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Original poster

Fuck fuck fuck just lost £600 due to our own stupidity

182 replies

Changedname1468 · 10/09/2025 21:09

Help. DH just booked a ferry crossing. It came to £600. Which was already steep. As he booked it, I had a look on my phone and realised it was only £400 if booked through a benefit scheme I am member of. He had just verified payment but said no worries and cancelled it straight away within 5 min of booking and paying (not that it mattered) and I booked it at the cheaper price. I asked him to print the cancellation off and saw that the cancellation fee was £600. It doesn't look like the ticket was refundable. I feel absolutely sick that we have basically just lost £600 (and paid basically £1000 for the ferry crossing). I'm not sure what I'm expecting anyone to do. One of us will ring them tomorrow but I'm not having any hope. Any words of advice or stupid fuck ups you did and how long it took you to recover from it?

OP posts:
redskydelight · 10/09/2025 21:11

Can you cancel your £400 ticket?

Springadorable · 10/09/2025 21:12

Ouch. Yes, see if yours is easier to cancel

BlueEyedBogWitch · 10/09/2025 21:12

I cancelled some flights this week thinking they were refundable.

They weren’t. That’s £1200 down the Swanee.

That’s my Idiot Tax paid for this year.

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Holidays
BramStoner · 10/09/2025 21:12

Phone them up and explain.

HellenaHandbag · 10/09/2025 21:14

I sympathise. Last year my husband lost his keys, we knew they were in the house as he had got in but he looked for hours and eventually worried that he’d left them in the door on the outside and someone had walked past and taken them. Sounds silly but having let himself into the house and having searched and searched it did seem like something like that must have happened. We called an emergency locksmith to replace the locks at a cost of £650 - that evening I moved my work bag and his keys had fallen from the hallway table between the folds of the exterior of my bag (quite a big bag). We had even looked in the handbag but missed them being hidden in the fabric of the outside. I felt gutted too.

its definitely worth a phone call tomorrow, if not can you cancel the £400 one? Good luck xx

OrangeSmoke · 10/09/2025 21:17

I once booked non refundable Eurostar tickets for the wrong weekend (we were travelling for an event), £500 gone. It's a real sickener.

AzureCats · 10/09/2025 21:17

I go for the polite, kind and dumb approach with this. "oops silly me, I booked the same crossing twice. Please could you refund the duplicate booking reference XYZ, thank you."

It pretty much always works. I would keep the fact that you booked a discounted ticket to yourself.

Sleetingnow · 10/09/2025 21:20

Totally missing the point here I know, but What's the benefit scheme you are part of that gets you discounted ferry tickets?!
I agree, try ringing up and play up ditsy approach x

Littletreefrog · 10/09/2025 21:20

Even with a non refundable ticket it's always worth an email to see if anything has been done. Something along the lines of "my husband and I have both booked ferry tickets for the same crossing as we each didn't know the other was making the booking, is there anything you can do to refund one of the purchases?"

Costs nowt and might get you somewhere.

Original poster
Changedname1468 · 10/09/2025 21:21

I was hoping you all regale me with stories where the lovely people at big corporation just took pity and refunded all your non refundable tickets. I think "idiot tax" is how I have to view it but it's a hard pill to swallow. I'll ring them up tomorrow but not sure call centre staff can overwrite company policy.

OP posts:
Bananachimp · 10/09/2025 21:24

If you can cancel your £400 one I'd ring them up and say there's been some sort of problem as you've had a booking cancellation message and you haven't cancelled it (as in your £600 booking). Staff will not know if you did or it was a computer glitch. Chances are they'll reinstate it. Yes you'll have paid £200 more than your £400 option but at least it's not £600 down the drain.

Original poster
Changedname1468 · 10/09/2025 21:24

redskydelight · 10/09/2025 21:11

Can you cancel your £400 ticket?

I don't know but I think they are the same. I don't remember choosing a type for either. We just put the dates of journey and selected the room... and paid.

OP posts:
Bananachimp · 10/09/2025 21:24

HellenaHandbag · 10/09/2025 21:14

I sympathise. Last year my husband lost his keys, we knew they were in the house as he had got in but he looked for hours and eventually worried that he’d left them in the door on the outside and someone had walked past and taken them. Sounds silly but having let himself into the house and having searched and searched it did seem like something like that must have happened. We called an emergency locksmith to replace the locks at a cost of £650 - that evening I moved my work bag and his keys had fallen from the hallway table between the folds of the exterior of my bag (quite a big bag). We had even looked in the handbag but missed them being hidden in the fabric of the outside. I felt gutted too.

its definitely worth a phone call tomorrow, if not can you cancel the £400 one? Good luck xx

Oh no! I'd be fuming about this for days.

Littletreefrog · 10/09/2025 21:25

Changedname1468 · 10/09/2025 21:21

I was hoping you all regale me with stories where the lovely people at big corporation just took pity and refunded all your non refundable tickets. I think "idiot tax" is how I have to view it but it's a hard pill to swallow. I'll ring them up tomorrow but not sure call centre staff can overwrite company policy.

Having worked in a contact centre environment for a long time I would always go for email over phone if you are asking for something that might not usually be possible.

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 10/09/2025 21:27

Wouldn’t there be a legal cooling off period that you would be entitled to a refund? I’d try that and when they decline your request go to your bank and request a reversal on this basis.

Littletreefrog · 10/09/2025 21:28

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 10/09/2025 21:27

Wouldn’t there be a legal cooling off period that you would be entitled to a refund? I’d try that and when they decline your request go to your bank and request a reversal on this basis.

Unfortunately the 14 day cooling off period doesn't apply to non refundable tickets for transportation, accomodation, events etc.

Septemberain25 · 10/09/2025 21:29

I got a refund from an airline a few weeks ago! Went away for the weekend, knew when I was leaving, so booked the London Paris leg for Friday, then a couple of days later, booked the return fliggt, only I didn't, I booked another one way from London to Paris.

I phoned right away, and I was refunded as soon as I booked the right Paris to London flight. It was a non-refundable flight, I didn't think I'd a chance of a refund, such a pleasant surprise, was hoping they'd let me change my flight for a huge fee.

So I think there's a good chance you'll get your refund.

Original poster
Changedname1468 · 10/09/2025 21:34

Sleetingnow · 10/09/2025 21:20

Totally missing the point here I know, but What's the benefit scheme you are part of that gets you discounted ferry tickets?!
I agree, try ringing up and play up ditsy approach x

It's the AA. It said it would only be 20% off booking through their link but when I had a look at the dates on my phone it came to £400, which was a lot more than 20%. But the prices keep changing. When DH put the booking on it was £585. He had to change the card used for some reason and in the few min it took him to do that the price had jumped by £15. It was a bad Omen. He paid with another card and I remembered I had some memberships with benefits.

OP posts:
SpanielsGalore · 10/09/2025 21:37

If you can prove you have booked two tickets for the same crossing, they might refund one of them. Even if it's the lowest priced one it's better than nothing.

I booked return flights once, but got them the wrong way round. The airline gave me a full refund once I booked the correct flights.

boredwithfoodprob · 10/09/2025 21:44

My husband recently booked a Eurostar trip to return at 3AM not 3PM as intended. So of course we arrived and had missed it so needed new tickets 😬😬😬 £400 👋 👋

NegroniMacaroni · 10/09/2025 21:46

I was once super efficient and booked flights so far in advance I totally forgot I had booked them. Then I went to book the flights again and once finished I noticed I already had the others in my bookings...

I can't remember if it was Ryanair or Easyjet, but they either refunded me or popped the £ on a voucher - either way, I was pleasantly surprised as they were 'non refundable'. I think it helped that I noticed straight away.

FettleOfKish · 10/09/2025 21:47

It’s worth a call to the ferry company. I work for a business selling flights and for a duplicate booking where we’re advised as soon as possible we have refunded, less an admin fee.

KievLoverTwo · 10/09/2025 21:48

Changedname1468 · 10/09/2025 21:34

It's the AA. It said it would only be 20% off booking through their link but when I had a look at the dates on my phone it came to £400, which was a lot more than 20%. But the prices keep changing. When DH put the booking on it was £585. He had to change the card used for some reason and in the few min it took him to do that the price had jumped by £15. It was a bad Omen. He paid with another card and I remembered I had some memberships with benefits.

Show quote history

Can't help you now, but in future, open an incognito tab to do your price checking. They have no way of knowing you are definitely interested in the crossing so cannot push the price up on you, because they cannot track you in an incognito tab.

If that is what happened - idk.

Original poster
Changedname1468 · 10/09/2025 21:48

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 10/09/2025 21:27

Wouldn’t there be a legal cooling off period that you would be entitled to a refund? I’d try that and when they decline your request go to your bank and request a reversal on this basis.

I think I'll email them tonight like a few people suggested. It was less than 10min, but I don't know whether there's is a cooling off period for this.

OP posts:
TheBlueUser · 10/09/2025 21:49

For flights you can definitely get double bookings refunded (I did with Ryanair of all people!) - so don't despair yet!