In February, I used Virgin Experience Days to buy a Ferrari ride voucher at Silverstone as a birthday present for my husband. The voucher was valid for nine months. After a month I got the message that the voucher couldn’t be used at Silverstone following changes. I had chosen Silverstone as my husband is a big Formula One fan.
I called Virgin and was offered another location. When I said that was no good, I was offered another voucher: for cooking, jumping, etc. Again, I declined. The company has refused to give me a refund. I have sent a further letter of complaint that has been ignored. Can you please advise what can I do to get the money back? AM, London
This was a straightforward matter to resolve. You paid for one thing but didn’t get it, and you should have been offered a refund. We contacted Virgin Experience Days, a company that appears too often in this column, and it agreed that you should have, and will be offered, a refund.
It said: “Unfortunately, this location for the head-to-head challenge was withdrawn from sale at short notice by the supplier earlier this year. We realise this is disappointing for customers looking forward to their track day. We immediately wrote to all affected customers, offering available dates until the end of May. If this wasn’t feasible, we offered alternative locations or an exchange. The majority of customers chose one of these alternatives. However, we appreciate this doesn’t suit everybody and any customers who chose not to take up these options received a full refund.
“Unfortunately, AM was quoted our standard terms and conditions, which do not apply in this exceptional case. This is a staff training issue which has now been addressed.”
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