The good, the bad, and the very ugly.

[Katenbeth]

Just wanted to give some feedback on our refund journey, in the hope it will help in peoples future planning.

BACKGROUND:

Our trip, like most, was originally for summer 2020, but due to the obvious, was moved to summer 2021.
We always do DIY, and what would appear very complicated to some, this for us was water off a ducks back, until we needed to unravel for refunds.

We used multiple suppliers, along with 3rd parties to those suppliers, which added up-to over £20,000 for a 24 day holiday.
I won’t bore you all with the ins and outs, but just wanted to give credit to the good, and likewise to the ugly.

Disney (DVC): Fantastic, no quibble on moving what would be expiring points to be used by May 2022. They had no obligation to do this, but they have for international members.

ATD (attraction tickets): Again, fantastic. They refunded within hours, no questions. On the back of this, I will always source my tickets from ATD for future visits.

Universal Resorts: Yet again, fantastic. Refunded within 24 hours, no question.

Frontier Airline: Again, fantastic. Refund within days, no question.

Virgin Atlantic: They cancelled on us, and refunded accordingly with little chasing.

Airfrance: A little miffed at them, but they have refunded by credit, which in turn, can be converted to a cash refund. It was within their T&C’s, so I shouldn’t grumble, just a little long winded. This will not put me off using them again.

Hop (AF): See Airfrance above.

Palace resorts: They fully refunded on the 30th business day that they stated a refund could take. This was one that had me worried the most. It was slightly complicated, and we had moved the booking a few times. This was through a private individual, using the referral program for timeshare. The guy has been fantastic throughout, and I feel so sorry about the gazillion messages between us over the last 18 months.If anyone’s looking at Mexico in the near future, I can highly recommend using him.

Opodo: I would not touch them with a #%{* stick again. They are absolutely atrocious. I shall leave it at that.

Again, hope this helps with any future planning. I have certainly gained some invaluable experience along the way.

[willow]

ATD have been great with us. We had tickets for 2020 which we moved to 2021 and then had to move to 2022. Only paid a extra £3.11 to move the tickets to 2022. Also the refund for our Boo Bash tickets went in within a few hours.
The staff are always lovely and really helpful.
With Virgin we moved our flights to 2022 with absolutely no hassle and the lady I spoke to was so nice.

[plastic orange]

We have been refunded twice now by TUI for flights with absolutely no hassle, we would use them again. Andy once again has provided his usual great service with refunds instantly. Our Villa booking deposit last year we lost because we cancelled, but same villa this year, deposit returned without fuss (Disney Emerald Island Dream).

Pete

[duchy]

Mine took a lot of unravelling …overall excellent.
Various hotels booked direct , all refunded, even the ones that were non refundable
Carhire with Andy , no deposit and he patiently dealt with all my changes
Hotels.com and Holiday Extras full refunds.
Ticketmaster.com won’t refund to a non US card (I had two very expensive show tickets booked) however Caesars who own the venue refunded with no stress.
Viator excursion tickets (Hoover dam with coach from Vegas ) instant refund .
One of our earlier changes was a non refundable Priceline express booking for Holiday Inn at Gatwick which are always non refundable as they are dirt cheap (£40 in this case) and I’d forgotten about it. The reminder arrived on Saturday for the reservation today but a quick on line chat and a few hours for them to review it and refund within 24 hours.
American Airlines, domestic flights credited to credit notes and transportation vouchers, which is fine as we are travelling again. Transatlantic is slightly tricker , we were able to change multiple times without any stress but when BA cancelled our code share from London to Vegas they credited to a less flexible credit voucher which expires in February. They’ve now extended that to end of 22 but I have to use it from the U.K. which if they won’t change their stance will be fine and we will rebook that but I’d actually prefer to start from Dublin . Waiting to see if customer relations will allow that, reservations seem to think they will.

Overall I am extremely impressed , quick refunds (and refunds when I was expecting credit notes ) , I couldn’t have asked for more.
Oh and in most cases where we paid in dollars we’ve actually gained with the exchange rate and refunded slightly more than we paid

[Endeavour]

My biggest gripe in refunds etc. was actually with my insurer - Direct Line did all they could to get out of meeting my claim - I understand that they wanted me to exhaust all other avenues first, which is reasonable if frustrating and time consuming. However having done so they then told me to pursue with my card provider, despite knowing that I'd booked a non-cancellable, non-refundable ticket. To make a s75 claim I would have needed to mislead my card issuer which I think would have been fraudulent - ultimately gave up and just took the hit myself.

[EatandPlay]

Shame that such an expensive and clearly well planned holiday was axed not once, but twice. You never did mention if you're planning to reschedule? I sure hope so. Happy to hear that most of your suppliers took care of you quickly and to your liking.

Like you, I too prefer to source everything separately. Sometimes it's the planning and coordinating that amounts to much of the fun. Plus for me it generally works out to be more affordable and more flight options.

[Endeavour]

Originally Posted by EatandPlay

Shame that such an expensive and clearly well planned holiday was axed not once, but twice. You never did mention if you're planning to reschedule? I sure hope so. Happy to hear that most of your suppliers took care of you quickly and to your liking.

Like you, I too prefer to source everything separately. Sometimes it's the planning and coordinating that amounts to much of the fun. Plus for me it generally works out to be more affordable and more flight options.

See more...

I know you're replying to OP rather than me, but the comment on suppliers also resonated with me. The whole COVID experience is likely to lead to some winners and losers...those companies that treated customers fairly will enhance their reputation and hopefully reap the rewards that they deserve. Conversely, those with slopey shoulders will become equally well known and will be shunned. (For my experience with DirectLine, have just had a look at TrustPilot - clearly my experience was far from unique with lots of people discovering that their willingness to accept premiums wasn't matched by a willingness to meet obligations re claims.)

[Lola]

Five trips were booked for 2020 as it was a big year for us.
1. Florida to visit friends in March - we cancelled flights the day before - got tax back so fair enough
2. WDW big trip with sisters young Grandson - moved to 2021 but then cancelled - lost flight deposits only
3. LA, Hawaii Cruise and Vegas 40th wedding and DH birthday - lots of aggro and lost £700 deposit but fortunately didn’t pay our balance despite pressure and poor advice from IGLU Cruise, worst customer service ever
4. WDW with rented points from David’s and Anna Maria villa rental - David’s resold points so just an admin fee, Sato rental offered full refund straight away, Virgin Atlantic refunded eventually
5. Budapest for my birthday - all booked with Expedia, refund within 7 days for all parts of the trip.
Altogether it could have been worse

[Katenbeth]

Originally Posted by EatandPlay

Shame that such an expensive and clearly well planned holiday was axed not once, but twice. You never did mention if you're planning to reschedule? I sure hope so. Happy to hear that most of your suppliers took care of you quickly and to your liking.

Like you, I too prefer to source everything separately. Sometimes it's the planning and coordinating that amounts to much of the fun. Plus for me it generally works out to be more affordable and more flight options.

See more...

Our 2021 plan was by virtue of 2020 getting cancelled and was never the ‘original’ plan.

Our 2020 holiday was ‘just’ 2 weeks at the Grand moon palace in Mexico, but sadly, never happened.
Because of that cancellation, and with us being DVC members, we needed to use our points within a 2021 window, or so we thought at that time.

So as a family, we decided that we should still have that 2020 holiday, but incorporate with our 2021 plan, 2 holidays within 1 year (if that makes sense)?
It really was going to be a fantastic, if not hectic holiday. Below was our plan.
11 nights club level at AKL.
3 nights at universal resorts, Royal Pacific club level.
Fly MCO-CUN
10 nights Grand Moon Palace (swim up room).

This really was going to be a one off, never to be repeated trip, but it was 2 years worth of holidays in one.

To answer the question on if we are rescheduling, you bet we are.
But now we need to fit 3 holidays in one, and I can’t wait to get planning.

[Katenbeth]

Originally Posted by Endeavour

I know you're replying to OP rather than me, but the comment on suppliers also resonated with me. The whole COVID experience is likely to lead to some winners and losers...those companies that treated customers fairly will enhance their reputation and hopefully reap the rewards that they deserve. Conversely, those with slopey shoulders will become equally well known and will be shunned. (For my experience with DirectLine, have just had a look at TrustPilot - clearly my experience was far from unique with lots of people discovering that their willingness to accept premiums wasn't matched by a willingness to meet obligations re claims.)

See more...

Absolutely this. ATD have gained a customer for life through their fantastic service.
I usually spend hours and hours, trying to save £10/£20/£30 on park tickets, but not anymore.
Like I said before, I will always use them now, and I would not normally use a statement like that. But I believe they should be rewarded for what has also been a very difficult time for them as a business.