UPDATE service Charter Travel

[Duwsh]

This is why I’m so happy I booked direct, I know it’s more work but hearing these stories scares me. Obviously there’s always going to be good stories but it only takes one bad experience to put off a lot of people, you’d think in these uncertain times they’d want to keep everyone happy.

[TeeKayDawn]

I’m confused!

Your flights have been cancelled for the same holiday but your hotel hasn’t?

1st thing that needed to be done is see if alternative flights could be offered. If not, then you had the right to cancel the whole package!

Or are the flights booked through someone else? As your post reads as though the flights are with charter too so I can’t understand how its not a package deal.

As for the refund from Disney, it only came through Friday night and not all companies are acting straight away but do seem to be getting around to contacting customers.

In the current climate I’d probably wait until Monday given we know they have minimal staff, the announcement from Disney was Friday night and its currently the weekend.

But, going back to the flights, if booked through someone else and cancelled, then I’m not sure that you’ll be entitled to your deposit under the T&c’s, as you made the decision to cancel.

From your post it sounds like Charter told you to hold off and wait for news from Disney and I think from reading other posts from other TA’s this was being advised by others also.

Like I said the UK customers only had notification on Friday, I think you at least need to give them a chance to get this info to all customers.

If they still don’t play ball then by all means rant away

[Kellea]

Sorry to hear you've had such a bad experience. We've used CT for over 10 years and have never had any issues at all xx

[Wereallmadhere]

Have you checked with your travel insurance to see if you can claim the loss of deposit back. With mine I can cancel if FCO advice is still in place 31 days before travel, although we did have added travel disruption cover.

We are cancelling our trip, should be able to claim back in full for the disney part, but our universal and discovery cove we will will loose deposits for, so I'm just hoping the FCO advice is still in place in a few weeks to seeing we can claim the deposits / any losses back

[ELLENUT]

I cant understand why you will be losing your deposit as they cannot provide the holiday you paid for (removal of dining) so surely you are entitled to a full refund (or am I mssing something). Surely its not there t&cs that count in this situation - they need to provide what you have booked ( also thought tickets & accommodation is a package - I would be looking to clarify that too). Good luck

[Floridatilly]

Originally Posted by TeeKayDawn

I’m confused!

Your flights have been cancelled for the same holiday but your hotel hasn’t?

1st thing that needed to be done is see if alternative flights could be offered. If not, then you had the right to cancel the whole package!

Or are the flights booked through someone else? As your post reads as though the flights are with charter too so I can’t understand how its not a package deal.

As for the refund from Disney, it only came through Friday night and not all companies are acting straight away but do seem to be getting around to contacting customers.

In the current climate I’d probably wait until Monday given we know they have minimal staff, the announcement from Disney was Friday night and its currently the weekend.

But, going back to the flights, if booked through someone else and cancelled, then I’m not sure that you’ll be entitled to your deposit under the T&c’s, as you made the decision to cancel.

From your post it sounds like Charter told you to hold off and wait for news from Disney and I think from reading other posts from other TA’s this was being advised by others also.

Like I said the UK customers only had notification on Friday, I think you at least need to give them a chance to get this info to all customers.

If they still don’t play ball then by all means rant away

See more...

Flights were booked with virgin.
So we have been in contact, or should I say been chasing CT regarding our hotel & tickets.
1 email W/C 1st June, 1 email last monday & another on Tursday. Still no reply.
We had sent loads of emails prior to this which were ignored so we had to ring them. That is when we were told we could move to next year & loose the gift card plus free dining or cancel and loose the deposit.
He said to have a think and see if there are any developments over the next two weeks.
That was 4 weeks ago, hence our last 3 emails.

It seems if customers are happy to re schedule then CT are happy and helpful but as soon as you want to cancel they avoid you like the plague!
Shocking customer service

[TeeKayDawn]

Originally Posted by Floridatilly

Flights were booked with virgin.
So we have been in contact, or should I say been chasing CT regarding our hotel & tickets.
1 email W/C 1st June, 1 email last monday & another on Tursday. Still no reply.
We had sent loads of emails prior to this which were ignored so we had to ring them. That is when we were told we could move to next year & loose the gift card plus free dining or cancel and loose the deposit.
He said to have a think and see if there are any developments over the next two weeks.
That was 4 weeks ago, hence our last 3 emails.

It seems if customers are happy to re schedule then CT are happy and helpful but as soon as you want to cancel they avoid you like the plague!
Shocking customer service

See more...

Okay that makes more sense.

But I have to say I still agree with CT in this case. They actually told you to wait a few weeks to see what Disney might do. Now Disney have given the word that Cancellation is an option CT will need to offer it to you and your deposit will be included, so them giving you the time to think about it doesn’t work in their favour as they now have to refund the whole cost.
They then provided other options at the time of the call, cancellation would have been your choice so they would be within their right to keep the deposit as per T&C’s.
They offered a move to another date in the future but without the DP, this is because they can’t offer something Disney aren’t offering but if you speak to them they will add it at no cost if it becomes available.

I know you say you’ve been trying to get info for 4 weeks, but you’ve got further than some have got with other companies who should have flown already.
CT are likely aware that unfortunately you wont be travelling and seem to have put you off cancelling as they know you’ll get all monies back if there is still flight restrictions.

The difficulty is that what you have booked isn’t classed as a package as it is only the hotel. If you had car hire and hotel, or flight and car hire or flight and hotel then that would be a package. Park tickets are a ‘luxury’ or ‘excursion’ within your holiday.

[Donaldfan]

Originally Posted by Floridatilly

Flights were booked with virgin.
So we have been in contact, or should I say been chasing CT regarding our hotel & tickets.
1 email W/C 1st June, 1 email last monday & another on Tursday. Still no reply.
We had sent loads of emails prior to this which were ignored so we had to ring them. That is when we were told we could move to next year & loose the gift card plus free dining or cancel and loose the deposit.
He said to have a think and see if there are any developments over the next two weeks.
That was 4 weeks ago, hence our last 3 emails.

It seems if customers are happy to re schedule then CT are happy and helpful but as soon as you want to cancel they avoid you like the plague!
Shocking customer service

See more...

Have you tried ringing them since Disney sent the email on Friday evening? Emails can easily be ignored, phone calls not so much.

[BrilliantBadger]

I just wanted to say I cancelled with CT and they were fine with me and I got the refund really quickly.
I will book any future holidays I can with them because of their great service.

[kellogs]

Our experience with Charter Travel has been very positive. I emailed saying we were thinking of cancelling as our flight had changed; got a text back almost immediately to say to look for an email coming through with our options. Decided to cancel and lose our deposit - this was our choice as it was in April and the holiday was in June, so it hadn't technically been cancelled by Disney/Airline. We received our money back (minus the deposit) very quickly. We now have a claim in with the insurance company for the deposit.

Sean from Charter Travel couldn't have been any more helpful.

We should have been flying tomorrow