Kenwood Travel - refund issue - help please!

[Lillywhite]

Due to arrive CSR 8 June. Hotel & Tix booked via Kenwood Travel. I paid a £500 deposit. Balance due 30/3. In my assessment the holiday will sadly not proceed for obvious reasons. Kenwood currently insisting that either we pay the balance or rebook to a Disney hotel before end 2020 or cancel altogether & lose £500 deposit. No acknowledgement at all of current situation or the probability that the June holiday will not be able to go ahead.

It will be difficult for us to reorganise for later in 2020 (and of course severe doubts about whether situation will be resolved by then). So best option, in all the circumstances is to cancel & somehow retrieve the £500.

I have asked Kenwood to extend the deadline for the payment of the balance by one month to 30 April so that the situation can be more clearly assessed but they have refused.

I certainly won't be taking a further risk by paying the balance of £4k.

Any experience or suggestions in terms of extracting a more understanding / realistic / reasonable response from Kenwood?

Thanks!

[Softy]

I think that’s the standard approach by all travel agents isn’t it for trips where the flight’s haven’t been cancelled yet?

It’s only Disney direct that I’ve seen refunding deposits for June onwards. Could be wrong but that’s what I’ve been reading.

[Lily8]

It's a little tricky since we don't really know whether or not the parks will be open by then, or even if flights will resume. But I'd make them aware that it's not only the Disney Travel Company, but other agents, such as Attraction Tickets.com, who are waiving cancellation fees for customers due to check-in before 30 June 2020 (i.e. allowing cancellation with a full refund). I think it's very poor for Kenwood to show so little flexibility and would certainly put me off from booking with them in the future.

[coulty47]

We are booked with Disney for May and should have paid the rest this week, I have sent them 2 e mails saying I am canceling because they have already announced they will pay deposits back, I had 1 reply back saying they will get back to me, and have tried ringing them,but it is just a message saying if your holiday is after the end of March or April to ring back as they are dealing with earlier travelers.I presume eventually they will get to me.

[JulieB01]

I'm going to have the same issue with Charter Travel I think, balance is due today for our flights 25th June.
I don't want the risk of paying the balance either

[Sweets]

We’re due to travel on the 8th May and it’s the same message from our agent.

The flights that far out aren’t cancelled yet so deemed as still going ahead.

[Mrs Valentine]

My daughter works for a Bespoke Travel company and they are asking people to pick a later date and not ask for a refund. All the Travel Industry is in crisis and we can help by just picking another time to go and not a full refund etc.

[Donaldfan]

Originally Posted by Mrs Valentine

My daughter works for a Bespoke Travel company and they are asking people to pick a later date and not ask for a refund. All the Travel Industry is in crisis and we can help by just picking another time to go and not a full refund etc.

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That's fine for people who have flexibility but a lot of us have to tie in holidays with work colleagues and may not be able to go another time this year. Also if I can't go to WDW in September I won't be going till 2022. This is something I decided months ago and I can't see Disney letting me reschedule for 2 years time.

[Inky]

Charter are saying pay the balance or lose the holiday, but if we cancel, lose 750 deposit and they charge 100 each cancellation fee! Ouch leaves rather a bad taste doesn’t it, I don’t really want to go if parks aren’t open properly mid August, as our holiday is onsite and very much park based

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Lillywhite

Due to arrive CSR 8 June. Hotel & Tix booked via Kenwood Travel. I paid a £500 deposit. Balance due 30/3. In my assessment the holiday will sadly not proceed for obvious reasons. Kenwood currently insisting that either we pay the balance or rebook to a Disney hotel before end 2020 or cancel altogether & lose £500 deposit. No acknowledgement at all of current situation or the probability that the June holiday will not be able to go ahead.

It will be difficult for us to reorganise for later in 2020 (and of course severe doubts about whether situation will be resolved by then). So best option, in all the circumstances is to cancel & somehow retrieve the £500.

I have asked Kenwood to extend the deadline for the payment of the balance by one month to 30 April so that the situation can be more clearly assessed but they have refused.

I certainly won't be taking a further risk by paying the balance of £4k.

Any experience or suggestions in terms of extracting a more understanding / realistic / reasonable response from Kenwood?

Thanks!

See more...

It’s not totally unreasonable, I know that some others have been more flexible but perhaps they can better afford to be. I would take the hit and lose the deposit if my balance was due today and with the uncertainty we currently have.