Virgin Holidays have taken >£3k from account. Am at wits end

[chocoLit]

So would I be unreasonable for accusing Virgin Holidays for ruining Christmas?!?

We booked online last night. £3200. Paid full price. Flights & car hire for whole family. Dates Oct 2016. Holiday of a lifetime and not undertaken lightly.

An error message came up on screen asking us to call which I did this morning as soon as I could.

They're now claiming those flights don't exist anymore unless we pay them £1500 more.

OR for only £1k more they'll send us a different way with two stops instead of one.

As for the money, they won't return that sooner that 7-10 working days.

I feel like am being blackmailed here and almost at wits end.

Girl dealing was very pleasant but new to company so wasn't able to help much or any further.

Someone called 'Dave' is to be phoning me back but she's not sure when or what he's going to be able to do!!?

So, AIBU to turn up at Branston's door with the 3DC and have him explain why they're not getting their holiday!!!

Has anyone had this before? Any advice gratefully received.

So you booked flights with BA for £1.4k less than the original £3k price? Really?

Then VA have done you a favour and you should have researched the prices better before rushing into a booking!

Oh ffs. Why are people picking at this?

I would have been upset like the op if that had happened to me. Thanks to this thread I know never to put flights on a debit card.

Anyway, I'm happy that the op got a better deal and can surprise her family for Christmas.

I thought you ran your own company though so surely taking a mobile to work is not a problem?

Well done re BA.

*Got flights for almost

This thread is hilarious.

Only on mumsnet could a company get lauded for "customer service" after they advertised a service at a particular price, entered into a contract to provide that service at said price, and then unilaterally increased the price by 50% having already taken payment.

The fact that the OP got refunded quickly doesn't make the customer service "good" (it makes it adéquate, at best), since this is the sort of thing that simply should not happen in the first place.

Only on mumsnet could a company get lauded for "customer service" after they advertised a service at a particular price, entered into a contract to provide that service at said price, and then unilaterally increased the price by 50% having already taken payment.

But thats not what happened as the small print makes very clear.

Sansoora, you read the small print every time you make an on-line our purchase? If it was not a firm price, it should have been impossible to pay for it up front.

Ryanair can manage to sell flights at prices it is prepared to honour; why can't Virgin?

It may not be fraudulent, for the reason you give, but it IS sharp practice, and it is a very poor way to treat customers.

Mistigirl. Have you read any of the thread? Ryanair is an airline, not a package tour company.

And ( yet again.....) why should virgin risk having to pay cancellation charges for the flights just because someone decides not to complete the booking or their card is declined.

And it isn't "sharp practice" to advertise at a cheaper price and not honour it. If, at the time of looking the seats that were loss leaders for the airline ( of which there may have only been 3 or 4) are sold then how the hell can VH honour that price - they can't buy it so how can they sell it.

Sansoora, you read the small print every time you make an on-line our purchase?

Do you read a thread before you comment?

Exactly, mistigri

What's amazing is the number of people banging on about necessary banking practices and the obligatory delay of released holds and refunds.

No one seems to address that, within this system, Virgin have chosen to arrange their online booking and payment methods in a way that transfers all inconvenience onto the customer.

Their booking portal doesn't give notification that the prices are no longer available until after a hold has been put on the funds.

The customer then gets an error message and is asked to call to sort this out. They cannot simply switch to another travel provider, because more than three grand of their money is in limbo.

After negotiation and re-explanation, the customer is offered a price that's still above what she was quoted before -- but as a sort of favour.

There's nothing illegal about any of this, but I don't see why we have to be 'realistic' and just shrug, saying that's the way these things are... let alone praise Virgin for the customer service! What is it with this grim pride in being completely masochist about shitty business practice? Is it just somehow bad form to make a fuss?

Again this wasn't a random accident. This is how Virgin deals with the issue of simultaneous bookings for limited price-band product. They've made sure their back's covered the funds are in place and held -- but made very little effort to avoid the customer being inconvenienced. This is their choice.

This is exactly what I'm talking about:

why should virgin risk having to pay cancellation charges for the flights just because someone decides not to complete the booking or their card is declined.

Fine. So, in order for Virgin to avoid this risk, a customer who's booked in good faith and has a working credit card, temporarily loses access to a large sum of her own money. Yup: she'll get it back, it's not the end of the world, it's not illegal. Is it good customer service? No.

And it isn't "sharp practice" to advertise at a cheaper price and not honour it. If, at the time of looking the seats that were loss leaders for the airline ( of which there may have only been 3 or 4) are sold then how the hell can VH honour that price - they can't buy it so how can they sell it.

I thought exactly this kind of behaviour has been penalised in the past: companies (especially airlines, trainlines) loudly advertising TEN POUNDS TO LAS VEGAS when there are so few seats available at this price that almost no one gets them? It's deliberately misleading and wastes customers' time. Consumer organisations and the ASA have put a lot of effort into reducing this bullshit. Disappointing to see it now being turned around into a sort of 'poor Virgin, they only advertised 3 or 4 places as loss leaders, they can't possibly honour them'.

Lady, there is a lot to be agreed with in your post.

And when it comes to customer service I don't take any nonsense and Im of the opinion VA didn't display anything resembling good customer service in the first place. But I do think their eventual offer was acceptable under the dubious circumstances.

Disappointing to see it now being turned around into a sort of 'poor Virgin, they only advertised 3 or 4 places as loss leaders, they can't possibly honour them'.

Thats not what was said.

My point always was that very few seats are sold at the much lower price and getting them can be like getting your hands on fairy dust which is why people should always be aware things may not be what they seem.

Anyway, I always fly BA on that route so god knows why Im bothered about Virgin.

I DO run my own business, two actually, but I am hands on and WORK when I'm there so lording about with a mobile phone waiting on a personal call isn't how I roll OR set an example to the employees.

VH didn't do me a favour, PPs who suggested the BA sale did. I didn't know such a thing existed having not flown to the States in >6yrs and the last few times were with continental. The only other time I've used VA was >10yrs ago.

We got very similar return flights for £1991 instead of approximately £3200/£4700/£3500 that VH were offering. In the British Airways SALE. I now just have to find car hire (which was included in the VH price) but fairly sure we can get it for less than £1100 We also have to secure accommodation which wasn't in the original VH price & had intended to look at later in the year anyway.

I AM grateful the hold was released in a timescale of less than the 7-10 days quoted and it only took three days. ESP over the festive period when things can take longer than normal. But, as so often pointed out, this part wasn't due to VH, I just needed them to take the hold off which they finallydid after I POLITELY confirmed I didn't want their reduced offer.

The whole process still caused us unnecessary upset & worry. Which we are allowed to feel frankly when somethings involves a large amount of our cash and/or our kids.

I was nothing but polite to the VH staff at all levels but still find the company's tactics rather shoddy. If this is an example of how things work right across the aviation/holiday industry I've been fortunate not to experience it before and know better now.

I won't be posting on the thread again as all it does is keep it active and the same people trying to drill the same point across, whilst flying the flag for VH, is all very admirable but now rather tedious.

The issue is resolved, we're no longer trundling alone and I'm grateful to those who provided practical advice & support. Florida is back on for next year, thank you.

And will stay the hell away from AIBU again in future

So, on that note I wish you all Peace, goodwill and a merry Christmas, including all at VH

Chocolit, me and my Uk based family stay here and we never have a problem. Its actually rather nice and tts only few miles away from Disney.

www.booking.com/hotel/us/sheraton-vistana-resort.en-gb.html?aid=356980;label=gog235jc-hotel-XX-us-sheratonNvistanaNresort-unspec-om-com-L%3Aen-O%3Aunk-B%3Aunk-N%3AXX-S%3Abo-U%3AXX;sid=bb170203dd46c23d5202cce3e295c38d;dcid=1;dist=0&sb_price_type=total&type=total&