Cancelled holiday due to lack of internet

[Rainingcatsandog]

We were due to go to the Highlands today for a week. The holiday company informed us that the internet isn't working due to a general issue on the area and they don't know when it will be fixed. I was offered £75 off or the chance to change the date .I took the latter.
I'm now feeling annoyed as I think we should have been offered a full refund.
Does anyone know my rights?

I know, that’s why I asked the OP if there was going to be any 4g/5g!

A data eSIM won’t help - OP has confirmed no good phone signal.

It isn't a big deal because these things exist - books, DVDs, CDs, board games, jigsaws, puzzle books, other people to talk to.

To the same accommodation?

People on here like to pretend they don’t need it. The same kind of people who think saying they don’t watch tv ever is some sort of brag 😂

And the ones who "don't understand" how things like all-inclusive holidays, Ryanair flights or Nando's even work because they are above all that sort of thing.

This really depends if the person is maybe having to deal with work related stuff whilst away - my H has to fit in around 2 hours some days, an hour others rework for ourselves - I don’t think people can judge unless you know the full score- my H doesn’t want to sit with his laptop on meltingly hot cafes, on beaches etc - he needs internet and in the premises with aircon! .

They're upgrading phone signal all the time in the Scottish Highlands though. We've been going to the same place regularly for ten years and when we first went there was no reception and you had to climb to the other side of the hill behind the house to make a call. Last time we were there there was full 5G signal outside and in the bay window.

@Rainingcatsandog just in case it’s not clear, I am not pushing this point about the phone signal to chastise you for changing the date and questioning the options you were offered. I am trying to work out what grounds you would have to ask for a full refund and you will be on stronger grounds under the Consumer Rights Act if phone data is not a viable alternative to wifi.

dpends on the original booking and the wifi offered etc @Rainingcatsandog

Did it mean that things that were supposed to be part of the holiday wouldn't happen because there was no internet or just that you wouldn't have access to wifi signals? If it was just that there was no internet for you, I would have taken the £ off and gone on the holiday I'd planned. And I would have thought the holiday company pretty generous for offering it. I definitely don't think they have any responsibility for something that is out area-wide.

I don’t have any family, am I allowed to doom scroll on holiday?

I don't think a full refund would be reasonable as with it affecting the whole area, it seems totally out of their hands.

However I can appreciate why you have moved the dates and it must be disappointing too.

I enjoy having less access to Internet and have stayed in places with very little but more and more it seems we are needing the Internet for booking activities. Also just to research things in the area which yes could be done in advance but not always easy to know what will be happening!

I think this is very much a thing of each to their own.

I'll say it again. That's why I said some.

I notice that you personally aren't choosing any of these delightful pastimes right now, rather than going on the internet for a non-essential chat, though!

I don't think a lack of internet (especially through a genuine mitigating circumstance such as local outage) would be sufficient to warrant a full refund in most cases. It's possible you could have pushed for a more significant reduction for the loss of the amenity than £75, but if your opinion was that you did not want to utilise the property without that then it's moot really.

Nevertheless you have already accepted a mitigating offer from them (moving the date) and therefore have agreed to a contract variation, your position for going back to ask for a refund now , in terms of 'rights' is unfortunately very weak.

You could go via customer services if there is one to register your dissatisfaction and push for some additional compensation for the process, but I would not be expected any significant financial gain from doing it, for the same reasons. I'd probably just chalk it up to bad luck and remember next time to negotiate before accepting an alternative if it crops up again,

It reminds me of the people who love to spend their time on an enjoyable but hardly non-essential chat forum, just looking for threads that don't interest them - so that they can actively choose to spend their time engaging with and contributing to those threads and informing everybody else on there all about how they shouldn't be doing the same - even though they ARE interested in it, and so are NOT wasting their time!

The number of people who feel the need to spend their time engaging with a tribute thread to a recently-deceased non-household-name celeb, and informing everybody else on that thread that they have never heard of them, truly baffles me!

Yikes, no, online access is essential. I don't want to go on holiday to 1961 thanks

.

Who said anything about doom scrolling? My son relies on a connection to watch shows on his tablet, and we enjoy accessing the net in our downtime. I wouldn't be thrilled not to having it either. No chance to watch a film on netflix, etc.

Yep, had forgotten the work point - it’s a rare holiday where one or both of me and DH doesn’t have to login to deal with something more complex than a quick text can cover off.

As for DVDs and jigsaws - well, maybe, but not all holiday homes are stocked with these and packing jigsaw boxes and a portable player plus discs (if you even have one) both takes up space and is a pain.

I do wonder if these suggestions are coming from people who are doing jigsaws and board games themselves of an evening and haven’t bothered with anything but live TV for the last decade. Or if, perhaps, they are not…

Yes, it's very silly. The OP didn't ask whether wifi would be a non-negotiable on anyone else's holiday, it's a question about consumer rights. People will insist on merailing though!

I get this might blow your mind but.... People did manage to do all that before internet 😂

Most places have a little book with info on local attractions or you just plan ahead.

Being able to manage before isn’t an argument. Lots of things are now impossible to do offline. And many things are easier online.
plus it’s a holiday - it’s ok to want that to be as easy as home

Sure. But because the internet is now assumed, many places will say on their website if they are sold out and maybe have a discount for online tickets, or not really take phone bookings for a table as they expect you to use the website etc.

Before there was email, there were multiple postal deliveries a day in some places. Now there isn’t. Systems change.