Disney Dining Plan Cancelled

BurnsyDude

barneysmum1234 said:

Burnsydude, definately going to try your letter, it summed up the problem perfectly, thanks for the help

Only problem is when they decide just to ignore it!

docn3lly

WDW updated UK TAs on 12/06/20 of the following options for customers whose DDP has been cancelled:
35% room rebate 
rebook
or cancellation with full refund of all monies paid so far.

3 UK TAs have already passed this on to their customers. 

I’m waiting to hear from Virgin Holidays as to whether they intend to pass this on to us. Does anyone know if they are legally obliged to do so? Thanks 

Life__Goes__On

docn3lly said:

WDW updated UK TAs on 12/06/20 of the following options for customers whose DDP has been cancelled:
35% room rebate 
rebook
or cancellation with full refund of all monies paid so far.

3 UK TAs have already passed this on to their customers. 

I’m waiting to hear from Virgin Holidays as to whether they intend to pass this on to us. Does anyone know if they are legally obliged to do so? Thanks 

I would say yes, as I can't see it being classes as anything other than a "significance change"

barneysmum1234

My daughter has just spoken  to our travel agent and quoted the new information, the travel agent  said its for people who booked direct at the moment , my daughter also said that in the t & c s it says about a significant change, and she acknowledged that but still said we have to wait to hear from Tui, which she thinks will be in the next few days, my daughter has also just spoken to Disney UK, who where really helpful and have said that they are going to speak to Tui about our booking and she or Tui will get back in touch. 

docn3lly

barneysmum1234 said:

My daughter has just spoken  to our travel agent and quoted the new information, the travel agent  said its for people who booked direct at the moment , my daughter also said that in the t & c s it says about a significant change, and she acknowledged that but still said we have to wait to hear from Tui, which she thinks will be in the next few days, my daughter has also just spoken to Disney UK, who where really helpful and have said that they are going to speak to Tui about our booking and she or Tui will get back in touch. 

The Disney UK customer options are  being shared across social media. There are at least 3 UK companies who have passed this on to their customers, only one of them is Disney direct. I’ve also had a Disney cast member confirm directly via MDE chat, that all UK TAs were contacted about this on 12/6. It’s so frustrating that bigger companies appear to be slow off the mark, especially as the options are time limited (27th June consistent in emails from the different companies).

BurnsyDude

I notice that the original poster has not posted on here for a while. Hopefully the ongoing discussion has been useful for them. Anyhow, putting that to one side...
I HAVE A SATISFACTORY OUTCOME! However I am not 100% happy on how i had to get there.

Ocean Florida got in touch with me to give me my options, and they were similar to docn3lly's options above with a glaring exception:

• 35% room rebate (not sure how much this would have been as we had decided we weren't going, so didn't explore this, plus don't know what % of the package is the 'room')
• Rebook, admin costs for rebooking waived, however no guarantee of DDP on the rebook, and I will have to pay the difference if the rebook holiday is more.
• No offered mention of refund.

I obviously raised AGAIN my belief of my right to a full refund due to significant/major change, to which they tried to convince me that the cancellation of the DDP would be considered a minor change, not a major change, as it was less than 20% of the package. I politely informed them that all the guidance I have read suggests that 8% is the accepted value of the package where things tip from minor to major, and that even if 20% was the correct assessment, then the DDP was conservatively worth approx £2,500 to me for 14 days (realistically it could be more), and on a £8,400 holiday, unless you have a broken calculator, that is definitely worth more that 20%!!! They then went away, and a different person (manager) then contacted me to say that they will give us a full refund. If I wasn't entitled to a refund I don't think one would have ended up being granted, confirming my belief that I was always entitled to one!

So I got to where I got to, but I must stress to everyone you might have to fight for this as evidently some organisations are not offering it as a default option. And if the customer accepts one of the other options, my guess is that contractually they've got you tied to whatever you accepted. I think it's completely underhanded if they don't offer you the refund that you're entitled to, and don't know what else to say, but don't let them fob you off without the refund if you feel a refund is the best thing for you. Only thing is they're saying that due to this and that, I can't get it until October. I will fight them on this as well, but to be honest, my aim was just to get my money back, and that's what I am going to get, so result achieved. Next year I will rebook 'the same' holiday if and when I can get the package I want, and if that means I rebook through Ocean Florida then so be it, but at least I know that power is back in my hands and I have not suffered at all financially.

Thanks everyone. I think the back and forth discussion here really reinforced my convictions, so cheers all.

Life__Goes__On

Thanks for reporting back.
It's a  shame some companies are dishonest and try to hoodwink their customers.
It shows how important it is to be clued up.

SSilvester91

Hiya Everyone,
I've read all this thread and I'm in the same position. We have booked through Virgin to go 1st November. Staying on Disney for 14 nights with the quick service dining. We aren't happy to go as the extra cost of food & drink (baring in mind there's 12 of us going) also the concept of getting our 3 year old to wear a mask on the flight and everyday at the parks is just unimaginable...I can't even get him to keep a hat on! Also the water parks and hotel pools are likely to be shut!
We have spoke to Virgin and they have said we can either go ahead this year as normal or we can move it to next year however the price is increased by £2000 & that's without any food!!! So now it's gone from a £9500 holiday this year to an £11500 holiday with an added probably £5000 for food and spending money!! Or they have said we can choose to go somewhere else next year as long as we still book with them we can just transfer the destination but this is not an option as the 12 of us can't decide on 1 place to go instead.
We can cancel and have a refund but lose our deposits?? I really don't think this fare surely as it's not the holiday we originally booked? Does anyone have any advice on how to word it to fight for our deposits??

Thanks in advance x

Life__Goes__On

SSilvester91 said:

Hiya Everyone,
I've read all this thread and I'm in the same position. We have booked through Virgin to go 1st November. Staying on Disney for 14 nights with the quick service dining. We aren't happy to go as the extra cost of food & drink (baring in mind there's 12 of us going) also the concept of getting our 3 year old to wear a mask on the flight and everyday at the parks is just unimaginable...I can't even get him to keep a hat on! Also the water parks and hotel pools are likely to be shut!
We have spoke to Virgin and they have said we can either go ahead this year as normal or we can move it to next year however the price is increased by £2000 & that's without any food!!! So now it's gone from a £9500 holiday this year to an £11500 holiday with an added probably £5000 for food and spending money!! Or they have said we can choose to go somewhere else next year as long as we still book with them we can just transfer the destination but this is not an option as the 12 of us can't decide on 1 place to go instead.
We can cancel and have a refund but lose our deposits?? I really don't think this fare surely as it's not the holiday we originally booked? Does anyone have any advice on how to word it to fight for our deposits??

Thanks in advance x

Much the same as BurnsyDude

There is a "significant change" in your holiday as you  now have any meals
The cost to replace the meals would mean the price will rocket.

Tell Virgin you are cancelling under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements 2018 and require a full refund as there is now   "significant change"

BurnsyDude

Life__Goes__On said:

SSilvester91 said:

Hiya Everyone,
I've read all this thread and I'm in the same position. We have booked through Virgin to go 1st November. Staying on Disney for 14 nights with the quick service dining. We aren't happy to go as the extra cost of food & drink (baring in mind there's 12 of us going) also the concept of getting our 3 year old to wear a mask on the flight and everyday at the parks is just unimaginable...I can't even get him to keep a hat on! Also the water parks and hotel pools are likely to be shut!
We have spoke to Virgin and they have said we can either go ahead this year as normal or we can move it to next year however the price is increased by £2000 & that's without any food!!! So now it's gone from a £9500 holiday this year to an £11500 holiday with an added probably £5000 for food and spending money!! Or they have said we can choose to go somewhere else next year as long as we still book with them we can just transfer the destination but this is not an option as the 12 of us can't decide on 1 place to go instead.
We can cancel and have a refund but lose our deposits?? I really don't think this fare surely as it's not the holiday we originally booked? Does anyone have any advice on how to word it to fight for our deposits??

Thanks in advance x

Much the same as BurnsyDude

There is a "significant change" in your holiday as you  now have any meals
The cost to replace the meals would mean the price will rocket.

Tell Virgin you are cancelling under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements 2018 and require a full refund as there is now   "significant change"

Hey Silvester,
As Life_Goes_on stated - there should be enough blurb in this thread (check page 2 specifically) to help you word something. Make sure you're confident in your conviction - just google anything in my earlier 'letter' that you're not 100% on, and before you know it you'll see that actually you can be quite confident with them. Also check your Ts & Cs and it'll probably state something very similar.

It's horrible that they make you fight for it.

Good luck!