Havant couple finally claim £1,500 refund for dream cruise holiday after firm goes bust

Hugh and his wife were due to depart for a seven-night Norwegian fjords cruise from Tilbury in May, but the trip was cancelled due to the pandemic.

The couple had booked with Cruise and Maritime Voyages in December 2019 to celebrate Hugh’s 80th birthday and were looking forward to exploring Stavanger, Bergen, and Nordfjord.

Retired school caretaker Hugh said: ‘We paid £1,502 for the cruise which was our first, and we were really looking forward to it.

‘Our daughter Amanda insisted on making a £1,000 contribution, so we didn’t have the worry of running down our limited savings in our twilight years or finding suitable holiday accommodation with fine dining and free entertainment thrown in.

‘Never having been on a cruise holiday before, the added bonus was we didn’t have to plan our sightseeing shore excursions, as it was all inclusive. It was a dream break we were so looking forward to.

‘But then in March everything was thrown into complete disarray when we got a letter from the firm’s customer services to say the cruise had been cancelled. It was disappointing but because of the pandemic it didn’t come as a complete surprise.

‘When we contacted them about re-arranging the cruise we were told all that was on offer was a voucher for a similar value break at an uncertain future date, so we reluctantly asked about claiming a refund.

‘From there on the treatment we received was shocking. Our latter years dream break had not only gone down the pan, but repeated customer service promises to call us back about a refund never materialised.

‘We must have called about 20 times and were left hanging on for ages, only to get cut off. We were worried our phone bill would go through the roof so we resorted to asking Amanda to email them for an answer.

‘She sent around half a dozen mails for us, all of which were completely ignored despite regularly chasing for a response.

‘When we tried to get onto them again by phone we couldn’t get through, but then out of the blue Amanda finally received a curt email to say we would have to wait 60 to 90 days for our refund which we found entirely unacceptable.

‘Amanda then resorted to sending Facebook posts and messages which resulted in an auto reply to phone a dedicated customer service number, but on calling a recorded message confirmed the phone lines were not in service.’

When Amanda emailed Streetwise about the frustrating refund battle with the Cruise and Maritime Company it soon became clear why they’d ended up on a voyage to nowhere.

For the best part of 10 years the British line had been successfully tapping into the first-time low-budget cruise market, and had gained a solid reputation for offering value-for-money breaks.

But with their five-ship fleet laid up for the duration after the pandemic was declared in March, they had no alternative but to pull the plug on their sailing schedules and the business ground to a halt.

However, while Covid-19 had been disastrous to the holiday cruise industry, there was surely no mileage in sending their dissatisfied and angry customers around in circles or ignoring them.

When we first got on to the firm’s customer services team we had to make it clear avoidance of our readers’ complaint wasn’t an option. The law stipulated refunds should be made within 14 days. March had turned into April and May. The Futchers’ refund application deserved to be taken seriously.

A customer service agent apologised for the delay, but insisted refunds were taking up to 90 days due to staff shortages and pandemic restrictions. A settlement cheque would be in the post to Mr Futcher within 10 days.

When a further three weeks had passed and the promised cheque still hadn’t turned up, we got onto them again, insisting a bank transfer would avoid a further delay and minimise any processing constraints.

Despite the couple’s expectations finally being on a high, it soon became clear chasing the refund still wasn’t going to be plain sailing.

A week later with nothing having shown up in their bank account, a sickened Hugh’s anger and frustration boiled over.

He said: ‘It’s a disgrace. Our dream trip has turned into an expensive disaster. If they aren’t going to refund us, why don’t they just say so we can try putting in a claim on the insurance? It beggars belief.’

Further enquiries with the cruise company revealed their records indicated the money had been refunded, but in mid-July the company was put into administration and went bust.

An exhausted and stressed Hugh accepted they’d reached the end of the line, and with Amanda’s help set out to put in a claim with their insurers. After a further four months of evasion and delay by the underwriters, a mail dropped into our inbox to say they’d given up all hope of recovering their money.

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Streetwise suggested they had one more shot in the locker – the bank. Following our advice he called Natwest to give them details of the claimed bank transfer.

Just a week later, an ecstatic Hugh phoned to say the refund had unexpectedly turned up in their bank account.

During the course of the bank’s enquiries, it emerged that he’d made a mistake by accidentally transcribing a digit in their account number resulting in the bank ring fencing the payment and treating it as misdirected.

He said: ‘It was amazing. After you suggested contacting the bank things were sorted and everything immediately fell into place. We just can’t begin to ever thank you enough.

‘What with the virus and our £1,500 going down the pan, it was your unstinting help and advice that finally won the day. Now we can at least put the whole wretched experience behind us and look forward to a hassle-free enjoyable Christmas.’

If you have a consumer problem you would like investigated, email [email protected], adding as many details as you can, and it may be taken up.