Coronavirus

[vwgolf]

42 minutes ago, WeeCountyMan said:

 

Nice one, well done that man.

 

Incidentally, Simon Calder was on BBC Radio Scotland this morning - he reckons flights to Spain and Canaries have a fair chance of resuming July or August.

 

That came as a surprise to the show's host - as it will to many I suspect.

 

Thank you! It will remain in my bank account for a few months until we are quite confident the situation is as near back to normal as it ever can be!

[Jim The Scot]

3 hours ago, WeeCountyMan said:

 

Nice one, well done that man.

 

Incidentally, Simon Calder was on BBC Radio Scotland this morning - he reckons flights to Spain and Canaries have a fair chance of resuming July or August.

 

That came as a surprise to the show's host - as it will to many I suspect.

 

I,m surprised 😂

 

We,re being told when restrictions are eased there will still be a requirement for social distancing,possibly until theres a vaccine or at the very least mass testing.Dont know how you implement social distancing on a plane,airport etc

 

It,ll also be interesting to see the first country to take the lead and brave enough to start letting flights of tourists in and out their country

 

 

Edited April 21, 2020 by Jim The Scot

[WeeCountyMan]

30 minutes ago, Jim The Scot said:

I,m surprised 😂

 

Ditto

 

Here's the soundbite from BBC Radio Scotland on iPlayer from this morning's show.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000hdmb

 

Advance to 51:20 where Simon Calder is asked to comment again.

 

Fingers crossed the link works !!!

 

 

 

[MX-Drew]

4 hours ago, WeeCountyMan said:

 

Nice one, well done that man.

 

Incidentally, Simon Calder was on BBC Radio Scotland this morning - he reckons flights to Spain and Canaries have a fair chance of resuming July or August.

 

That came as a surprise to the show's host - as it will to many I suspect.

Quite frankly I don't trust a word Simon Calder says after he suggest in February that now was a great time to book a holiday to Venice. That was when Northern Italy was locking down areas and it was clear to everyone (except Simon) Italy was not a great place to be booking a last minute holiday to.

I have sine heard other misinformation from Simon regarding refunds etc. It seems the media in general think he is a travel god but I feel he has lost touch with reality recently.

 

Simon's advice on Venice can be found here https://www.msn.com/en-ph/travel/tips/coronavirus-means-travel-deals-galore-but-would-you-snap-them-up/ar-BB10v6xW?li=BBr91nr

Edited April 21, 2020 by MX-Drew

[kevinyork]

4 minutes ago, MX-Drew said:

Quite frankly I don't trust a word Simon Calder says after he suggest in February that now was a great time to book a holiday to Venice. That was when Northern Italy was locking down areas and it was clear to everyone (except Simon) Italy was not a great place to be booking a last minute holiday to.

I have sine heard other misinformation from Simon regarding refunds etc. It seems the media in general think he is a travel god but I feel he has lost touch with reality recently.

 

Simon's advice on Venice can be found here https://www.msn.com/en-ph/travel/tips/coronavirus-means-travel-deals-galore-but-would-you-snap-them-up/ar-BB10v6xW?li=BBr91nr

I agree.  I get a bit fed up that if ever there is a travel story every news outlet defaults to him, surely there are other (better) travel correspondents?  At the very least share the work around. 

[Jim The Scot]

1 hour ago, WeeCountyMan said:

 

Ditto

 

Here's the soundbite from BBC Radio Scotland on iPlayer from this morning's show.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000hdmb

 

Advance to 51:20 where Simon Calder is asked to comment again.

 

Fingers crossed the link works !!!

 

 

 

 

Thanks WCM,will have a listen later

[howmuch!]

8 hours ago, vwgolf said:

 

Money fully refunded and in my account. Woooo!!!

 

Congratulations - wonders never cease. I would definitely buy a lottery ticket this week!!

[Jim The Scot]

On 4/19/2020 at 2:43 PM, Pensioncruiser said:

Fingers crossed for you Jim keep us informed 🤞

 

Hi P

 

Thought i,d give you a wee update on whats happened so far with our booking via our Independant TA..

 

Outwith a few txt messages not a lot 

 

Txt me 2 weeks past Saturday to let me know our cruise was cancelled although already knew and asked if I was looking to move dates or transfer it,no word on refund.I was to reply to his txt which I duly did and he said he,d give me a call..No call forthcoming.Dropped him another txt last Wednesday to remind him.He replied to say he,d call me the following day,nothing

 

If we werent social distancing I,d go and chap his door as he stays just over a mile from us 😂

 

We have another hol booked for later this year and balance due in July.Can see us having go through the same all over again

Edited April 27, 2020 by Jim The Scot

[NIX70]

On 3/18/2020 at 2:42 PM, NIX70 said:

I posted yesterday when I didn't have very good news, so I want to post today with an update. Tui customer services phoned me at 7.30 last night (after I'd spoken to them originally at lunchtime when they could only offer a rebook). This time they offered me a refund on the spot, which I accepted. It was the same lady I'd spoken to at lunchtime (Heidi, very helpful), she said they were all staying late to try and sort out everyone's queries so that they could start again fresh today. Very sensible approach by Tui. I didn't hold out much hope of getting a call back and had resigned myself to a fight, but this is good customer service.

Another update on this saga, and unfortunately I'm going to take back what I said about good customer service. It was from the individual lady at the call centre, but it hasn't been followed up by Tui. Over a month on and still no sign of my £5k, but I've had 5 generic emails from Tui offering me rebooking. I've also had an email two weeks ago confirming that the refund would be processed but for £500 less than I paid. No reason given for that. I've tried to ring customer services a couple of times, but no luck getting through so far. I realise they're inundated and they're struggling to manage cashflow but IF they survive this crisis they need to take a very hard look at their customer service model (not to mention their PR and their crisis management - both shocking).

[Bertie Doe]

1 hour ago, NIX70 said:

I realise they're inundated and they're struggling to manage cashflow but IF they survive this crisis they need to take a very hard look at their customer service model (not to mention their PR and their crisis management - both shocking).

 

A condition of TUI's €1.8 billion loan was they 'furloughed 11,000 of it's 13,200 UK employees. So the staff that took your money so quickly, aren't around to to reimburse your hard-earned cash so speedily. No mention of German redundancies. https://www.ttgmedia.com/news/news/tui-takes-up-18-billion-loan-from-germanys-state-bank-22326

 

The three new Mein Shif cruise ships being built at the moment, must also place stress on the purse-strings. I'm sure TUI are being even-handed with their own people and us Brexiteers, I just can't find any evidence of it.

 

Most of our cruises have been with TUI/Marella but never, never again.

 

[kevinyork]

3 hours ago, Bertie Doe said:

 

A condition of TUI's €1.8 billion loan was they 'furloughed 11,000 of it's 13,200 UK employees. So the staff that took your money so quickly, aren't around to to reimburse your hard-earned cash so speedily. No mention of German redundancies. https://www.ttgmedia.com/news/news/tui-takes-up-18-billion-loan-from-germanys-state-bank-22326

 

The three new Mein Shif cruise ships being built at the moment, must also place stress on the purse-strings. I'm sure TUI are being even-handed with their own people and us Brexiteers, I just can't find any evidence of it.

 

Most of our cruises have been with TUI/Marella but never, never again.

 

I had a feeling this might be the case, did you source this from somewhere?

[kevinyork]

4 hours ago, Bertie Doe said:

 

A condition of TUI's €1.8 billion loan was they 'furloughed 11,000 of it's 13,200 UK employees. So the staff that took your money so quickly, aren't around to to reimburse your hard-earned cash so speedily. No mention of German redundancies. https://www.ttgmedia.com/news/news/tui-takes-up-18-billion-loan-from-germanys-state-bank-22326

 

The three new Mein Shif cruise ships being built at the moment, must also place stress on the purse-strings. I'm sure TUI are being even-handed with their own people and us Brexiteers, I just can't find any evidence of it.

 

Most of our cruises have been with TUI/Marella but never, never again.

 

Sorry was looking on a phone, now can see the link.  I’m annoyed. They get a German bailout and get Uk government help to furlough most admin staff then leave a tiny crew to deal with refunds and amendments. That atrocious.

[Bertie Doe]

25 minutes ago, kevinyork said:

Sorry was looking on a phone, now can see the link.  I’m annoyed. They get a German bailout and get Uk government help to furlough most admin staff then leave a tiny crew to deal with refunds and amendments. That atrocious.

Yep, they're an Anglo/German company but Berlin seems to call the shots. No doubt they will argue that it's the German Bank putting up the loan and must abide by their terms and conditions. Taking over the ailing British companyThomas Cook was a bad move too. Here's another source on the loan :-

https://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/366103/coronavirus-tui-to-furlough-11000-uk-staff

[Bertie Doe]

2 hours ago, MX-Drew said:

More inaccurate information from you! Thomas Cook Shops were taken over by Hays Travel.

Fosun International purchased the Thomas Cook name and logo along with the Casa Cook and Cook’s Club hotel brands.

So I don’t see a Tui involvement here.

 

You are correct as usual. I should have said TUI took on some Thomas Cook pilots and crew and added 10,000 flights, as a result of TC's collapse. :-

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/thomas-cook-collapse-latest-tui-extra-flights-holidays-pilots-crew-recruit-a9150301.html

The main point of my post was the furloughing of 11000 of it's UK staff. There have been many posts in this thread, stating the slowness in communication with TUI/Marella. Hopefully this goes some way in explaining why. Paul

 

[MX-Drew]

1 minute ago, Bertie Doe said:

 

You are correct as usual. I should have said TUI took on some Thomas Cook pilots and crew and added 10,000 flights, as a result of TC's collapse. :-

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/thomas-cook-collapse-latest-tui-extra-flights-holidays-pilots-crew-recruit-a9150301.html

The main point of my post was the furloughing of 11000 of it's UK staff. There have been many posts in this thread, stating the slowness in communication with TUI/Marella. Hopefully this goes some way in explaining why. Paul

 

Thank you for adding the detail. As they say the devil is in the details.

[tidespring]

Just wanted to let people know that the refunds are slowly getting done. My case was not a cruise this time but a Madeira holiday for 23rd March. Cancelled a week before travel due to the company cancelling . Phoned at home by TUI a week or so later and offered re booking but asked for a refund. Received an email that same day stating the money would be in my bank by 18th March, which never happened. Yesterday 27th April, the money was refunded to my account. Don't give up hope. 

[howmuch!]

4 hours ago, tidespring said:

Just wanted to let people know that the refunds are slowly getting done. My case was not a cruise this time but a Madeira holiday for 23rd March. Cancelled a week before travel due to the company cancelling . Phoned at home by TUI a week or so later and offered re booking but asked for a refund. Received an email that same day stating the money would be in my bank by 18th March, which never happened. Yesterday 27th April, the money was refunded to my account. Don't give up hope. 

Hi, glad you have received your refund, as very few appear to have been that lucky (me included).

Did you get your dates mixed up a bit. I assume your holiday was cancelled around the 15th March. You were phoned at home by Tui a week or so later. How did the email promised a refund for the 18th March?

[tidespring]

Phone call from Tui came on the 17th of March followed immediately by an e mail stating my refund would be processed by 18th of March. This of course never happened. I was never able to get through on the phone or by any means after this.Hope this helps others.

[Pensioncruiser]

13 minutes ago, tidespring said:

Phone call from Tui came on the 17th of March followed immediately by an e mail stating my refund would be processed by 18th of March. This of course never happened. I was never able to get through on the phone or by any means after this.Hope this helps others.

Very similar to our experience have a look at my post 25&27 under Your next Marella cruise. It does appear things are moving. 

[Jim The Scot]

I see they are now prioritising customers due to travel on or before 1 June 2020 now

 

We fall into that category but dont know if they will contact us(they have my cintact details)or the TA we booked through.If its the latter we,ll be relying on them to then contact us

 

 

 

[Pensioncruiser]

7 minutes ago, Jim The Scot said:

I see they are now prioritising customers due to travel on or before 1 June 2020 now

 

We fall into that category but dont know if they will contact us(they have my cintact details)or the TA we booked through.If its the latter we,ll be relying on them to then contact us

 

 

 

Fingers crossed for you Jim but if you do have some time on your hands phone them you will have to be persistent and have patience but they, well they did for us, when you get through have all your info and can explain what they are doing. 🤞

[Jim The Scot]

Thanks P

 

Time is something I,m not short of 😀

 

Having said that not sure if TUI/Marella/call centre would entertain my call having booked through an independant TA.Saying that we have our reference number

 

I,ll give it till start of next week and see if my TA gets in touch first

 

Thing is,we,re still unsure what we,ll be doing eg moving dates or refund.If they offer a decent discount and price is right we,ll possibly  move dates

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by Jim The Scot

[Pensioncruiser]

30 minutes ago, Jim The Scot said:

Having said that not sure if TUI/Marella/call centre would entertain my call having booked through an independant TA

Yes that could be an issue, sorry have no advice as only booked online or with a Tui TA. 

[jono75]

Has anyone had their refund credit email, mine was supposed to be here by today.

 

Reports are going on trustpilot about this now 

[jono75]

Just posted about lack of refund credit email on Twitter and now they are saying end of this month, not impressed.