Complaints about Virgin

[ruthie]

Just wondered if anybody has complained to virgin holidays, how long they took to reply and what the outcome was?
I am complaining because they gave me a price for a flydrive(and I checked this with the person twice) and when I called back to book it, they told me they had got it totally wrong.
I sent a letter about 10 days ago and I haven't had a reply but I sent it to the address on the holiday invoice.

thanks

 

[Claire L]

To be honest if it was a quote over the phone then there is no obligation for them then to sell to you at that price if you ring back later. Often prices change depending on what offers are on and supply and demand. Now if you had booked and paid a deposit then that would be a different matter and as long as the price was not so low as to be 'too good to be true' then they may have to settle for the price given to you. As the brochure often says prices can increase or decrease and the brochure is just an indication of the price you can expect to pay.
As for answering your letter I would hope that they reply.

Claire

 

[ruthie]

Thanks for that, I just think its wrong that they can change a price that they give you.

 

[wilma-bride]

ruthie, I agree with Claire L that they are under no obligation to stick to a price. Did you have a quote reference for the price they gave you? Do you know if it was a brochure price or phone price (special offer?) At the end of the day, if you'd booked it and they'd then tried to charge you more, that is different but if it was just a quote, it's like everything and subject to change. At the end of the day, if you go into a shop to buy something and it's £9.99 - you don't buy it and go back the following week, it's gone up to £10.50 - you would either pay that price or accept that you should have bought it a week before

To answer your question, though, I wrote to Virgin Holidays when we returned from our first visit. It took about a week to receive an acknowledgement of our letter and about 3 weeks to receive a reply. They weren't very helpful either so I wouldn't hold your breath

 

[ruthie]

Hi
Yes I do know what you mean,but I only went away to agree it with my husband and then called back. They said they had worked it out wrongly but then also said they had no record of the call! I'm just disappointed I guess, because it was £800 different.

 

[Boo Boo Too]

Hi
Yes I do know what you mean,but I only went away to agree it with my husband and then called back. They said they had worked it out wrongly but then also said they had no record of the call! I'm just disappointed I guess, because it was £800 different.

Did you have a reference number for the quote? Did you get the name of the agent who is delaing with you (they normally introduce themselves at the beginning og the call - "My name is Michael, how can I help you today?" - if they don't introduce themselves or you forget their name, it it good to make a point of getting it).

That being said, mistakes do happen... I don't believe that the verbal quote is binding unless you had gone ahead and made a deposit there and then. Even then, there are sometimes ways for companies to get out of incorrectly priced sales (for instance the various internet deals - the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong for a £1 a night.... things like that).

Sounds like you got an incompetent (maybe still in training) agent on the phone.

What do you hope to happen following your complaint? Wouldn't it just be easier to move on and find a more competitive quote?

Boo

 

[ruthie]

Hi
Sorry, I should have said already that I had paid a deposit for a holiday and the quote was to change it to a flydrive. I did actually say 'Can I call later and book it for this price?' and she said yes and told me what time they were open till. The lady had an unusual name beginning with S and I did mention this in the letter. Have started to price up the holiday separately now and perhaps I could move the deposit to another holiday to somewhere else if I get a good price from someone else.

Thanks

 

[Claire L]

Wow £800 difference for a flydrive what did they miss off?

Claire

 

[Boo Boo Too]

Hi
Sorry, I should have said already that I had paid a deposit for a holiday and the quote was to change it to a flydrive. I did actually say 'Can I call later and book it for this price?' and she said yes and told me what time they were open till. The lady had an unusual name beginning with S and I did mention this in the letter. Have started to price up the holiday separately now and perhaps I could move the deposit to another holiday to somewhere else if I get a good price from someone else.

Thanks

You may have paid a deposit, but that was for the original holiday booked. You hadn't agreed to change the original holiday to the new fly-drive (so there was no financial deposit againt the new fly-drive - if that makes sense).

I think that it is like if you went into a BIG car showroom, saw a new car (worth £16k) and the dealer mistakenly said "That is £8k". You say "I need to go away and check the price with my husband, will you sell it to me for the same price when I come back later?". You go back to put a desposit on (and sign the papers for) the car. The dealer that you see says "That car is £16k", you say "but the dealer earlier said it was £8k" (however you can't remember the dealer's name, what he looked like and none of the many dealers remember you). What do you do?

Thr agent that you spoke to at Virgin SHOULD have put notes in your original booking regarding the fly-drive quote, but I don't know how well their computer system handles this. OR perhaps the easiest way for her to do it would have been to do a completely new quote (with a completely new reference number) for you. She couldn't have changed your original booking until you had definitely agreed to the changes (in case you and your husband decided against it). Even then IF the agent had made a GENUINE MISTAKE in pricing the quote, I don't think that Virgin would be held liable... (especially if you hadn't already agreed to move your deposit to the price)

Telephone agents CAN be very unreliable - I never trust anything until I see it in print (and even then it isn't always reliable...). I know, in this case, you didn't have much choice (unless, perhaps, you saw the quote/price on a website or brocure - and printed it out - before you phoned the VH agent...).

I THINK that you are unlikely to be able to get your deposit back - that deposit was paid in good faith for your original package with VH (which you agreed and were happy with at the time). It is only since then that you have decided to look for "better deals" (and that the most recent agent made the mistake). So, despite the mistake, you still have the original package booked that you were happy with. So why should they give you back the deposit?

HOWEVER, I am not a lawyer. Your best bet (assuming no lawyers post on here and that you shouldn't accept any legal advice given over the internet as gospel anyway...) is to seek some legal advice on your rights in these circumstances. You could start by looking at various official UK consumer advice sites on the web (maybe the Watchdog site has some advice?) and you could try your local Citizen's Advice Bureau (they should be able to give you some free advice on your consumer rights). BUT when you explain your problem, make sure that you tell the full story (i.e. your first post on here didn't mention that you had an existing booking - that you were trying to change from a package to a flydrive) - if you leave something out, that may affect the advice that you are given...

Boo

 

[ruthie]

Hi
I don't know,the second person I spoke to didn't say

Thanks for everyones help,back to the drawing board!

 

[ruthie]

Hi
I meant I would just let virgin keep the deposit and move it to another virgin holiday, and pay for the other one separately. I checked with the website for flydrives for that time but there are none available for that day and the next 8 days otherwise I could have done a totally new booking. We still want to go on those dates so I thought as we had seats on that flight booked for us anyway, we could just change to a flydrive.

Thanks for all the advice.

 

[Boo Boo Too]

Ok, see what you mean now.

 

[ruthie]

Boo, sorry it was in answer to Claire about what they had left off the quote.

 

[Boo Boo Too]

Hi
I meant I would just let virgin keep the deposit and move it to another virgin holiday, and pay for the other one separately. I checked with the website for flydrives for that time but there are none available for that day and the next 8 days otherwise I could have done a totally new booking. We still want to go on those dates so I thought as we had seats on that flight booked for us anyway, we could just change to a flydrive.

Thanks for all the advice.

That may be what you have to do - I think that a number of people do it around here (i.e. find something much cheaper than the holiday that they put a deposit down for, and so book with another company loosing their original deposit)...

Personally I don't book until about 6/7 months out and make sure that I book what I want and wont change my mind... Actually we book independently - so our flights are already paid in full with BA (£850 per person), our cruise and villa have a £200 and £300 deposit paid on them... we don't change our minds (barring serious illness or a death int he family - has happened before).

Boo

 

[ruthie]

Hi
Yes I would leave it later too but we are tied to the school holidays and there is hardly any availability for Easter next year already with virgin holidays! Don't usually change my mind but I was so desperate to get seats on the flight that I didn't really think about the accomodation! I will see if I can get seats when virgin release their flights.


Thanks

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Whilst we have always flown Virgin I do think there has been a lowering of standards Customer Service wise.
We recently moved our July 2007 holiday to March/April 2008 , but it took them 3 invoices, several phone calls and a good 3 or 4 weeks to actually fully get the booking details correct.
It was only last week when my initial deposit was actually transferred over to the new booking.

 

[ruthie]

They just don't seem very efficient,


Thanks for all the advice!

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

If the dates for your flight are the same as when you want to go, why not just rent the car seperatly?
We never go for fly drive, some people go flydrive and then book another car separate to that fly drive, as you can do that.
In your case, as you have the flights booked? then to unbook, you may find that availability could be poor and prices up due to low availability/high demand.

Just have a look at threads on here about booking car hire seperatly.

 

[UKDEB]

We've had this happen with Virgin many times - it's basically down to getting an inexperienced or incompetent agent on the other end of the line, and having a name has never helped us. We now either make sure we book there and then, or ask them to put the booking on 24/48 hour hold. Not that it guarantees they won't still say they've made a mistake, but at least you know there will be a record of the call.

 

[ruthie]

Thanks for all the help, will know for next time!