Champneys going back on their email

Teenie60

I had two stays booked with Champneys, April and May this year. They were obviously cancelled, along with an email staying I could rebook the same package once Champney’s reopened. This is not the case. Champneys have hiked their prices up, and will only offer a credit note for the price of the original booking. So a stay for 2 that I paid £315 for, by means of a return voucher, is now being offered at £920!!! This includes a treatment, but the comparative stay still works out at about £760. Champneys won’t refund any monies. Is there anything I can do to either make them keep to their promise, or get my money refunded? The vouchers I used to book the stay originally, were paid for on my mum’s credit card. 

Mrsn

The communication from them did it specifically say they would honour the price of the current package?? If not I don’t think there’s a huge amount you can do in terms of the price they are charging.

Your mum might at a push be able to request section 75 on her credit card as services not received, which given your bookings have been and gone is technically correct. I’m not saying it will work and they might refuse it if champneys tell them you’ve been offered vouchers but possibly worth a go.

Teenie60

At that time you can either rebook the same package or use the value towards any new offers and promotions.

The above is taken from their email to me; I read it as “same package same price”, but that might just be me feeling hopeful!

Mrsn

To me personally it just means the same package but not specifically the same price.... otherwise I don’t think they would have added the part about new prices and promotions.

thfc2020

Teenie60 said:

I had two stays booked with Champneys, April and May this year. They were obviously cancelled, along with an email staying I could rebook the same package once Champney’s reopened. This is not the case. Champneys have hiked their prices up, and will only offer a credit note for the price of the original booking. So a stay for 2 that I paid £315 for, by means of a return voucher, is now being offered at £920!!! This includes a treatment, but the comparative stay still works out at about £760. Champneys won’t refund any monies. Is there anything I can do to either make them keep to their promise, or get my money refunded? The vouchers I used to book the stay originally, were paid for on my mum’s credit card. 

I am in the same position as you and had 1 stayed booked at Champneys in May. The stay that is now being offered at £920.00 was this advertised on the website or did you speak to a member of Champneys staff to get this price. I like you received an email and thought I would be entitled to the same deal booked at a later stage. If Champney try and charge me extra for same deal I wont be booking and more stays with them and will be contacting my credit card company.

Teenie60

thfc2020 said:

Teenie60 said:

I had two stays booked with Champneys, April and May this year. They were obviously cancelled, along with an email staying I could rebook the same package once Champney’s reopened. This is not the case. Champneys have hiked their prices up, and will only offer a credit note for the price of the original booking. So a stay for 2 that I paid £315 for, by means of a return voucher, is now being offered at £920!!! This includes a treatment, but the comparative stay still works out at about £760. Champneys won’t refund any monies. Is there anything I can do to either make them keep to their promise, or get my money refunded? The vouchers I used to book the stay originally, were paid for on my mum’s credit card. 

I am in the same position as you and had 1 stayed booked at Champneys in May. The stay that is now being offered at £920.00 was this advertised on the website or did you speak to a member of Champneys staff to get this price. I like you received an email and thought I would be entitled to the same deal booked at a later stage. If Champney try and charge me extra for same deal I wont be booking and more stays with them and will be contacting my credit card company.

I’ve had several email conversations with reservations; their best suggestion is to book next year with a cheaper (yet still more expensive than my original package). I’ve been to Champneys at least once a year since 1995; they are about to lose my custom, appalling customer service! 

thfc2020

Teenie60 said:

thfc2020 said:

Teenie60 said:

I had two stays booked with Champneys, April and May this year. They were obviously cancelled, along with an email staying I could rebook the same package once Champney’s reopened. This is not the case. Champneys have hiked their prices up, and will only offer a credit note for the price of the original booking. So a stay for 2 that I paid £315 for, by means of a return voucher, is now being offered at £920!!! This includes a treatment, but the comparative stay still works out at about £760. Champneys won’t refund any monies. Is there anything I can do to either make them keep to their promise, or get my money refunded? The vouchers I used to book the stay originally, were paid for on my mum’s credit card. 

I am in the same position as you and had 1 stayed booked at Champneys in May. The stay that is now being offered at £920.00 was this advertised on the website or did you speak to a member of Champneys staff to get this price. I like you received an email and thought I would be entitled to the same deal booked at a later stage. If Champney try and charge me extra for same deal I wont be booking and more stays with them and will be contacting my credit card company.

I’ve had several email conversations with reservations; their best suggestion is to book next year with a cheaper (yet still more expensive than my original package). I’ve been to Champneys at least once a year since 1995; they are about to lose my custom, appalling customer service! 

Thanks for the info. Champneys have definitely lost my custom as well.  I wish I had read the email we received from them. I left it to a family member as I was busy with problems at work. You said in your first post Champneys wont issue a refund, are you not thinking about contacting your credit card company and trying to get a refund from a chargeback. 

JacsPayne

I am continuing to badger Champneys. They must offer a refund under consumer regs. They site force majeure as the reason for not providing refunds. However, my friend is in employment law and says that this doesn't expressly cover pandemics. She also advised that this term would refer to their insurance. If it does, then that is double recovery. If not then it is not force majeure. They are now not even relying and I have put in a subject access request which they legally have to reply to within a month. They have until 1st Augsut to get back to me.

Christina36

I have the exact same problem. I've contacted Champneys and said that I DO NOT accept a voucher and want a full refund. The replay I got was

"As a business along with many others we are having to make tough decisions in line with the government policy and the business.  We are committed to ensuring we are flexible with customer’s bookings and making movements for them to attend later on in the year without charging an administration fee.  However we will not be authorising any refunds at this time”.  

I disputed this again and got the following,

 "Our terms and conditions advise that in exceptional circumstances such as these we reserve the right to offer an alternative resort as a destination, date of stay or day or to cancel a reservation. We are providing alternative dates of bookings and we are being flexible with those dates. We are also offering to place the booking on hold in the form of a Champneys Gift Card which is valid for 12 months to which at a suitable time, you can rebook the same package. On this occasion we are not cancelling bookings or offering refunds across our customer base.". 
To make it worse, I keep getting promo emails from them with special offers saying "guaranteed refund".  I won't be able to use the "vouchers" and cannot afford to just give them £400.  I'm so annoyed with Champneys, they clearly couldn't care less about their customers and I just feel that they have stole my money. I'm not giving up!