Bannatynes refusing to give refund

Todie18

I recently purchased a spa day online for myself and two friends, the day after purchasing we changed our minds about it, as I had read that I could cancel up to 48hrs before the booking and it is over a week until then I thought I would be fine to cancel. It took several days to speak to someone who could cancel the booking only to be told that it was non refundable. I have complained and escalated to customer services (although I cannot speak to anyone over the phone it all has to be by email) but keep getting told that I agreed to the terms and conditions when I purchased and they will not refund the money. I feel the terms and conditions were misleading as they spoke about vouchers being non refundable and as I was buying directly from them online and not using a voucher I did not think this applied to me. I have since been told that any online purchase is considered to be a voucher, I think the language is deliberately misleading and most people would not understand that.  They are saying I can reschedule but I cannot afford this and I honestly do not want to use their facilities after being treated like this, it is the opposite of a relaxing spa experience. Do I have any consumer rights here? I bought online and paid with my credit card. I am confused as to where I stand.

user1977

Todie18 said:

I had read that I could cancel up to 48hrs before the booking

Where did you read this?

Todie18

Good question, I think it was written in the T&Cs although not sure how to verify that. When I initially phoned to cancel I was told it was fine as long as it was within 48hrs but had to be done through a different department.

k3lvc

Did you buy from Bannatynes or a 3rd party ?

You can question the wording used but most would realise that the 'cancellation' refers to the booking for a specific day, not for the 'voucher' which remains valid for future usage

Manxman_in_exile

As above, where did you read about being able to "cancel up to 48 hours before the booking"?

It's important because I think you have to rely on whatever cancellation rights Bannatyne's T&Cs allow you.

AIUI, because this is probably a contract concerning the provision of a service "related to leisure activities" and because it is for a specific date, then you have no statutory right to cancel it even though you bought it online.  See s28(1)(h) The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (legislation.gov.uk)

So it comes back to Bannatynes T&Cs.  You may have some argument as to whether you did or did not buy via a voucher and whether that was explained to you on the website...

Todie18

I bought directly from Bannatynes. To me the word voucher implies buying a prepaid voucher for use at a future date, as far I was concerned I was booking a service directly not buying a voucher, this is where I think the language is very misleading and deliberately so.  

lisyloo

user1977 said:

Todie18 said:

I had read that I could cancel up to 48hrs before the booking

Where did you read this?

I’ve just gone onto the website spa.Bannatynes.co.uk, gone through the process and at the end it says “we operate a 48 hour cancellation/amendment policy for bookings”.

if I click on the link that says “terms and condition” that you have to accept
it says “voucher terms and condition”
8. Payments are strictly non-refundable.

this can all be verified by going through the booking process without booking or paying for anything.

I agree with the op that there is absolutely no indication here that you are buying a voucher and I would assume those ts and cs applied to vouchers only, not normal bookings.

It appears to me to be dodgy practice but I am not a lawyer.

anyone know if they can do this?
it doesn’t say anywhere you are purchasing a voucher that I can see, so I would have assumed those ts and cs were not relevant for my booking.

Manxman_in_exile

You need to find where in their T&Cs it says you can cancel up to 48 hours before.

Go to their website (or the one you bought from) and look for something like Terms and Conditions or Booking Conditions.  Something like that.

Or try repeating the steps you took when making the original purchase (without making another purchase of course!) and see if it comes up again.

If you can find it, go back to them and argue that you weren't booking the session through any voucher (whether Bannatyne's own voucher or a third party's) and as far as you were concerned you were making a direct purchase of the booked session.

(If you can find their T&Cs check if there is a definition there - or elsewhere on their website - of a "voucher")

lisyloo

You can click “buy a voucher” or make a booking for a specific date and pay for it.
I personally wouldn’t deem the latter to be a “voucher”.

lisyloo

Cancel/amendment policy (under help and FAQ).

all payment are strictly non-refundable.
Cancellation says you need to re-arrange or lose any money “paid for the voucher”.

personally I don’t think it’s going to be refundable.

I don’t agree it’s a voucher, but they say in several place non-refundable.

Todie18

Thank you everyone, I have to say I find it all quite confusing. When you go back to the site knowing the way it works I can see the word voucher used, but I still don't believe it is obvious at the point of purchase. Perhaps I was just naïve. I am not someone who complains or cancels services often and I was pretty shocked by their refusal to refund. I do believe the use of the word voucher is misleading and is put before the "all payments" part deliberately. They are a large company and they know what they are doing, if it were a small company who would be out of pocket I could understand a little more.