Existing Merlin Pass holders unfairly restricted in comparison to new customers during COVID

ForumGuy246

Hello MSE Forum,
Following easing of lockdown measures, Merlin (owners of Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, LEGOland, Chessigton, sealife & more) have recently reopened attractions with restricted access to both paying guests, Merlin annual pass holders, and season pass holders too.
Merlin claim they have significantly reduced numbers in parks and that all visitors need to book online for entry to the park.

I purchased 4 premium Merlin passes in December as a treat for our family, hoping to use them throughout the spring summer months of 2020. COVID of course happened and thankfully we’re all safe and well.
When Merlin announced restricted reopening of attractions we were both pleased and apprehensive given the risk in visiting.

We decided to brave it and book to go the following week, opting to go mid-week and ahead of school holidays.

Frustratingly, Merlin are enforcing a mandatory £1 per person per booking fee for all existing pass holders. This is annoying in itself because we’ve already spent £600+ on the passes and now expecting to fork out more money and can’t visit spontaneously but something that is unavoidable according to Merlin. However, this isn’t the main reason for the post. 

Most frustratingly, Merlin are allowing paying guests access to the park up to and including on the day providing they book online but pass holders who have already handed over their cash can’t visit as Merlin have restricted the number of pass holders for each day.

As an example, I can go to Alton Towers today (Sunday 12th July) as a paying guest but as a Merlin pass holder I can’t prebook to visit on a weekend until Saturday 1st August or midweek on Tuesday 21st July.

I may be the only one here but I’m furious that Merlin have done this and feel cheated given the money our family have formed out.

To rub it in, Merlin are now selling off annual passes at half price (not that they’ll allow access anyway).
Merlin have announced that they’ll extend passes by 5 months for the months they’ve been closed, plus a little extra (not that you can use them freely, frequently or without additional charges) but this doesn’t excuse the fact they’re not allowing pass holders the same access as newly paying guests.

Ive written by email to Merlin to ask for access to the park when a paying guest can go or a full refund of our passes as I’m unhappy with the way in which they’ve managed this and had replies with copy paste corporate responses, simply explaining what they’re doing and not acknowledging any of points or answering my questions or requests.

Im reaching out to this forum to ask: What can I do?
Can I take them to small claims?
Would it even be worth it given their size and power?
Hope someone can help?

Tigsteroonie

Standard reply - what did the Ts&Cs say when you bought the passes, did they warn that access to the parks may be restricted at Merlin's discretion?

I would imagine that they are concerned pass-holders could make multiple bookings to visit and then not turn up - no financial loss to the passholder other than £1 booking fee - whereas those buying day tickets are more likely to show up.

Aylesbury_Duck

What can you do?  Depends on the terms of your passes.
Can you take them to small claims?  Yes, because anyone can make a claim against anyone else,  but what loss have you incurred?  They're still providing access to the parks and you're not paying the entrance fee non-passholders are paying.

Realistically, I think you have to accept it's one of those things.  Merlin didn't foresee a pandemic and whatever solution they implement, someone will always perceive they've lost out.  What they've implemented seems a reasonable approach to me.  Not perfect of course, but given the circumstances it's a reasonable compromise.  They're asking you for the same.

pinkshoes

From their T&Cs:

6. Merlin, in its absolute discretion, reserves the right to vary the opening and closing dates of the Attractions and to close, remove or cancel all or any part of the rides, events or facilities within the Attractions for any reason including, but not limited to, technical, health and safety and/or operational reasons or due to special events or private functions. For the avoidance of doubt, the full value or any part of the value of the Annual Pass will not be refunded nor will any compensation be payable if any of the Attractions become unavailable or if any or part of any of the Attractions are closed or removed from the Annual Pass scheme.

So in short, no refund is due. 

Can't you just book lots of dates in advance?

Their extension of 5 months is more than generous. 

Anon

Just bumping your message - if you look at their Covid information again they offer a refund for when the parks were closed, instead of taking up the 5 month extension.  Has anyone received a refund?  How much was it please?

TripleM_2

Tigsteroonie said:

Standard reply - what did the Ts&Cs say when you bought the passes, did they warn that access to the parks may be restricted at Merlin's discretion?

I would imagine that they are concerned pass-holders could make multiple bookings to visit and then not turn up - no financial loss to the passholder other than £1 booking fee - whereas those buying day tickets are more likely to show up.

It's untrue that there's no financial loss to the passholder other than the £1 booking fee - e.g. you can't use your pass on so many dates.  You haven't got what you paid for.

TripleM_2

Anon said:

Just bumping your message - if you look at their Covid information again they offer a refund for when the parks were closed, instead of taking up the 5 month extension.  Has anyone received a refund?  How much was it please?

I am in the same position as ForumGuy246.  I am after not just compensation for the period when the parks were closed but also because since then, I haven't got what I paid for.  For example, just like ForumGuy246, I simply cannot book tickets for certain dates (the most popular ones) with my pass - but I can if I pay the full rate!

TripleM_2

pinkshoes said:

So in short, no refund is due. 

Can't you just book lots of dates in advance?

Their extension of 5 months is more than generous. 

The issue is whether or not Merlin is in breach of contract which is a question that only a Court can answer.

Personally, I struggle to see how Merlin can justify what it has done.

Aylesbury_Duck

TripleM_2 said:

pinkshoes said:

So in short, no refund is due. 

Can't you just book lots of dates in advance?

Their extension of 5 months is more than generous. 

The issue is whether or not Merlin is in breach of contract which is a question that only a Court can answer.

Personally, I struggle to see how Merlin can justify what it has done.

So quantify your losses, send them a LBA and take them to court if needs be.

TripleM_2

Aylesbury_Duck said:

So quantify your losses, send them a LBA and take them to court if needs be.

Thank you.  I have been drafting the LBC tonight.  I do not expect them to offer anything at this stage beyond the 5 months so I will issue a claim.

bradders1983

I can see the logic for charging the £1 to reserve the spot, otherwise people would just reserve spaces en masse and not turn up. Although they should refund you the £1 as soon as you register as turning up, or at least give you a £1 credit in the shops/restaurants.