Latest news with #refundpolicy
Sky News
27-05-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Money Problem: We win reader a refund for 'complete failure' event after company refused to budge
Reader Ciaran sent in this Money Problem after paying nearly £55 for an event he was forced to leave halfway through... I purchased two tickets (costing £54.40) from FeverUp for a live jury experience in Manchester. Unfortunately the event was a complete failure due to technical issues that made the interactive element impossible. The WiFi at the venue wasn't strong enough to support the voting system. This meant the core experience, audience participation - simply didn't happen. The atmosphere quickly soured, with many audience members visibly frustrated. I left halfway through. When I contacted FeverUp, they denied me a refund or compensation, and said their terms and conditions said no refunds. Monzo also refused to raise a chargeback. It's so frustrating when an event doesn't go to plan, and it can be easy to think if a company has terms and conditions that state "no refunds" that is it. Like with most consumer disputes, the first place to start is the Consumer Rights Act (CRA) - this doesn't just apply to goods, but also services - and, crucially, this law supersedes any company policy. Section 49 of the CRA states that services must be performed with "reasonable care and skill", while the 2024 version of the act builds on this by saying any adverse factors that may restrict the consumer's enjoyment (such as restricted views - or in this case, issues with the sound system) must be disclosed at the point of purchase. The act also allows consumers to claim a refund if the event is not as described or of a satisfactory quality. Issues with the WiFi system, as you rightly pointed out when we talked, are foreseeable. Now it wasn't FeverUp's fault that issues arose - that was with the venue. But your contract was with FeverUp as you bought the tickets from them, so it is their responsibility to ensure that what they sold you complies with the act. Unfortunately, in this case, it did not. I contacted FeverUp, outlining all of the above, and asking them if they wished to reconsider their "no refunds" stance. Less than two hours later, they had issued you with an apology, a full refund and two complimentary tickets to another FeverUp experience in Manchester. This was resolved relatively quickly, but anyone who finds themselves in this situation should check the Consumer Rights Act. What you are entitled to can be summarised by my favourite mnemonic (thanks to the team at MoneySavingExpert for this one)... SAD FART. Items, goods and services should be... S atisfactory quality A s D escribed F it for purpose A nd last a R easonable length of T ime Remember, this takes precedence over any terms and conditions a company may try and cite. When it comes to complaining, detail is key - tell the company "according to the Consumer Rights Act..." and cite the relevant section if you can. This will show them you know your rights and are not going to be fobbed off. This feature is not intended as financial advice - the aim is to give an overview of the things you should think about. Submit your dilemma or consumer dispute via:
The Guardian
10-05-2025
- The Guardian
Holiday cancellations: can you sell or transfer your trip if you can't get a refund?
Even the best-laid holiday plans can go awry. Illness, bereavements, break-ups, money problems, redundancy, pregnancy, jury duty, floods – all of these can throw a getaway into disarray. But while you may miss out on a break in the sun or relaxing city break, you do not necessarily have to lose all of your money as a result of problems at home that force you to cancel your trip. You can now sell on your holiday in much the same way you sell on a concert ticket, although that is not the only way to get some money back. This will depend on how close you are to going away and what sort of booking you made. It is unlikely that you will get all of your money back when you cancel a package holiday as most are sold as not fully refundable. The closer you cancel to the departure date, the more it is likely to cost you. Tui, one of the biggest tour operators in the UK, will keep the deposit paid on a holiday if it is cancelled 70 days or more before departure and then a growing percentage of the overall price as you get closer to take-off. For example, if you cancel 65 days before, you will have to pay 30% of the booking price, while if there are two weeks or less to go you will pay the whole cost. Jet2Holidays has similar charges. If you put the holiday together yourself, then often the flight part will not be refundable if you decide not to travel. Ryanair's terms and conditions say if you do not travel, you are not entitled to money back. EasyJet allows cancellations within 24 hours of booking but charges a £49 fee online (£55 if you do it through customer services). Some other airlines offer refundable tickets. These typically cost more than standard tickets when you buy them – so check which type you have. Hotels' terms and conditions vary and some allow free cancellation up to a day before the booking, although there could be a fee, while some are partially refundable. However, many will be non-refundable. First, contact your tour operator, airline, ferry company or hotel as soon as you know that you will not be travelling to see what money you can get back. Some travel operators may be lenient when it comes to cancellation caused by unforeseen illness and let you move the holiday to another date out of goodwill. Matt Gatenby, a partner at the law firm Travlaw, says that if you contact a company to explain you have been taken ill, it may suggest you can go at a later date. Airlines, however, are typically not as lenient or sympathetic, he adds. Even if a booking is non-refundable it is worth contacting the company and explaining what has gone wrong. If, for example, you are cancelling because you have been diagnosed with a serious illness, some will waive the usual rules and offer a refund if you can provide a doctor's letter as evidence. Many travel insurance policies have cancellation cover which will pay out if you have to cancel for reasons set out in the T&Cs. For example, one policy from Admiral (£36 for a family of four for a year) pays out in case of death or serious injury of you or a close relative; a Covid diagnosis; quarantine; court cases; unemployment; damage to your home from fire or unemployment. Make sure that you have enough cancellation cover for the trip. The one above will pay out up to £1,500 a person but with an excess of £150. What it will not pay out on is if you cancel because you had a pre-existing condition or if you simply do not want to travel. It is possible to sell on a holiday you can no longer use, but it is not straightforward and you are unlikely to recoup all of the money you have spent. A number of websites and groups on social media have emerged in recent years whereby people who have non-refundable holidays, flights or hotels can pass them on to someone else once the names on the bookings have been changed and fees paid. This week, on a Facebook group called 'Holidays for sale booked and paid but can't go or cancel', one woman was selling a week-long family holiday to Turkey – which starts on Sunday – for £800 after paying more than £1,600. She said it was because she would not have a passport on time. Another person was selling a double room in Amsterdam for three nights for the end of June for £350. She said it had cost her £481. Two websites, SpareFare and Transfer Travel, operate eBay-style marketplaces in which people can sell on their holiday, flight and hotel bookings. On SpareFare, a US-based site, there is a two-person holiday to Faro in Portugal, with flights from Gatwick, for 10 nights this week for £1,001 – half the price it would currently cost from the provider, according to the site. A week-long holiday in Mallorca from 21 May, with flights from Manchester for three, is £1,005, almost half of the market price. Transfer Travel, meanwhile, has return flights for two to Jamaica in September for £950, down from £1,950. Two weeks in Corfu with flights from Luton and accommodation at the Aqualand resort is £1,040 for two. You can check whether a package holiday can be transferred by contacting the provider. With package holidays, flights and hotels in most cases it simply involves changing the names and details of the booking once you have found a buyer and agreed a price. Erik Ritland,the owner of SpareFare, says swapping the name on a holiday is an easier process than it was in the past and requires the name, date of birth and address of the buyer. Changing the name usually involves a fee. For Tui, this is £25. On Jet2holidays it is £50 unless it is within two weeks of travel and then it goes up to £150, while changing the date of birth is £10. Ryanair name changes are £115 a person for each flight, meaning it can often not be worthwhile selling on your booking. On SpareFare, the seller pays the name-change fee because they are the only person able to alter the details, says Ritland. The fee is included in the amount they charge for the holiday. The site charges the seller 12% commission on the final selling price. Transfer Travel charges 15% commission and the seller pays for the name change. On both SpareFare and Transfer Travel, a buyer can barter or bid for a different price to that being advertised. Each site says that they ensure the holidays and flights are legitimate before sale through a verification process. You claimed on insurance If you have claimed on an insurance policy, for example if they have a serious illness, you cannot then go on and sell the holiday to someone else. 'That would be fraudulent as they would effectively have a double refund,' Gatenby says. Insurance companies usually require a cancellation invoice from a travel business before they process a claim to prevent such a thing happening.
