Eurotunnel Complaint Response

akjfdsvbkubkjbdv

I’d like to know if Forum users think I’m being unreasonable in my dispute with Eurotunnel or are they.  Here is our email conversation:-

Me, 3rd May.

There was no alcohol or cigarettes available at the Duty Free shop in Calais. We normally buy 8 litres of gin and 400 cigarettes on the return crossing (it helps defray the cost). Had we known we would have purchased the cigarettes in Belgium and the gin at Carrefour before arriving at the terminal.

You promote the Duty Free as part of le Shuttle experience when taking a booking and also when sending a boarding pass reminder (Shop and Discover) so I consider it as an integral part of the deal. You had the opportunity to forewarn me that Duty Free would not be functioning when you emailed the boarding pass reminder on 23rd April, but did not do so.

I therefore think that your failure in customer care has cost me well over £100 in savings and would like some compensation.

Them, 7th May.

Thank you for contacting us.

I note your comments with regards to the Duty Free store in Calais and I can confirm that we are in the process of changing providers so it may mean stock levels are temporarily reduced in the meantime. I sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused but I hope you will appreciate that we have no control over the stock that is offered by the shop. I regret that we are unable to comply with your compensation request.

We look forward to welcoming you back on board our service again soon.

( I brooded over this and, having consulted MSE’s complaints guide decided to press on)

Me, 15th May.

Thankyou for your response. You seem to have brushed aside the substance of my complaint with all the aplomb of a career politician.

 My point is that the Duty Free shop is an integral part of your business whether you run it or negotiate a partner to run it. It makes you money, it features heavily in your marketing, it occupies (I guess) 25% of the public area in the terminal, you refer to it in your boarding reminders and I'm sure that a large proportion of your customers rely on it.

 Changing providers doesn't happen overnight. You must have known that the facility would be unavailable well before the 29th April and yet you did not mentioned this in your return journey reminder email. You could also have warned customers at the entry to the Calais complex with a billboard or electric signage so that they could divert to Cite Europe to do their shopping. You did neither of these things. I lost out by approximately £200 worth of savings.

 If you check our booking history you will see that we've used the shuttle for at least 17 years, making at least four return journeys per year. Since Brexit we time our journeys within Duty Free opening hours, the savings offset the cost of travel (which has increased threefold since the demise of your Frequent Traveler scheme).

 I had been expecting an admission that you could have done better by forewarning customers about the unavailability of Duty Free, an apology for this lapse in customer care and (perhaps) a discount on our next return journey (should we continue to use Eurotunnel).

 Our next planned European trip is in ten days time, I'd welcome a full and considered response to all the points in this email before then.

 Them, 16th May

Thank you for your reply.
I am sorry to learn that you are disappointed with my response. I note your further comments regarding the Duty Free store in Calais and fully appreciate how disappointed you must have been when you visited on 25th April.

I would like to reassure you that we understand the importance of providing as much information as possible about any matter that might affect our customers. A text message was sent to the phone number on the booking to inform customers that the Duty Free store was closed and I sincerely apologise if you did not see this prior to your arrival at the Terminal.

Please be assured that I have logged all of your comments in our reporting system to ensure that key members of staff have access to your valuable feedback. This will be taken into consideration for future improvements to the service.

I am genuinely sorry that you have had cause to complain about an element of your journey with LeShuttle, but I do hope that despite this disappointing experience we can welcome you back on board in the near future.

 Me, 16th May.

Thanks for your reply.

 The whole gist of my complaint was that we were not informed.

I've checked my mobile and cannot find the text you refer to, on what date was it sent?

 Them 17th May.

Thank you for your reply.

In view of your comments, I have contacted the relevant department to have further information regarding the information sent. Upon further investigation, it seems that as the shop was due to open on 23rd April, you did not receive a text message prior to your journey from Calais on 25th April. Unfortunately, the opening of the Duty Free store was postponed, and you did not receive an update regarding this.

I realise that this would have been really disappointing and in view of this, I would like to offer you a discount voucher* to the value of £30 for use with your next ticket purchase made directly with LeShuttle. Your voucher number is xxxxxxx and is valid for redemption by 16/05/2025.

 Me 17th May.

Thankyou for investigating.

 In my original complaint on 3rd May I wrote "You had the opportunity to forewarn me that Duty Free would not be functioning when you emailed the boarding pass reminder on 23rd April, but did not do so.". It has taken 2 weeks to establish the facts in this case; for me (having received your initial response on the 7th) it's been 10 days of anger and stress, many wasted hours deciding if and how to continue an uphill struggle against an unsympathetic opponent. In view of this, the missed savings (you work it out - 8 litres of Gordon's gin and 400 Benson &Hedges, Duty Free prices versus UK supermarket) and my 17yr history of taking many trips per year I have to say that I regard your £30 discount voucher as niggardly.

I'd like you to increase the value of the voucher so that I can put this sorry episode behind me rather than harbouring feelings of resentment whenever I consider traveling with you.

Can you please confirm that the shopping facilities now fully functional at both Folkstone and Calais and that there are no foreseen problems with them.

Them, 20th May.

Thank you for your reply.

I am sorry that you remain disappointed with this matter. I have reviewed your case with my manager and I must advise that there is nothing further to add and our offer will not be increased.

Please be assured your dissatisfaction has been noted and added to our monthly reports to senior managers.

Me, 20th May.

Then I would like you to review this case with your manager's manager.

I would have accepted the offer had it been made in your first reply on 7th May which should have stated :-

a. that you informed those traveling on the expected closure date

b. that you failed to do so when the date changed.

Instead, it wasn't until the 16th May that you told me that affected travelers were informed. You included me in that category. On the 17th May, after I queried this, you admitted that this was not the case (i.e. it was untrue), this is as close as you've got to admitting a failure on your part.

£30 doesn't begin to compensate for the stress I've experienced and the time and effort I've expended in establishing the facts, let alone the lost savings.

I repeat "can you please confirm that the shopping facilities now fully functional at both Folkstone and Calais and that there are no foreseen problems with them."

Me, 20th May.

It has belatedly occurred to me that I am only one of many thousands of your clients who were affected by your failure.

 There is no shortage of Consumer Champions in today's world, I've been trying to evaluate which of us is being unreasonable. I take it that you would not object to me sharing our emails with the likes of Martin Lewis and Which in order to get a second opinion.

 (no reply from them as yet)

 Me, 22nd May.

Could you please have the courtesy to respond to the enquiry in my 17th May email about the current state of Duty Free facilities.

 (no reply from them as yet)

 

marcia_

 Wow thats a lot to read i omitted lots. Perhaps summarise it? 

km1500

they want compo because the duty free shop had run out of booze and cigs.

tacpot12

I don't think you are being reasonable. You are expecting them to issue all passengers affected by the last minute change of the re-opening date of a service that many won't use of be bothered about. I think their offer of £30 is a fair offer under the circumstances.

mr_stripey

haha. is this for real?

get stressed because the shop ran out of booze and fags? Unfortunate, but not the end of the world

lincroft1710

What an ingenious way to get £30 off your next trip!

IvanOpinion

I would say that you are the one being unreasonable. From reading your notes it seems that the estimated loss of value to you jumped from £100 on 3rd May to £200 by the 15th of May - that is some rate of inflation you are working with. By 20th May your correspondences are pure 'entitlement'. It doesn't surprise me that they have started ignoring you after throwing in a claim of 'stress' over a few emails.

An offer of £30 to get you to go away, and stop wasting their time, is very generous and I applaud their customer service.

PHK

This has to be one of the most unbelievable attempts at compensation ever. Some gall to even try it. 

Alfrescodave

Well I enjoyed reading the OP's post.

Compared to some of the compensation claims raised here, it was a pleasant amusing polite account.

mr_stripey

Alfrescodave said:

Well I enjoyed reading the OP's post.

Compared to some of the compensation claims raised here, it was a pleasant amusing polite account.

yes I enjoyed the use of the word "niggardly" to describe their offer. Tremendous stuff

Pollycat

TL:DR (all of it).

You are the one not being reasonable/

And it's never a good idea to use sarcasm in a complaint:

You seem to have brushed aside the substance of my complaint with all the aplomb of a career politician.

This has spectacularly back-fired so far as the responses from MSE is concerned:

 There is no shortage of Consumer Champions in today's world, I've been trying to evaluate which of us is being unreasonable. I take it that you would not object to me sharing our emails with the likes of Martin Lewis and Which in order to get a second opinion.