getting a refund minus a huge admin fee.. any legal minds here?

[sms]

We have managed to get an offer of a refund for our camping (£40) but Billing Aquadrome said this will come minus a £25 admin charge. Surely £25 is way too much to charge as an admin charge considering one night stay is £20.

So any legal minds that can give advice on this, i personally would go to Northamptonshire Trading Standards and let them know about our case of what the brouchure said about the site and what we actually got.

[moley]

Do you have a copy of their terms and condition?

[sms]

their website says the following:

"It’s not Company Policy to give refunds. Credits are at the discretion of The Management. Booking cancellations less than 28 days from arrival will NOT be entitled to a refund. Date changes and booking amendments, subject to availability, will be subject to an administration charge."

However the campsite is described as this:

" is famous for the wide variety of fun rallies and events it hosts throughout the year, from the Spirit of the Horse extravaganza to the world's biggest Land Rover show. "

But in reality it was a war zone and was not fun and Land Rover havent been back after their last event which skodaboy pointed out in another thread.

Words trade description act spring to mind.

[Phil-E]

I think £25 is very excessive as an administration charge.

Just think that there has been a clamp down on banks charging those sort of amounts. I would say you are willing to pay an administration charge but not £25! They're taking you for a ride!

Phil

[cheezemonkhai]

I don't think you'll get very far as the cost to take them to court is more than the money however it's woth noting the following:

their website says the following:

"It’s not Company Policy to give refunds. Credits are at the discretion of The Management. Booking cancellations less than 28 days from arrival will NOT be entitled to a refund. Date changes and booking amendments, subject to availability, will be subject to an administration charge."

Hmm yeah because that's legal. I was in charge of a cinema once that got into a lot of trouble for selling tickets as non refundable if unused.

However the campsite is described as this:

" is famous for the wide variety of fun rallies and events it hosts throughout the year, from the Spirit of the Horse extravaganza to the world's biggest Land Rover show. "

But in reality it was a war zone and was not fun and Land Rover havent been back after their last event which skodaboy pointed out in another thread.

Words trade description act spring to mind.

To be fair I'd accept you're not going to get your money back and go to trading standards to cause them more problems such that they might pay you to leave them alone.

[McG MkII]

whos their administrator? bill gates, thats like 60%

[Burnsey]

The admin charge only applies if it's a refund due to a change in booking, eg you want to change due to your own choice. This was a breach of contract and is probably covered by SoGA. Goods not as described.

You should be entitled to full refund, no admin fee.

But to be honest for £25 I couldn't get excited. A nice letter to trading standards or your local Citizens Advice Bureau though if you can be bothered

[sinister sheep]

Im just about too reply to the woman who has been advising me of this, and im am not by any means to accept the admin fee and will advise her that if i do not get good enough answer then its cab and trading standards.

[sinister sheep]

for the legal minded, how does this sound?

Karen,

Thank you for taking the time to contact me back.

How ever on discussing this refund and the admin fee with my husband, we are disgusted to be offered a refund minus an admin fee, when we wish the refund for no fault of our own, when was in the office discussing my complaint with a lady, to younger females were given a full refund, for the weekend and no admin fee.

If I was to make a purchase/refund in a shop, I dont not get an admin fee for this. so why should we expect to pay a fee for your company to give us a refund on what was a horrific time in the hands of your company, I have also read some more literature on billing aquadrome, and it says about Land rover having a show there when due to previous trouble i know that this is not the case and they will not be holding further shows on your site, and have this from a member of staff, and a member of the club whom I work with.

We feel that a refund with no admin fee is more satisfactory, should this not be done to satisfaction then i would like this to be dealt with by a senior to a satisfactory resolution, should this not be the case, I have contacted my local citizens advice, who had advised me to take this complaint to the Northamptonshire trading standards and allow them to deal with this. for reference the amount paid was £40, and the amount paid on card, in my husbands name Mr P brown, and wish the amount to be refunded to the card.

I look forward to a more satisfactory response from you, or as stated will take this to the trading standards, and then contact the local paper in your area and see how other members of the public feel at the disgusting result to a genuine complaint.

Regards

[mdk1]

A few years back we booked a holiday there and due to unforeseen reasons we had to cancel and got a 100% refund.

[skodagirl1985]

£25 is very steep just to print off a letter and write a cheque.

What sort of paper are they using to charge that much????

[gadgetman]

I'd have a word with Northants Trading standards see what their advice is.

Also surely they're part of an industry body that may have some advice once you notify them of events and correspondence? ;)

[sms]

£25 is very steep just to print off a letter and write a cheque.

What sort of paper are they using to charge that much????

The fact is they only got to type my credit card number back into the BACS machine (aka credit card terminal) and £40, yes, yes and job done. erm how long iirc from doing refunds myself its less than a minute. does that mean they get paid £1500 per hour?

Awaiting someone with a family member in that areas police force to come back with a few bits of info