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!

This is the best advice.

Leave the disputed £2,700 untouched for now. Don't spend it, move it somewhere inaccessible or assume it's yours.

Ask the company for a full written breakdown explaining exactly what the £3,000 payment represented, why it was made following the complaint, why they now say £300 was intended, and what their proposed £300 actually compensates/refunds you for.

Do not agree that £300 settles the original complaint. That's particularly important. Returning £2,700 and inadvertently accepting £300 as "full and final settlement" could muddy the much bigger complaint.

Keep the original complaint, photographs, medical evidence, evidence concerning the allergy incident etc, correspondence with the hotel/company, the original refusal to refund, the £3,000 payment record, and this new email together.

Sorry, it posted my comment twice 🫣

Never mind the money problem, I'd be very concerned with the allergy problem. They gave a child something they're allergic to and then tried to cover it up. That could kill someone if they do it again. It's a very serious issue and should be reported to the relevant bodies. You mustn't let that go. Don't give them the money back just yet, get advice and I hope you get to keep it.

This was my thoughts too

I think that somebody and I can’t find the comment had a brilliant statement about saying that you’ve never agreed to settle for $300. I think they realize that you’ve got a case and if they could get you to accept $300 then that’s a lot less than what you would get if you pursued it. If they can get you to return the money, then they can say that you were set that you had settled for that lesser amount.
Now they may have only intended to give you 300 to make you go away. But you never agreed to anything, so that’s just their bad luck.
I would agree with the poster who said tell them that you will agree to settle for the amount that you’ve already been given. Frankly, I’d tell them that you deserve a complete refund because of all of the issues! But you’ll settle for the 3K

They messed up and they are hoping you return it. Don’t think they can make you, or it will be a heck of lot of hassle to do so

I’d not do anything for now
dont spend the £3k but pop it into a high interest account

Contact Martin Lewis folk via their money saving site (MSE I think is the site) they are fab at advice for this kind of thing. They will give honest impartial advice based on all their knowledge.

Ive heard loads of bad things about love holidays!! Wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole!!

Good job you asked a man. Otherwise I wouldn’t have known companies check payments before they make them 🤣

But are you really saying that mistakes never happen and large companies’ payment systems are perfectly flawless? That is clearly not true (vouched by my own experience)

I 100% agree with this and don't worry I am not going to let it go. I also felt it was very wrong to have a 'vegan bar' with smoothies etc, all labelled vegan, some of which contained the chocolate with milk! For a vegan this could be very upsetting. To say nothing of the allergy risk (which my child experienced, whilst I was flat out with the bug / poisoning!) And then they were still serving it 2 days later even though I had alerted them and when I went to try and photograph the packaging they tried to cover it up. Truly shocking.

Companies definitely make errors on refunds / ex gratia payments. It’s most certainly possible. Personally i’d return it.

Love this. This is absolutely the best advice! I would definitely keep it there, but I would definitely not return anything at this stage because it’s just weird that they gave it to you and it’s weird that it was somebody new who was contacting you after everything was closed. And and if it was escalated and becomes legal thing, then you still have the money and can repay it-but given the oddities, I think you’re well within your rights to hold off for some kind of More official confirmation.

Honestly, I think they’re trying to get you on record accepting a lesser amount because a manager reviewed your complaints and realizes you could get a lot more particularly with the allergy complaint.

So responding back saying that you’ve never agreed to the 300, and feel given the seriousness of your complaints that you should get a full refund-but you will agree to settle for the amount that has already been transferred.

This is common scam. They pay it from a fraudlent account then ask you to pay the difference back to another one. The original owner then wants thier 300 back and your left £2700 down. Ask the bank to reverse the money to the original account on a charge back. DONOT SEND ANY MONEY BACK YOURSELF!

its very easy for people to make something appear from another email address that’s what hackers do! Partner was a cyber security expert and he says it’s very easy to do.

That's truly shocking. They need to be held accountable for their negligence. I'm glad to hear that you're going to complain. I'd go to the papers if they don't listen to you. Please update us when you get some answers. Good luck.

Don’t send anything to anyone

It definitely appears to be loveholidays - they have sent the money and they are emailing me from the same address that was dealing with my complaint. I agree it seems super dodgy though and it's hard to know if there is some hidden layer of scam to it. On the surface, at least, it appears legit.

Be very careful here, it's classed as theft if they follow it up, not just a civil matter;
The Law: Under UK law (specifically the Theft Act 1968), if money is accidentally paid into your account and you dishonestly keep it or fail to take steps to return it, you can be charged with a crime like "retaining a wrongful credit"
I'd try and get them to agree the 3k as a goodwill gesture and keep pushing that you'll take it further, in the hope they agree to let you keep it! If they don't then triple check the details of where they want it sent back just in case as a large company msitakenly paying is a bit weird tbh.

Hmm, big companies certainly do make mistakes, Barclays bank put £233,000 in our joint account by mistake...

How exactly are people envisaging this “scam” to work?
Loveholidays are scamming unhappy customers by sending them cash? For what reason?

or has someone else hacked into loveholidays’ email account to pretend to be the company so they can send you 3k and then ask for it back?

Noone ends up with more money than they started with - it would be a very rubbish type of scam!

Put it into another account and don't spend it.
Dont follow it up any further and if nothing within a year, you're probably good to go!

i think they were refunding someone else and not you. And then they realised their error so then told you that they sent you £300 as a goodwill gesture and now they have to pay the other person 3K.

Maybe they could spend some money and time training their staff in complaint handling and how to refund. After ofc they have taken it up with the hotel who clearly need to have a better policy and practices re allergies and then trying to cover that up.

Can you take that part further?

Yes you're right, when Barclays accidently transferred £233,000 in our account we were told by them not to move it until an investigation went underway as moving the money to another account even without touching a penny is fraud

Surely the discrpeancy with Love Holidays will come to light when they do a financial audit or the end of year accounts?