SunWeb offering vouchers instead of refund

mattg4321

I've had to claim with my credit card. 

Couldn't see me getting anywhere with sunweb. Unfortunately I'm not in a position to provide an interest free loan to a business that may/may not even be around for next ski season in europe. If that even happens.

desklamp

Can I respectfully request that consumers who are having issues with Sunweb raise a complaint with ABTA.

ABTA state that the Refund Credit Note preserves your right to a cash refund, which can be redeemed at the latest at the expiry date of the note.

Sunweb have now changed their terms for the 4th time to read “If you are unable to find and book a suitable holiday before the expiry date, you can request a refund from Sunweb. This means that you can only request a refund after your Refund Credit Note has expired, one year after the issue date. The transfer will occur within 3 months of the request for a refund.” Sunweb have confirmed this policy to me directly.

I have spoken to ABTA, who say that Sunweb’s position is unreasonable with respect to ABTA’s guidance, and that they were interested to hear of the detail.

I do not for a minute believe that ABTA will be able to right the situation, but they do state,

” ABTA expects its Members to follow its rules for Refund Credit Notes and, if necessary, we will take disciplinary action against a Member if they do not adhere to these rules. If you have evidence that they are not following the above rules, in the first instance please contact our Customer Support team.”

mattg4321

What an absolute shower...

How can they expect anyone to have any confidence in them as a company. They change their T&C's once every week.

Already submitted a complaint to ABTA, not that I think it will do any good. Hopefully Section 75 will help me out.

desklamp

Good luck, I fear that that may well be a battle too!

Muckslinger

Hi my daughter and her partner flew to Geneva for a ski holiday in La Plagne France. They were told their holiday would go ahead but once they landed and arrived in the resort they found out that France had closed all non essential businesses. Before they left all ski resorts in Austria, Italy and Switzerland were already closed. If they had chosen not to go they would have lost all of the cost of the holiday.  So they went on the advice of Sunweb. They had to spend two nights and one day there. Nothing was open other than a couple of supermarkets, no ski hire or lifts etc. On Tues 16th March Sunweb flew them back to The UK from Leon. Their holiday was completely disrupted and they had the disruption and anxiety of the journeys. 

She is trying to get a full refund from Sunweb but at the moment they said she will only get the unused nights at the resort, ski hire and lift pass refund. Does anyone know if this is correct? As she didn’t get the holiday she paid for.

desklamp

From what Sunweb say on their website it gets worse than that. Sunweb will only offer your daughter a voucher for the lost days. The voucher will not follow the guidance laid down by ABTA, in terms of the timeframe for a cash refund. I have contacted SGR , which is the Dutch version of ATOL to see if they do guarantee the cash refund after the expiration date of the voucher, as Sunweb have claimed to me they will.

The options seem to be
- To accept a voucher and use the value of it against another Sunweb holiday.
- Accept the voucher and try and get a cash refund from Sunweb, in 12 months, which is after the expiry date of their voucher. They are not accepting claims before then.
- Take action against Sunweb in the small claims court.
- If the holiday was paid for on a credit card, make a Section 75 claim against the credit card company.
- Check your daughter’s holiday insurance policy. She might be able to claim something back through that. (Although check the exclusions in the policy too)

All options will be slow and frustrating, and the parties involved will attempt to frustrate the process further.

Like most holiday companies, Sunweb’s actions contravene the law, in terms of the consumer rights act and package holiday and linked travel arrangements.

I would urge your daughter to place a honest review of Sunweb on sites such as https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/sunweb.co.uk

This Which article is of interest 
https://www.which.co.uk/news/2020/04/should-i-accept-a-holiday-company-or-airline-voucher-do-i-have-to/

If she has time, I would urge her to push for what is rightfully owed to her.

desklamp

It is important to understand the significance of Sunweb not actioning cash refunds until after the expiry date of the RCN.

SGR (Dutch version of ATOL) will only protect the voucher until the expiry date. If the voucher has been used to book a holiday, even if that holiday is after the expiry date of the voucher, SGR will protect the holiday.

I asked Sunweb that if I waited to the expiry date of the voucher and then asked for a cash refund as instructed, would that refund remain SGR protected if Sunweb subsequently went bust? They indicated that it would.

However I have contacted SGR directly and they say that IT WILL NOT BE PROTECTED. Also if you claim back the money in cash and Sunweb goes bust at any time (even prior to the expiry of the voucher), that refund IS NO LONGER PROTECTED.

Here is the detail,

“It has been agreed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets that you can claim back the prepaid travel money from the (travel) organization 6 months after the issue of the SGR voucher. The agreement with SGR is hereby dissolved. The (travel) organization is responsible for the payment of the prepaid travel money. This also means that if this (travel) organization unexpectedly finds itself in a position of financial inability, and you have not yet received a refund, SGR will not cover these costs for you.”

Also note that the SGR  say the agreement allows the individual to claim back the cash 6 months after the issue date of the voucher and not 12 months as Sunweb wants.

So Sunweb is now going against the SGR as well as ABTA, its own terms and conditions and The Package Travel and Linked Holiday Regulations 2015.

Trustworthy? Sunweb? You decide.

mattg4321

desklamp said:

It is important to understand the significance of Sunweb not actioning cash refunds until after the expiry date of the RCN.

SGR (Dutch version of ATOL) will only protect the voucher until the expiry date. If the voucher has been used to book a holiday, even if that holiday is after the expiry date of the voucher, SGR will protect the holiday.

I asked Sunweb that if I waited to the expiry date of the voucher and then asked for a cash refund as instructed, would that refund remain SGR protected if Sunweb subsequently went bust? They indicated that it would.

However I have contacted SGR directly and they say that IT WILL NOT BE PROTECTED. Also if you claim back the money in cash and Sunweb goes bust at any time (even prior to the expiry of the voucher), that refund IS NO LONGER PROTECTED.

Here is the detail,

“It has been agreed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets that you can claim back the prepaid travel money from the (travel) organization 6 months after the issue of the SGR voucher. The agreement with SGR is hereby dissolved. The (travel) organization is responsible for the payment of the prepaid travel money. This also means that if this (travel) organization unexpectedly finds itself in a position of financial inability, and you have not yet received a refund, SGR will not cover these costs for you.”

Also note that the SGR  say the agreement allows the individual to claim back the cash 6 months after the issue date of the voucher and not 12 months as Sunweb wants.

So Sunweb is now going against the SGR as well as ABTA, its own terms and conditions and The Package Travel and Linked Holiday Regulations 2015.

Trustworthy? Sunweb? You decide.

Are you saying that if I ask for my money back now and Sunweb agree, then go bust without paying, I get nothing? Surely not.

Either way I won't be accepting this pathetic voucher. SGR doesn't seem like much protection at all. How can we possibly force Sunweb to pay us our refunds within 6 months so we don't leave ourselves open to them going bust, taking our money with them.

I'll be putting considerable pressure on my credit card company to reimburse me. I can deal with not receiving the money for 3, maybe even 6 months at a push. But only for good reason, and with a cast iron guarantee that I won't lose my money. I don't trust Sunweb one bit.

Incidentally, my parents today received a full refund for their ski hire - prebooked with Ski Set - for the holiday. There are some good guys out there even now.

desklamp

"Are you saying that if I ask for my money back now and Sunweb agree, then go bust without paying, I get nothing?" 

Yes. 

I agree that every avenue should be explored to get a cash refund and put pressure under Sunweb. That is what I am doing. However it will be a long haul. 

desklamp

It seems Sunweb are reading the MSE forum!

I think this maybe the 6th change to Sunweb’s RCN T&C, but it seems that they are moving more in line with ABTA (if not the law).

They now have the audacity to explain to us:

”A Refund Credit Note for a package holiday, explained:

✔ Lets you REBOOK your holiday for a later date 

✔ IS financially protected

✔ Gives you the right to a cash refund up to the date it expires

✔ IS NOT a holiday voucher - holiday vouchers do not have financial protection”

They go on to say,
“Your financially-protected Refund Credit Note must be redeemed by the expiry date. If you are unable to find and book a suitable holiday within the period, you can request a refund from Sunweb. A cash refund will be transferred by the expiry date.
Based on the EU Package Travel Directive, customers have the right to request a full cash refund to be paid within 14 days of the cancellation date where a holiday is cancelled as a result of “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances”. However, as organisations are waiting on refunds from their suppliers and do not have the cash to immediately provide these refunds, an alternative solution has been found by offering customers a Refund Credit Note. You do have the right to refuse the Refund Credit Note according to the guidelines set by ABTA. If you do this we will refund you as soon as possible, however, due to the exceptional circumstances and volume of cases the time limit is currently suspended. Please note by refusing the Refund Credit Note you will forfeit your rights to financial protection. The financial protection is directly linked to the Refund Credit Notes. Our guarantee funds ABTA / SGR can only offer this protection if the Refund Credit note is accepted. Please inform us if you choose to refuse the Refund Credit Note. We will further inform our guarantee funds and process your refund as soon as possible.“

Important points:

1) They now say you have to claim your cash refund before the expiry date of the RCN.
2) If you do claim your cash refund, it is not protected by SGR. So if Sunweb go bust before they pay you, SGR will not cover your cash.
3) They say “ organisations are waiting on refunds from their suppliers and do not have the cash to immediately provide these refunds”. One could possibly infer that Sunweb is one of these organisations and is in financial difficulty. (I did say could possibly infer!)
4) They say the 14 day time limit for refunds has been suspended. At the time of writing it has not. The Package Holiday and Linked Travel Regulations still stand. What Sunweb should say is that they are choosing not to follow the time limit. Now they are saying you will receive a cash refund by the RCN expiry date and not 3 months after, as previously stated on their website (assuming that they remain in business).
5) This information is posted on their website, and has not been sent to me directly, or any other customers I would assume. Therefore there will be a number of Sunweb customers who will be under the impression that they will have to wait for the expiry date of the RCN before claiming a refund, as per their last set of instructions. In doing so, they will then forfeit their right to a refund. This conveniently works to Sunweb’s advantage.

I have screenshots of almost every change of T&Cs that they have put on the website.
I believe that there is legislation on unfair terms and conditions, and I believe that judges my not view numerous retrospective changes in T&Cs in a favourable light!