Am I entitled to a refund on this holiday? Mis-selling?

crazyoldmaurice

I booked a holiday to IOW 6 days ago through parkdean for a break starting on Friday 24th May

On their website it states

"Even better, we’ve lined up an exclusive saving on Isle of Wight ferry crossings. We’ll email you all the details you need within 48 hours of making your holiday booking.

2024 ferries are now available.

Exclusive ferry crossing discount

We’ve teamed up with Wightlink to offer you an exclusive discount for being a valued Parkdean Resorts customer. You don’t need to contact us – we’ll send you an email about your ferry crossing discount within 48 hours of making your booking.

"Parkdean Resorts customers who have booked an Isle of Wight holiday receive discounted ferry rates with Wightlink. 48 hours after making your holiday booking with us, you’ll receive a link to book with your discount, which you can access by logging into 'Manage My Booking'."

And that is listed on their website before any booking is made. I booked a holiday 6 days ago and wasnt sent any link to book the ferry within 48 hours. So today I logged in to my parkdead account and clicked through a link to book the promotional discount. However there are zero slots left on the ferry crossing for the day our break is on and we would have to pay full cost which is ridiclously expensive and i would have booked a break elsewhere (cheaper) to counterbalance having to pay full price on the ferry.

I have got in touch with parkdean who wont help and are refusing to give me a refund on the basis of; "So after speaking with management again they have again advised, the discount is not from us this comes from the ferry company not directly from us, and also advised we are not liable for any travel any park either mainland or the Isle of Wight there is nothing we are able to offer with this".

Do I have any rights with this? 

la531983

No, sounds like its just an extra perk of booking a holiday with them (same as some offering 10% off airport parking etc)

pinkshoes

crazyoldmaurice said:

I booked a holiday to IOW 6 days ago through parkdean for a break starting on Friday 24th May

On their website it states

"Even better, we’ve lined up an exclusive saving on Isle of Wight ferry crossings. We’ll email you all the details you need within 48 hours of making your holiday booking.

2024 ferries are now available.

Exclusive ferry crossing discount

We’ve teamed up with Wightlink to offer you an exclusive discount for being a valued Parkdean Resorts customer. You don’t need to contact us – we’ll send you an email about your ferry crossing discount within 48 hours of making your booking.

"Parkdean Resorts customers who have booked an Isle of Wight holiday receive discounted ferry rates with Wightlink. 48 hours after making your holiday booking with us, you’ll receive a link to book with your discount, which you can access by logging into 'Manage My Booking'."

And that is listed on their website before any booking is made. I booked a holiday 6 days ago and wasnt sent any link to book the ferry within 48 hours. So today I logged in to my parkdead account and clicked through a link to book the promotional discount. However there are zero slots left on the ferry crossing for the day our break is on and we would have to pay full cost which is ridiclously expensive and i would have booked a break elsewhere (cheaper) to counterbalance having to pay full price on the ferry.

I have got in touch with parkdean who wont help and are refusing to give me a refund on the basis of; "So after speaking with management again they have again advised, the discount is not from us this comes from the ferry company not directly from us, and also advised we are not liable for any travel any park either mainland or the Isle of Wight there is nothing we are able to offer with this".

Do I have any rights with this? 

What sort of discount are they offering, as the above info doesn't say? I assume the ferry still has spaces, but there are only so many at a discounted rate.

The wording does state that their customers who have booked receive discounted ferry rates, so I'd be challenging them again over this, and insisting on the discounted booking rate. If it's quite a sizeable difference then this will be a swaying point over people booking. A dangling carrot scenario...

How did you pay for the holiday?

DullGreyGuy

The T&Cs for Parkdean, that you have to agree to to be able to book state that they cannot book the ferry for you and the promotion is subject to the ferry company's terms. If you look at the ferry company's terms it says promotions will be withdrawn when booking numbers have been reached. 

Agree with others that there isn't any promise that discounted tickets will be available on the date you look to book for. 

ThumbRemote

The consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations, section 6 "Misleading Omissions". 
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1277/regulation/6

A commercial practice is a misleading omission if ... the commercial practice omits material information ... and as a result it causes or is likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision he would not have taken otherwise.

Assuming that you, as consumer, had no way of checking availability for the discounted rate ferry crossing prior to booking, then I'd say this was a clear breach of the regulations. Therefore you're entitled to a remedy, which is usually the "right to unwind" ie cancel the contract. 

(In fact, since they don't seem to say what level of discount is offered, it's entirely possible that any booking this way falls foul of the regulations, since that's a clear omission. It's always up to the retailer to provide the information!)

In the first instance quote this at Parkdean, beyond that you may have to try a letter before action and small claims against them. 

Grumpy_chap

I am thinking of this on practical terms.
The OP posted today (13th May) stating they made the booking 6 days ago.  I make that last Tuesday, 7th May.
The OP states their break starts Friday 24th May, which is a Bank Holiday weekend.
Travel services, such as Wightlink, operate with dynamic pricing.  For a late booking on a peak travel date, dynamic pricing will be high and discounts unavailable.

A practical thing the OP can do is check best available prices for ferry via all routes (Portsmouth, Lymington via Wightlink or Southampton via Red Funnel) so they know the best price available.

What is the discount value if tickets were available?  
Would the discount only apply to flexible tickets?

It might be cheaper booking saver tickets via another route in any case.
I often find when there is a discount offered by one company for fulfilment by another company, the "discount" is often more of a marketing thing and not guaranteed that the discounted price is the lowest option available.  In that type of scenario, the OP may not have lost anything by virtue of the "discount" being unavailable.

My comment is based on a practical perspective as the possible Consumer Rights could be complex.  I am not convinced that there has been mis-selling or any claim against Parkdean.

eskbanker

ThumbRemote said:

Assuming that you, as consumer, had no way of checking availability for the discounted rate ferry crossing prior to booking, then I'd say this was a clear breach of the regulations. Therefore you're entitled to a remedy, which is usually the "right to unwind" ie cancel the contract. 

(In fact, since they don't seem to say what level of discount is offered, it's entirely possible that any booking this way falls foul of the regulations, since that's a clear omission. It's always up to the retailer to provide the information!)

The Parkdean ferry page https://www.parkdeanresorts.co.uk/location/isle-of-wight/ferry/ links to the Wightlink affiliate site https://www.wightlink.co.uk/ways-to-save/parkdean, which lists the discounted prices (which are fixed rather than a percentage off 'rack rates') and allows dummy bookings to ascertain availability, so this can all be done prior to committing.

Grumpy_chap

eskbanker said:

The Parkdean ferry page https://www.parkdeanresorts.co.uk/location/isle-of-wight/ferry/ links to the Wightlink affiliate site https://www.wightlink.co.uk/ways-to-save/parkdean, which lists the discounted prices (which are fixed rather than a percentage off 'rack rates') and allows dummy bookings to ascertain availability, so this can all be done prior to committing.

With that, and the fact the OP appears not to have known what the discount level was prior to booking:

crazyoldmaurice said:

"Even better, we’ve lined up an exclusive saving on Isle of Wight ferry crossings. We’ll email you all the details you need within 48 hours of making your holiday booking.

And that is listed on their website before any booking is made. I booked a holiday 6 days ago and wasnt sent any link to book the ferry within 48 hours. So today I logged in to my parkdead account and clicked through a link to book the promotional discount. However there are zero slots left on the ferry crossing for the day our break is on and we would have to pay full cost which is ridiclously expensive and i would have booked a break elsewhere (cheaper) to counterbalance having to pay full price on the ferry.

It seems as though the OP did not have the discount rates before booking the holiday.
That makes the comment about "would have booked elsewhere if the discount slots were not available" possibly moot.

I think, if I was booking in anticipation of a discount on the ferry, I would at least know the potential cost exposure (full price ferry) before committing to the holiday.
The discount is then a bonus.

EDIT - I just noticed that the OP only quoted part of the Parkdean offer referring to the ferry discount.  The full text includes a statement that it is your responsibility to get there regardless and a tick box to acknowledge:


This also seems to negate the OP's comment about never receiving the e-mail link and then finding the link in their booking portal.  The offer states the link for the discount will be in the portal after two days and the e-mail is just a reminder.

eskbanker

Unless I'm missing something, there's no need to wait for a link to be emailed, or to access it via the 'manage my booking' portal - the discounted booking can be made directly from a publicly-accessible link!  It does require a valid Parkdean holiday reference to be provided prior to finalising, which is perhaps why the 48 hour delay is stated....

Grumpy_chap

eskbanker said:

Unless I'm missing something, there's no need to wait for a link to be emailed, or to access it via the 'manage my booking' portal - the discounted booking can be made directly from a publicly-accessible link!  It does require a valid Parkdean holiday reference to be provided prior to finalising, which is perhaps why the 48 hour delay is stated....

Well, that link you shared a couple of posts upthread goes to a rate card at £67.50 each way for the dates 24th to 30th May.  £135 return.

I just created a shopping basket following the links from that you shared for the Bank Holiday weekend (the OP did not state return journey date) which matches the rate card:


In fact, in case the OP is staying for a whole week rather than just the BH weekend, so returning 31st May, I beat the rate card:


It seems as though the discount rate is currently available to book if the OP so chooses.
Can't see any Consumer Rights issue here.

sheramber

Since the OP booked the holiday on the strength of the discount, surely he must have known how much the discount was. 

“However there are zero slots left on the ferry crossing for the day our break is on and we would have to pay full cost which is ridiclously expensive and i would have booked a break elsewhere (cheaper) to counterbalance having to pay full price on the ferry.”