Tips to get refunds/credits

[mrschis]

As this is the first time I've experienced a postponement, can anyone tell me if I have to do anything about the tickets I bought for Caen? I had second row seats and don't want to lose them for September! Have managed to reschedule ferry for £31 and the hotel in France has been changed at no cost. Having problems with the Portsmouth Hilton though.
Hoping to hear from someone in the know!

[confetti]

If you had bought the tickets with ticketmaster they would be good for the rescheduled date, I am pretty sure all official ticket companies will be the same. However, best thing is to email the company you bought them off. If you bought them on the internet, they will probably email you to let you know the details anyway. Most likely everyone will hear something on monday when everyone is back to work.

[crystal]

I think it was already mentioned somewhere but just to let you know: I had an email from gdp where I bought the marseille tickets which informed me, that the dates have been changed and the tickets are valid for the September dates. No notice from fnac where I bought the Strasbourg tickets but an official announcement siad, that all tickets are honoured. I think nothing to worry about.
Christel

[mrschis]

Thank you both for the feedback. I will wait and see if I get an e-mail tomorrow. I was hoping it would be more or less automatic. Thanks

[Mabeanie1]

I am obviously too cynical for my own good. I may not have got anywhere with my hotel booking but I was much more successful with Eurotunnel. Even though this was not a flexible booking, I thought I would click on "amend a booking" on their website and see what happened. There were dire warnings that an extra fare would be payable if I switched my booking but when I got to the end of the process, the amount they charged me was ....£11!! So, if anyone else has a booking with Eurotunnel, I would say give it a go. My net loss position is certainly improving - I'm only about £400 down now ...

BTW Ken, I know you were trying to be helpful and I wasn't getting at you earlier. It's just that there had been a run of people (mainly from the US) saying you can cancel this and you can get a refund on that and I was getting a bit fed up with it. Obviously a grumpy day ...

Wendy

[confetti]

Excellent Wendy, what happened with your hotel booking?

[Mabeanie1]

Excellent Wendy, what happened with your hotel booking?

Hi confetti

I got a jobsworth response from the hotel, along the lines of "which part of non-modifiable don't you understand?" Vicomte has kindly offered to follow up for me so we'll see what happens.

Wendy

[confetti]

mabeanie, aagh how rude!! I think that would make me make sure never to book with them again. and tell everyone i know to do the same Hopefully you will get some sort of result.

[Vicomte]

Well I did try very hard for Wendy but the Director at the Novotel was adamant that their rules and regulations on reservations were always adhered to strictly. I even tried at the end of the conversation, to ask for them to do an exchange of the original two night booking for just one night in September, not possible she said!

What annoys me is that, OK they have their rules etc but in reality breakfasts won't be taken, nor will the taxe de séjour have to be paid. No doubt they will just say that those parts of the bill were included in the special price, rubbish!

In my opinion, anyone who has booked at the Novotel should definitely not cancel, even if they cannot make their dates, don't give Novotel the chance to make more money be re-letting the room. I wonder if it is not possible to sell the rooms on here, for those that are still going to visit Lille and who may have friends who would also like to go with them (but didn't at the original time, want to go to see Leonard), or put them on ebay or similar? I can't see anything about non transferable and anyway, one could surely just arrive and say it was a special gift for a Birthday or whatever.

[mrschis]

Yes, the Hilton Portsmouth was immovable as well. No amount of pleading worked. Still, it could have been worse it only cost £99. Shan't book with them again. Here we go Travelodge!!

[confetti]

That is such a short sighted view from those hotels, isn't it?

That would put me off from ever booking in a hilton or a novotel again. Would writing to the head offices of both groups have any affect do you thinkt? I can understand them not wanting to refund, but when they are guaranteed a booking at some point, you would think they would be a bit more understanding.

I would expect that as long as you didn't have to present the credit card that you booked with at the hotel on arrival, you should be able to sell the room to someone else.

[Inne]

Well I did try very hard for Wendy but the Director at the Novotel was adamant that their rules and regulations on reservations were always adhered to strictly. I even tried at the end of the conversation, to ask for them to do an exchange of the original two night booking for just one night in September, not possible she said!

That is so weird ! I received a mail this morning from the Novotel Lille Gares saying : "...Suite à votre demande j'ai le plaisir de vous confirmer la modification de votre réservation pour les 24 et 25 septembre 2010. Votre pré paiement est aussi déplacé en conséquence..."
Me too I had a "non-refundable/non-changeable" reservation and they have been so kind (in my opinion at least !) to change it anyway .
Inne

[StBruno]

For the price of a stamp and five minutes of your life its got to be worth writing to the head offices or PR departments of these skinflint hotels. They obviously like making money - but they won't like the negative publicity they're getting when their attitude is contrasted with that of other chains (Caen Hotels Ibis and Quatrans: - any others reported?), who were gracious in rearranging similar 'unchangeable' bookings.

Worth a try, though we don't want to get sued for libel (but it true, so should be covered...)

B

[Vicomte]

Well I did try very hard for Wendy but the Director at the Novotel was adamant that their rules and regulations on reservations were always adhered to strictly. I even tried at the end of the conversation, to ask for them to do an exchange of the original two night booking for just one night in September, not possible she said!

That is so weird ! I received a mail this morning from the Novotel Lille Gares saying : "...Suite à votre demande j'ai le plaisir de vous confirmer la modification de votre réservation pour les 24 et 25 septembre 2010. Votre pré paiement est aussi déplacé en conséquence..."
Me too I had a "non-refundable/non-changeable" reservation and they have been so kind (in my opinion at least !) to change it anyway .
Inne

Whether the Hotel Novotel Lille Gares is run on different lines (attitude?) to Hotel Novotel Lille Centre Grand Place may be the difference but unless one has all the details to hand, it is hard to fathom out why this should occur. I have suggested to Wendy that she contacts head office to ask their opinion.

Perhaps you can inform us to what your reservation was (fully paid or deposit) how much for and what you emailed them precisely?

[osmachar]

I hope you people will be lucky and can get your hotels/travel changed!!!

It also depends on what kind of person you get on the phone. I used to book a lot of business travel and sometimes called half an hour after the cancellation deadline. Some people were really lovely and didn't charge and some just kept saying 'this is policy'.

Does anyone know if we need to confirm that we still want the tickets? I just got an e-mail saying your ticket will still be valid for the September date.