PGL refunds

[Sallycinnamum]

My 11 year old DS was due to go on a PGL holiday in June for a week with the school just before he leaves primary.

The trip cost £500 and I'm seeing rumblings on social media that the company are refusing to refund parents and the schools are having to refund instead.

Has anyone heard similar? There are 70 kids going from my DS' son alone which is a massive amount for the school to refund.

Have you spoken to your school?

have seen the same thing online. My son was due to go on a trip in June, but I sent an email to his school to ask for a refund.

The school said they are waiting to hear from PGL. This was two weeks ago.

A lot of travel companies are offering refunds in relation to covid, so don't know why PGL are not forthcoming. I have heard they may offer credit notes - not something I am interested in to be honest. It will a long while before I am happy for my children to go on school trips.

My school has insurance and has put in a claim as we can’t recover the money from the company (not pgl, but another well known school trip company). Has the school contacted you about a refund yet?

Hmmm. I’ve been waiting to hear back from our school about this - my twins were due to go so double whammy of payments.

Mind you ours was less than £500 for the pair of them!

And to add, I’m gutted for them. No PGL, no leavers disco, having to start secondary with nary a fanfare....

My school has had a refund and we’ve had the money back via ParentPay. DD due to go just before half term.

This is interesting. My youngest was due to go just before the Easter holidays which obviously didn't go ahead.

He's still got a year of primary left so had assumed it would be rescheduled to next year, but the school have been in touch to say that isn't possible and they are trying to obtain a refund, but to bear with them,

My daughter was due to go to Belgium on a trip the weekend of lock down starting (secondary, so a bit different), it has been rescheduled to next year, same price.

My child also had a full refund (less £30 deposit) via parent pay without us having to ask.

I also used to work for pgl and back then, you paid an initial deposit and if you cancelled within a certain amount of time (I want to say 8 weeks, but it's been a while since I worked there so I can't quite remember!) you got all except the initial deposit back.

But it might be your school that is stalling. You could always call pgl directly and ask what their cancellation policy is based on the current circumstances (they may not tell you what's happening with your school as their contract is with the school, but they should be able to give you an idea of the policy at least) and then speak to the school, in case it's the school being awkward.

Also, to add that the trips automatically have insurance included, so I would have thought that if the company didn't refund, the school would be able to claim on the insurance (less excess).

I bet its not the school that's stalling. They have no reason to, they want this sorted too! Good luck phoning PGL - they currently aren't answering their phones to schools and say they won't deal directly with parents because their contract is with the school. Appalling treatment of their customers.

It's a rotten time for so many businesses. I've seen advice not to pay any outstanding balances due to PGL as it's looking very shaky to survive this crisis.

I had an email from the school today. PGL are refusing to refund and the school will have to put in an insurance claim in order to refund the parents.

The head said they will not be booking either PGL again and will be looking at alternative companies to use next year. I doubt they will be the only one.

My son was due to go on P G L trip 21st April
They have told the school to claim the money through our Council as they are the ones who provide insurance
Still waiting in the refund

My son was due to go this weekend, haven't heard anything from school about a refund.

Aren't they saying atm no bookings are cancelled after 31 May? So presumably they are refunding the ones up to 31 May and then will look at a later date to the ones further on in the Year?

It's not just our school. Many parents have commented that they are also having this issue - it's pgl causing them issue rather than the school.

Given why it's been cancelled the deposit should also be paid back, but fully expect to lose that.

Really feel for the schools here, this is undoubtedly putting extra pressure on them in a time where they are already under a great deal of pressure. Pgl should feel ashamed of themselves. Certainly not painting themselves in glory and would give me great pause to even consider them again

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz my son was due to go on 30 March and still no refund.

If PGL suggested refunding say 75% of the cost I'd be ok with that but the whole lot is unacceptable.

I suspect they are, alongside many brands, only refunding for dates that they are sure they must be closed due to government action. At present, trying to cancel for June/July is based on people not wanting to go, not government direction.

We have a year 6 trip in June they are still saying will happen! If schools are advised to go back as of June 1, (if), i suspect they will say, ok, you can come. Which will present a problem, as many parents may not want to send children at that point.

Well fuck. That is awful.

It’s not PGL causing the issues it’s a pandemic that no one is to blame for I completely understand your concerns and frustrations but as a parent myself and an employee of PGL I don’t think people understand exactly how the process works if our head office spoke to every parent from every school that we have there literally would not be enough hours in the year let alone day so we have to only speak to the schools I am not a member of head office I work on a centre and I’m furloughed at the moment we are literally waiting day by day for updates from the government as to whether I’m gonna still have a job or not PGL is doing everything in its power to be fair And in position that we can reopen safely and continue doing what we all love. There is nothing more The staff on centres want more than to be able to reopen but if we did that too quickly we would be held accountable and also parents wouldn’t be happy I fully get it the year 6 Will be leaving school but the schools will still be there and as a parent myself I would expect the school to refund me. As the cost PGL charge, to the cost the school charge, can be significantly different and then the school should claim through their insurance and accept PGL‘s credit note for their future trips. As I say I understand it’s frustrating and disappointing but believe me it’s as frustrating and equally disappointing for us who have spent the last five months working really hard preparing for this season so then have it taken away. And for the majority of our staff including my child who worked and lived at our french centre they have lost their homes as well.

Can I add, I work in a school as finance assistant. We have 9 trips that we're claiming refunds for, including a weeks skiing in Vermont and a 4 day trip to Normandy. All companies we deal with have refunded IN FULL apart from PGL. They are offering 40% of the £40,000 we have paid them, and telling us we "have" to claim the rest on our insurance. This is outrageous, and unethical. Holding onto parent's money when you have offered no service is appalling, and our school will never use PGL again. I would hope that whoever is in charge at PGL would take this into account, because this is more damaging in my view that having to refund everyone who was booked to visit.

I have also been told 40% and rest on insurance. A bit annoying as I had paid in full but didn’t actually have to until July so I think the school still have my money!