HAVEN cancelled children’s holiday

[HavenAreHeartless]

My lovely husband died suddenly leaving me widowed with two young children, understandably this has been an awful time for me and my family.

Before he died he had booked a half term holiday with Haven which was fully paid for. As my husband was the lead guest, I called Haven to amend the booking and their representative told me I was not able to do this and the holiday would have to be cancelled, despite questioning this she was absolutely adamant that the holiday could not go ahead. I was shocked that they thought cancelling my children’s holiday after the death of their Daddy was in any way acceptable, to me it was completely heartless.

After coming off the call I sought advice and called them back a couple of hours later, this time Haven admitted that they could easily amend the booking on seeing the death certificate. I was then informed that the holiday had already been cancelled, I assume by the first representative I spoke to, despite not having gone through any security checks or sending the documentation yet. They then told me that our accommodation had already been resold and therefore they could not reinstate it.

They’ve now spent the past couple of days faffing around and temporarily rebooking us on to a downgraded caravan whilst they try and resolve their error. This has caused me to feel very anxious and distressed so I’ve decided to no longer go and I am looking at booking another holiday far, far away from Haven.

So, am I unreasonable for expecting better from a company aimed at families? And what type of resolution would you be happy with?

Thank-you x

Btw I had never been on a Parkdean holiday before and went on one last year and I preferred it to Haven.

I don't want to defend the cow that cancelled but people get into such a twist if someone says there's been a death. I used to work beside the bereavement team of a large organisation and the majority of them were brilliant when talking to grieving family members. Other people outside that team wouldn't have known what to say or how to handle the situation - it is a skill to not only know what needs to be done but also how to react, speak etc.

So this poor cow want to automatic mode and did what the manual told her to do. And the manual needs to have something added about bereavements - a simple "refer to team leader" might suffice.

I do hope you get this sorted out and I'm sorry for your loss.

Firstly, thank-you to everyone who took the time to post, I really appreciate the support and great advice given.

Haven called today and have re-instated the original booking and given a full refund. Whilst I’d much rather not have gone through this experience, I think that this resolution is reasonable and I’m glad it is now sorted.

So pleased to hear that, and so they should. But I agree you could do without the hassle. Enjoy your holiday, I am sure you will make it special for your children.

I'm relieved to read your update. Thank goodness someone saw sense and had some empathy.

I'm so happy they have resolved this.

BUT, they are not the only company who is just idiotic in relation to people dying. My husband died and when I rang up to inform the car insurance (1st Central), they said it would cost me £35 to remove his name from the policy for 'admin' reasons. I said 'how much would it cost to leave it on' and they said nothing, so I told them to stuff off and left it on, a dead person, so I didn't have to pay an admin charge.

You are young and this is awful and any additional silly stress is too much, Haven need to get a policy together so they know what to do when the main booker dies, it is not that unusual a happening and they need to have a better way of dealing with it.

@HavenAreHeartless , if you go to a reputable newspaper (i.e not the red tabs) your name and photo won't be plastered over it.

Sorry about your bereavement.

I'm glad to see the update.
I was waiting to twitter away for you on this. Shameful behaviour. I hope they are upgrading you once you get there if they say they sold your holiday onto someone else.

This definitely. Or Twitter to shame them. Appalling. Sorry for your loss x

This is awful - I'm so sorry your family has been treated like this OP.

Haven are always claiming to be family -focused company but this customer service is Sports Direct-ish

So glad they saw sense, eventually, but they shouldn't have put you through that. I hope you can manage to enjoy it reasonably well with your children and make it special for them. So sorry about your loss

I’m so pleased you got it sorted. It’s the least they could do ❤️

I'm.so sorry for your loss and for havens incredible insensitivity.

I hope you go more public with this as it's absolutely ridiculous behaviour on their part.

The nearest insanity I dealt with after my dad's death was some nonsense from the buildings insurance wanting a copy of the will just before Christmas.
They did apologise to me but not to my mum who really didn't need the nonsense. I did spend the compo on flowers for her.

OP, I’m so sorry to read this. You really are super mum.

I cannot believe (well, I can as some people have zero common sense) what Haven have done. It’s really a case of ‘computer says no’.

Actually complain, with their error you’d expect a minimum of an upgrade on the caravan your husband purchased. I’d be laying it on thick that your late husband planned this special trip for yourself and your children. No refund can compensate for that, and more over, if you were happy to compromise and go elsewhere you wouldn’t be able to due to the funds not being in your bank account. You expect to be able to stay on site on those dates, in either the caravan your husband booked, or an upgrade. If you get another computer says no person, ask for your email to be escalated. Honestly, keep pushing it higher. I also find if you speak to someone in a call centre ask for their name, and then use their name, I generally find them a bit more useful as all of a sudden they have to do their jobs correctly out of fear of a complaint.

I’m so sorry Op, this is the last worry you need.

So sorry for your loss. You don’t need this hassle. I would def go media on this.
It is pure the”computer says no” and there is no empathy or human decency in this situation. Def start with emailing the CEO
[email protected]

I'm glad it's been resolved and I'm sorry for your loss OP.

Go to the papers with this! It is absolutely disgusting how they've treated you OP. I'm so sorry for your loss

It shouldn’t have taken so long but I think that’s a decent outcome at least. So sorry for your loss.

I used to work for Haven, in the call centre, booking holidays, some years ago. If a holiday was 'cancelled' it became immediately available to be booked by whovever is looking it up on their computer and could be re-let straight away.

Think that was totally wrong of them to tell you that you couldn't amend it,though. Sounds like someone couldn't be bothered to go and ask someone higher up...I could maybe understand it if you were trying to add a name, but not 'removing' them! How ridiculous!🤔Definitely needs a letter to the CEO.

Sadly they will just say that the contract was with OP's late DH and as he's deceased, that contract is null & void now :(

Maybe you should read the OP 's updates.

Very happy to see your update OP! Let's hope the lady you spoke with gets some additional training!

Please try to enjoy that holiday, despite what you're going through. He wanted you all to be there and to enjoy it. I'm so sorry for your loss

@saraclara I already had? I was just explaining what would've happened

That is awful but honestly Havens are a shithole so they sort of did you a favour. Book somewhere nicer and forget them. Plaster them all over your social media and tell them how crap they are. Sorry for your loss x

Oh well that's good - a free holiday. Ignore what I said about shitholes 😳