"No refund policy" for bad service

Garfield_Gal

Hey folks, I promised I looked online first and couldn't find anything, hence coming here.

Had a bad experience ice skating at Cardiff's Winter Wonderland, where huge queues to enter the venue at our scheduled time and for skate hire meant we had about 25 minutes of our 1 hour skating time. 

I complained to the company and was told that they have a no refund policy, as the session went ahead, and this is the only reason they give refunds. 

Do I have any rights? I paid on credit card. 

Bradden

I think it depends on how long the delay was?

According to their site you should allow 10mins - although the 60min session includes time to get boots.

7. 2023/2024 SESSIONS – Tickets purchased for the 2023/2024 attraction gives access to a 60-minute skating session. This time includes the time taken to collect, fit and return boots.

What if I'm late for my session time?

You will be allowed entry if you arrive within your allotted session time. No refunds will be given for a late arrival which results in customers not receiving a full session. Late arrivals will be allowed at the discretion of the operator. We advise customers to arrive at their booked attraction 10 minutes before the start time stated on the ticket.

Assuming you allowed ten minutes queuing time (although how you'd prove this I'm not sure) I think they should be willing to offer a partial refund at least. The next step would be a letter before action before legal action.

DullGreyGuy

Garfield_Gal said:

Hey folks, I promised I looked online first and couldn't find anything, hence coming here.

Had a bad experience ice skating at Cardiff's Winter Wonderland, where huge queues to enter the venue at our scheduled time and for skate hire meant we had about 25 minutes of our 1 hour skating time. 

I complained to the company and was told that they have a no refund policy, as the session went ahead, and this is the only reason they give refunds. 

Do I have any rights? I paid on credit card. 

So at what time did you get there at to join the queue relative to your start time?

Garfield_Gal

DullGreyGuy said:

Garfield_Gal said:

Hey folks, I promised I looked online first and couldn't find anything, hence coming here.

Had a bad experience ice skating at Cardiff's Winter Wonderland, where huge queues to enter the venue at our scheduled time and for skate hire meant we had about 25 minutes of our 1 hour skating time. 

I complained to the company and was told that they have a no refund policy, as the session went ahead, and this is the only reason they give refunds. 

Do I have any rights? I paid on credit card. 

So at what time did you get there at to join the queue relative to your start time?

We arrived about 15-20 minutes ahead of the session start time, as recommended. They opened the venue gates at the start of the session time but it took a good 10 minutes until we entered as the queue was so long (we were in the middle). Then the queue for the skates were really long, and took about 20 minutes. They state that the session time includes the time to hire skates and put them on, but I argue that the long queues were unreasonable and out of my control. 

Garfield_Gal

Bradden said:

I think it depends on how long the delay was?

According to their site you should allow 10mins - although the 60min session includes time to get boots.

7. 2023/2024 SESSIONS – Tickets purchased for the 2023/2024 attraction gives access to a 60-minute skating session. This time includes the time taken to collect, fit and return boots.

What if I'm late for my session time?

You will be allowed entry if you arrive within your allotted session time. No refunds will be given for a late arrival which results in customers not receiving a full session. Late arrivals will be allowed at the discretion of the operator. We advise customers to arrive at their booked attraction 10 minutes before the start time stated on the ticket.

Assuming you allowed ten minutes queuing time (although how you'd prove this I'm not sure) I think they should be willing to offer a partial refund at least. The next step would be a letter before action before legal action.

We arrived about 15-20 minutes ahead of the session start time, as recommended. They opened the venue gates at the start of the session time but it took a good 10 minutes until we entered as the queue was so long (we were in the middle). Then the queue for the skates were really long, and took about 20 minutes. They state that the session time includes the time to hire skates and put them on, but I argue that the long queues were unreasonable and out of my control. I have e-mailed but they flat out refused a refund, even when I asked for a partial. They didn't even ask for my session time or date to investigate the claim. Just flat out 'no refunds'.

Bradden

If their service is that bad they probably wouldn't bother to defend a MCOL claim... depending on the value of the tickets you may wish to send a LBA and then claim against them.

Alderbank

Their T&Cs are not 'flat out refusals'.

What the T&Cs actually say is:
 If the event is...curtailed (shortened), you shall be entitled to a refund of the price of the ticket(s) only if such ...curtailment occurs after less than 30 minutes of skating time has taken place.

OP says they had 'about' 25 mins skating time.

I think the OP has two options:

1. Produce evidence that they had less than 30 minutes skating time therefore a full refund
2. Argue that the contract term is unfair and refunds should be proportional therefore 50%ish refund.

The ticket price is about £16 (max) per person. The effort involved for a refund might not be worthwhile.

born_again

No chargeback right & at a guess each ticket was less than £100 so no S75 either.

Garfield_Gal

Thanks for your feedback folks, frustrating to say the least but seems I don't have much choice but to suck it up.