How to escalate refund issue with Tui?

LJREvans

Hi all, long story short my partner and I went on our first cruise in December which was with Tui. Several things went wrong which meant we didn't have a great time, including being overcharged on our final bill. Regarding the overcharge, we booked a cabana for a day at £99 onboard, but when we arrived the cover had a huge rip in it. We returned to reception and asked to swap cabanas, but were told the only other one available also has a large rip. We were offered a 50% discount or a refund, we opted for the refund. The staff member showed us a print out of our booking with 'CANCELLED' written across it, we asked for a receipt but were told this isn't possible.

I wrote a long complaint to Tui, they called me on Friday (12th Jan) to respond to my complaint. They apologised but offered nothing in the way of a refund (saying they were unable to do so) but promised to call me back on Monday (15th) to sort out the final bill overcharge. They called me to say that I'm ineligible for a refund as the reception on board has no record of this. I'm absolutely livid but not sure what to do next. I have called back Tui to ask for this in writing so I can try to chargeback with my bank. Is there anything else I can do?

Aylesbury_Duck

LJREvans said:

Hi all, long story short my partner and I went on our first cruise in December which was with Tui. Several things went wrong which meant we didn't have a great time, including being overcharged on our final bill. Regarding the overcharge, we booked a cabana for a day at £99 onboard, but when we arrived the cover had a huge rip in it. We returned to reception and asked to swap cabanas, but were told the only other one available also has a large rip. We were offered a 50% discount or a refund, we opted for the refund. The staff member showed us a print out of our booking with 'CANCELLED' written across it, we asked for a receipt but were told this isn't possible.

I wrote a long complaint to Tui, they called me on Friday (12th Jan) to respond to my complaint. They apologised but offered nothing in the way of a refund (saying they were unable to do so) but promised to call me back on Monday (15th) to sort out the final bill overcharge. They called me to say that I'm ineligible for a refund as the reception on board has no record of this. I'm absolutely livid but not sure what to do next. I have called back Tui to ask for this in writing so I can try to chargeback with my bank. Is there anything else I can do?

Not really, without an audit trail it's your word against theirs.  Your bank may side with you but Tui might challenge it, and without evidence that a refund was due, they might be successful.

I'd write a nice letter to see if you can get a different response, before going down the chargeback route.

eskbanker

LJREvans said:

we booked a cabana for a day at £99 onboard, but when we arrived the cover had a huge rip in it

[...]

The staff member showed us a print out of our booking with 'CANCELLED' written across it

Do you have any photographic evidence of either of these?

LJREvans

eskbanker said:

LJREvans said:

we booked a cabana for a day at £99 onboard, but when we arrived the cover had a huge rip in it

[...]

The staff member showed us a print out of our booking with 'CANCELLED' written across it

Do you have any photographic evidence of either of these?

Unfortunately not, lesson learnt.