Parkdean Resorts

Sticksy82

Hi 

I’m just after a little advice. In September I had a booking with Parkdean resorts to say it was cancelled due to COVID. They refused in their policies to give me my money back but would only give a voucher in return. 

The voucher expired on Monday. Having tried to ring them on several occasions on Monday I couldn’t get through to book. I finally got through Tuesday the day after expiry. Subsequently they said my voucher of £344 is now invalid and the money is lost. 

Surely this can’t be the case. I was willing to book for next year, but with everything going on we don’t actually know what will happen next year. 

Can you advise me where I can go from here, as I’m sure I won’t be the only person in this boat. 

Many thanks

[Deleted User]

Are you saying your voucher was only valid for 3 months?  Surely not?  Maybe some more info like when booked originally and what type of vouchers you had.  

eskbanker

https://www.parkdeanresorts.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/vouchers/ does state:

Terms and conditions for holiday vouchers issued to holiday makers whose booking has been cancelled due to the coronavirus and the voucher has been issued between 19th August and 30th September 2020.

[...]

Holiday vouchers must be redeemed on or before 30th November 2020 and are valid for arrival dates on or before 30th November 2021

I'd have thought that the CMA would expect a cash refund to have been offered at cancellation time rather than a voucher but am unsure if there's any legislative support for this in the way that there is for flights and package holidays, and the time to make that argument would have been September....

[Deleted User]

Ahh right - I see!   So clearly does state the voucher had to be redeemed before 30 th November.   Seems harsh
but other than appealing to their better nature (good luck) not sure there is much you can do.  I know you said you couldn’t get through on the phone but could you have booked online?  If not
this could form part of your appeal maybe?  Just clutching at straws tbh.  

Sticksy82

At the time of cancellation. I argued that surely their was a legal requirement that cash or voucher would be offered like most other travel companies. After speaking several people they advised that Parkdean Resorts only have to offer vouchers. As a frequent user of Parkdean Resorts for yearly golf trips with friends this wasn’t a major issue. 

However the voucher was only valid for 3 months. Where after speaking to them they said that I should have booked as the parks will be open. My view is that they cannot 100% guarantee that the world will get back to normal this year. 

As a company they will be holding back millions of peoples money in doing this. Surely this can’t be correct. £344 may not seem like a lot of money to some people, but it’s still not right that they can just benefit from this. 

I’m hoping there someone out there that can advise me what’s the best thing to do. To either
a) get voucher valid again
or 
b) cash back

many thanks

eskbanker

Sticksy82 said:

At the time of cancellation. I argued that surely their was a legal requirement that cash or voucher would be offered like most other travel companies.

What specific legislation were you citing?

Sticksy82 said:

However the voucher was only valid for 3 months.

The redemption had to be by the end of November, but validity in terms of actual future bookings was for another year.

Sticksy82 said:

Where after speaking to them they said that I should have booked as the parks will be open. My view is that they cannot 100% guarantee that the world will get back to normal this year.

Of course they can't guarantee that but those Ts & Cs state that if you rebooked and the second booking had to be cancelled due to a park closure then you'd receive a cash refund:

If your future holiday is cancelled due to a park closure, you would be entitled to a refund of the amounts paid in cash by you for your original holiday booking and any additional amount paid in cash by you towards the new holiday.

Sticksy82

Do you think it’s right that an expiry date of 2 months after original booking when the hospitality section is up in the air? 

elsien

You did leave it till the last possible day before rebooking though. Any particular reason for that? - as others have said you could have rebooked for any time in the next 12 months with a bit of reorganisation. 

I still managed to get my September caravan break in this year between lockdowns. It wasn’t the holiday I was hoping for but it was still a break. 

Sticksy82

Holiday allocation at work wasn’t given until last week for next year.