Holiday refund - do I have any rights to a full refund or just a deposit loss?

rachel_howard123

Hello,
We booked our honeymoon with Virgin holidays back in November for March 2020, as you will all be aware this was cancelled due to COVID-19. I rebooked the holiday for October 2020. I was not too concerned about the rebooking until recently when I found out we can travel to Dubai but we would have to self-isolate when we come home for two weeks. I have tried to contact Virgin holidays on numerous occasions since March:

March: complaint sent due to: 1. having to pay approx. £570 more. 2. I was originally told it was a like for like change, until I was then told we would not have the seabed view room and would have to pay £200 more for this (on top of the 570) 3. They told me it would be one price but on their app it is at another price. 4. There was no option given for a refund, only a credit voucher or rebook. 
I received no response to this complaint

April: I contacted them on messenger for a response to my complaint, to no avail.

July: contacted them on messenger again on 27/7/20 and now I am in contact with them through WhatsApp (from today) and I am being told I would lose my deposit + potentially more.

I explained that I have tried to contact them numerous times and no one has responded, now it is technically past the 'more than 84 days' window so I could potentially lose 30% of the money. My flight times have been changed by more than 3 hours, however VH policy is more than 12 hours. There are a number of restrictions in Dubai and we would potentially have to pay for covid tests and health insurance certificates to follow Dubai's entry requirements, even worse fund quarantine for 2 weeks if we were to have a high temp upon entry to Dubai. We have also been told that we would have to self isolate for two weeks when coming home, which our jobs will not pay for, which we cannot physically afford. 

Sorry for the long post, but do we have any rights at all to get a refund or even just the deposit money lost, not 30%?

Thank you

blindman

rachel_howard123 said:

Sorry for the long post, but do we have any rights at all to get a refund or even just the deposit money lost, not 30%?

Thank you

October is a long time away in these Covid19 times.
I assume VH still say the holiday is operating?
Have you paid in full or is there an amount outstanding?
IMHO you need to wait to see what happens and hope that Virgin Holidays have to cancel or all the restrictions go away for your travel dates.

Do not cancel your selves. 

rachel_howard123

Yeah they’ve not cancelled the holiday the only thing that’s changed are the times slightly. We originally paid in full but then because we rebooked it cost £500 odd more so I’ve still got that outstanding. They haven’t asked me to pay it yet but I’m worried that if I don’t they’ll cancel it? 

I wouldn’t mind if we could change our destination to an exempt from self isolating place but can’t guarantee, and knowing our luck that destination will become restricted! 

Thank you for the responding and helping 😊

blindman

rachel_howard123 said:

Yeah they’ve not cancelled the holiday the only thing that’s changed are the times slightly. We originally paid in full but then because we rebooked it cost £500 odd more so I’ve still got that outstanding. They haven’t asked me to pay it yet but I’m worried that if I don’t they’ll cancel it? 

I wouldn’t mind if we could change our destination to an exempt from self isolating place but can’t guarantee, and knowing our luck that destination will become restricted! 

Thank you for the responding and helping 😊

Send them a WhatsApp message how and when to pay the £500.
Never mind if they do not reply quickly as you will h ave a record that you tried to pay.

Hang on in there and wait for them to cancel.....