Virgin Holidays day 34 after cancellation and still no sign of refund in my bank

Life__Goes__On

"

Alan_Bowen said:

Virgin Atlantic are advising 100 days for refunds and Richard Branson is claiming they will go bust unless they can get a loan of half a billion from the government. The problem is they are only half-owned by a billionaire who pays no UK tax and half by a US airline who have refused any help at all. I am not suggesting they will go bust, it may all be a ploy to try and pressurise the UK government but please don't be sitting at the window waiting for the postman to be bringing a cheque any time soon

Totally agree
I can see the 100 days turning into 150 days  then  etc etc
That's why I would go down the credit card route now, not wait  over 3 months to start.

onesixfive

I can see the 100 days turning into 150 days  then  etc etc

That's why I would go down the credit card route now, not wait  over 3 months to start.

I too am waiting for almost £4k refund - the difference being most of my balance was paid for using a Virgin credit card ! 
If / When I ever get the call-back (as promised when I submitted my original request for my refund), maybe I should mention this fact when they tell me my refund will take 90+days; and lets see what the response will be when I suggest that Virgin will still be paying the bill whatever (albeit out of a different pot)!

Life__Goes__On

Mine is only just over £100 from Holiday Extras. I asked for the cash refund due to me, but they just gave me a voucher
I wasn't going to get into a back and forth with HX, so went straight to my credit card and refuse to have anymore dealing with HX

Iwanttobefree

Just received the following email from Virgin.

 From:  info@emails.virginholidays.co.uk
Reply to: Campaigns.DoNotReply@virginholidays.co.uk

Firstly, we hope you are keeping safe and well. We wanted to get in touch to keep you updated on your refund request for your holiday. As you can imagine, the constantly changing situation has been tough on everyone, and we’ve been doing our absolute best to respond.

Rest assured, we’re absolutely committed to getting your refund processed. Since the travel restrictions have evolved, many more of our customers are being affected on a daily basis. With our teams working from home, plus a reduced number of people available, working through all of the refund requests is taking longer than we’d like, or you would expect from us. Because of this, we can’t confirm what the timescale for your refund will be right now, but we can confirm our people are working incredibly hard to get these funds back to you as soon as they can. We really, truly appreciate your patience, and want to reassure you that there’s no need to worry - your money will be safely returned.

Of course, if you’ve changed your mind and would prefer to put your original booking on hold, we can arrange that. You’d be able to rebook for any destination or date up until December 2021 with no change fees, and we would also offer you 4,000 bonus Flying Club miles as a thank you. Simply fill out this form to let us know and we can cancel your refund then get in touch to rebook your holiday.

Whatever you decide, we’re grateful to you for your continuing support, and hope to take you away somewhere amazing when the world reopens.

Iwanttobefree

My response to their head honchos etc

Dear sir/madam

I know you are all stressed and short staffed etc, but I don't accept the delay in my refund.

I cancelled my holiday the day BEFORE THE LOCKDOWN WAS ANNOUNCED, THREE months before my final payment was due.

I have it in writing on your whatsapp that it will take UP TO 28 days for the refund to come through. 

The cost of our holiday this year was £7,545.31, the cost to move it forward to next year (please see attached whats app conversation from yourselves)  is £8281.

That's a difference of £736.  Whereas to cancel and lose our deposit would only cost us £525.

I don't believe  all the refunds you have been doing since 22nd March until 1st of May, were requested before I requested my refund .

It's true I cancelled due to the virus, due to long term ill health etc, we wanted a spectacular holiday with nothing to worry about, we couldn't see the world being back to normal to properly enjoy our holiday (to disneyworld),  even if lockdowns had globally lifted..   

We cancelled on the understanding we would have our money within 28 days (wife is self employed and will get no money until June when the governments scheme kicks in).

We weighed everything up, as it would cost more than we would lose to rebook, and as we could see a lockdopwn being imminent, we decided to cancel knowing we would have the money from yourselves to tide us over.  

We were prepared to be fair and lose our deposit as it was obvious what was about to happen, but you haven't been fair.  

 You haven't stuck to the terms and conditions, therefore while we are reluctantly prepared to wait for our CASH refund, we are only prepared to wait if it also contains our deposit.

Can you please confirm that as compensation for breaching your T&C, not paying us by the time you told us you would in writing (whatsapp) , and us still having to wait even longer, that  we will now also get our deposit back too.

I believe I have been patient enough, I appreciate we are in strange times, but again  I cancelled before the lockdown, 3 months before my final payment was due) on the understanding the refund would be with us within 28 days.  

I feel I've been very fair, please respond ASAP, if your response is not satisfactory, while I don't want to, I shall have no other option that file a complaint with ABTA and seek other legal advice.

Screenshots of your whatsapp attached

Yours faithfully

Iwanttobefree

Just had the following response from Abta.  Although it looks like a standard generic reply (they don't name Virgin), they do say they have contacted them and given them 21 days to respond.

Thank you for contacting us and we’re sorry to hear that you’ve had a problem.

We've contacted our Member because they are better placed to explain the situation to you. ABTA doesn’t always have access to all the information, or it may just be simpler for the company to address this issue directly.

We've asked the company for a response within the next 21 days (if not sooner) and should we not hear from them we’ll take steps to ensure our Code of Conduct is enforced.

In the meantime, if they contact you directly and you’re not satisfied with their response, then please provide us with a copy of their reply. You can upload a copy by using the RESPOND TO THIS QUERY and ADD FILE button below.

We hope this is of help.
Regards
ABTA Customer Support Team

Iwanttobefree

Yesterday I received the following email from Virgin Holidays Senior Vice President
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dear Mr xxxxxxx Booking xxxxxxxxx

Thank you for getting in touch. Firstly, I’m very sorry that you have found it difficult to contact us and I understand this has added to your anxiety at this difficult time. In “normal times”, we pride ourselves on the level of customer service we offer and recognise that this has not been in keeping with the Virgin Holidays spirit. 
I know you understand that we are inundated with customers trying to contact us to rearrange their holidays or postpone until travel plans are clearer.  Unfortunately, because of the huge volume of enquiries, along with our customer advisors working from home in order to comply with the UK Government’s social distancing measures, refund requests are taking longer than usual to be processed. Moreover, I understand that your patience is wearing thin as we continue to deal with this unprecedented situation.   
We are currently working through refunds based on the departure date of the cancelled holiday. We are currently clearing March departures and looking at the refund queue. I will contact you within the next 14 days with an update on when you can expect to receive your refund. We are working hard to accelerate the refunds timeframe, but our efforts are hindered by the fact we can’t yet re-open our contact centre enabling us to leverage the much faster technology available in our head office. 
I’m so sorry that you are still waiting for your refund but please be assured these are being processed and a cash refund will be issued. 
We may have sent you a voucher for a re-booking when your holiday was cancelled. This was the fastest thing we could trigger, to protect the money you had already paid and give you the freedom to select another date/destination for departure.  
Alternatively, if you would still like to have a holiday to look forward to, and would like to use the voucher, we are currently offering the following flexibility to our customers:  
We’ve extended the validity of the voucher so you now have up until the 31st March 2021 to amend your holiday plans. There is no fee to make this change. 
If you choose to move your holiday, and as a thank you, we’d like to offer you a range of options such as 8,000 Flying Club miles, a discount off your holiday or even a free upgrade to Economy Delight  
If you would like to take up one of these options, you can do so by visiting manage my booking using your booking reference.  Thank you for taking the time to review these options and for giving me the opportunity to outline them. 
Yours sincerely 
Siobhan Fitzpatrick 
SVP Virgin Holidays   

Iwanttobefree

I got my refund today after cancelling on 22nd March.

Virgin said I was advised at the time I would lose the deposit and they can't change their T&C

I pointed out that I was also advised at the time in writing that I would have the refund in 28 days and that I emailed them at the beginning of May telling them I was only prepared to wait longer if it included my deposit.

Anyway, all in ABTAs hands now.  

I don't like the way ABTA  say they can't accept copy and paste evidence,  screenshots or social media evidence and give no email address, hence I have to screenshot emails and the whole conversation took place on Virgins Whatsapp.


I will let you know the outcome

MallyGirl

Iwanttobefree said:

Yesterday I received the following email from Virgin Holidays Senior Vice President

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr xxxxxxx 

Booking xxxxxxxxx

Thank you for getting in touch. Firstly, I’m very sorry that you have found it difficult to contact us and I understand this has added to your anxiety at this difficult time. In “normal times”, we pride ourselves on the level of customer service we offer and recognise that this has not been in keeping with the Virgin Holidays spirit. 

I know you understand that we are inundated with customers trying to contact us to rearrange their holidays or postpone until travel plans are clearer.  Unfortunately, because of the huge volume of enquiries, along with our customer advisors working from home in order to comply with the UK Government’s social distancing measures, refund requests are taking longer than usual to be processed. Moreover, I understand that your patience is wearing thin as we continue to deal with this unprecedented situation.   

We are currently working through refunds based on the departure date of the cancelled holiday. We are currently clearing March departures and looking at the refund queue. I will contact you within the next 14 days with an update on when you can expect to receive your refund. We are working hard to accelerate the refunds timeframe, but our efforts are hindered by the fact we can’t yet re-open our contact centre enabling us to leverage the much faster technology available in our head office. 

I’m so sorry that you are still waiting for your refund but please be assured these are being processed and a cash refund will be issued. 

We may have sent you a voucher for a re-booking when your holiday was cancelled. This was the fastest thing we could trigger, to protect the money you had already paid and give you the freedom to select another date/destination for departure.  

Alternatively, if you would still like to have a holiday to look forward to, and would like to use the voucher, we are currently offering the following flexibility to our customers:  

We’ve extended the validity of the voucher so you now have up until the 31st March 2021 to amend your holiday plans. There is no fee to make this change. 

If you choose to move your holiday, and as a thank you, we’d like to offer you a range of options such as 8,000 Flying Club miles, a discount off your holiday or even a free upgrade to Economy Delight  

If you would like to take up one of these options, you can do so by visiting manage my booking using your booking reference.  Thank you for taking the time to review these options and for giving me the opportunity to outline them. 

Yours sincerely 

Siobhan Fitzpatrick 

SVP Virgin Holidays   

Nice to see the lack of consistency in story carrying on - elsewhere they are saying that they are refunding according to the date you were offered the refund (so paying out to the people who have waited the longest). Shambolic customer service.
My refund is due mid October if they meet the 120 day currently being stated.