Britanny Ferries 2021

I, seemingly like others, am still very confused by the bod who makes bookings and then cancels them, expecting the company to drop their strides and give him his money back in full each and every time.

It started with a trip with his mate a couple of years back. His travel companion developed a serious medical condition and could not go. That ‘loss’ (at least for the ill person) would probably been covered by travel insurance but no claim was made. SiRich could still have gone on his own but opted not to. They both received a refund in the form of vouchers valid for two years. The ferry company was (apparently) not obliged to give the refunds but they did. Why the vouchers were not subsequently used (or indeed if they were used) is not immediately obvious.

Roll on a couple of years. Another booking is made but then cancelled, not by the ferry operator (as I read it) but - as with the cancellation above - by the fellow himself. There then seems to be some convoluted story about screen shots, cheques and vouchers, coupled with a lot of shouting.

The moral of the story....

A. If you make bookings, do your best to fulfil them.

B. Buy decent travel insurance and claim off it, should something bad happen. If the person (a mate, with all that implys) is too ill to claim, help them to do it.

C. Don’t change your mind about going and expect the world to accommodate you.

D. Stick to selling expensive private number plates on UKGSer, that goes really well :D

Fair points and agree esp D! I never expected all my money back. It’s how they are to deal with that annoys me, esp on the back of COVID. Their IT systems are shit, the sort of stuff implemented 20 years ago.

When they cancelled my first sailing because of COVID they cancelled my return sailing separately a few weeks later, why not link the two, even linking my refund/vouchers back together later for one voucher, it was booked as ONE trip.

The Message displayed last week was a complete lie. That’s a poor customer experience whether he is an indecisive wanker or not. They need to badly update a joke of an IT system
 

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Jolly good. Now go to Scotland or prepare for a ride through France and back for Spain.

:beerjug:
 
Not sure if SiRich falls into this category or not, but it would explain why the cancellation in 2018 was according to BF's T&Cs:

Some people wait until they are due to travel, to take out their travel insurance policy - which prevents any cancellation cover before the policy commences.

Best way of avoiding that pitfall - is to have an annual policy.
 
Not sure if SiRich falls into this category or not, but it would explain why the cancellation in 2018 was according to BF's T&Cs:

Some people wait until they are due to travel, to take out their travel insurance policy - which prevents any cancellation cover before the policy commences.

Best way of avoiding that pitfall - is to have an annual policy.

To be honest I do have ongoing travel insurance via my Bank Account and It’s rewards. I perhaps could/should have gone down that route originally, I booked the original trip in my name, the person who was ill was a friend so not an immediate family member, it could have been a difficult claim. Insurance companies thrive on small print (sorry Wapping):D

Its the recent fiasco and misleading statements from their customer facing systems that has narked me.:beerjug:
 
It is not small print. Travel insurance is issued to a single person or say a joint membership of a husband and wife or a family, where the children are under age or living at home / university. Many generally extend to then embrace ‘direct and reasonably close family’ should some calamity befall them, say the death of a sister. It being reasonable that the death of the sister is good enough cause not to go on holiday.

It generally does not extend to embrace:

A. A mate, who has fallen ill / died and can’t now go or who was never going anyway but has fallen ill / died. Though you might well feel bad about it, he is of no direct relation to you and there is no overriding reason why you can’t still go on YOUR holiday. In short, it would be you who decided not to go. He needs his own travel policy.

B. The insured person changing their mind.

Both the above are not covered for fairly obvious reasons.
 
Not sure if SiRich falls into this category or not, but it would explain why the cancellation in 2018 was according to BF's T&Cs:

Some people wait until they are due to travel, to take out their travel insurance policy - which prevents any cancellation cover before the policy commences.

Best way of avoiding that pitfall - is to have an annual policy.

Good advice.

Buy an annual policy or buy a short term policy commencing just as soon as you pay the deposit or book the transport / hotel ie just as soon as you have spent any money linked directly to the holiday, which might be weeks or even months ahead of the scheduled departure date.
 
It is not small print. Travel insurance is issued to a single person or say a joint membership of a husband and wife or a family, where the children are under age or living at home / university. Many generally extend to then embrace ‘direct and reasonably close family’ should some calamity befall them, say the death of a sister. It being reasonable that the death of the sister is good enough cause not to go on holiday.

It generally does not extend to embrace:

A. A mate, who has fallen ill / died and can’t now go or who was never going anyway but has fallen ill / died. Though you might well feel bad about it, he is of no direct relation to you and there is no overriding reason why you can’t still go on YOUR holiday. In short, it would be you who decided not to go. He needs his own travel policy.

B. The insured person changing their mind.

Both the above are not covered for fairly obvious reasons.

I knew you’d bite.:D Bottom line I wouldn’t be in a position to claim for the initial trip and accepted that, I think I said that in my original post.:beerjug:
 
I knew you’d bite.:D Bottom line I wouldn’t be in a position to claim for the initial trip and accepted that, I think I said that in my original post.:beerjug:

No but your mate (if he indeed had insurance) could probably have done, for his chunk of change.

The advice was not aimed at you per-se, more at anyone tripping over the thread and wondering if they might be able to claim under similar circumstances.
 


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