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?

At the sports club I used to work at, we had a member come to us in a panic saying she had put her diamond earrings in a paper drinks cup and absent mindedly thrown the cup in the bin before going for a swim. Only realised when she was getting dressed. Unfortunately, the bin had been emptied by the cleaner in the meantime! However, my colleague managed to locate the bag in the main dumpster and the cup, with earrings was still there! That was one very grateful customer and she bought an enormous box of chocolates for the staff, bless her!

My heart goes out to you all.
I obviously paid idiot tax in the past but this was a new level.
Anyway, good news! I rang them and explained the situation and asked whether there was anything they could do.
The lovely person just asked for both booking numbers and then said they were fully refunding the money and not to worry.
In the best way possible that left me speechless. Don't think I realised how much I had psyched myself up to plead/beg/bargain and I turned into a bit of a gormless buffoon at this point. The less said about that the better.
Massive weight off my shoulders.
Thank you for all your support and your stories. I can empathise with both the good and the bad endings.

I thought they would be like this - as I said above they were very very good with us. Good news!

We took DD to Disneyland Paris and I booked the Return Flights for the wrong month, didn't find out until we tried to check in to come home with an exhausted 4 year old . Much Gallic shrugging ensued before it was agree it would cost us £700 to get home, naively I thought they meant they would be taking the cost of our original flight next month off
Nope, extra £700. DH just gritted his teeth and paid it and we never spoke of it again

@Changedname1468 EXCELLENT news OP! 😃And breathe ...

It's funny when that happens.

We once forgot to pay a Merseyflow fare and I was awaiting the £40 penalty notice, but after a few weeks it hadn't arrived and I forgot all about it.

A few months later, my husband called me in a mad panic because a horrible man has called him, being very threatening and rude, and told him we owed £700 in fees and court costs. We had moved house and forgotten to update the address on our V5 Logbook, meaning we hadn't received the penalty notice. I called him and tried to reason with him, and he said and I quote, "You need to grow up!" and if we didn't pay it straight away they'd come and clamp our car.

I called the Merseyflow people direct the next day, thinking that maybe they could at least reduce it a little bit and ready to plead my case. The guy listened to my tale of woe and then said, "OK, no problem. You can just pay £4." I said, "£400? OK. I can move some money out of my ISA to cover that I suppose. Thank you." "No, I said £4. I'll send it to you now."

I may have cried a bit. 😳

Time to big up DFDS - we are all so quick to be negative about companies. That is a few of us who have cocked up and DFDS have just sorted it. Fair play to them and their customer service.

Fantastic news! I didn't want to get your hopes up before but we travel with DFDS quite a bit and we've always had good customer service from them.

Yay! That's a bit of good publicity for DFDS, but the person you spoke to almost certainly won't know that, so maybe they are a decent company in general.

I once booked a fully non refundable holiday through Love Holidays for the wrong date. I realised immediately after I had paid, rang them and they said I had to contact the airline. I rang Tui, said things like OMG I'm such an idiot, I can't believe it, etc. Because I'd flown with them before (once!) they agreed to cancel, thank god.

Back to Love Holidays, what a ridiculous rigmarole to get in touch with anyone. They wouldn't accept my word, understandably, so sent proof from TUi. Passed all around the houses, cut off several times, so I emailed the CEO and managed to get the entire thing, including transfers, refunded with no fees! I did rebook with them for the correct dates though🙂

No but you can usually change it within 24 hours. Worth knowing. For example if you book tickets and realise you've booked for Nicholas rather than Nicola Smith because of autofill!

Good outcome OP!

That’s great news. Most companies would see sense and do this - non refundable tickets are there to stop people taking the mickey and cancelling after a change of plans. Admin errors are different and most companies are understanding and can sort.

I’m so pleased for you. I thought you would be ok but you never know.

I didnt know that, thank you for posting.

Dfds will defo be on my ferry list if the opportunity arises. Nice work OP

I booked Ryan air flights for the wrong date. They let me switch to the right date free of charge. Unexpectedly incredibly helpful. Call them and see. You might also be able to move the booking, or sell the tickets so all is not lost.

I actually know someone in a similar position that pleaded ill health (well actual fact worse, said his wife had just died) and got let off. The wife was mortified and is very religious and superstitious so it caused a bit of grief, but he was happy with the money saved and I guess the company can fill the spaces easily…

I'm so pleased for you!

And which ferry company offered such a fantastic service?

Glad you got the money back OP. I would have pleaded an IT glitch and “don’t know what happened but its booked it twice, how can I sort this out”

My husband booked tickets to the Sisteen Chapel the day we were flying home from Italy. That's was £80 well spent...

I use DFDS a lot. Because I am entitled to a discount I have to call them to book and they are always lovely. I’m not surprised you had a good experience.

Good for DFDS. We prefer to use them over P&O as they seem less grasping and exploitative of their workers. Or at least, if they’re exploiting their workers they are slightly less bombastic about it …