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.

Dontopen. It seems people don't accept this as the truth for some strange reason. It's so frustrating to see all of the things that are put on here when people don't know or understand the legislation behind things, or that a process is there for a reason.

People are adding in a lot of intent etc that isn't there. There isn't someone watching you book and then saying, hey, what if we cancel it and try and charge more? That'd be fun. Its complex computer systems. Errors happen. Its not in virgins interests either, it costs them time and money to faff around doing refunds and fielding complaints. If they could have sold you what you wanted they would have done. It was an error.
Neither are they "hiding behind bank processes", there is nothing they can do about the bank and their methods.

Bank procedures notwithstanding, I don't believe that Virgin is completely unable to fine-tune their booking mechanisms so that payment is neither taken nor held for seat-prices that are no longer available. It's a high-volume booking industry and the problem of simultaneous bookings must happen again and again.

I suspect that, at some point, this has been considered, and the 'time and money to faff around doing refunds' is actually offset by

a) the proportion of customers who will just sigh and pay the increased cost (on a cheaper flight or holiday, this might not seem like such a big deal, and we're all sort of used to last minute add-ons for tax or booking fees etc)
b) the marketing value of being able to advertise 'Florida for £1000!' or similar, when there's actually very limited availability at this price and you're almost certainly going to pay more.

I don't for a second believe that it's beyond technological capacities for at least a warning pop-up or page to appear, as you fill in your details, stating that this price-band has now gone, do you want to proceed? It's just not in Virgin's interests for this to happen, so it doesn't, and the depressing thing is how many customers seem willing to throw up their hands and say that's just how it is, don't make a fuss. I wouldn't go all Daily Mail sadface, but I'd be pissed off having to faff around retrieving three grand.

Is it true that Boxing Day is a good day to book a discounted flight?

Christmas Day and New Year's Eve are the cheapest flights, long haul.

God there is some rubbish on this thread.

Refunds are always made the way they are paid.

A contract has not been broken.

Most banks sit on money for but when it's coming in as a refund.

Hefzi thank goodness you're here otherwise I wouldn't feel quite so patronised this early in the morning!

Can you please also pass me your contact details for the mail/express as I don't read them......

Thanks.

It's still crap. Ref Virgin being a travel agent of sorts and that "it's not their fault if the seats have been sold"

I'm also very surprised at Virgin.

You don't conclude a contract with someone, take their money and then say "well, actually, I will only be supplying the contracted services if you pay me an extra £1,700". And then hang onto a really quite large sum of money for the best part of two working weeks, when you have no intention of supplying the service in question.

I don't know what the legal position is here, but you might have more traction if you get one of the consumer pages in the newspapers involved. You might at least get a small goodwill compensation payment.

To those who have offered to search for holidays/flights many thanks for your kindness.

If you don't mind however I'll refrain from posting on here due to the tedious nature of some of the replies. I'll head back to travel where I should have been in first place!

I'm already feeling a tad exposed by it all so by giving dates (NOT during half term btw) and location will just make it worse.

I should never have posted in AIBU. I shouldn't have posted at all tbh. I was just venting and didn't want to worry DH more by discussing it further with him.

Having been away from MN for a considerable length of time and only started dabbling again recently it's been an eye opener.

I'm rather envious of those without the need to be concerned over £3k.

I'm also rather envious of those with such a laid back attitude when dealing with companies who have large volumes of clients. By some accounts those who think it's ok to have a system set up like this and as such treat customers in such an unfair manner.

We'd never offer to sell something we couldn't guarantee/produce unless taking another £1.6k onto it. It was a 50% jump on the original cost and I'm still wondering had I not phoned yesterday what would have happened.

I way just trying to do something nice for the family.

It's gone a tad wrong. I am allowed to be upset & frustrated regardless of those who 'know better' about how it all works.

I still think virgin holidays are a shower of shites. The banking system I already hate so didn't feel the need to rant about them.

To those who have sympathised and offered practical advice or offers of help, thank you.

To those who have patronised & practically scolded not just me but other PP, peace and goodwill to all and a Merry Christmas all round

Good luck OP.

I wonder of trading standards isn't the way to go ... It strikes me that a company which concludes a contract and takes the money when they have no intention of providing the services for the agreed fee might well be of interest to trading standards. On the face of it, it looks fraudulent.

11 months ahead is quite a common time to book as that's when seats are first released and you can often get good deals. I've known people poised to press the button at midnight when seats go on sale.

chocoLit I was tired last night and kind of missing the point. The most likely explanation for this is that it was an error fare that they don't wish to honour. The price was very low and you'll probably struggle to find anything similar.

Phone your bank, explain what has happened. Ask if the money has actually been taken from your account. It shouldn't have been taken, it should be a hold on your account and ask them to release it. If they say the money has gone tell them you want it back immediately. You could also suggest you will be changing bank if you dont get it back. There are banks with good customer service.

Last time someone told me "money laundering legislation" prevented something and I didn't believe them I took them to their regulator, who eventually agreed and ordered them to pay me a small sum for the inconvenience. I gave the money to charity, as I just did it because I dislike being lied to.

You could try complaining to ASA although I doubt they would do anything.

I'll pm you about holiday searches.

Holiday companies know exactly what they are doing. People throw a LOT of money at a holiday like this, so when they've their heart set on it, have practically done the deal on this holiday if a lifetime - it's almost as though panic sets in, they accept the hike because they've made te decisions and the deal is done in their heads. (Speaking from experience).

I was at the Thomson shop 9am the day Disney holidays opened. 4 hours I was in there, fine tuning everything. They told me that for a tenner they would hold the price for me for 24 hours (I just needed to run through it all with DH - it was a lot of money).

Got home and got a phone call that actually, they couldn't hold the price as it was release day. As I looked online at te holiday it increased with every click of the mouse. I spoke to the agent in the shop who said 'supply and demand'. I almost, almost clicked 'buy', until a friend said 'clear your cookies'. It went down by about £1k.

I was livid. Holiday companies are full of bullshit. Worse still, Thomson practically laughed in my face.

Thompson are shit. Less than 24 hours before a long-booked family holiday they phoned me to say they hadn't actually got around to booking the flights or the hotel for my holiday. They had for the others. They offered me a refund but said they couldn't provide a refund for the other family members. When I complained they offered to refund everyone. After that it turned into several days of lies* whenever I asked them something they couldn't answer. Bloody nightmare.

• It was definitely lies, the judge used this term when she found against Thompson.

Anyway, having got that off my chest, I hope you find the right pressure points in Virgin to make them return/release your money in a day or two. Good luck.

Look at other options as well - for instance, Lufthansa will fly London to Orlando via Frankfurt for less than £2200 for 2 adults and 3 children in October 2016.

OP - good luck with it all.

Ohbehave - thanks for that, that's good to know. I don't travel much so it's the sort of thing that I wouldn't pick up in the ordinary way.

I'm still wondering what would have happened if the OP had booked via phone and the flight prices had changed seconds after she gave payment to the call staff - would they have called her back and said "no can do" - I guess so?

Good luck OP

Did I mention that Trailfinders are the best travel company ever.

Thanks for posting this on AIBU choco.

It is not something I would be aware of. I would have thought that they had to have the product lined up and available if they are taking payment.

And nowhere else do you buy online and then they hang on to your money for 7-10 (working) days before they can refund . Don't Virgin do banking or something? They are always banging on about how they can do things so much better than the big guys.

I've seen threads where Asda have screwed up a delivery, cancelled the order, and left the customer without money or food for 7-10 days. It's not just Virgin.

Yes so have I Mutton. The difference on those threads is that you don't get a load of people piling on and telling the OP it's their own silly fault usually.

That's true!

I think it's sleezy of them to advertise a price they can't honour. I could swear the op cleared her cookies and found the original price still displayed. That's just not on.

Lynda. Who called her silly? Some people thought she was being unreasonable but that is what this forum is about.

OP. Let us all know how you get on.

I could swear the op cleared her cookies and found the original price still displayed

That wasn't the OP. That was another poster.

It is the banks that hold up the delay generally.

And yes, several other companies - not just travel ones - who follow similar systems.

FWIW I would never chose to do a non direct flight to Florida, especially with children. I'd rather pay more for a direct flight at a time I want.