EasyJet Holidays - Deposit/Refund...what do they class as a 'deposit'?

BenFromEssex

Hi all,
I'm sure that a few others on this forum may be waking up to similar emails (depending upon when you booked your holiday through them, of course) but what they class as a deposit and what they will keep as credit seems to be changing. When making our booking for a July 2020 holiday, we paid a deposit of £240.00 which was to secure the booking - something they publicised at the time ("pay just £60 per person deposit to secure your holiday"). Later that day we made two separate payments of approx. £1,000, leaving a balance of £1,300.

EasyJet initially emailed in late April to say:

What will happen now if you decide not to pay your outstanding balance by this point is:

• Your deposit will be returned in the form of a credit to your easyJet holidays account. This will be available for you to use against any future holiday bookings and should appear when you login to your account in around 30 days’ time. You’ll be able to use this when booking a holiday in the next 12 months (your departure date can be beyond this). See our website for terms and conditions that apply to this offer. Once this credit has been added, you’ll be free to browse our website to book your dream getaway for when the time feels right.
  

• You'll receive a refund for any payments made beyond your deposit. Please note that refunds will mirror the payment transactions you originally made and so the total amount may be refunded in a number of different transactions to your original method of payment.  Sometimes, these may come through on different days.

They then emailed two days ago to say:

Previously, we let you know that if you decide not to pay your outstanding balance by the final payment date (60 days before departure) we will return your deposit in the form of a credit to your easyJet holidays account. However, we know that some of you don’t want to wait for your balance due date and would like the peace of mind of cancelling your holiday now. So the good news is, whether your balance due date has passed or not, we’ve now made this possible, and you can have the credit applied to your easyJet holidays account immediately. For further information and to get started, log into your easyJet holidays account, view your booking and follow the steps listed.
If you’re currently not sure whether you’d like to cancel and would rather wait until your balance due date, everything in our previous email still applies.

At this stage I'm thinking, "okay, their original offer still stands...I'll have £240.00 in EasyJet Holidays credit and then receive two payments back of £1,000 to the original payment method." This morning I receive another email from them stating:

If you choose not to pay by 28th May 2020, your deposit will be added to your easyJet holidays online account. This credit process will happen automatically - there's nothing further for you to do and no need to further contact us. You'll be able to use this credit when booking a holiday in the next 12 months (your departure date can be beyond this) and your credit will appear when you login to your online account in around 14 days from your balance due date. See our website for terms and conditions that apply to this offer. If you've made any payments beyond your deposit, you'll receive a refund in due course.
Total Price of your holiday - £4,000
Deposit Paid - £2,990

How much deposit?! Their site shows I'd paid £240.00 as the initial payment - THIS is the deposit. The other payments, which show as separate amounts to the £240.00, are what I would describe as 'payments made beyond my deposit'. They were separate, additional payments.

As there are no contact centres, a Twitter account that responds with generic replies and a 28-day turnaround in responses to their 'online help form', I'm not expecting a swift resolution but I can't say I'm impressed.

Have I misinterpreted something in the emails or am I right to feel a bit hard done by regarding their definition of a deposit? Appreciate your thoughts!