Virgin holidays refund voucher

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: Holiday Rights.

antdav

I have been contacted by Virgin Holidays notifying me that my package Holiday to Barbados has been cancelled due to COV-19.
They offered a voucher for the full cost of the holiday with an option to reschedule any time up to December 2021.I asked if I can have a refund. They said I can have a full refund but will need to wait 90 days. What are my rights, do I have to wait 90 days as suggested?

Westin

antdav said:

I have been contacted by Virgin Holidays notifying me that my package Holiday to Barbados has been cancelled due to COV-19.
They offered a voucher for the full cost of the holiday with an option to reschedule any time up to December 2021.I asked if I can have a refund. They said I can have a full refund but will need to wait 90 days. What are my rights, do I have to wait 90 days as suggested?

What you are being offered is the new Norm.

Your rights are a full refund of the package costs for the items purchased and included on your ATOL certificate.  Normally that would be within 14 days.  Currently with staff furloughed and offices under resourced, plus not having sufficient cash to refund everyone immediately, refunds are delayed.  

I believe VS/VH are saying refunds for those not wanting a credit note will take up to 90 days. I suspect it won’t be that long but realistically probably 4 weeks before staffing levels increase.

Westin

Why does the "System" keep doing this?    We just end up with multiple threads asking the same thing.

onesixfive

antdav said:

I have been contacted by Virgin Holidays notifying me that my package Holiday to Barbados has been cancelled due to COV-19.
They offered a voucher for the full cost of the holiday with an option to reschedule any time up to December 2021.I asked if I can have a refund. They said I can have a full refund but will need to wait 90 days. What are my rights, do I have to wait 90 days as suggested?

I too was contacted by Virgin asking if I wanted voucher or refund - I opted for refund by return email (a simple 5 or 6 question asking name, booking ref, asking just basics) - then they said they would contact ME, that was a fortnight ago. I have heard NOTHING since.
When was the 90 days mentioned to you please - when they contacted you back after the original email?
I'm concerned, they haven't even got my bank details yet for the refund! I was due to travel this Thursday.

MallyGirl

Westin said:

Why does the "System" keep doing this?    We just end up with multiple threads asking the same thing.

It is usually that a thread has gone off track from the original premise so unrelated queries / comments get split out into their own thread which shows as being created by System.
In this case the original query was posted in the general Travel board - not the COVID one - so someone has split it out into here.

Alan_Bowen

Onesixfive, Virgin is now suggesting 100 days for refunds, and the delightful Sir Richard Branson is threatening to put the whole lot into administration at the end of May if either no one buys him out or the government do not agree to give him a loan of half a billion. If that happens then you might get your money even faster through the CAA ATOL scheme, but that might depend on how many other firms have collapsed at the same time.

Butts

Alan_Bowen said:

Onesixfive, Virgin is now suggesting 100 days for refunds, and the delightful Sir Richard Branson is threatening to put the whole lot into administration at the end of May if either no one buys him out or the government do not agree to give him a loan of half a billion. If that happens then you might get your money even faster through the CAA ATOL scheme, but that might depend on how many other firms have collapsed at the same time.

Why is Delta who own the other 49% not sticking their hands in their pocket....
Can they possibly see the writing on the wall ?

mototurkey

Hi there , my family and I had our £6000 package holiday to Florida on 1st may cancelled  by virgin holidays due to covid 19 . I have managed to eventually contact them by phone and they have reluctantly offered me a refund . they have told me that i will have to wait up to 90 days for my refund due to high demand of requests even though they managed to find the time to send me a voucher almost instantly when i did not request one .When i asked why they were not following the 14 day refund period stated by the law and if my consumer rights and the 14 day refund laws did not apply in this instance , I was told to go to the ABTA website where their claims of unprecedented refund requests and delays are backed up, they imply that the travel agents are within their rights to ignore the law and customers consumer rights . I, and many other virgin holiday customers  feel that virgin is holding onto customers money to prop up their struggling company . my family and i have our own financial problems  at the moment including the insecurity of my job and struggling with bills . When will the government step in to help vulnerable customers like my family and demand that virgin holidays and other such law flouting travel agents pay up within the set 14 day period ? i feel helpless and anxious about this situation . can anyone  help me ?

Ben Batchelor

Life__Goes__On

mototurkey said:

Hi there , my family and I had our £6000 package holiday to Florida on 1st may cancelled  by virgin holidays due to covid 19 . I have managed to eventually contact them by phone and they have reluctantly offered me a refund . they have told me that i will have to wait up to 90 days for my refund due to high demand of requests even though they managed to find the time to send me a voucher almost instantly when i did not request one .When i asked why they were not following the 14 day refund period stated by the law and if my consumer rights and the 14 day refund laws did not apply in this instance , I was told to go to the ABTA website where their claims of unprecedented refund requests and delays are backed up, they imply that the travel agents are within their rights to ignore the law and customers consumer rights . I, and many other virgin holiday customers  feel that virgin is holding onto customers money to prop up their struggling company . my family and i have our own financial problems  at the moment including the insecurity of my job and struggling with bills . When will the government step in to help vulnerable customers like my family and demand that virgin holidays and other such law flouting travel agents pay up within the set 14 day period ? i feel helpless and anxious about this situation . can anyone  help me ?

Ben Batchelor

What method of payment did you use to pay for the holiday?

Rosie111

I cancelled my holiday with Virgin Holidays and lost my deposit and a little more as the flight had already been issued which I was fully prepared to do and to receive the overpayment back. I was initially promised a refund within 30 days, which then became 45 days and is now 100 days. On Sunday it will be 60 days from cancellation. Now, I paid on a Credit Card do I continue to wait ( I consider almost 60 days to be too many) or do I proceed with a claim on my Credit Card? Help.