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I stayed at 3 Forest Holidays sites last summer and really liked the sites, however I was double charged for one of the stays and have had a really awful experience of their customer service trying to get my money back. They have refunded part of the money but, because they say I was undercharged, they have kept part of the second payment which was paid by mistake.

I booked by phone, very clearly giving all the info about how many people/children/cars etc and paid by card. When we got to the site my husband went into the office and was told we owed an extra £1 but I think the site staff didn't realise I'd already paid & neither did my husband, so he paid the full amount plus £1 again on a different card. I didn't realise we'd paid twice until we got our credit card statement, so I wrote to forest Holidays to explain what had happened thinking they would just refund one amount with no quibbling. This was about 5 months ago & since then I have written several letters as well as ringing and emailing various people there. They say that we were undercharged twice & implied that I lied about how many children we had with us (this is despite the fact that we were on a very quiet site in clear view of the site office, so could not have lied even if we'd wanted to!). They refunded a small amount of what we paid, meaning we paid over 60% more than we were originially quoted.

I am so upset about the way they have treated me. The customer service has been really awful and they have ignored my last email and letter completely. I just feel that they should have charged me the amount I was first quoted. If I was double charged for something by any other company I think I would be entitled to one of the payments back - I don't think they can just say they charged me the wrong price and keep part of the second payment. Because we paid on two different cards we can't take it up with our card company either.

I just wondered if anyone else has been badly treated by Forest Holidays head office like this? I love their sites, mainly because the locations are so beautiful, so I would be sad not to take my family to any of them this summer, but I am really shocked by the way the company has treated me, so I feel loathe to use their services again. Any comments?

Never had any problems with there customer service, they had a glitch last year with the on-line booking service and took a payment from me seven times, I phone up and got it sorted straight away.

Their customer services is dire!!

We rang to book ( 2 adults 2 kids ) and we asked for the family rate ( 2 adults 3 kids )as we always do when booking C&CC sites
The very confused and poorly informed lady on the other end insisted that I was only allowed the family rate if i had exactly 3 kids!

Tried explaining to her ,its up to 3 kids and no joy

she put her superviser on and she didnt have a clue either

Had to explain to her V e r y  s l o w l y that I was infact offering to pay for 3 children but only bringing 2 !!! not the other way around .

In the end they admitted it was a new offer and they had only had 1 day training to impliment it  Hardly brain surgery tbh .....

We got the discount but I was on the verge of just putting the phone down and ringing back to book for 2 adults and 3 kids ;)

Post last edited on 01/02/2008 14:48:50

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My e:mail

Quote: Originally posted by AndyVines on 01/2/2008

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Never had any problems with there customer service, they had a glitch last year with the on-line booking service and took a payment from me seven times, I phone up and got it sorted straight away.

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Write to someone higher up their chain, write to watchdog - keep at them - write to the money section in the weekend papers and tell them all everything, all details etc.  It is not on for them to do this to you - it's your money so you are entitled to it back - they will have a record of your booking - they can't now say that you had more children, they should have addressed that at the time.  If you cancel they keep your booking and credit it to another time (so you don't get cash back) - also I had to pay the full amount - I have just booked for Glenmore at Easter and paid £88 for four nights (including the card) for four of us in a motorhome with elec - actually it's not the Easter break it's the week after so this is supposedly cheap!!!

Don't give up - what sort of records must they have if they let you pay twice in the first place - outrageous!!!

Deb

Thanks for your help and suggestions - I'll try contacting Andrew Macleod - he must be the only person I haven't contacted yet! Will also try C&CC.

Quote: Originally posted by AndyVines on 01/2/2008

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Never had any problems with there customer service, they had a glitch last year with the on-line booking service and took a payment from me seven times, I phone up and got it sorted straight away.

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Seven times???!!!!

That's not a glitch, that's a catastrophe!

Quote: Originally posted by cath66 on 01/2/2008

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I stayed at 3 Forest Holidays sites last summer and really liked the sites, however I was double charged for one of the stays and have had a really awful experience of their customer service trying to get my money back. They have refunded part of the money but, because they say I was undercharged, they have kept part of the second payment which was paid by mistake.

I booked by phone, very clearly giving all the info about how many people/children/cars etc and paid by card. When we got to the site my husband went into the office and was told we owed an extra £1 but I think the site staff didn't realise I'd already paid & neither did my husband, so he paid the full amount plus £1 again on a different card. I didn't realise we'd paid twice until we got our credit card statement, so I wrote to forest Holidays to explain what had happened thinking they would just refund one amount with no quibbling. This was about 5 months ago & since then I have written several letters as well as ringing and emailing various people there. They say that we were undercharged twice & implied that I lied about how many children we had with us (this is despite the fact that we were on a very quiet site in clear view of the site office, so could not have lied even if we'd wanted to!). They refunded a small amount of what we paid, meaning we paid over 60% more than we were originially quoted.

I am so upset about the way they have treated me. The customer service has been really awful and they have ignored my last email and letter completely. I just feel that they should have charged me the amount I was first quoted. If I was double charged for something by any other company I think I would be entitled to one of the payments back - I don't think they can just say they charged me the wrong price and keep part of the second payment. Because we paid on two different cards we can't take it up with our card company either.

I just wondered if anyone else has been badly treated by Forest Holidays head office like this? I love their sites, mainly because the locations are so beautiful, so I would be sad not to take my family to any of them this summer, but I am really shocked by the way the company has treated me, so I feel loathe to use their services again. Any comments?

 

 

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I think this story is quite shocking, as I'm sure many other campers will.

If I were you, I'd send an email to Forest Holidays, with a link to this page, and see if it prompts a more swift and considered response. Often, some firms are happy to quietly rip you off when they think they can fob off an individual, but are more likely to sit up and take notice when they know their actions are being debated nationally!

Best of luck with it.