Shocked!!!

[WSussex]

HI All

We are going to the World on 23rd Sept for 2 weeks - we have the first couple of nights staying at Universal and then a villa for the rest - we thought about it and felt that the first night at universal would be a waste of a park day as we wont arrive until that evening so I called Virgin to ask how much to alter just the flight to the day before (leaving all accomodation unchanged) and make our own hotel arrangement for that first nights stay - well......

That would cost us an extra £640!!!!!!! don't forget thats not any accommodation just to alter the flight for the day earlier and 1 extra day with the car hire - am I mad or is that not an extraordinary amount of money to do this???

gutted

Sx

 

[2Tiggies]

It could be that the cheaper seats on the flight the day before have all been sold so you have to pay the difference for pricier ones.

Not nice! Are you just going to stick with your original plan then?

 

[loveysbydesign]

Maybe you could just cancel one night at Universal and stay somewhere else that 1st night that is cheaper?

 

[wayneg]

To fly the day before its only an extra £9pp, £641.20 instead of £632.20 but what happens is you have to pay the difference between what the value of the flights were when you booked to the value now, being low season you probably only paid a flight price of around £400-450 so you will have to pay that difference + car hire + alteration fee (sometimes waived)

Not uncommon to get prices like that when changing flights. You could ring again in a few days and make sure they have not made a mistake, anything is possible with Virgin.

 

[pigby]

HI All

We are going to the World on 23rd Sept for 2 weeks - we have the first couple of nights staying at Universal and then a villa for the rest - we thought about it and felt that the first night at universal would be a waste of a park day as we wont arrive until that evening

We opted to stay at Universal for the last 3 nights of our stay for the same reason - so we wouldn't waste a Universal park day - would this work for you? Just a thought. Also at the end the price goes down as a cheaper season and also we pay midweek prices instead of weekend.

 

[T16GEM]

how annoying - hope you can get it sorted to your satisfaction.

 

[Altymark]

We had a similar problem a few years ago. We initially called Virgin over the weekend to ask how much it would cost to extend our holiday by an extra day about a week after booking (over a year in advance of our trip). We spoke to an international call centre - the gentleman on the other end of the phone really struggled to get to grips with our enquiry and quoted us an additional £1000+.
We couldn't understand how he'd come to this figure (even though there were 5 of us) and so called back during the week and spoke to someone in the Crawley office who quoted us £200!!
MAy be worth speaking to someone else?

 

[WSussex]

Hi All

Thankyou for all your replies

We didnt want to do the universal stay at the end - we did this last year and it was a real hassle having to pack everything up at the end of the stay just for those last 3 days at universal so the thinking was if we do it at the beginning i can pack one case just for those first few days and not spend lots of time wading through everything for what we needed.

We did speak to someone in the international sales office and maybe there was some confusion but the woman did say that prices have increased a lot since we booked back in July - I have written to the Virgin complaints dept because on top of all this I had enquired about this amendment via e mail back on the 15th nov and have had lots of initial "leave it with me I will find out and get back to you answers" and then no replys!! I have even had a e mail saying that a supervisor would ring me the following day and that was 10 days ago - I am truly exhausted with the whole thing !! If it truly is that price then we will keep the plans as they were - very very disappointed with Virgins customer service even if the price is genuine.

Sx

 

[WiganTony]

Just a thought - would it be worth seeing if you could change your first night at Universal for a cheaper hotel and simply pack a cabin bag with change of clothes for your first night/first day in Universal? That said, if Virgin decide to charge an amendment fee, it could end up costing more than keeping your Unievrsal Hotel!!

 

[wayneg]

Just a thought - would it be worth seeing if you could change your first night at Universal for a cheaper hotel

Thats what we did last August. No way was I paying $150(+tax+parking+internet) for 1st night at RPR when would be just checking in and going to bed. Booked 1st night at Country Inn & suites £30 incl everything including breakfast.

 

[paulh]

one of the reasons we book into a value at disney for 1 or 2 nights, is so we don't waste points at dvc, plus we stay in plenty resorts that way
Paul

 

[WSussex]

Hi

Just to add insult to this saga - sent my complaint via e mail to Virgins complaints department with a generic reply saying we will reply with 5 working days - guess what!!!! that was 7 working days ago and still no reply!!!! Does anyone know of the actual UK phone number I can call regarding a complaint

Sx

I don't really see the point in booking the cheap one night stay unless we can extend the whole holiday by that extra night - we have every single day scheduled with activites and dont want to waste a second - hind sight is indeed a wonderful thing Sorry to moan I do realise we are very lucky to be going at all in this economic meltdown

 

[2Tiggies]

Hi WSussex

I had an issue with Openride last year. I booked through Disney UK but it was flight inclusive and therefore with Openride (which is handled by VH).

It took me a few months to get it sorted to my satisfaction. I put everything in writing and followed up once a week, attaching my previous correspondence to each reminder. When I got a response I felt they had skirted around the point so I wrote again (I sent everything by post and email). My dispute was regarding issues I had with Terms and Conditions which did not correspond with what I was being told so there was some pulling up on this. Eventually they did resolve it, but I have to forewarn you, many companies, especially large ones will drag out the correspondence over a lengthy period of time knowing full well that the majority of people eventually get fed up and cut their losses. Unfortunately for them I don't do this too easily.

It also depends whether they are covered on the points you are pulling them up on by their terms and conditions so you do need to have a good read over this. To be realistic, if prices have increased since you booked you are bound to pay the difference. I have not read over the VH T&Cs for a good couple of years now so you will need to refer to them, but in the past you were exempt from amendment fees if your package price increased. I am not sure if this is one of the points you are disputing.

However, if you need some encouragement to see it through and stick to your guns, you're in the right place. You've done the hard part which is putting the initial correspondence together. Now it's a case of sitting on them to ensure that they deliver a response to your satisfaction.

 

[scottish mum]

I have a virgin holidays UK phone number, but not VA's. Let me know if its VH's you need.

Hopefully they will let you move your flight free as a goodwill gesture after all the hassle you've had

 

[2Tiggies]

I have a virgin holidays UK phone number, but not VA's. Let me know if its VH's you need.

I have assumed all along it was VH, based on the wording of the opening paragraph of the first post - but I could be wrong.

 

[scottish mum]

I have assumed all along it was VH, based on the wording of the opening paragraph of the first post - but I could be wrong.

yeah, just reread it and I think your right

VH number 01293 496900

 

[Rohais]

We've altered our VH holiday on two occasions now, and neither time we were charged an amendment fee as - so we were told - the price had increased

 

[2Tiggies]

We've altered our VH holiday on two occasions now, and neither time we were charged an amendment fee as - so we were told - the price had increased

It depends what you alter. As soon as you have to fiddle with the flights it becomes more complicated. Adding a hotel day or changing resorts, dining plan, etc is not a problem. If you have booked your flights separately or haven't booked them yet you do have more flexibility.

 

[WSussex]

Hi

Thankyou Natalie you are a gem

All now sorted using that number and finally speaking to someone who knows the finer points of customer service

Flight changed - amendment fee waivered total cost £200 - much better than the £648 previously quoted
And we also got a free meal at Planet Hollywood very grateful to the lovely Kayleigh at VH reservations.

Sx

 

[wayneg]

That sounds better like I said always worth ringing back with Virgin. Sometimes depends who you talk to.