Center Parcs

[BeardyButton]

I loath poor customer service - and by that I don’t mean bowing and scraping etc, but the feeling that the company is there to make money first and foremost even at the expense of customers.

So about a month ago I tried booking online. For some reason it wouldn’t work. So I rang them. Agreed to pay c. 1500 for three nights. Real treat for myself, mother, my son and two cousins.

Now admittedly I presumed they’d take payment and that was that. I CANNOT remember it being explained that they would take part payment and then I would have to go online to make another payment. I did see on my account they’d only taken 400 euro. But I thought they d just take the remainder later. I thought this was odd, but hey ho.

Yesterday - I got an email saying the booking had been cancelled for non payment and they wouldn’t be returning the 400 euro.

I rang expecting them to say ‘there’s a mistake, just pay now and all good’. But no! that’s their policy and they wouldn’t be honouring booking and they wouldn’t return the 400. I had to have strenuous words and be passed to a manager (all the time explaining that I was not frustrated with the person I was talking to, but I disagreed forcefully with the policy).

I was told they ‘might’ be able to transfer the funds to book again. But lo and behold… the new booking rate was 50 euro more expensive. And you know in a 1500 euro booking, that’s not a lot… but it’s the principle. Manager finally ‘dealt’ with me. Agreed to refund 400 euro.

So my AIBU….

My son is desperately looking forward to this. We’ve had zero holidays together like this (COVID, work stress, etc). He adores his cousins. And I ve been getting him excited about the trip…. Do I rebook? Pay the extra 50 euro and just swallow the frustration? Or… not rebook because this just seems like a company that doesn’t care about its customers?

YABU - not centre parcs. It was their policy. They had every right to cancel. You should rebook and pay the 50.

YANBU - seems a dodgy way of making as much money as they can. You shouldn’t rebook on principle.

I would call again.

best customer service I’ve come across.

you must have had a million emails though. Reminder to pay. Book activities etc.

never got to not having paid and then been told. If no emails until cancellation there’s your point to raise.

I think it is wrong but fof the sake of the child I'd probably just suck it up, rebook and never go back. Unless you can come up with an alternative plan so you can still all have a great holiday together somewhere else! That would probably be the best. Good luck!

I don't think you're being unreasonable but I'd rebook for your son's sake. Yes it's annoying, but in this case I'd throw my principles out the window for my child.

Have you checked your junk mail folder? I have sometimes missed important email because they have gone there and I don't check ot regularly

You should have received an email confirming your booking. That would have told you how much you paid and if any balance was due. Just search your emails for CenterParcs, mine is from confirmations@centerparcs

Yes I would book it again and CP increases prices closer to the date you are going so it isn't unusual for it to cost more.

Rebook. It is your mistake I’m afraid - I use Center parcs a lot and they are clear about this. I got more than one text and email reminder.

Your son will enjoy it so don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.

Center Parcs customer service is pretty good in my opinion. I'm sure they send multiple reminder emails/text messages to remind you to make payments and book activities.

I would ring again and see if you can rebook with them transferring the deposit you have already paid to your new booking.

Thanks all. I’ve re booked. I checked emails. I got one email telling me to pay then cancellation. To be honest, I rarely check that inbox. I use it for anything I buy online, to avoid sales spam.

I still think they probably make money off this ‘policy’, and I d really rather not go… but you are right! I need to suck it up for son. He’d be devastated if we didn’t go now.

I’m not sure ‘I signed up with an email address I don’t bother checking’ is much of a defence to be honest! If I was spending £1500 on a holiday I’d make sure I’d read the emails they sent me about it, rather than deliberately getting them sent to an address I choose not to check.

This really surprises me as the customer service I have had has always been incredible. I would call back; I’m shocked this has been your experience.

I'd just suck up the 50 euros and book again. I think you were lucky to get the 400 back as you breached their policies, you probably missed an email saying final payment is due unfortunately (I book with euro centerparcs a fair amount and they email to let you know final payment is due). It's shit and wrong of them to try and keep the money but you got the 400 back so I'd just lump the etc 50 and go again so you can go on holiday.

This one is on you. You knew you hadn't paid it all. They sent you an email telling you to pay the balance which you didn't bother to read. In my experience they sent a lot of communication about payment and booking extras.

Maybe see the 50 euros as an admin fee because they had to make special arrangements for you.

YABU just for considering a holiday in the crapville of Center Parcs.

Well now you know that it is entirely your fault, perhaps you should thank them for the great customer service of giving you a refund that they definitely didn’t have to.

This is 100% your fault.

1. You didn't read the booking confirmation email with the relevant information. Or if you did read it, you ignored it.

1. You didn't realise that the full balance hadn't been paid.

1. You made a booking with an email address that you don't look at.

I think that the 50 admin fee to move dates is very reasonable.

You need to take personal responsibility when you book something that you understand what you have signed up for

Opposite. Cente parcs ireland, iv had loads of emails. I had it booked since last year and they send me at least one email a month

As other posters have said, they always send out reminders and their customer service is really good.
You’ve mentioned paying in Euros so I’m assuming you’re either not in the UK or you’re not going to a UK site. Maybe they operate differently in Europe.
Either way I can’t see how it’s Centre Parcs fault. Their terms and conditions are clear and in the UK they send a courtesy reminder.

Honestly - when I buy something or book something I go on the presumption that that’s that! If the thing doesn’t arrive… well then I look up emails etc.

I booked this over the phone. At no point on the phone did they mention that they only take part payment and then you have to go online to send the rest. If they did, I would have been looking for the email.

I Find this policy odd. Fair enough if they offered the option to pay part… but I was never offered that option. I presume… when I give my bank details and press pay… thats that.

I wonder who this policy benefits? I’d love to know if they make money off it.

The policy benefits the customer! Taking a deposit allows people to save/move money around for the rest. I just paid Easyjet for the remaining 80% of our holiday in May.

If you ignore their emails and then phone up saying whoops, my bad, I'll pay now - how long should they hold the space and price for you in the meantime? A day? A week?

Id say being able to hold onto my ‘deposit’ (I wasn’t told it was a deposit) and then sell the cabin again for 50 euro more definitely benefits the company.

When I book online I am given the option to pay a deposit or the full amount, and they should have given you the option to pay the full amount so sounds like you didn’t get the best customer service this time. They also really pissed me off during Covid when I had to rebook, but we are regulars there and generally they’re excellent.

They make it pretty clear and send reminders. It's not a trick they use. If you don't check your emails regularly then you stand to miss quite a bit of useful information about various arrangements and bookings. It would be wise to check rhe payment details whenever you book something, especially if it is with a new company. Likewise, it is wise to check that the payments coming out of your account match what you expect.

In fact I did thank them! I try to be a reasonable and polite person. Of course I thanked the manager. And when I said that I didn’t agree with them holding onto the 400, I did so in a polite manner. I’m not an arsehole.

I think the rest of mn is probably more organised than me… honestly, I’m bedraggled most days. Running around, yada yada. And absolutely I should have thought more about the fact they hadn’t taken the full 1500 and looked more closely at emails.

And yet… I find Center Parcs behaviour on this a bit questionable. And if it wasn’t for the kids, I wouldn’t have re booked. And I highly doubt I ll ever book again.

Yes - it’s my fault! I totally admit that. But their attempt to keep the 400 and their absolute lack of effort to accommodate my mistake (admittedly) makes me want to not put any more money in their coffers.

It’s pretty standard to have to be responsible for meeting deadlines for holiday payments. I just paid one to Tui on receipt of the reminder email, and have done it over the last few years for every holiday I’ve been on (including CP). So YABU

EU CP are a different company from the UK ones. I do think this is kind of on you OP, you would have got an email after booking confirming what you paid too I think, did you not check that? I wouldn't book so something on the phone and just presume it was booked without some written confirmation. I'd pay the €50 and re-book!