Getting Deposit Back from IGLU Cruise

[Suspicious]

A mere two hours ago I booked a cruise via a IGLU cruise

 

It's the first time either of us have been on a ship and we wanted this one to be special as we haven't had a holiday in over ten years.

 

The customer service rep was really nice, she booked us into cabin ..... which had a clear view from the balcony (no lifeboats)

and was located in a very quiet part of the ship.

 

We paid our £500 deposit over the telephone via debit card,

weren't told about any terms or conditions but since everything sounded so nice, we didn't worry.

 

About fifteen minuets after the call the customer service rep calls back to tell us that cabin ..... (the one that sounded perfect)

was unavailable but that ....... was free.

 

She added that ...... was just as good (still located in a quiet part of the ship) so we agreed to that one and the invoice was sent through via email.

 

Then, stupidly, I checked cabin ..... and found it right next to the elevators!

Worse was that more than a few reviews online said it was noisy with people stood outside and the ding of the lift.

Considering the total amount this holiday is costing I was extremely annoyed that it had been sold to us as a quiet cabin.

 

On calling the same customer rep again I asked if we could move somewhere else (not likely)

or at least have our deposit back to use against another trip with them.

 

The response was that the terms and conditions state that the deposits are non-refundable

and that there is not much else the booking agents can do.

 

right now it seems like we either stick it out in a loud room for two weeks, or loose our £500 deposit.

 

Ideally we would like a refund then use that money to book the same trip at a later date (to secure a nicer cabin) but how should I proceed?

[dx100uk]

do a chargeback

 

http://whatconsumer.co.uk/visa-debit-chargeback/- it works!

.

banks MUST follow written intructions from their customers !

 

dx

[Suspicious]

Thank you for that, I will attempt a chargeback ASAP.

 

Called the company again this morning and

 

was told that they would look into changing my cabin

 

after three hours there was no call back.

 

Called them again only to be told that no deposit would be returned and that the room outside the lift lobby was really quiet anyway.

 

I re-explained how that wasn't the sort of room we wanted and that it shouldn't have been sold to us on the basis that it was quiet.

 

Then asked to speak to a manager but was given the usual fob off that he's on holiday for two weeks.

 

I could speak to someone else later this afternoon (no idea who he is) but they wouldn't be able to do anything as the booking is less than 24 hours old.

 

Utterly frustrating in trying to deal with this lot.