Wowcher

octo69

Hi

I purchased a 2 night break at a hotel in Scotland as a xmas box on 23rd November 2020. I booked it straight away as I wanted it for my brother and his fiance to go on his birthday, which is January 9th. I received an email from the hotel on xmas eve stating that because of the lockdown the hotel has to close and if I wanted to rebook then just to email them or if a refund then to get in touch with Wowcher. I messaged back and asked them to hold the booking as I would have to ask my brother. They said that tehy would. I received an email from them on 7th January stating that it had to be used by 31st March. I emailed and said that no one knows how long this current lockdown will last and my brother is a key worker so cannot ask for time off to cancel it if closed so would like a refund. They directed me to wowcher. When I whatsapped them as this is the only way to contact them because of the pandemic they told me to contact the hotel and I told them that I had and the hotel told me to contact them back. I asked for a refund to my original card and they got back to me yesterday informing me that under the terms I am only allowed 50% refund as a wowcher credit because it is longer than 30 days. I asked them if a pandemic is in their terms and they just sent back in their terms it clearly states the refund policy and they have put a wowcher credit onto my account of 50%. I feel this is very unfair and it is not my fault the government have locked everyone down and closed hopspitality.

Aylesbury_Duck

Refunding to your wowcher account is the correct thing to do, because you bought a voucher for a hotel stay, you didn't buy a hotel stay.  It would be fair for them to extend the validity of the voucher by the same time the hotel is closed, e.g. by two months.  You could ask them to do that.

Zoobidoo

Hi,  my boyfriend purchased a 2 night stay in a hotel in the Lake District to be used by May 2021.  The purchase was made in December 2020.  We wanted the Lake District for a specific activity that also had to be used by the end of May.  We tried to book the hotel in March only to be told that they were not accepting any wowcher bookings until the end of November 2021.  We looked to see if there were any other hotels but nothing was available on the dates we require.  I tried to cancel and asked for a refund but was told I could only have a credit.   I explained that the contract we entered into was for a specific hotel which is not available on the dates specified by wowcher and they have not fulfilled their part of the contract and therefore, we feel we should be entitled to a full refund.   This means that we will have to pay again to find a hotel. They wouldn't help.

Zoobidoo

Hi,  my boyfriend purchased a 2 night stay in a hotel in the Lake District to be used by May 2021.  The purchase was made in December 2020.  We wanted the Lake District for a specific activity that also had to be used by the end of May.  We tried to book the hotel in March only to be told that they were not accepting any wowcher bookings until the end of November 2021.  We looked to see if there were any other hotels but nothing was available on the dates we require.  I tried to cancel and asked for a refund but was told I could only have a credit.   I explained that the contract we entered into was for a specific hotel which is not available on the dates specified by wowcher and they have not fulfilled their part of the contract and therefore, we feel we should be entitled to a full refund.   This means that we will have to pay again to find a hotel. They wouldn't help.

Thrugelmir

Zoobidoo said:

  The purchase was made in December 2020. 

Did you read the small print at time of booking?