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

TripleM_2

bradders1983 said:

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.

I appreciate what you say but the law and logic are two different things. The issue is whether the contract allows them to charge anything extra. 

A bigger issue is that you simply can’t use your pass on certain dates - tickets are available but only if you pay full price. 

jon81uk

I think they should be charging a deposit to help prevent people from booking slots they won't use. But it should be refundable or given back as a voucher. It is also not great that you can pay the £34 but all the passholder slots have sold out. However there is a big risk of people then not showing up if they allowed more passholders to book.

TripleM_2

jon81uk said:

However there is a big risk of people then not showing up if they allowed more passholders to book.

That is their problem, not mine. It isn’t a matter of negotiation - it’s a matter of contract law. Merlin is running a business. It takes the benefits and it takes the risks. 

olgadapolga

I had an email from Merlin last week to say that from 8th September, they will no longer charge passholders a booking fee.

The only issue that remains for the OP seems to be the lack of availablity for passholders.

born_again

TripleM_2 said:

jon81uk said:

However there is a big risk of people then not showing up if they allowed more passholders to book.

That is their problem, not mine. It isn’t a matter of negotiation - it’s a matter of contract law. Merlin is running a business. It takes the benefits and it takes the risks. 

https://www.merlinannualpass.co.uk/information/restrictions

There are a number of dates and restrictions that are applicable to Standard and Premium Merlin Annual Passes and Merlin Pass Monthly Memberships.

>>Unfortunately, we are seeing Passholders pre-book several tickets and fail to turn up to our attractions. We kindly ask that all Passholders pre-book tickets for the dates you intend to visit us only. This allows more tickets to remain available for other Passholders to enjoy our attractions too. Please be reassured that we are continuously monitoring Passholder ticket allocation and we recommend checking back on our attraction websites in case more Passholder tickets become available.<<

So it looks like they are limiting the number of passholders per day. Which is fair, as it allows other people access to the attractions.

Interesting you says "It's their problem" But are not happy when they do something about the abuse of the system, by passholders.
Perhaps it would be fairer to simply refund all pass holders the cost of the ticket and let you join the masses. I'm sure that would be a fair result.
But I guess you would not be happy as it would cost you more.

bradders1983

TripleM_2 said:

bradders1983 said:

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.

I appreciate what you say but the law and logic are two different things. The issue is whether the contract allows them to charge anything extra. 

So are you saying that you would prefer a system where you just turn up having maybe driven 100 miles, and HOPE there is enough space to let you in?

I don't see how they can win with you either way there although the £1 being refunded on entry to the park would make the system much better.

TripleM_2

bradders1983 said:

So are you saying that you would prefer a system where you just turn up having maybe driven 100 miles, and HOPE there is enough space to let you in?

No. Neither I nor the OP said that. 

TripleM_2

born_again said:

TripleM_2 said:

jon81uk said:

However there is a big risk of people then not showing up if they allowed more passholders to book.

That is their problem, not mine. It isn’t a matter of negotiation - it’s a matter of contract law. Merlin is running a business. It takes the benefits and it takes the risks. 

https://www.merlinannualpass.co.uk/information/restrictions

There are a number of dates and restrictions that are applicable to Standard and Premium Merlin Annual Passes and Merlin Pass Monthly Memberships.

>>Unfortunately, we are seeing Passholders pre-book several tickets and fail to turn up to our attractions. We kindly ask that all Passholders pre-book tickets for the dates you intend to visit us only. This allows more tickets to remain available for other Passholders to enjoy our attractions too. Please be reassured that we are continuously monitoring Passholder ticket allocation and we recommend checking back on our attraction websites in case more Passholder tickets become available.<<

So it looks like they are limiting the number of passholders per day. Which is fair, as it allows other people access to the attractions.

Those are the wrong terms & conditions. 

It is fair in your opinion and you are welcome to that opinion. It is however not relevant as to whether or not it is allowed because that is determined by what the contract says. 

You say you are heading for retirement - I am pleased for you. How would you feel if your pension provider told you they’d retrospectively changed the rules and you were going to get a lot less in retirement than you would have otherwise? If you were OK with that, great. If not then it’d be a matter of looking at the contract to see if they were allowed to do what they had done. If someone came on here and told you the changes were fair, that would be irrelevant. 

born_again

TripleM_2 said:

born_again said:

TripleM_2 said:

jon81uk said:

However there is a big risk of people then not showing up if they allowed more passholders to book.

That is their problem, not mine. It isn’t a matter of negotiation - it’s a matter of contract law. Merlin is running a business. It takes the benefits and it takes the risks. 

https://www.merlinannualpass.co.uk/information/restrictions

There are a number of dates and restrictions that are applicable to Standard and Premium Merlin Annual Passes and Merlin Pass Monthly Memberships.

>>Unfortunately, we are seeing Passholders pre-book several tickets and fail to turn up to our attractions. We kindly ask that all Passholders pre-book tickets for the dates you intend to visit us only. This allows more tickets to remain available for other Passholders to enjoy our attractions too. Please be reassured that we are continuously monitoring Passholder ticket allocation and we recommend checking back on our attraction websites in case more Passholder tickets become available.<<

So it looks like they are limiting the number of passholders per day. Which is fair, as it allows other people access to the attractions.

Those are the wrong terms & conditions. 

It is fair in your opinion and you are welcome to that opinion. It is however not relevant as to whether or not it is allowed because that is determined by what the contract says. 

You say you are heading for retirement - I am pleased for you. How would you feel if your pension provider told you they’d retrospectively changed the rules and you were going to get a lot less in retirement than you would have otherwise? If you were OK with that, great. If not then it’d be a matter of looking at the contract to see if they were allowed to do what they had done. If someone came on here and told you the changes were fair, that would be irrelevant. 

They won't as the money is in my bank account & personal investments. 

So I take it you do not want a refund, but despite them giving a extra 5 months due to not being open, that you still want the right to have free unfettered access to the parks, despite they are not able to run at full capacity. Which is impossible for Merlin to do. Or they are going to end up with empty parks simply hoping that pass holders turn up.

TripleM_2

born_again said:

TripleM_2 said:

born_again said:

TripleM_2 said:

jon81uk said:

However there is a big risk of people then not showing up if they allowed more passholders to book.

That is their problem, not mine. It isn’t a matter of negotiation - it’s a matter of contract law. Merlin is running a business. It takes the benefits and it takes the risks. 

https://www.merlinannualpass.co.uk/information/restrictions

There are a number of dates and restrictions that are applicable to Standard and Premium Merlin Annual Passes and Merlin Pass Monthly Memberships.

>>Unfortunately, we are seeing Passholders pre-book several tickets and fail to turn up to our attractions. We kindly ask that all Passholders pre-book tickets for the dates you intend to visit us only. This allows more tickets to remain available for other Passholders to enjoy our attractions too. Please be reassured that we are continuously monitoring Passholder ticket allocation and we recommend checking back on our attraction websites in case more Passholder tickets become available.<<

So it looks like they are limiting the number of passholders per day. Which is fair, as it allows other people access to the attractions.

Those are the wrong terms & conditions. 

It is fair in your opinion and you are welcome to that opinion. It is however not relevant as to whether or not it is allowed because that is determined by what the contract says. 

You say you are heading for retirement - I am pleased for you. How would you feel if your pension provider told you they’d retrospectively changed the rules and you were going to get a lot less in retirement than you would have otherwise? If you were OK with that, great. If not then it’d be a matter of looking at the contract to see if they were allowed to do what they had done. If someone came on here and told you the changes were fair, that would be irrelevant. 

They won't as the money is in my bank account & personal investments. 

So I take it you do not want a refund, but despite them giving a extra 5 months due to not being open, that you still want the right to have free unfettered access to the parks, despite they are not able to run at full capacity. Which is impossible for Merlin to do. Or they are going to end up with empty parks simply hoping that pass holders turn up.

That is a revealing response.  I gave you an analogy but you dodge it, refusing to discuss it on the grounds that it supposedly does not match your personal circumstances.  A reasonable person would, if they disagreed with the analogy, explain why regardless – one does not need to be in the same position to understand it.  You must surely be aware that many people would object to someone changing the rules retrospectively - you seem very keen to avoid admitting that.  

 

I came on here for two reasons.  First, to support the OP because the posts before I contributed were broadly speaking negative yet were flawed because they were applying personal opinion rather than the law.  I wanted to help the OP by pointing that out.  Second, I wanted to discuss the situation with any other passholders in a similar position to the OP.  In contrast, you have written two posts on this thread, both negative.  You have contributed nothing positive.  It is evident that you know nothing about Merlin passes other than what you can find off the net, and nothing whatsoever about the law. 

 

You have written over 3,500 comments since you joined one year ago.  3500!  In one year!  You are very keen to tell people what you consider to be right and wrong so I will do the same in return: it is wrong to advise people when you do not know what you are talking about as they may mistake your false confidence for knowledge.  And compulsive advice giving is not an attractive character trait.