UPDATE service Charter Travel

[Floridatilly]

I now hold my hands up and give credit where credit is due!
My husband has just received a phone call (Dawn, I think) from Charter Travel. Explaining the current situation with Disney. Two options, move to a different date or take a refund for full monies paid.
We have took the refund because if Disney do not offer DDP then we possibly wont stay onsite.
So I would like to apologise to Charter Travel for my moaning. I should have waited a few more days before posting but we were stressed and frustrated at the £6k tied up.
Sorry and thank you Charter Travel


We have 12 nights booked onsite with Charter Travel. CBR with upgrade to full DDP. Hotel & tickets, DDP & $200 gift card. Arrival date 8th July.

Apart from us chasing them we have had zero information them!
Around 4 weeks ago we rang (as we were getting no replies to emails) and told we could move our booking to next year, pay difference & loose gift card & free dining.
Or, get a refund and loose the £650 deposit. (He said we loose the deposit because we have not booked a package) I thought hotel & tickets was a package ?
He said to wait a couple of weeks to see if disney have any developments and they would keep is updated.
Around 4 weeks later, we are aware Disney have announced the cancellation of DDP this year & offer 35% discount etc. But we have heard nothing from CT!
Absolutely nothing! No replies to emails. Looks like we will have to ring again to chase them up.

We would not recommend anyone to use CT, in our experience the customer service has been shocking in fact it’s virtually non existent.

Our flights have been cancelled anyway so we need a refund therefore loose the £650 deposit paid to CT. If their service was excellent we would not mind but to loose £650 when they have been shocking does not sit well with us!

Sorry for the long post but I needed to rant!

[sully301]

Try your travel insurance as your flights have been cancelled. I was not best pleased with them either.

[signtalker]

I dealt with them a couple of years back, worst customer service and rude call agents, never again

Jules

[Incredible edna]

Hi. I've only just registered on here - been a 'spectator ' for years over several Disney trips but felt I had to post. Sorry you've had such a poor experience with them. We booked for September and contacted them before we had to pay balance. Moved holiday to next year - no problem. Said if offer of free ddp comes they will amend our booking. We emailed first but they then rang us to sort.

[itsmeGAV]

I understand your frustration.. but you need to remember that there were very few companies prepared for what COVID-19 was about to bring.

I've only ever had fantastic dealings with CT and would always recommend them, but you can't be mad at them as they'll be working at a much smaller capacity right now same as many other businesses will be.

In regards to you wondering if you had a package, I don't believe hotel and tickets are classed as a package as it would need to be flights & hotel/flights & car to be legible for ATOL/ABTA cover. However if you're still not keen on losing £650 (I wouldn't want to either) I'd speak to your travel insurance.

Gav

[JanetteP]

I would be chasing CT for the deposit as WDW are refunding all deposits for holidays not going ahead, so they will be claiming it back. I, along with others, will be avoiding any company like this in the future.

Your travel insurance will always refer you back to the provider for a refund first, and as WDW are refunding, it is unlikely you would be able to claim. You would need a letter from your TA to say there are no refunds, and this is not true.

Good luck, and I hope you are successful in getting in contact with them.

[steve30]

Originally Posted by itsmeGAV

I understand your frustration.. but you need to remember that there were very few companies prepared for what COVID-19 was about to bring.

I've only ever had fantastic dealings with CT and would always recommend them, but you can't be mad at them as they'll be working at a much smaller capacity right now same as many other businesses will be.

In regards to you wondering if you had a package, I don't believe hotel and tickets are classed as a package as it would need to be flights & hotel/flights & car to be legible for ATOL/ABTA cover. However if you're still not keen on losing £650 (I wouldn't want to either) I'd speak to your travel insurance.

Gav

See more...

Small capacity or not it doesn’t take much to send out an email to all affected does it?

I’ve said it before, it’s times like these that you find out who the good and bad guys are. Good communication costs nothing.

[Wubbster]

I spoke to them today and they got the info late Friday, and getting the info together to contact customers. I have only positive things to say about Charter Travel. Please be patient as they deal with this.

[Floridatilly]

I totally understand that companies will be fighting to stay afloat at the present time. This is when good customer service will shine and ensure returned custom!

When i booked our hotel & tickets via CT we was very impressed by the customer service, so much so that I actually posted on here recommending them. It seems they are more than happy when you are spending money but rather dismissive and rude when you want to cancel.
A simple generic email to all those with bookings free DDP could be sent out to keep customers up to date and informed.
Good customer service and communication is vital for smaller companies at this time more than ever.

If their T&C’s state we can not have our deposit back then it’s unfortunate and frustrating but to have no communication is just plain rude!
We have emailed 3 times with no reply
Disney have updated their site regarding the removal of DDP but we gave not been informed by CT.
Our booking is weeks away not months. We are not asking for special treatment but to simply kept up to date with new information etc

[littletrev]

I had a fly drive booked with Charter Travel travelling 19 Sept 2020, we decided to contact them before our balance was due to be paid. To see how we would go about moving our holiday to 2021. It took one week exactly from our contact to change our holiday to Sept 2021 and it only worked out at £200 dearer. I cannot fault them at all fantastic customer service.