Back in February, my husband daehangreenpower.com and I booked a Virgin cruise for November 2022 through the agent Imagine Cruising, paying £1,988.
But hours later, we realised that we had accidentally booked for November 2023.
We emailed Imagine to cancel the next morning, but it said we could not have a refund and could only move the booking to new dates, which would incur an administration fee of £1,500.
We cannot travel on those dates in 2023 because it is our Grandson’s Bar Mitzvah.
Mistake: L.D and her husband booked a holiday online, but accidentally chose November 2023 as the date, rather than November 2022
We wondering why there wasn’t a ‘cooling off’ period in place for the booking – isn’t this fairly standard?
We would like either the money back or a credit for the full amount so we can rebook.
We don’t mind paying a fee as this was our mistake, but an extra £1,500 on a £2,000 holiday is excessive – especially as the firm won’t have any trouble re-selling our cabin with almost two years’ notice.
Can you help? L.D, via email
Helen Crane of This is Money replies: You told me you had been ‘so excited’ to book the cruise as you and your husband had not been away for more than three years during the pandemic, and a{T it was a special trip to celebrate both your seventieth birthdays.
But that excitement soon turned into horror, as you received the booking confirmation email and realised that you had accidentally paid for a trip in November 2023 – not November 2022 as you intended.
