Loveholidays paid too much after my complaint, should I return it?

[marieofthesea]

I booked a last minute holiday this summer and went with loveholidays although I did worry at the time that they might be a bit dodgy!

Holiday (just me with my 2 teens) was a bit of a disaster. Got a bug or maybe food poisoning and now see there are multiple reports of sickness in this particular resort. Added to this one of my kids who has a dairy allergy was given chocolate they claimed was 'vegan' and had an allergic reaction, the resort then went out of their way to cover this up including lying to my face etc. On top of it all, the food and drink in the resort was a bit substandard. Holiday cost me 4k and I am a single mum. Anyway!

When I got back I decided to try and complain to loveholidays particularly about the allergy issue. I went through various back and forths with them and somewhat predictably they told me I had no case and that was that.
Then, suddenly, just over 3k dropped into my bank account!

I wasn't sure what was happening but then got an email from loveholidays who have said they were trying to pay me circa £300 as a goodwill gesture and somehow paid me too much. Can they have the difference back, they asked!

Now, I am pretty sure that the legal thing is that I have to give all of it back.

But what would you do? I mean loveholidays seem to be borderline dodgy by some of the stories I've read online and certainly rip people off and don't give refunds etc. I don't even understand why they were suddenly trying to give me £300 when they had already said, 'case closed'?!

I know I can go through something called HuntADR to continue my complaint about the holiday.

I've now got a big sum in my account that feels like some kind of poetic justice for the awful rip off holiday experience. And I don't know what to do.

Your thoughts? Thank you all!

If you can establish it definitely came from Love Holidays:

As others have said, you could thank Love Holidays for the 3k partial refund and hope they let you keep it.

Otherwise, I'd expect your bank to reach out to you and ask for your permission to send it back. If you dispute, that could be seen as "retaining wrongful credit", which at the very least would get you in shit with your bank (and is also a criminal offence).

I would ignore it but not spend it for a good while.

It's definitely from a love holidays email address

Don't send any money back. Personally I'd ring your bank and make sure they can't reclaim it.
To me it sounds like a scam.

Tell them to take it up with their bank.

I wouldn't send it back because id be worried they'd fuck up somehow and as pp say, take it back as well.

I would be a bit suspicious about them accidentally putting that money in your account so I would get advice from the bank about returning it. However I do feel yabu in justifying keeping the money because you were disappointed in the resort and dissing loveholidays. I haven't used them myself but lots of people do, they seem to be at the cheaper end of package deals and you get what you pay for, but they certainly don't seem to be scammers. Did the 4k you spent include flights? If so 3k would be an outrageous amount to take back because the resort was disappointing. You admit it could have been a bug that made you sick, that is nobody's fault, the allergy thing is upsetting but it was a human error and ultimately your dc was fine.

If worried about scams, it makes sense not to transfer it back yourself.

But you can't call a bank and ask them to help you commit a crime.

This does sound like a potential scam but also could be a genuine mistake. Done take any bank details over email, you need to call them and speak to them

I also think the best route is for them to dispute it via their bank rather than you sending money anywhere. If they have the least awareness of scams they will understand this.

It makes sense to me that someone typed in an extra 0 by mistake when giving the goodwill gesture.
I would however pretend I thought it was a scam and refuse to transfer it back in case they also then take 3k out. Worst case they take it back and you’re no worse off. If they did take it back I’d leave shitty reviews everywhere.

Going against the grain here, but give the additional money back. You know it’s not yours. They know it’s not yours. At least try to do the right thing.

Transfer the money from your account into another one or they’ll request your bank to return it back to them and your will have to comply.

I would speak to your bank and ask them for advice.

Husbands a CFO- there are procedures and checks when transferring money. I’d lean on letting them reclaim it if it’s genuine - they have so many checks before transferring so mistakes for large companies like this don’t happen. Hence why I’d also agree it seems slightly dodgy and let them do it through the bank if necessary. Legally also you don’t have to pay it back even if they ask or try and claim it (unless you’ve got an email saying before they transferred it was £300 only)

I'd do this! Say you graciously accept it as full and final settlement for the atrocious treatment you and your family experienced.

How much was the holiday? If it was more than 3k I’d keep it and reply thanking then for acknowledging their mistakes and say you are happy to close the case. Then move the money to a savings account but don’t spend it yet

It literally says 4K on the post, do people and Mumsnet actually read the original posts?

Get it out of your account and block the merchant

love holidays ruined a holiday of mine, your holiday was a disaster
work on the assumption you are owed that money. They wiil
claim it off the hotel

Like others I’d email and say that you accept the £3000 as a partial refund for your complaint and agree not to take the matter further if they confirm that this closes the case.

once the case is closed I’d put it in a savings account and leave it there for at least a year.

I’ve had three really great holidays with loveholidays without a hiccup. And we paid far less.

Anyway, I think it’s just an error. I would try my luck and keep it 😂.

I have done this and have also spoken to the bank who say LH can't just rock up and take money out of my account. So...phew!

As others have said, move the money to another account. Write to them and acknowledge their compensation payment for a ruined holiday, extreme medical condition caused by their negligence etc. The end. Just play dumb! If anyone asks, you thought it was legitimate given the severity of the allergic reaction. You’ve put it away for your child’s future as it was them that suffered.

That's interesting thank you and that is what surprised me. The last email I had from them repeated the message again that they were not going to uphold my complaint: "this email constitutes our final response to your complaint and our investigation is now closed." So then it seems very odd that they would decide to bung me a token £300 but not let me know they were going to do this??! The whole thing is bizarre. I can't believe it's simply someone with 'fat fingers' accidentally adding a zero! Like you say a big company would surely not let this be possible.

I’ve had a few holidays with LoveHolidays and we’ve always had good experiences with them. They’ve always been prompt in their communication with us too. I’m sorry for your bad experience. I do think £3k is too much given the experience you had though.