My daughter had booked EuroDisney park tickets for her and two friends at Easter, before there was any threat of the park closing. When booking, she had to select the date that the tickets were required (pricing was different), but the E-tickets on receipt were not dated.
When the park announced it was closed, my daughter, after a lot of waiting, managed to get through on the phone. The adviser did not indicate any problem with getting a refund, and asked her to send her ticket and bank details to a specific email address.
When she did that, she received a response that amounted to "non-dated tickets are not refundable".
My response (on behalf of my daughter) [key points below if too much detail!]:
I am very disappointed with the response to my request for a full refund for EuroDisney Park tickets. I have been a loyal guest of Disney many times over 20 years, and have always been treated as such up to now. Please note that on my initial phone call, I was told to provide my bank account details by email in order to receive a refund - the agent indicated that I was eligible for a refund, and just need the bank details and copy of the tickets in order to progress the refund.
You fail to acknowledge that Disney has let me down by not being able to provide me with the service I purchased for dates that were available when I purchased the tickets. I recognise that the events are beyond Disney's control, but that does change the contractual obligations. The bottom line is that (to quote from the terms and conditions of the tickets):
- Travellers may terminate the contract without paying any termination fee and get a full refund of any payments if any of the essential elements of the package, other than the price, are changed significantly. If before the start of the package the trader responsible for the package cancels the package, travellers are entitled to a refund and compensation where appropriate.
Essential elements have changed - the park was closed on the dates we intended to visit at Easter.
- Travellers may terminate the contract without paying any termination fee before the start of the package in the event of exceptional circumstances, for instance if there are serious security problems at the destination which are likely to affect the package.
COVID-19 is definitely an event of exceptional circumstances.
As I mentioned previously, due to the nature of my and my friends work, we do not know when or if we will be able to replan the trip that was originally planned for Easter 2020. If we could, we would have considered the option of visiting on another date. We have already received refunds for our flight and hotel bookings.
If you are unable to provide a full refund, I will therefore have to pursue compensation through the Small Claims court in the UK. To this end, please provide the contact details that should be recorded in my claim.
You may comment that the terms and conditions relate to packages. However they are the T&Cs that were provided on purchase of the tickets, and I believe the spirit of the paragraphs I quoted above applies, and would be recognised by the small claims court.
If you do consider that my claim through the Small Claims Court is invalid, please also consider that an unfavourable response will also affect the perception that my friends and I have had that Disney makes dreams come true. Don't let us fall out of love with Disney.
- - The T&C's linked from the ticket booking refer to "packages" and not to tickets
- T&C's say that Travellers may terminate the contract without paying any termination fee and get a full refund of any payments if any of the essential elements of the package, other than the price, are changed significantly.
- T&Cs also say Travellers may terminate the contract without paying any termination fee before the start of the package in the event of exceptional circumstances
The response to this was
We have noted that you are dissatisfied with our response. As explained, non-dated tickets are not refundable.
With this being said, we reviewed your file, and can confirm that we dealt with your comments in accordance with our internal guidelines.
So no response to the points made, and no contact details provided for a claim through the Small Claims Procedure.
A previous email did state "Should you not be able to use them prior to their expiry date and provided that they remain unused, we will be happy to review your file. Therefore we kindly ask that you contact us again in response to this email once the expiration date has been reached, and provide a copy of the tickets (the PDF file you obtain when downloaded)."
However, the three friends are school teachers, two with family, and the likelihood of re-arranging the holiday for a date that suits is remote. They are not keen on waiting until Easter 2021 for the possibility of a refund.
- Do you think a Small Claim would be successful?
- Any alternative solutions? Credit card wasn't used, so S75 doesn't apply (daughter now educated...)
- Any other advice welcome!
Thanks for any help. The £250 isn't the end of the world for my daughter, but the frustration due to Disney's response is getting to her, especially as she feels she is letting her friends down if she doesn't get it sorted.
regards
Elkay