The holiday company we used goes out of business. We’ve paid a lot of money for a really special holiday for an anniversary, so we’re obviously devastated. Luckily, at the last minute, the company is bought out, and we are promised an equivalent holiday or our money back.
Immediately upon talking to anyone at the company, they want us to book another holiday, and they give us all sorts of options, many just obviously not a fair alternative.
Eventually, they offer us what seems like a good deal: a week on an all-inclusive beach holiday at a high-specification resort, just like what we booked. But a week before we are due to leave, I have to call them urgently.
Me: “We’ve just had our rooms confirmed for [holiday reference] and there seems to be a mistake.”
Representative: “Okay, I can see your booking now and it appears to be correct. What was it that you were expecting?”
Me: “This was a replacement for an existing holiday. We had a suite booked then, but now it’s just a standard room.”
Representative: “Okay. Well, I can see that this holiday package offers several activities, where your old booking doesn’t. This is a value of £500 and a much better deal.”
Me: “We don’t want an activity package; we want the nice room.”
Representative: “Well, I’m not sure I can unselect the activities. They are part of the booking.”
Me: “I appreciate that, but that’s not what we were told. We were told it would be like for like.”
We went around in circles. They kept going on about activities, how great they were, and how much they were worth. We kept trying to get them to understand that we wouldn’t use them and therefore, they were worthless. We just wanted what we paid for.
I was about to cancel the whole thing when they did offer a partial refund. It’s not what we wanted, but I reluctantly took it.
The kicker? When we got there, half of the activities were cancelled, and the hotel had a few suites available for upgrades. I actually paid less than the refund we got.
Why some companies are so backward in going forward, I will never understand.