Ferry company discrimination?

[reallymadwoman]

A well know ferry company usually accepts online bookings and allows amendments to be done online free of charge. If not done online it's an 0871 telephone number and £15 (I think) charge.

 

If someone in the party is disabled, the initial booking can still be done online but any amendments have to be done by phone (whether related to the disability or not), though the charge is waived.

 

Obviously this isn't a huge issue - they don't keep you hanging on the phone for hours so it's a fairly small cost if you're using a BT line but I still think it's wrong in principle. Also, I'm sure I read somewhere that they shouldn't be using 0871 numbers for customer service any more, or isn't that law yet?

 

I've solved the problem this time by emailing and insisting they call me if they must speak to me, but I'm still annoyed.

[JoeyJoeC]

http://www.saynoto0870.com - Here you can get the landline numbers for most 08 numbers. Then calling from a mobile will use free minutes from bundles.

[reallymadwoman]

I have now had a full explanation from the ferry company. They don't allow online amendments because disabled spaces onboard have to be allocated manually to avoid people booking them unnecessarily - apparently they even had people with pushchairs booking disabled spaces when they allowed it online! Whilst this is obviously reasonable I have suggested they either offer a freephone number or automatically offer a call back.

What it comes down to is the (hopefully) selfish few who abuse things like disabled spaces making life difficult for those who genuinely need them.

 

And yes, I do realise people with children in pushchairs can also have extra needs but that doesn't give them the right to take a disabled space.