Being charged extra by holiday company

[JetSetter1]

Booked a holiday with Virgin travelling to Florida this May, staying in a select Villa. Have 3 kids (age 9,2 & 9 months). Just spoke to virgin who have said if we want a bed/cot for our baby we need to pay a charge to the local management company. Also said that this is a request and is not guaranteed.

We paid a £300+ supplement for the baby to be on the booking. Surely a cot would be provided as standard? Or would you expect an extra charge to be paid?

We will pay it as we need the cot but we are annoyed we weren't told when we booked. The advisor also wouldn't confirm how much the charge is and advised we pay it on arrival

Costings grr!

Oh that's really helpful. I'll show this to DH and hopefully we can get clearer answers from virgin. We requested a breakdown and was told it was on the booking invoice. Checked and it only states full price of total booking.

I can't seem to get a straight answer from virgin customer services. Every staff member has given us different info. Think we'll visit the new virgin holiday shop opened 10 minutes from us. Surely a manager there could help us out

Will most definitely check the Dibb for recommendations thanks!

I have copied this from my web transcript chat with virgin -

10:27:41 [Melanie] As mentioned a manager is not going to give you a different answer. The supplement you have paid is the compulsary taxes that need to paid to fly. If you wish to request a cot, it may be subject to a local charge, if available.

😡. I see Virgin Holidays haven't changed since my retirement 5 years ago.

Yes, definitely worth a visit to your local VIrgin Holidays shop.

I had a different issue with virgin and was given the my manager line I said with all respect I wish for your manager to tell me the same then and I got what I wanted in the end thanks to the manager

@JustanotherCHRISTMASuser01 I asked for a manger 3 further times and she refused outright. I still have the transcript.

I'm going to the virgin shop tomorrow and will ask for a manager. Hopefully I can't be fobbed off face to face

We went with Thomson's in June and the villa we were on had a stroller and highchair in the garage. Don't rent car seats either...just buy at Walmart!!!

@Rafflesway thank you for all your advice. Virgin have refunded us £183. We had paid £313 for DD to go. This was a mistake on their part and the supplement was only £130. We wouldn't have questioned this before this thread so it's been a huge help.

We do still have to purchase/hire travel cot and high chair but got great suggestions to wait and see if they're in the villa already and if not we'll go to Walmart.

If you open an account at Walmart (use the zip code of where you're staying) you can do a click & collect shop so you don't need to spend time choosing the best stroller/chair when you're tired from travelling. If you find that you don't need them you can cancel/not collect.

The management company (in Orlando) refused to discuss it with us as their contract with virgin states customers must deal directly with their travel agent. They did say that any fees are set by Virgin and would not be payable to them

Then that sounds as if you could request the items from the management company via virgin and you won't be charged for them by the management company.
So ask for the baby stuff to be requested on their additional notes. See what happens. The worst case scenario is that you have to go to Walmart still.

Pleased to be of help Jetsetter1 but absolutely livid that they are STILL trying to massively overcharge unsuspecting customers.

Strangely enough, Virgin Holidays stopped dealing with travel agents about 3 years ago, apart from their own shops of course. No doubt they have been even worse making their "Errors" since customers have had to book direct and not had the protection of experienced agents who know them and their, ahem, "Mistakes" very well.

I have been out of the industry for a few years now but, if you need any further advice, feel free to drop me a pm. (I still receive the travel press weekly so am reasonably au fait with what is happening.) Also, totally agree with a previous pp. Those infant equipment hire charges quoted are stupidly high! Just see if they are in the villa - ensuring you won't be billed for them later of course - and, if not, just pop to Walmart or similar where you can buy for way less then just leave behind. We did that regularly years ago.

Have a fab holiday!