be able to look elsewhere. Seems like holding onto everyone’s cash is their way of staying afloat 

Have you had any joy contacting Virgin please?
If so can you please share the number(s)
ps: isn't there an extension to the 2021 booking dates ??

MrAirCon

Has anyone actually received a cash/bank deposit refund from Virgin Holidays yet? 

We've been customers of Virgin Holidays since they started back in the 1980's and love the service.
This coronavirus has caught everyone out, however we were surprised at the lack of customer service from Virgin Holidays. It would appears that they have very few staff working the rebooking and refunds. We were due to fly about a week ago and have been unable to get anyone on either chat or the phone since March. Via email we were offered 4000 air miles if we rebooked with them, however this had to be done on the phone. Since we were unable to communicate with anyone this way and emails are taking 3 to 5 working days to be answered, we opted for a full refund.
Again via email we have been told this will take up to 90 days.
Q: What happens to our refund money if Virgin Holidays files for Bankruptcy before our refund is complete?
Our worry is as we no longer have a holiday booked (just the promise of a refund), we may not be covered by the ATOL/ABTA protection. 

Westin

“Q: What happens to our refund money if Virgin Holidays files for Bankruptcy before our refund is complete?”

You have an ATOL protected holiday package which financially protects you in the unfortunate case of supplier (Virgin Holidays) failure.  The CAA’s ATOL scheme would refund your holiday cost.