Disappointed with Virgin

Martin Holder

Earning My Ears
Joined
Feb 7, 2016
We booked Wilderness Lodge for December 2018 some 6-8 weeks ago. Virgin took our deposit and all confirmed. I receive a call today that due to an unavailability issue it is no longer available, blaming Disney. I was offered a full refund or like for like hotel. When I explained we had booked this due to its location, Magic Kingdom, other hotels are hardly like for like. The Polynesian was £1500 more but Virgin kindly offered to pay £300 off!! I asked if other dates were available but I would have to research that. Offered Animal Kingdom but not keen due to the transportation, only buses. Tried to explain that we were more than disappointed but kept getting the unavailability line repeated. I booked through Virgin not Disney but they are taking no responsibility. I have even exchanged Tesco vouchers in order to upgrade our seats! Now researching other hotels but all far more expensive for the location. I have asked for someone in authority to ring me tomorrow. To be honest we are more than disappointed with Virgin.
 
Some time ago I booked virgin holidays but had an issue with our villa as they told us they didn't have availability in our booked location shortly before going and moved us to another community. I complained to no avail, the call centre was useless, but after returning wrote a letter and did get a refund from virgin.

Is there availability on the wdw site for WL for when you are going? I wonder if you get a refund from virgin if you could rebook separately? Also, I have heard other people say they post on their Facebook page to get a better response, so that might be worth trying.

Sorry to hear this as I know it's so disappointing and time consuming trying to sort out. Hope you get sorted.
 
Some time ago I booked virgin holidays but had an issue with our villa as they told us they didn't have availability in our booked location shortly before going and moved us to another community. I complained to no avail, the call centre was useless, but after returning wrote a letter and did get a refund from virgin.

Is there availability on the wdw site for WL for when you are going? I wonder if you get a refund from virgin if you could rebook separately? Also, I gave Gerard other people say they post on their Facebook page to get a better response, so that might be worth trying.

Sorry to hear this as I know it's so disappointing and time consuming trying to sort out. Hope you get sorted.
Thanks for the reply. I have checked WDW but they only look 11 months ahead
 


If you take the flights off you can book as far out as 31st Dec 2018 and WL is definitely available in December 2018
 
We booked our first trip to Florida through Virgin. Chose POFQ as our hotel, phoned, booked, paid deposit. Were told it was all confirmed. When the paperwork came through we were in PORS, after much waiting got through on the phone to be told that actually FQ was already booked so they just switched us without checking. It had been our second choice so we went with it, but would have thought they would have checked!
Always booked direct after that!
 


2009 I booked through virgin holidays ... wanted POFQ but virgin told us it was completely full and booked us in POR. Fair enough. Arrived on holiday... to find out they hadn't booked us a hotel at all, despite taking our money! The virgin out of hours phone number wasn't being answered, despite the fact they knew a plane load of guests had just arrived. Luckily Disney took mercy on us and found us a room that night ... at POFQ which virgin had said was full.o_O
Met with the Virgin Rep the next morning who couldn't have cared less. Eventually she found us a room (at the "full" POFQ) , and to make up for the inconvenience offered us a gift card for a free meal at Planet Hollywood... the same voucher that they used to give away for free at welcome meetings!! She wouldn't give us any more because " we hadn't really been inconvenienced as Disney had found us a room!!". This insult annoyed me so much that I refused to accept it and wrote a complaint when I got home... got £1600 back! So definitely write a letter if you don't get anywhere tomorrow.
Never used Virgin Holidays since!!
 
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Got to be honest we booked our first disney trip with virgin holidays and they were next to useless, rep wasn’t there at the allocated time, promised vouchers etc weren't there and got the distinct impression that once they had our money they weren’t interested, that being said we booked virgin fly drive with them this time which is virgin holidays and I rang through to virgin Atlantic to check and confirm things and all ok so far so fingers crossed.
 
had an issue with virgin where they lied in emails to me and they still wouldn't budge. after months of emails they finally relented.

I would ask to talk to senior management and tell them that they need to upgrade your room.from memory I think threatening to make an official complaint to the regulator got their attention.

they charge over the odds for awful service
 
Thanks all. Will await a call from Virgin and see what, if anything, they can offer to ensure we have our holiday.
 
Well, despite waiting no call. I rang and spoke to the same person as yesterday. Full of apologies and looked into it. Turns out the 2 people dealing with it were on leave today!! Will I get a call tomorrow? Stay tuned.
 
The problem with the Virgin Bookings is they literally have one or two 'Relationship Managers' who deal with the logistics between the companies.

Also, the knowledge of MDE and the surrounding dates, and linking methods is appalling, even from these two people.
 
Have you had your call yet? I'm sat here awaiting their response :rolleyes1

I have always booked with VH or Travelcity ( their sister company ) and never had any issues. Only what @Jon84 said about them not having the correct info on MDE, I was given a few different dates from them.
 
Once again I rang virgin to be told the staff in question were not in. The lady I spoke to was nice but could do nothing other than offer a refund or the exchange to Animal kingdom lodge. Again no explanation given why there was no availability. The only staff who can deal with it, apparently there are a lot of customers affected, are not in until Monday. I have looked at other sites but December 2018 is not out yet. Will have to wait until Monday. I am surprised that there are not more complaints to Virgin being aired on here. Thanks to all those who have read my posts and offered advice
 
Capacity has been cut in half at WL due to the rooms conversions into DVC accommodation within the main building as well as the new cabins drawing attention, that’s significantly impacting availability now. Factor in the busy month of December when lots of folks want to spend time in WDW and becomes chaos. Any local DDP and ticket offers will be taken up quickly before rooms are allocated to anyone else.
There could be a refurbishment due too or some necessary work scheduled. I hope you find something more suitable for your vacation.
 

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