Virgin Holidays - NOT HAPPY!

[kevin harrison]

My only guess is they must keep seats back, house seats if you like, you know for crew, emergencies and the suchlike. Is first class sold out ? - sounds daft but they maybe would see this as a cheaper option than going to court. Also people must cancel all the time - out of maybe 400 odd people there must be a few.

Just trying to be positive.

 

[UKDEB]

Very true - certainly worth pursuing.

 

[Rick Walmsley]

Hi all

Re the previous threads about who is at fault I believe that both parties are.

To explain- at 180 days out i rang virgin to pre book my seating ie virgin atlantic the airline. they told me that my booking was not showing up. they spoke to the travelstore and confirmed my booking etc existed and there wasn't a problem it was just a computer glitch and that i needed to try again in 2-3 weeks. i did this again to be told that there was a computer glitch. This carried on for 4-5 months.

So from at least the beginning of February both Virgin Atlantic (the airline) and Virgin (the Travelstore ) know I should have a booking)

I have details of the persons I spoke to and their extention numbers who can verify this. and of course phone records.

To be fair two persons i dealt with appeared to bend over backwards to try and get the seats booked (can't reveal their details due to possible legal implications).

Clearly this matter is likely only to be resolved at court whether criminal or civil or both.

It is probably best if I refrain from further comment until I have obtained proper legal advice from both criminal and civil authorities.

Any continuing advice is still appreciated

I will update you with my plans soon

Many thanks

Rick

 

[UKDEB]

Rick,

I'm not a lawyer, but I have studied law (at a very basic level) and I can't see how this could ever become a criminal matter (unless someone has acted fraudulently and nothing you have said suggests that). It seems to me that your whole case centres around Contract Law.

Also, who is at fault is irrelevant. Your contract is with Virgin Travelstore. If I were in your position, I would be pursuing a 'goodwill' settlement from either VT or VA. Make a nuisance of yourself and hope that you win at someone else's expense. Seeking recourse to your legal remedies can only result in financial compensation. In my view, the maximum you could expect to receive would be the cost of your holiday plus costs. I'm guessing that isn't the outcome you're hoping to achieve.

 

[Rick Walmsley]

Hi all

Having taken legal advice it appears that proving a criminal case in this matter ie for a deception would be extremely difficult if not impossible to prove.

I do however have an extremely strong case in the civil courts and this is what I'll pursue on my return.

Any way the good news is a friend of mine who owns a travel agents in Manchester has managed to obtain me alternative flights. I now fly with US airways two days earlier than I would have done with Virgin but return on the same date as my original flight.



Will be making full use of those florida fun in the sun tickets!

So I get nearly an extra two days out there and will be able to do what I wanted in the first place had my original booking gone ahead (even this will need amending slightly)

The flights have cost me more money and they still are indirect. But at this late stage it was all that was viable. I was lucky that these were available.

HIFS have allowed me to book an extra 2 nights with them and have given me the entertainment rate again( I had booked for my first 15 nights at this rate but they have stopped offering this rate now.) Excellent customer care from them.

Much happier now(but still stubborn)

Lots of logistical shuffling to do now.

Extremely grateful for all the support , hope I can return it some day.

Going for a well earned beer now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Rick

 

[DizneyDaze]

Rick

I have read all of this with interest and I do sympathise with your situation.

I must agree with Debbie though, who is at fault is irrelevant. Your contract is with Virgin Travelstore. Your dispute is with them and you need to pursue everything with them.

Virgin Atlantic may well be at fault but this is a matter for Virgin Travelstore to take up with them as in effect they are the customer to VA not yourself.

Again Debbie is correct in saying this is not a criminal matter as it now stands and you have little chance of it going that way from what I can see.

I personally wouldn't threaten small claims until you have taken proper legal advice. Even a trip to the local Citizens Advice Bureau may help.

Although all advice is good, in this matter I think you really do need the help of the 'professionals' so to speak to avoid running up any unnecessary costs. The law is a very complex matter.

Best of luck I hope it goes well for you.

Jane

 

[trashcanman]

Glad to hear you're sorted Rick

In respect of claims the Small Claims Court has a limit for claims (I think this is currently £5000) which is the maximum of any claim you have, ie all issues such as inconvenience, loss of enjoyment, etc. Hopefully your claim is less than this as, in my experience (working in insurance) big companies will rarely contest these cases or even let them get to hearings.

These work to your advantage as no representation is allowed (ie no expensive lawyers etc) and is very cheap compared to other legal action.

Also, if they or their representative fail to turn up you would automatically be awarded judgement by default.

So if your claim falls within this scope, go for it!!

Its very simple to issue and there's plenty of information at courts, CABs etc which take you through the process.

Anyway, enjoy your beer!

 

[Grumpy John]

Rick, why give Virgin such a hard time when you have now decided to travel to Orlando how they were going to fly you out anyway - INDIRECT!

If you had taken up the offer of flying via Newark you would surely have saved yourself an awful lot of unnecessary hassle and upset! and saved some hard earned cash to spend in the shops!

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

Rick - phew, you're sort of sorted. At least it's all sorted for your flights and hotel.

With regards Virgin Travelstore, pursue them - but at least now the heat's off with them holding you almost to ransom. You can sort it in your own time, your own way.

Good luck, mate - keep as posted.

 

[vernon]

Grumpy John said

Rick, why give Virgin such a hard time when you have now decided to travel to Orlando how they were going to fly you out anyway - INDIRECT!

I'd hazard a guess at principle being the reason to book with another airline. As to why give Virgin a hard time???? I'f I'd been messed about this much I'd be spoiling for an argument with someone. IMHO Virgin deserve a hard time for this. You book up flights a year in advance, get confirmation of the flight numbers etc, then they bump you off the flight. If people don't stand up and fight for their rights when stuff like this happens, the you deserve the rubbish service that we often receive in this country. JMHO.

 

[Rick Walmsley]

Hi all

Effectively I had no choice with the indirect flights as that was all that was left.

The difference is that I will get there when I wanted to get there (well I'll be early now) and be able to do the things that I had planned.

I have worked long and hard to save for this holiday and put an enormous amount of time and effort into researching and planning it.

Yes things can go wrong at the last minute and you have to adjust and get on with it. I accept this. My point is that this whole saga was resolvable a considerable time ago.

£2500 is alot of money (well to me anyway) and quite frankly I would rather give it to a company, Travel and Sun.net travel agents in Manchester, that has bent over backwards to help me as opposed to the Travelstore that has turned what in reality is a fairly simple process into a shambles.

My new flight tickets arrived this morning. Not bad as I only booked two days ago. That's what I call good service.

Rick

 

[TracyK]

I'm glad you're beginning to sort things Rick. Just think 2 extra days in Orlando. I can recommend US Airways, they've been great when we've used them and the stop at Philadelphia hasn't been much hassle. When you arrive at Orlando you've already cleared customs so you just collect your bags and go. I hope you have a great time after all this.
Tracy

 

[KayleeUK]

Rick

Glad everything is sorted for you now

Remember with 2 extra nights enjoy that holiday even more

Have a good one !

 

[SidB]

Rather than threatening legal action I'd write explaining that you will be taking legal advise.

 

[Red-Snapper]

So 7 pages later and I am still wondering where Virgin Holidays come into all this.....?

 

[Rick Walmsley]

Hi all

In reply to Red-Sapper, the attached statement from Virgin Holidays should explain it-

"Virgin Travelstore have their own Customer Care Department but Virgin Holidays as the tour operator deal with the complaints from the client via the Travelstore. So any complaints you may have go firstly to the Travelstore and Travelstore forwards them to Virgin Holidays for a full response. "

Rick

 

[Scottish-Helen]

What you've been through with your booking is a nightmare!! Glad that you got alternative flights sorted though

I have worked in travel for the past 13 years and from the sounds of things Virgin Hoidays are the ones who messed up. If that is true it is THEM that you need to complain against as Travelstore are the agents (or middlemen). If you had a proper Virgin Holidays invoice then Travelstore have made the booking correctly to be fair to them.

Under the circumstances though Virgin Travelstore should of course help you as much as they can.

One of my previous jobs was as a Customer Service manager in a branch of Thomas Cook and part of my job was to deal with complaints and it could get rather frustrating dealing with the operators sometimes as it could be like hitting your head against a brick wall!!

Under ABTA rules you can approach the tour operator twice through your agent however if the situation is not resolved you must take it further either through ABTA or the small claims court. The travel agent does not get involved in this part of proceedings.

I really hope you get a satisfactory result from Virgin as it is really awful to have your well earned holidays messed about with,

Good Luck

 

[keasden]

Rick, been following this with interest as I have a booking with Virgin flying from Manchester in Feb, god forbid we have anything like the same messing around as you have had to put up with.

I'm glad you have found a viable alternative, I trust you will be pursing Virgin for the extra costs involved, but just a thought, did you consider asking them for upgraded seats on the indirect flight they offered, I would have thought 1st class or Premium class seats would have been some form of compensation for your indirect flights, a possible solution that would appease you whilst not coming at any cost to virgin themselves, assuming they have empty seats in the upper class sections.

I for one would gladly accept an upgrade to 1st class in exchange for having to fly indirect, hell they could go the long way round for me as long they put me in 1st class!!

Sorry its too late to be of much use but I wondered whether you had considered this option?