Merlin Annual Pass Extension

born_again

Notinthisforthemoney said:

Well I have had to prebook for any visits to Theme Parks we have made. That was not the situation when we bought the passes.
Not a significant amount of money granted, but others have been compensated for that by an extension to their pass of 1.5 months. (Which we were initially).
It's Merlin who have said in June, that the extension they gave at that time was due to the inconvenience & the requirement to prebook.  

There was another long running thread on this.
Given that merlin had to limit the numbers in the parks, then pre booking was the only way they could do that. Due to abuse by pass holders booking and then not turning up, thus losing them much needed income. They introduced the £1 fee.

All you could do is ask for a extension. But given that at the moment no one has any idea just how long Lockdown 3.0 is going to last. It could well be better to hold off and see what Merlin decide to do. As clearly, until they have some idea on when they may open again. It is a bit pointless them saying we will give you another 1, 2 3 or more months.

Notinthisforthemoney

born_again said:

Notinthisforthemoney said:

Well I have had to prebook for any visits to Theme Parks we have made. That was not the situation when we bought the passes.
Not a significant amount of money granted, but others have been compensated for that by an extension to their pass of 1.5 months. (Which we were initially).
It's Merlin who have said in June, that the extension they gave at that time was due to the inconvenience & the requirement to prebook.  

There was another long running thread on this.
Given that merlin had to limit the numbers in the parks, then pre booking was the only way they could do that. Due to abuse by pass holders booking and then not turning up, thus losing them much needed income. They introduced the £1 fee.

All you could do is ask for a extension. But given that at the moment no one has any idea just how long Lockdown 3.0 is going to last. It could well be better to hold off and see what Merlin decide to do. As clearly, until they have some idea on when they may open again. It is a bit pointless them saying we will give you another 1, 2 3 or more months.

To correct you - this is not the case.
Merlin introduced the £1 booking fee at the same time as introducing the booking system.  Yes I think it was abused by many (although not by me). But they actually removed the booking fee in September. 

Notinthisforthemoney

If I had bought my pass on 27th May 2020 ( over 2 months into lockdown # 1) I would also have a 6 month extension. 

Aylesbury_Duck

...but you didn't, so you don't.

Have you actually asked them for the extension you want?

sheramber

Can you out dates rather than months/
From what you said  you bought a 15 month pass in November 2019  so it expired February 2021.
According to their calculator your pass is now valid until August 2021.
So you are still getting an extra 6 months.

Notinthisforthemoney

Yes I know I am still getting 6 months.

The problems is that Merlin changed the conditions for you accessing parks in June. You had to prebook & pay a small fee. There was no longer the spontaneous access which was obviously one of the selling features of the pass.
Because they made this change, they compensated passholders with a 5 month extension. This extension covered the time closed as well as to compensate for the inconvenience.

If my pass originally was due to expire on 1st June 2020 for example, it would now expire on 03/03/21.
So they have received a 9 month extension when the park was actually closed for 70 days im their validity period.

Aylesbury_Duck

You keep repeating the same things, so I'll repeat my question:  Have you actually asked them for the extension you want?

Notinthisforthemoney

Aylesbury_Duck said:

You keep repeating the same things, so I'll repeat my question:  Have you actually asked them for the extension you want?

Yes! 

And I keep repeating the same things because people are constantly ignoring the reason for the extension that was given previously. I don't think Merlin could have predicted we would be in another lockdown now. 
I had the option to receive a pro-rated refund when they changed things in June. I didn't take that because I found the offter made acceptable. 
That offer has now been recinded and I can no longer get that refund.
What I want to know is can they make an offer of compensation and then recind it later?
Especially when I have 'accepted' that offer. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Clearly they can, because they have done.  
What I mean is, have you asked them again, since they've rescinded the offer?  If not, it's worth a try.  If you have (and they said no) then ultimately, you could send them a letter before action, setting out the resolution you want, with the threat that if they don't comply within 14 days, you will take them to court for your losses.  In order to do that, you are going to have to quantify them.  It sounds to me as if your losses are a few pounds of pre-booking fees and 1.5 months of membership on the passes you bought.  Passes are £89 each and you have four.  1.5 months is therefore worth £11.13 on each card.  On four passes that's £44.50.  Add in the pre-booking fees and your claim would be for £50ish.  An online claim fee is £25 which you get back if you win but lose if you don't.

Notinthisforthemoney

Thank you Aylesbury!
That is very helpful.
I have asked them by their customers services is useless but I have eventually managed to get further contact details.
I promise you I'm not an unreasonable person but this has really annoyed me. If they had offered me an extension for the amount of days closed and treated everyone the same, I would have been happy 🙈