Refund from on the beach

zoetarch1

Hi all,
I recently got married and booked our honeymoon through On the Beach.
Unfortunately there were some issues with our hotel which were not advertised on the website so On the Beach have agreed to provide us with a 20% refund. It has been allocated to my account but states it can only be refunded to the card/account that we paid the holiday on but due to our marriage we have closed that account and opened a new joint account together as we weren’t happy with the bank we were with either.

Do we have any rights in regards to getting the refund allocated to our new account, or can they refuse?

Thanks in advance

Grumpy_chap

zoetarch1 said:

Hi all,
I recently got married and booked our honeymoon through On the Beach.
Unfortunately there were some issues with our hotel which were not advertised on the website so On the Beach have agreed to provide us with a 20% refund. It has been allocated to my account but states it can only be refunded to the card/account that we paid the holiday on but due to our marriage we have closed that account and opened a new joint account together as we weren’t happy with the bank we were with either.

Do we have any rights in regards to getting the refund allocated to our new account, or can they refuse?

Thanks in advance

Congratulations!  Let's hope the Marriage is full of bliss and the only way is up now the issues with the Honeymoon are past.

Firstly, I assume that you are satisfied with the 20% discount / refund as suitable remedy for the issues you experienced.

Secondly, the refund only to the original payment card is quite common.  It helps to prevent fraud and also normalises fees / incentives between the payment and the refund.

Thirdly, whether you have any rights to force a repayment to another destination depends on the nature of the issues you experienced.  Did these issues breach contract or consumer rights?  If not, is the discount / refund more of a goodwill payment?  A goodwill payment can be any form that the company chooses.  A reimbursement for breach of contract / consumer rights can be requested in any form you choose, though enforcing that may not be as straightforward as you might wish.

Overall, it sounds as though OtB have provided a reasonable resolution despite the fact some issues arose.  Could you leave the deposit on your account with OtB and treat yourself to some winter sun?  You did not state when you originally travelled, but 20% discount from a peak summer booking might well cover the full hotel costs of a low-season winter trip.  You'd only have to cover the travel (plus insurance).  Might be a pragmatic and fun way to use the credit amount.