The angry thread

[daffy]

That sucks, and does sound a tad dodgy. I'd take em on.

Has me wondering what will happen with my Inghams booking to Austria in late August.  £300 deposit paid months ago and due amount of over £3000 scheduled for payment in early June. At present Inghams are closed until the end of this month, so no idea whether they will alter their standard contract terms: alternative with us picking up any increases, or vouchers.

We shall probably have to cancel and take the hit of the deposit, (insurance won't cover it of course) but some companies are, like the Bluestone situation, taking a more circumspect view. Hilton hotels for instance are issuing full refunds to anybody booked with them for virus related cancellations, even if the booking was a non-refundable one originally. Sadly my airport hotel booking is with Ibis, who are not, yet, being so very understanding and reasonable.

Maybe things will change, so I won't cancel until June, if it comes to that. But if more punters across all holiday companies raise the same sort of complaints then maybe the industry will take notice and realise that goodwill at this time is protecting their future business prospects.
Very unlikely I know, and I can see and appreciate their situation is not straight forward, and every company has its own staff and costs to cover and protect.


And I think David might be right about the situation when a holiday company cancel. I'll take a look at my Inghams contract notes.

[Calnefoxile]

@Skyline2uk you may want to peruse Martin Lewis's site https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/02/coronavirus-travel-help-and-your-rights/ for sound advice.

Regards

Neal.

[Skyline2uk]

Thanks chaps

I will add your helpful links to my reading list.

@dannyboy : That was my first thought, I was sure basic consumer law states that if a company cannot provide a service a full cash refund is required.

Like I said, annoyed the in-law caved, but it was probably a bit intimidating.

Skyline2uk

[Trainfish]

Thanks chaps

I will add your helpful links to my reading list.

@dannyboy : That was my first thought, I was sure basic consumer law states that if a company cannot provide a service a full cash refund is required.

Like I said, annoyed the in-law caved, but it was probably a bit intimidating.

Skyline2uk

Adam @Skyline2uk if the holiday company cancels it then you are entitled to a full refund (not vouchers or credits). I would definitely take it further as it sounds like the in-laws felt, and were, intimidated. They should also have a cooling off period which may well apply here for the extra payment as a minimum. If needs be threaten them with Martin Lewis. As much as I detest the man he does have a good track record especially with his TV show these days. No company will want to be bad mouthed on national TV after all.
Good luck with this.

[dannyboy]

@Skyline2uk
The latest Martin Lewis email has just arrived -
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/02/coronavirus-travel-help-and-your-rights/?utm
a fair bit to read, but may help your in-laws. 

[stevewalker]

Argggh! I went on Rails of Sheffield's website today to order some decoders and some decoder sockets, selected the "in-stock" option, made my choice, ordered and selected the extra cost option of delivery tomorrow. Checked on my order later and found the decoders marked as "unconsigned". A later check showed them as not being in stock and only ordered from the supplier when you order and the sockets also changed to unconsigned ... yet the same decoders are available in a 5-pack, in-stock (at a higher cost per unit?). I don't know why they came up as in-stock when I was ordering and I would have ordered 5 instead of 3 to ensure that I got it tomorrow. Now God knows how long it'll be and even the sockets would have been of use, as I could have got on with wiring them in and put in blanking plugs for testing.

[stevewalker]

On Monday, I got through to Rails and they advised that their system would have brought up the decoders as in stock, as they did have at least one, but they didn't have the three I ordered and it doesn't flag that up when you place the order

Anyway, I cancelled and ordered a pack of five (versatile), including harnesses that I can use, from Hattons and paid for next day delivery. They took two days.

On Arrival this morning, the DCC Concepts box inside is marked as "ZN68 5 x 6-pin plus NEM651 & NEM652 Harnesses", but the contents were "ZN6D 5 x Direct 6-pin NEM651" and no harnesses.

Arghhhh! I've got two locos in bits waiting for these.

[Newportnobby]

40 minutes into 'In the factory' last night with 'Our Girl' last episode being recorded and a film at 10pm also set to record and 'dink' - power cut
The only thing possible to do (apart from just go to bed) was to play 'Spider Solitaire' on my laptop.
Power came back on at 23.15. Luckily my laptop was charged up or it would have been bed with no bread and gruel.
Guess I'll have to watch Michelle Keegan 'Our Girl' on iPlayer and watch the repeat of 'In the Factory'. Not too worried about the film.

[stevewalker]

On Monday, I got through to Rails and they advised that their system would have brought up the decoders as in stock, as they did have at least one, but they didn't have the three I ordered and it doesn't flag that up when you place the order

Anyway, I cancelled and ordered a pack of five (versatile), including harnesses that I can use, from Hattons and paid for next day delivery. They took two days.

On Arrival this morning, the DCC Concepts box inside is marked as "ZN68 5 x 6-pin plus NEM651 & NEM652 Harnesses", but the contents were "ZN6D 5 x Direct 6-pin NEM651" and no harnesses.

Arghhhh! I've got two locos in bits waiting for these.

I phoned Hattons on Wednesday and they said they'd try and send out the harnesses, but that they might need me to send the existing delivery back and send out a new pack. I was told that they would email me to tell me which. No email was received. Phoned on Thursday and told that they would send the harnesses. Having paid for next day delivery and they were not in the post this morning, I phoned again, only to find that they've not sent them out yet

They then said that they will push the warehouse to send them out today, via Royal Mail (so delivery next week!), but agreed to try and send them "next-day delivery" when I pointed out that'd the original order included extra cost for next-day DPD delivery.

I wouldn't mind so much, but these locos are in bits waiting, I don't want to move them as they are laid out in order, but they are in the way of me doing other things.

[dannyboy]

On 23rd April I ordered a lawn mower from a DIY chain. The local branch is only 20 miles from me and the staff are nice and it is a good store, but of course, it is shut, so I had to use the on line ordering service. On 27th April, the lawnmower was shown as sent and the order completed. I clicked on the 'track order' bit which takes me to the An Post website, but I get the message that the entered number, (I have not entered a  number!), is not recognised. On 28th April, I use the on line messaging service to ask which courier is being used and the following day again used the service to ask for a tracking number. I am still awaiting a reply. Today, after ten minutes searching, I found the telephone number of the head office. I rang it and after two minutes, I got cut off.  So I tried again - same result.  I realise and accept that the current situation is causing some problems for companies, but I am not impressed.  . I might use the on line message service to tell them to cancel the order and see if that gets a response  .

[guest311]

probably not, after all that just means they have your money and mower, and you'd just be fighting to get your money back, between cutting the lawn with a pair of scissors 

[dannyboy]

I use the term 'lawn' loosely. As I live in the middle of a field, it should be more accurately called a tamed patch of grass. I don't think much of the scissors idea Alan @class37025 , the area to cut is over 100' x 70', so it would be a bit tedious. The rest of 'the field'. which is half as big again, I leave to the farmer who owns the land surrounding my house - he has a grass cutter thingymyjig that he puts at the back of his tractor - only takes him about 30 minutes to do it a couple of times a year. And if I did ask for my money back, it would probably take weeks. 

[exmouthcraig]

@dannyboy you need to treat yourself to a few sheep David, I'm sure Louisa would happily have them now the lawn for you 

[dannyboy]

  I wonder if I could get her interested in knitting? 

[JBQFC]

Royal mail left my Hatton's parcel of 3 dapol class 33 on the doorstep in full view in the pouring rain no card through the door only new it had come was an email from royal mail saying it had been delivered   thankfully even though the box was well wet the models where dry