SunWeb offering vouchers instead of refund

mrblush

I suggested that people get on Trustpilot to give an honest review and in the past week Sunweb have gone from excellent to great and now average on the summary of reviews. I can see that becoming bad very soon. 

gegenmike

which . co. uk advice...
Can I get money back for a cancelled holiday because of coronavirus?
The FCO advice against all foreign travel until 16 April means that airlines and travel agents are obliged to cancel flights and holidays, and issue refunds or allow you to rebook for a future date. However, many companies are ignoring this requirement and are only offering consumers credit vouchers or the chance to reschedule. This includes package holidays covered by Package Holiday and Linked Travel Regulations 2018.

However, travellers may not be in a position to rebook or may be uneasy about accepting credit, as many holiday providers are facing uncertain futures. The law says you are entitled to a full refund, so don’t accept a voucher if you have any concerns. Which? Travel is lobbying on your behalf to ensure consumers are fully protected.

We are calling on the government to provide the necessary funding to bail out companies at risk of collapse. We also want them to underwrite any rescheduled holidays. That would ensure customers still receive a full refund even if their provider goes bust before they have a chance to redeem their holiday.

The Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) is calling on government to make temporary changes to existing package travel regulations. It argues that these protections were not designed to cope with the demands currently being placed on them. However, Which? believes these regulations must stand for any existing bookings – where consumers booked in confidence.

What should I do?
If your flight or package holiday was scheduled before 16 April and it’s now cancelled, you don’t have to accept a voucher or credit note, nor do you have to rebook. You are legally entitled to a refund. Make this clear to the firm, in writing. If it still won’t do the right thing, you could send them a letter before action for small claims court. The new advice from the FCO also means you can claim from your travel insurer for consequential losses, such as booked hotel rooms or car hire. However, you won’t be entitled to any compensation, such as flight delay compensation under EU261 rules, as a disease outbreak is considered an extraordinary circumstance.

mrblush

I received this email today.....

Dear customer,  How do you write a letter to 150,000 people that you do not know personally? Who have 150,000 different stories, live in various countries, and each has their personal experiences and feelings about the past weeks. 150,000 people who have one thing in common: they were looking forward to a wonderful holiday. And they entrusted the organisation of their holiday to Sunweb Group. But it all turned out differently than you expected.  Frankly, I do not know exactly how one writes such a letter, and yet I still would like to address you personally. I am Mattijs ten Brink, CEO of Sunweb Group. With this letter, I want to let you know that I am thinking of you. I deeply care about all that happened with regards to your holiday.  Due to the rapid advance of the coronavirus and the acute measures by the various governments, we sometimes had to severely intervene in your holidays. Our team has worked tirelessly to bring almost one hundred thousand customers back home safely and timely: an unprecedented logistical challenge.  As a travel organisation, we normally gain gratification from the fact that our customers have had enjoyable holidays that exceed their expectations. Holidays that create beautiful memories. In these times, however, we have had to put our responsibility for your well-being above your holiday joy. It must be said that this was a very painful experience for us. I am also very well aware of the impact this has had on you and your travelling companions.  In some cases, we had to intervene in response to a direct measure that was implemented by either the country of your destination or your home country. In other cases, we preventively had to take the decision ourselves to get you back home. We did this if we could not guarantee a carefree and safe return home in the days or weeks that would follow. In addition, we had to cancel many holidays in advance. Holidays that you were probably very much looking forward to. That must have been a huge disappointment. In all cases, we have asked for your patience and that was a great deal to ask in these uncertain times.  During the completion of this ‘operation’ we were forced to improvise. In the process, we have intensively collaborated with our transportation partners and with local governments ensuring the safe and timely return of each one of our guests. Our people in the contact centres and planning have worked day and night. Often times our plans went well, in other cases it just did not work, leading to difficult and frustrating moments, also for you.  As such, I have heard of many situations that posed extra challenges for you: customers about to depart, suitcase in hand, and only then they heard that their holiday had been cancelled. Guests who were no longer able to eat in the hotel because the restaurant had closed. Groups of people that were unsuspectingly enjoying their holiday together, but were told by us, on the spot, that their departure was planned to be within a few hours. In some cases, you had to go home by bus where you were supposed to fly. Or you had to travel a great deal further by bus, in order to depart from a different airport.  We have also asked you not to call us, but promised that we would contact you. We did this to be able to handle all communication and operations in order of highest urgency. It meant that some of you did not hear from us for quite some time. I am sorry that we were not always able to take away the uncertainty and irritation this all has created. In the weeks to come, you will be in need of clear communication. You can trust us to help you to the best of our abilities.  Perhaps some of you will be less satisfied with the arrangements around the compensations of your (partial) unrealised holiday. Because of these exceptional circumstances, we have, in consultation with our industry associations, the national authorities and the guarantee funds, chosen for the corona voucher. With this solution, we ensure that all customers will retain the value of their payment and that our partners and we can remain there for you in the future.  I would like to end this letter by expressing again that I care deeply about all of this. I am very sorry if we were not able to meet your expectations. I hope that you will come out of this crisis safely and healthy. We would love to organise your well-deserved holiday in the future.   Kindest regards, Mattijs ten Brink CEO Sunweb Group Just give us a refund or you won't have any customers..... 150,000 customers money being withheld, thats a lot of money.

Browntoa

Insist on a cash refund and bankrupt the travel operators .

Be careful what you all wish for , if the whole industry goes under then ATOL protection is worthless , there won't be enough money in the fund ( already heavily depleted from Thomas Cook )

And the government is unlikely to do anything to give you your money , purely relax the rules to stop the requirements to refund in cash .

desklamp

They put a similar video up on their Facebook page and then took it down after the numerous vitriolic comments it received. Oh Mattijs, how naive and frankly patronising you letter is!

Anyway, actually managed to get through to Sunweb today with very little holding. I explained to the customer service agent that I wasn't going to get cross with her as it wasn't her doing, and that I just wanted some things confirmed. She was very pleasant, so thank you!
She confirmed the booking was cancelled and that I would not receive a cash refund. She said the board was aware of the t and c of the booking and the PTR 2018 legislation, but they had taken the decision not to refund. 
Couple of interesting points, she tried to fob me off with the exceptional circumstances clause in the terms. This is rubbish, as that merely refers to whether I am due compensation for the cancellation, which I am not and not whether I am due a full refund, which I am required to receive. I had to explain this. I just wonder if they are trying to fob others off with this deliberate miss interpretation. 
She also actually suggested I changeback on my credit card. This I found odd, as surely Sunweb will lose the money if the credit card processed the chargeback... Why not just refund me directly?!

My actions now are to go down the section 75 route. I have little faith in the chargeback as it has no legal grounds to support it. 
For my fellow Sunweb skiers I think the only options are if you have paid by credit card chargeback or a Section 75 claim, otherwise the Small Claims Court, or take the voucher and pray Sunweb doesn't go bust.
I will try and keep you updated of progress. Good luck everyone. Any other thoughts? 

mrblush

Browntoa said:

Be careful what you all wish for , if the whole industry goes under then ATOL protection is worthless , there won't be enough money in the fund ( already heavily depleted from Thomas Cook )

Sunweb is not ATOL protected but SGR a Dutch scheme.

mattyprice4004

SunWeb WILL go bust if everyone goes for a refund - their initial response appears to say they don't have the cash in the bank to refund everyone, not that they're close to insolvency. 
If there's 150,000 customers with near enough 2 grand of holidays to refund, that's £300 MILLION (!) they'd need to shell out. Let's be realistic; it simply isn't going to be there as they'll likely have paid staff, suppliers and other business costs from this. 

I'd go down the section 75 / chargeback route personally, you're not going to get paid by the company themselves. 

bennwood85

Had a further reply from SunWeb today, still refusing to alter the current position.

Dear Benn,

We want to emphasise that we understand your position. We realise that the impact of the coronavirus crisis is significant for many of us. The situation is unprecedented and in these exceptional times we humbly request solidarity. The corona voucher is a perfect example of solidarity. By accepting the voucher, you can play an important role in keeping the travel sector afloat but also be able to look forward to a ski holiday in better times.

As communicated previously we are only offering a refund in the form of a corona voucher. Further email exchange will not change our position. There are no exceptions. I can do nothing but point out the positive points to you one more time, hoping that your position will change:

. You have already spent your money on a holiday. With the voucher you can still enjoy a well-deserved holiday.
. The voucher is covered against bankruptcy of the travel company by guarantee from SGR.
. You ensure that Sunweb and our partners - the hotels, airlines, transfer companies, ski rental and ski resorts that we work with, remain there for you, and will continue to be there in the future.

If you do not agree with the voucher and decide to seek legal counsel that is your prerogative, however we prefer to focus on the positives and look forward to better times back on the slopes.

Kind regards,

desklamp

Latest on the Sunweb website:
“If you are unable to find and book a suitable holiday within 6 months, you can request a refund from Sunweb. The transfer will occur within 3 months of the request for a refund.”

So if your voucher was issued in March, you can claim a refund in September and you will receive your own money in December. 
So that is a wait of 9 months, and that is if you trust Sunweb. We know that they are already in breach of their T&C and the law.
(The law REQUIRES a refund within 14 days (The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangement Regulations 2018))

 

savermseman

desklamp said:

Latest on the Sunweb website:
“If you are unable to find and book a suitable holiday within 6 months, you can request a refund from Sunweb. The transfer will occur within 3 months of the request for a refund.”

So if your voucher was issued in March, you can claim a refund in September and you will receive your own money in December. 
So that is a wait of 9 months, and that is if you trust Sunweb. We know that they are already in breach of their T&C and the law.
(The law REQUIRES a refund within 14 days (The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangement Regulations 2018))

 

I really don't know what to say. I like you, are in exactly the same position, but with a different travel agent. It needs government intervention, to send a clear message to whole travel industry that if a customer requests a cash refund of their own money after package holiday failure , that it must, without exception, pay  money back within a 3 month period, which I think is fair considering law states 14 days. However much the travel industry are moaning , we are all in the same boat here. We the customers are struggling too. We don't want to buy into keeping travel companies afloat, we are trying to keep our own families afloat. One thing is for sure, we won't be holidaying abroad for many years after all this nonsense, and something tells me we won't be the only ones.