CoronaVirus

Bingoo1

elperello wrote: »

First - read the terms and conditions on your contract ie. booking.
Second - keep trying to contact company, keep a log of attempts.
Third - check your travel insurance.

If it was me I would be slow to part with any more money until the company clarified the situation.

I tried to call them (Alpharooms) again and the automated message said they weren't taking any calls at this time ..... only contacting customers within a two week window. My contract says .......Flight bookings will incur 100% cancellation charges from the time of booking along with our administration fee of £30 per person.

Will I be saying bye bye to my €700 on Monday? ..... take a chance and let it run. If I do get through to them I probably try and change the holiday to October. It will be very touch and go still in end of June.

Bingoo1

Thanks Elperello for your help. Much appreciated.

CWF

British Airways flights booked from Dublin to Singapore end of and I'm flying with Air Asia to Bali start of July and home Aug. How likely is this to go ahead?

Ms2011

Tippgirl74 wrote: »

I would be double checking that insurance covers this. We found out the hard way that insureandgo annual multitrip gold dies not cover this,!!

Our travel agent said to ring back May 12th and we can reassess the situation but we can cancel and get credit or move our dates if we wish. But the only way we'll get our money back is if Ireland is still banned from flying into America.

Tippgirl74

Bingoo1 wrote: »

I tried to call them (Alpharooms) again and the automated message said they weren't taking any calls at this time ..... only contacting customers within a two week window. My contract says .......Flight bookings will incur 100% cancellation charges from the time of booking along with our administration fee of £30 per person.

Will I be saying bye bye to my €700 on Monday? ..... take a chance and let it run. If I do get through to them I probably try and change the holiday to October. It will be very touch and go still in end of June.

That is very stressful!! Aer lingus are now offering free changes and/or free voucher but only until May 31st. I imagine will have to be extended if this continues, but a lot of unknowns! I know loveholidays.ie waived their admin fee for cancellations/changes due to Corona virus. We had hotel in Málaga booked with them in may. Shocking that you can't get through at all!

Credit Checker Moose

Premier Inn wrote to me offering to cancel a non refundable booking free of charge. Kudos to them.

RoYoBo

@Tippgirl74, have you asked Insureandgo whether they will transfer/extend your cover to a different date, seeing as how you have no cover at all with their policy? Mine is single trip, but it irks me that I have bought something that is actually worthless and they have my money for nothing. I haven't approached them yet to ask (other bigger issues going on for me lately, never mind the money!).

One thing I'm certain about, if they don't accommodate me with something I will never use Insureandgo again! Big eye opener and very bad PR for them. It would cost them nothing to transfer the travel insurance to another date but it'll cost them a lot in the long term.

elperello

Bingoo1 wrote: »

I tried to call them (Alpharooms) again and the automated message said they weren't taking any calls at this time ..... only contacting customers within a two week window. My contract says .......Flight bookings will incur 100% cancellation charges from the time of booking along with our administration fee of £30 per person.

Will I be saying bye bye to my €700 on Monday? ..... take a chance and let it run. If I do get through to them I probably try and change the holiday to October. It will be very touch and go still in end of June.

Consider contacting them by email so you will have a record of your communication.

I would not give up hope. I have used Alpharooms several times, even as far back as when they were Alphabeds. I found them to be a fair and honorable company to deal with.

elperello

RoYoBo wrote: »

@Tippgirl74, have you asked Insureandgo whether they will transfer/extend your cover to a different date, seeing as how you have no cover at all with their policy? Mine is single trip, but it irks me that I have bought something that is actually worthless and they have my money for nothing. I haven't approached them yet to ask (other bigger issues going on for me lately, never mind the money!).

One thing I'm certain about, if they don't accommodate me with something I will never use Insureandgo again! Big eye opener and very bad PR for them. It would cost them nothing to transfer the travel insurance to another date but it'll cost them a lot in the long term.

It's at times like this you find out who the good companies are in the travel business.

A lot of them rode the mass travel bandwagon but are running for cover when they are needed most.

Insureandstay doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

Tippgirl74

RoYoBo wrote: »

@Tippgirl74, have you asked Insureandgo whether they will transfer/extend your cover to a different date, seeing as how you have no cover at all with their policy? Mine is single trip, but it irks me that I have bought something that is actually worthless and they have my money for nothing. I haven't approached them yet to ask (other bigger issues going on for me lately, never mind the money!).

One thing I'm certain about, if they don't accommodate me with something I will never use Insureandgo again! Big eye opener and very bad PR for them. It would cost them nothing to transfer the travel insurance to another date but it'll cost them a lot in the long term.

Good idea!! No didn't think about that when it's an annual policy. Might be worth trying Monday if I can get through. I am also ringing to cancel. Remember they have an automatic renewal!!

As it turns out we have been incredibly blessed and lost no money. Ryanair cancelled our flights next Tuesday. Full refund. Ebookers refunded non-refundable accommodation. Hotel agreed to this in fairness when I phoned. Couldn't have been nicer. Hotel Best Semiramis. Claimed aer lingus vouchers for flight to Málaga in may and loveholidays cancelled refundable booking for hotel with no charge. So all's well that ends well.

But was incredibly stressful trying to sort this past few weeks as we stood to lose what for us is a lot of money between the 2 hols!! Sorry to hear that you are dealing with big issues. I'm sure the extra stress isn't helping.

I would never ever again get insurance with insureandgo!! There's way better out there!! AA and VHI insurance both covered corona. Customer service was poor and very dismissive. When all this is over I intend to start a thread on best travel insurance out there!!

yellow hen

Credit Checker Moose wrote: »

Premier Inn wrote to me offering to cancel a non refundable booking free of charge. Kudos to them.

Lucky. We had to book another date!

Bingoo1

elperello wrote: »

Consider contacting them by email so you will have a record of your communication.

I would not give up hope. I have used Alpharooms several times, even as far back as when they were Alphabeds. I found them to be a fair and honorable company to deal with.[/QUOTE

Yes. I'll email them. Thanks for the advice.

Sheep Shagger

yellow hen wrote: »

Lucky. We had to book another date!

Wow, we could only change our Novotel (Accor) non refundable booking to another date in 2020.

Wuff Wuff

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

Wow, we could only change our Novotel (Accor) non refundable booking to another date in 2020.

I got a refund from IBIS (Accor) for a non refundable booking 27 - 30 March

Dodge

As has been said folks, remember the companies who have been kind to customers

And the ones who haven’t

We’ll all be going on holidays again. It’d be nice to reward the ones who looked after us

Nigel Fairservice

yellow hen wrote: »

Lucky. We had to book another date!

I got to cancel my booking for a refund from Premier Inn. I think anyone with bookings for before 31 May got this option. Will most definitely stay with them again.

RoYoBo

Tippgirl74 wrote: »

Good idea!! No didn't think about that when it's an annual policy. Might be worth trying Monday if I can get through. I am also ringing to cancel. Remember they have an automatic renewal!!

As it turns out we have been incredibly blessed and lost no money. Ryanair cancelled our flights next Tuesday. Full refund. Ebookers refunded non-refundable accommodation. Hotel agreed to this in fairness when I phoned. Couldn't have been nicer. Hotel Best Semiramis. Claimed aer lingus vouchers for flight to Málaga in may and loveholidays cancelled refundable booking for hotel with no charge. So all's well that ends well.

But was incredibly stressful trying to sort this past few weeks as we stood to lose what for us is a lot of money between the 2 hols!! Sorry to hear that you are dealing with big issues. I'm sure the extra stress isn't helping.

I would never ever again get insurance with insureandgo!! There's way better out there!! AA and VHI insurance both covered corona. Customer service was poor and very dismissive. When all this is over I intend to start a thread on best travel insurance out there!!

Thanks, Tippgirl, for your kind thoughts. A close family member has recently been diagnosed with a life threatening illness (aggressive cancer) so it puts all else into perspective

That's a good idea re a travel insurance thread - I'll be adding my input if you do. I've often been asked about travel insurance and, since I've never claimed, have always added a caveat when recommending Insureandgo. Will be going out of my way to let people know about them from now on. There WILL be life and business after this is over but not likely for them.

We were lucky enough with the rest of the holiday expenses and have been told we'll get the flights refunded (Aer Lingus) and our accommodation deposit will be transferred to another date. Hopefully, they'll still be in business, as they're an independent agent in Spain.

Stay well

acequion

Sorry if this has come up already! I had a trip planned to Portugal from 6th to 10th April. The outbound flight is cancelled but not the return, WTF???

I want the refund and anyway I can't come back if I don't go out! Does anyone know what I'm supposed to do? Or should I be posting this query somewhere else. Please help! Thanks.

elperello

acequion wrote: »

Sorry if this has come up already! I had a trip planned to Portugal from 6th to 10th April. The outbound flight is cancelled but not the return, WTF???

I want the refund and anyway I can't come back if I don't go out! Does anyone know what I'm supposed to do? Or should I be posting this query somewhere else. Please help! Thanks.

Just sit tight you will be ok.

The airline will refund eventually when their systems catch up.

Which airline is it?

acequion

elperello wrote: »

Just sit tight you will be ok.

The airline will refund eventually when their systems catch up.

Which airline is it?

Sorry,Ryanair. And thanks for reply.

As of yet I've clicked into nothing as I want the whole lot refunded. So do I just wait it out or should I click for the refund on the outgoing flight?

Thanks again!

Dodge

acequion wrote: »

Sorry,Ryanair. And thanks for reply.

As of yet I've clicked into nothing as I want the whole lot refunded. So do I just wait it out or should I click for the refund on the outgoing flight?

Thanks again!

Wait until they’ve cancelled the return flight and they apply for the refund for the whole lot. They’re cancelling flights in batches so you’ll be OK

Collie D

If you booked the flights as a return Ryanair should be offering refund on both.

When you go into the cancellation form there’s a box to tick. Can’t remember the exact wording - “All passengers for all flights” or something similar.

At least, that has been my experience both in the past and in the current situation.

acequion

Thanks for the replies guys. First time I've been in this situation. For someone who flies a lot, I've been incredibly lucky.

I'll wait another day or two and hopefully they'll cancel the return as well.

leex

Credit Checker Moose wrote: »

Premier Inn wrote to me offering to cancel a non refundable booking free of charge. Kudos to them.

Same experience here. Well done to them. I'll be booking with them again.

Nigel Fairservice

leex wrote: »

Same experience here. Well done to them. I'll be booking with them again.

I cancelled my booking with them on Saturday night and I had a notification from my Curve card this morning saying my refund had been processed. Very quick in fairness to them. They have taken the uncertainty out of things for people and made the cancellation process really easy. No calling call centres begging for your money back and getting non committal answers. I received an email saying I could cancel. I logged on to the website and cancelled the booking. Refund processed this morning. They made it as easy as that. Well done to them.

Gael23

I’m booked on an escorted tour, they are offering a travel voucher to the value of the tour plus 10%

Padraig Mor

leex wrote: »

Same experience here. Well done to them. I'll be booking with them again.

Yeah, Premier Inn have offered to cancel my non refundable London room booked for May. The event in question hasn't been cancelled yet but surely must be soon so holding off for that.

Had another London room booked with eBookers for April - again non refundable, and again they let me cancel free of charge.

Fair play in both cases.

Collie D

Anybody manage to get a refund from EasyJet? Flight is cancelled as per their app and website but haven't received a notification mail. Only option available online is to change dates and need to contact customer service to claim refund which is easier said than done - live chat closed.

acequion

I booked a non refundable special offer with a hotel in Portugal at Easter. All they have offered is to keep the amount in credit up to November but that I'd pay the price difference for another time. The price difference [for later in the year] is quite substantial.

I was disappointed as I thought they'd do better than that. Should I try bargaining with them? Also, I'm not sure if they will actually be closed at Easter as it's a state of emergency in Portugal. In that case,would my VHI multi trip insurance kick in?

While I would like to get a chance to go another time, like others, my decision would be influenced by the flexibility and basic niceness shown by the hotel. Or am I being unfair?

Tippgirl74

acequion wrote: »

I booked a non refundable special offer with a hotel in Portugal at Easter. All they have offered is to keep the amount in credit up to November but that I'd pay the price difference for another time. The price difference [for later in the year] is quite substantial.

I was disappointed as I thought they'd do better than that. Should I try bargaining with them? Also, I'm not sure if they will actually be closed at Easter as it's a state of emergency in Portugal. In that case,would my VHI multi trip insurance kick in?

While I would like to get a chance to go another time, like others, my decision would be influenced by the flexibility and basic niceness shown by the hotel. Or am I being unfair?

If the DFA is still recommending only non essential travel at Easter, I believe you are fully covered by vhi. Otherwise I think you are at the mercy of the hotel. If it closes down, however, I expect your insurance would cover it also. If you have paid by credit card, you might be able to get a charge back from your credit card co.

Did you book directly with the hotel? I think you can always query an offer they have made and point out how unsatisfactory it is for you and how disappointed you are. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Good luck with it!