No refund as advertised, just a voucher ?

StuieUK34

Hi all,

Where do you go when you cant get a resolution with a business ?   Is there a department as such that looks into consumer issues, like what trading standards are supposed to do ?

Issue:   Holiday Extra's
I made a purchase for airport parking.  The deals listed on the website show free cancellation..
https://www.holidayextras.co.uk/
Big clear letters leading the consumer to believe you get free cancellation.
So i made a booking, with free cancellation for airport parking.  The wording for cancellation before you book shows:    "plans might change, cancelling is easy....         Cancel in 2 clicks upto a day before your booking starts "  -  i booked this setup on the 23rd march.

Ok, i booked, i paid, job done.  
I had to cancel recently as my flight wont happen next month, so i hit the cancel button.
Instead of a refund, i have been given a voucher to use on website ???????????????????
At any point of the booking several weeks ago was i made aware cancellations would infact be vouchers rather than refunds, nor back then or now, cant you identify that if you need to cancel, you will lose your £££ and instead be issued with a voucher, which from a possible future perspective, could become worthless.
https://www.holidayextras.co.uk/fast-free-flexible.html
The above link refers to booking with them and cancellation, leading you to believe you are fine to cancel if need be... super misleading..
There is no-one available to contact at present, no phones, no email (no email anyway), no online chat. 

I feel mislead, and without being able to contact anyone, it feels like that "consumer can go do one" scenario's.....
Seems lots of other customers in same boat, and not happy, which has made them put a link to there newly created T&C's which show vouchers are issued instead of refunds as of Weds (it wasnt there tuesday evening)
However, if the reader of this thread, went to book any service on that website, i am pretty sure you will be lead to believe free cancellation means free cancellation , i dont think you will be believe free cancellation means "you get a voucher in exchange, which has an expiry date meaning if you dont use it, you lose it!".....

Who do you report these issues to, so they are aware ?    (and for arguments sake, the company i work for do a similar thing, except we issue refunds as per our own cancellation terms, despite current circumstances....)

Aylesbury_Duck

In the current climate, this is a tiny case in what will be thousands of much larger cases.  I suspect the whole of the travel industry will come under scrutiny once things return to normal, specifically how they have, en masse, gone down the voucher route instead of proper refunds.  I understand why many of them have done so, but that doesn't make it contractually correct.

Your best course of action (probably your only one) is small claims. Expect that route to take many months. 

mobileron

Im exactly the same position,they owe me £148.00,i dont intend to travel abroad again,and i cant even get a couple of nights in a hotel unless there at the airport.
Any one know of a social media site for his company.

StuieUK34

i'm not looking to pursue anything (i'll live with the lost £56), its just the fact that they are clearly misleading customers into spending money, knowing that if a customers needs to cancel, well, they kinda cant!

Think flip side:
I will open a online business tomorrow for cheap airport parking, hotel bookings, etc...
I will take say, 2 weeks worth of future orders, then use "force majure" or whatever its called, and cancel peoples bookings.
Because i steathly hide that into the T&C's which is is hard to get to, i can issue voucher refunds to all those customers.....
Customers are A:   Probably not gonna re-book anything..
and B:  If they do, the price would be higher (like double the normal cost) , which means they have a voucher which is kind of useless, and I, as the website owner, have made some money in a odd way...
Very similar to Holiday Extras at the moment....

oh well

mk2302

I also booked airport parking with Airparks (Holiday Extra). I paid for cancellation cover, but they only offered a voucher. I asked for a cash refund multiple times, they refused and they keep insisting me taking a voucher.
I have now contacted BBC Watchdog with this. It seems there are a lot more people with this problem, if enough people email watchdog, maybe they take up our case

greyteam1959

A chargeback with your credit card company would be more useful to you than BBC Watchdog.

StuieUK34

to be honest..
I reported this to Trading standards online (picked up by CAB)..
I got a reply email even though i didnt ask for assistance, i just pointed out "misleading customers" and false advertising...
The reply i got was to take further, but since i reported that, it appears a lot of firms are trying the voucher route to "hang on to money/they dont have the money to refund" , so even the firms you think you would feel safe with, are breaking rules at the moment to stay afloat....

BBC watchdog would be good to raise aweareness, as we as consumers should know what we get if we cancel/they can cancel, etc..
As for trading standards doing much, pretty sure they got there hands full at the moment, and are reduced staff like a lot of places

DoaM

Watchdog are already aware ... Matt Allwright had a feature on this a couple of weeks ago during his slot on the One Show. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52483453