Villa Plus

slipdisc · 5 June 2020 at 1:00PM

Part of the problem seems to actually getting communication with them.

Lucy9876 · 9 June 2020 at 1:10PM

It looks like VP were paying refunds initially as they agreed that the villa was not available but for villa’s booked from mid May certainly for Spain and Portugal they are arguing that the villas were available so that’s why their stance went from refunds to not helping but have now backtracked in some cases to offering a voucher. I have been trying to google when villas in Portugal were allowed to be rented out from but can’t find anything - has anyone happened to find anything? From what I have read it suggests that VP have to give refunds if the villa was not available (that is what they were doing I believe) rather than a voucher. Also if the villa was not available as not allowed to be rented out VP presumably have kept our money rather than pass it on to villa owner so have our money in the bank earning interest whilst they issue vouchers which may be used over next 3 years. If anyone knows when villas were allowed to be rented out that would be really helpful.

peterm57 · 12 June 2020 at 7:37PM

I booked and paid £1760 for the hire of a villa in Portugal through Villa Plus for 6-13 June 2020. With the Covid 19 pandemic, Foreign Office advice not to travel, the cancellation of all flights and the Portuguese government not making accommodation available I have attempted to secure a refund from Villa Plus with no success.
Originally I was told by Villa Plus that, as my holiday was Villa only, it was not covered by the package holiday ATOL protection and that this was my loss to bear. Since then their advice ( on generic emails and website posts) has changed saying that I may be entitled to a voucher ( for a villa only holiday) valid for 3 years.
Unfortunately I did not take out travel insurance on booking in January 2020, and when I attempted to take out insurance in March 2020 ( when paying the balance of my holiday as required 12 weeks before departure) I was advised that any insurance would not cover disruption due to Covid 19.
I do not consider the website offer by Villa Plus (which they have not directly contacted me to offer) to be a suitable replacement -as I have no confidence in the company having previously placed my faith in their website claim of 100% financial security -and want a full refund in line with the guidance set out in the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Covid 19 notice
Communication with Villa Plus has been very poor, limited to generic emails and updates on their website. Phone calls have been cut off after being on hold for 20 minutes and the only responses made by Villa Plus have been to 1 star posts on TrustPilot, rather than directly to customers.
I understand that 100s of Villa Plus customers are in the same position
I would be grateful for any help that you could provide.