Virgin Holidays lack of good customer service

I will never use Virgin Holidays again after the experience I have just had with them, having booked with them over 10 times at least.
I booked our holiday over the internet requesting PE both ways and this was confirmed at the end of checkout stating PE had been booked both ways! but it only showed 1 set of PE surcharges for outward flight only so after continuing to the end of checkout I assumed it was included in the holiday price, I phoned up the call centre and got through they said I was only booked PE outward and required another 2x £265 I explained that my print out confirmed PE both ways after hanging on for about 30mins (Indian Call Centre) they agreed to make no extra charge and they will send an amended invoice showing PE both ways, I also asked if any UC seats were available and upon checking I was told "NO" When I received amended invoice it still showed PE one way again so it was another call to them hanging on again for another 30mins on hold and finally getting through they confirmed PE both ways and will send another invoice! it arrived a few days later and was the same again, I got fed up with phoning up the call centre and being on hold for over 30mins each time and not getting through remember Virgin is making at least 5p per min out of you by not taking your call (0870 calls are charged at 8p per min) I tried emailing no response after 3 days so I decided that it looks if I will not be getting what I asked for in the first place and I emailed a cancellation of the holiday and eventually did get a reply saying I will be charged for the cancellation which would have only happened if I got what I booked in the first place it was not my fault there is a bug in there web site , so I shopped around and got a package with UC seats on the same flight which had no availability with Virgin Holidays and for a lot less they were charging ! I have used Virgin Airways several times and there customer service is good they always answer the phone quickly and you are dealt with efficiently, Virgin Holidays need to take a leaf out of its sister company quickly, I do not mind paying extra for premium service
Virgin Holidays are quickly losing customers through this.

What a shame it is that things have not worked out for you the way you had hoped. It sounded quite optimistic at first, in that you seemed to be getting one set of PE seats for free, but the paperwork doesn't seem to have matched.

I hope you will be taking up the matter further.

99

I am sending this to the Virgin Managment Group and will post the reply if I get one!

Our invoice for our recent trip to Nassau had an error it showed two different room grades (One for the itinery and a diffent one when listing the costs suppliments) VH happily confirmed we where in the room grade we booked. Knowing the slow telephone telephone service and problems with distant call centres I found old fashion snail mail the best way. Wrote a leter and got a rely back in a few days. Reply was on Virgin letterhead which I could use if there was any dispute over room grade better than any telephone call or email.

It seems to me that you knew right away that your return PE suppliments hadn't been picked up in the booking for one reason or another.

Why didn't you tell them you wanted to fly both ways in PE and wanted to pay for it instead of trying to get it for free?

John

Hi,

Who did you book your new package with to get a good deal on the UC VS flights?

Milliemoo

Originally posted by JAT74L
It seems to me that you knew right away that your return PE suppliments hadn't been picked up in the booking for one reason or another.

Why didn't you tell them you wanted to fly both ways in PE and wanted to pay for it instead of trying to get it for free?

John

I did that is what I booked on there site it was confimed on checkout but did not appear in the charges section at the bottom that is the whole point there was a fault in the booking system when you compare the total price if you where charged the proper fare they are nearly £700 more for the same package

if you where charged the proper fare they are nearly £700 more for the same package

My point entirely. You are aware you are not being charged the proper price and you are aware that your PE return booking has not been taken. Booking mistake or not, this does not IMHO entitle you to demand something you have not paid for.

VH should have apologised for the error, booked your return PE seats and charged you the appropriate fee.

John

Recieved full refund,will report on trip in UC when I get back hope the service is better than the recent posts on this route