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

[Changedname1468]

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?

Did they advise you of terms and conditions ? Would argue if they hadn’t provided you with the terms or advise of the cancellation policy when cancelling the booking you wouldn’t have accepted

When booking online don't you usually have to click a button saying 'I have read the terms and conditions' before purchasing the tickets?

Last year I stupidly booked non- refundable train tickets for the wrong day. I phoned up and explained my situation and the lovely lady at customer services said she would see what she could do and I got my money back.

We had expensive non refundable tickets to go to a 100th birthday. Sadly the birthday-owner just didn’t make it as far as 100. I thought I might as well ask - and to my astonishment we got a full refund. Very welcome, and really kind!

I once managed to book a weekend in Edinburgh for the Tattoo and another event, hotel, afternoon tea only to find out that the Tattoo booking and the rest were on different weekends! The Tattoo office eventually refunded my tickets, minus a chunk for administration, and found us seats for the right night although she was very apologetic that they weren't together to which I said Probably just as well!
On another occasion I was booking a hire car and didn't notice that I'd nudged the city menu and had booked a car in a totally different country. I phoned them and they made it right, she said it happens quite often.
Good luck with it.

OP and her DH (separately) booked online so they had the opportunity to read DFDS's Ts&Cs and would have checked a box confirming they'd done so. (Lots of people don't, of course, but that's not the retailer's fault.)

DFDS are usually very helpful.

send an e-mail and phone

If you paid on credit card you could get a refund through them as it’s for more than £100.

Is there a law to say to say you have a period of time to change your mind when making an online purchase? Check that out. It might be just related to physical goods.

Phone them up and explain, they could well sort it out. They are getting the custom anyway as you’ve still bought tickets.

Can you cancel the £400 ticket?

Legal cover or advice through your home insurance or advice from an organisation like CAB?

A few options. I think you’ll be able to sort it out. Good luck.

DH, DS and myself once turned up at a Central London Premier Inn on a Friday night expecting to stay for two nights only to find that my husband had actually booked us accommodation for the following w/end 🙄

The hotel was fully booked but the lovely and very understanding lady on reception very kindly found us accommodation at another hotel a bit further out and ordered us an Uber.

They also refunded us the accommodation for the following weekend. We were so thankful 🙏😊

Is it a ferry you take more than once? if not cancellation or refund, perhaps you can get a voucher.

Yes i booked flights in a very stressed state once and booked the return journey for the day after arrival rather than a week and a day after arrival! I knew I had to cancel and rebook (as we had to go for various reasons and obviously couldn't come home a few hours after arriving!) so I'd accepted the absolute horror of losing about £800 and to my immense surprise and relief my non-refundable flights were refunded to me! It was because apparently in the first 24 hours they can be refunded. It said it was being refunded and didn't believe it till it really appeared back in my account but it did appear! Hope it's the same for you.

No help but just to say I don’t think there’s any stupidity on your part. It was your husband’s mistake for not checking they were refundable. And that’s not stupidity - just a normal mistake (easy to assume they are)

And you were just being thrifty!

I was an adviser for Citizens Advice for 10 years.
Consumer protection afforded by Section 75 of The Consumer Credit Act 1974, which makes your credit card issuer jointly liable with the provider for purchases of more than £100 and less than £30,000, is applicable for non-delivery of goods or services by the provider - not just because the consumer has changed their mind or made a mistake.
There is a 14-day cooling off period for online purchases, but unfortunately OP's purchase is exempt from this because it's a purchase of a "leisure activity for specific dates".
The best OP can rely on is DFDS's own cancellation policy, which will depend on the type(s) of ticket she bought. However, I'm fairly hopeful they may waive their policy because she effectively has duplicate bookings and is only wanting to cancel one of them.

Why would a credit card company give a refund

You're not the only one. A close relative was paying for part of a wedding and spent thousands on a two-night stay at a posh hotel for multiple family members. Unfortunately, he booked say, the 1st and 2nd of the month instead of the 2nd and 3rd. When we arrived on the 2nd, we were nearly turned away, as we'd invalidated the whole booking by not turning up on the 1st. Luckily, they honoured what was left of our booking. Our poor relative quickly booked and paid for everyone to stay on the 3rd as well. I dread to think how much this cost.

I hope you get a sympathetic customer service agent.

You can certainly cancel non-refundable British Airways flights within the first 24 hours. I have done it. I had to phone them up and they gave me a full refund.

Slightly different situation: my friend booked a non-refundable trip with Brittany Ferries a couple of years ago (peak season over 1k paid). Then her DD was hospitalised & friend was advised not to leave the country. Initially told no refund, but I told her to call them back & explain the situation (with emphasis on DD in hospital) & fortunately they were allowed to transfer their booking to the same week the next year. Her DD made a full recovery & the family had an amazing holiday the next year.

Non-refundable ferry tickets can often be amended for a fee. You may be able to at least change the date on one booking for another time.

I'm sorry OP, definitely worth contacting them and saying you accidentally double booked because you both booked without realising the other was booking. I reckon there's a good chance you'll get the cheaper ticket refunded that way.

I once lost 300 euros by literally throwing it out. My bloke got Christmas bonuses in cash from his clients and stuck them in an empty paracetamol jar (big plastic one that you can't see through). I was tidying up the cupboards, picked up the jar and of course it felt empty as the cash was in notes, and threw it out.

(now he keeps any cash bonuses in a basket where the money is very visible and I won't accidentally throw it out )

Yes, insurance has a cooling off period. It's not the same as booking tickets for travel.

Could you try the bank to get back the money.

I've done this sort of thing so I feel your pain. Surely that's misselling as if they're not cancellable/refundable that should be clearly marked! Rather than charging you a "cancellation fee" of the whole cost. Sounds like a scam.. 😔

I'd echo others in that we all get caught out like this once in a while, and sometimes its better to chalk it down to experience ratger than dwell on it. I know that sickening feeling. 😫