Direct Ferries Ripped me off

notjustamum

Hi. I am disabled and recently my mother-in-law passed away. She was born in Ireland and her wider family all live there.  Due to covid they weren’t able to come to Liverpool for her funeral. I have saved for myself, husband and daughter to go over to Ireland and visit the family.

I haven’t booked a ferry before and googled booking a ferry crossing from Holyhead to Dublin. I clicked on a link for comparison site Direct Ferries and selected a return crossing. I completed the form and car details and paid the €644 in full.  When I received the confirmation by email I checked it and they had the crossings the wrong way around.  I searched for a while for a phone number and it appears they don’t take incoming calls. I did notice the various websites that came up with very bad reviews for direct ferries and started to get worried.  I logged back on to direct ferries and next to the crossing it said I could cancel for a £10 cancellation fee so I clicked on ‘cancel this booking’ next to the booking details. It then said that all refunds would be paid within 10 days less the cancellation fee.  I then selected the correct crossings and paid for them.  I got an email stating that my original booking was non-refundable and I wouldn’t receive a refund. I queried this and they ignored my emails. They have now emailed to say I should have contacted them asking for an amendment rather than cancel and rebook. How do I contact them without a phone line and how can I not receive a refund as I rebooked the crossings.  It is a lot of money for me to lose out of my disability money and my mental health is suffering because of it.

Please help

Westin

Hoping the board guide can move this for you as you have posted on the Flight Delay Compensation board.
@heatherw_01
 

Alan_Bowen

Let me begin by saying how sorry I am that you find yourself in this situation. It seems you may have booked the ferries back to front, you have filed this query under "flight delay compensation" which this certainly isn't. The fact that the ferry appears to have been charged in Euros rather than pounds would suggest the first journey was indeed from Dublin, not Holyhead.

 I have looked at their website, I agree they don't give an obvious telephone number but googling I found 020 7250 1782 and at more expense 0844 448 1674. The £10 fee is their charge for cancellation and it does say that there may be charges from the ferry company as well. This suggests you may have booked the cheapest ferry tickets which may be non-refundable.

I am not convinced Direct Ferries will be able to do much to help but at least try them first. If no success try calling the ferry company directly, make sure you phone the right one, it might be Irish Ferries or Stena and good luck!