National holidays

Mancha60

Our holiday with national Holidays was cancelled by the company and they have sent holiday vouchers. Surely we can refuse these and demand a full refund? 

basscadette

They also cancelled my holiday and when I requested a refund they offered me the option of rebooking or a voucher. Before I even answered, they sent the voucher straight out.

I have written to them to request an actual refund as a voucher is not worth the paper it is written on if the company goes bust.

Alan_Bowen

At present, the law is on your side, refunds within 14 days of cancellation. You should be aware that ABTA, the Travel Association, has asked the government for the law to be changed and is currently advising its members to issue vouchers for the simple reason, most of them do not have the funds to repay everyone at once. Any change may be announced in the next week

basscadette

Thanks Alan. Surely they cannot change the law retrospectively? 

I do understand their position and am sympathetic, but the vouchers they are sending remove any rights to the cash that was supposedly safe with them in the event they cancelled. It cannot be converted to cash and isn't a holiday that can be cancelled and refunded, so they are really taking the biscuit. I don't see how they can change the law to make this sort of faux refund standard practice. Who would buy anything ever if you couldn't get your money back if you didn't get the product or service you paid for?!

Supergran54

I'm having the same issue with National Holidays. I have quoted the law to them but they say that these are unprecendented times and the legislation was not intended to cope with situations like this. They also tell me that the vouchers would be honoured by the Bonded Coach Holiday Group in the event that they cease trading. I'm going to go through my credit card provider.

basscadette

They sent the same email to me today, but I believe they are lying about the voucher being honoured as from what I have read once the trip is cancelled, the voucher is not protected and is not refundable. If they have a private arrangement with BCH then they need to set this out officially, but that still doesn't resolve the issue of not being convertible to cash.

I am also going through my credit card provider but might send them an official letter before action to add a bit of misery to their day and take up their time like they have mine. They are totally breaking the law as it stands today and have no right to insist we get a gift voucher instead of our money back.

Sadly, this is just one holiday company that I am sorely disappointed in during this crisis. My travelodge thread is a whole other headache.

Ethicalman

Also same boat,  my wife paid for my birthday surprise alas by cash to NH direct so that I wouldn't know,   holiday cancelled  listened to Martyn and agreed to support the company and rebooked another holiday. The new holiday cost less than the original  so asked for a refund of the remaining amount told no I have to have a voucher and buy another holiday and pay the difference if more than voucher as supported by ABTA,  BCA and the government  2018 guidelines which are advisory.  However, in my view if the holiday that I rebooked was more than I had on credit they would expect me to  pay the difference,  they win both ways!  This company is taking advantage of the current situation,  in my opinion National Holidays are ripping their customers off and ignoring consumer legislation 

Frozen_up_north

We have a holiday planned and paid in full by credit card. Departure is late June. Reading the National Hols web pages, they don’t offer a refund... If the situation doesn’t change I will ask for a refund via my credit card company and never use National Holidays again. We might be in difficult times, but not offering a refund as an option is totally unacceptable.

Westin

June is a while off. I would sit tight and wait.

KromaZone

My wife had booked to go see mary poppins on the 10th of april but this was cancelled due to the fact they coach could not be filled. She was able to get a refund but did not have the card on her that she paid it on at the time so she said she would ring them the following day. The following day she rang them for the refund but them refused this and offered a credit note? when she asked why she could not get the refund they said it was due to the corona virus and could not issue the refund. So they are now using this as an excuse as not to pay our monies back even though they sent my wife an email cancelling the trip due to the coach not being filled. She has sent them various emails asking for the money back but they have ignored all these emails and will not answer the phone when she rings them. She said she will give them 28 days to reply to the emails and that she would take it further. 

Is there any advice you can give us with this please.

thanks.

Life__Goes__On

Hi, what card debit / credit  was it paid on and how much?