Holiday Extras - Airport Parking Refund

rkkm

I'm hoping someone can give some advice.

I booked airport parking with Holiday Extras, the booking was fully refundable with their Flextras offer:

"FLEXTRAS: FREE CANCELLATION is our most flexible option. You can amend or cancel your booking up to your booked arrival time, without any fees.
Cancellations within 7 days of making your booking will be issued a voucher for the full amount. You can cancel your voucher and request a cash refund within 14 days of issue."

I booked on 21st Feb and requested a cancellation on 28th Feb, so within the 7 day policy.  However, they have deducted £10 from my refund and kept it as a voucher for future use because they say I cancelled after the 7 days.  

They have said:
"The booking was made on the 21st February at 17:05 and cancelled on the 28th at 23:33 so this has gone over the 7 days."

So it seems that they are basing the cancellation based on the time of the booking and not the end of the day, 23:59 of the 7th day.

I have read through their terms and conditions and there is no mention of the 7 days being based on the time of the booking, just that it has to be within 7 days.

Is this correct, surely they cannot base it on the time of booking and it should be based on the end of the actual 7th day at 23:59, and then them keeping the £10 is actually me incurring a fee for cancelling?

Do I have any rights to challenge this and get the £10 refunded to my card?

Thanks in advance for any help provided.

born_again

Technically they are right, you did cancel after 7 days by time, but that would be defined in the T/C as well as the £10 deduction.
Rather than what most of us would read the 7 days as.

Is it?

user1977

rkkm said:

Is this correct, surely they cannot base it on the time of booking and it should be based on the end of the actual 7th day at 23:59

Why not? Seems quite sensible and reasonable to me. Is there anything in the terms which suggest it should be based around midnight?

TadleyBaggie

Their actions seems entirely reasonable to me, 7 days from the time of booking is what I would expected.

rkkm

born_again said:

Technically they are right, you did cancel after 7 days by time, but that would be defined in the T/C as well as the £10 deduction.
Rather than what most of us would read the 7 days as.

Is it?

Their terms only state 7 days, there is no mention of the 7 days being based on the time of the booking, so I assumed (maybe incorrectly) that it would be the end of the actual day

lincroft1710

If the company are saying that 1 day is a 24 hour period, then they would appear to be correct.

rkkm

user1977 said:

rkkm said:

Is this correct, surely they cannot base it on the time of booking and it should be based on the end of the actual 7th day at 23:59

Why not? Seems quite sensible and reasonable to me. Is there anything in the terms which suggest it should be based around midnight?

They do mention 11:59 is the time for cancellation, but not specifically for a 'Free Cancellation' booking which is what I had.  

This is what is on their site:

Cancelling or Amending a booking “Fully-Flexible”, “Free Cancellation” bookings for Parking and Hotels can be amended or cancelled up to your booked time of arrival on your booked travel date.

“Saver” bookings for Parking, Hotels, Lounges or Fast Track can be amended or cancelled up to 11:59pm on the day before you travel (unless otherwise stated).

“Supersaver” bookings cannot be amended or cancelled.

Car hire bookings cannot be amended but you can cancel up to 48 hours before you travel. If you need to amend your details, you will be able to cancel and rebook with your new details, up to 48 hours before you travel for Car Hire.

Transfers can be amended online, however, anything inside of 48 hours will be subject to availability with the local supplier and we will notify you once we have contacted them. Transfers are able to be cancelled up to 11:59pm the day before you travel.

“Fully-Flexible” or “Free Cancellation” bookings If a “fully flexible” or “free cancellation” product is cancelled, you will receive a voucher for the full value of your original booking to use for any future Holiday Extras booking. This voucher can be used to pay for any future Holiday Extras Parking, Hotel, Lounge, Fast Track, Transfer or Car Hire booking, any time at all, within 2 years of issue.

You can also choose to exchange your voucher for a cash refund up to 14 days from the date of issue. Bookings cancelled 7 days or more after the original booking date will be refunded, less £10 which will be held as a non-refundable balance on your account, available to spend the next time you book.

Vouchers issued for a “Fully-Flexible” and “Free Cancellation” booking which are cancelled on the booked arrival date are not eligible for a cash refund.

Aylesbury_Duck

Seems right to me.  They haven't breached any of those terms.  I'd have  assumed that the clock starts ticking at the time I made the booking, not at the midnight afterwards.  In the absence of the terms specifying otherwise, that's clearly the policy.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/section/69

If a term in a consumer contract, or a consumer notice, could have different meanings, the meaning that is most favourable to the consumer is to prevail.

When you look at something like the CCRs the 14 days is clearly clarified by stating it begins the day after delivery which would suggest this is very deliberate specifically avoid the ambiguity of different opinions. 

Bookings cancelled 7 days or more after the original booking date will be refunded

That could be read as 7 x 24 hour blocks, 7 days including the date of booking or 7 days beginning the day after the date of booking.

Unless the company have clarified specifically how 7 days is calculated (elsewhere as I don't see such in the quote above) it could be viewed the cancellation period was still valid but given they've refunded and the amount in dispute is £10 of credit, other than being a thorn in their side, there probably isn't far to go with this one. 

rkkm

Quick update....I got my refund in cash!!!!  
I persisted.  They tried to tell me that from the date of booking to cancellation was 8 days! (21st to 28th), I asked them how they came to that conclusion and they replied with offering a refund rather than explaining!!!!