Mark Warner - surcharge on balance paid ski holiday Post Reply

[Joeybar]

Has anyone else been affected by the recent surcharge introduced by Mark Warner (let's call it a Brexit surcharge). It applies to bookings paid in full and just the deposit paid. Ours is going to be £200.
I understand it's all to with the currency rates but I'm curious to know if anyone has gone to their customer services for more info?
I would have thought that the 'deals' done with mark warners suppliers would have given them protection from currency fluctuations. Obviously not.
Also curious to know if other ski companies have followed suit?

[tooposhtopush]

hadn't heard of it but have to say I'm not surprised - a lot of things are going to start going up in price...

[SW11er]

It seems like pretty bad form to me. Any company with foreign currency costs and GBP sales will be suffering at the moment. A lot of big companies hedge this and some take a view. I have no idea whether they are within their rights to do this, but I bet they don't come back offering a refund when rates move in their favour. I would expect companies to adjust prices going forward but I would be pretty unhappy if they tried to adjust the price for something I had already signed up to. I suspect different companies will deal with the issue differently. I would be kicking up a fuss.

[Writerlady]

We have been asked to pay the surcharge too. Same amount as you. Haven't paid yet. Pretty pissed off have to say.

[SW11er]

The point is, it's only mark warner themselves who could have managed the risk and not the customer. There was a time when they set the GBP price and it made sense. They could have purchased Euros at that point! They chose to wait. The rate could have gone up or down in that period. Unless i've misunderstood what the surcharge relates to!

[southoftheriver]

If sterling had moved the other way, would they have given you a £200 cash bonus ?

Surprised they have done this as it wont create long-term loyalty with their customers (how many facing this charge will choose to book again next year? What if sterling falls again and they ask for another surcharge ?)

[Joeybar]

The frustrating thing is, we only booked this ski trip in September (for travel in April). Once they realised the 'books weren't adding up' they should have increased their prices at that point and taken the hit on bookings made.

Part of the email sent -:

"As a result of economic uncertainty following June's EU referendum result and the major impact on the Euro exchange rate, it will be necessary and unavoidable for us, for the first time in many years, to invoke the surcharge clause contained within our contractual terms and conditions."

[Confus_ed]

Makes me wonder whether Mark Warner are in trouble.

Whilst I understand their T & C give them the ability to do this surely it is an absolute last resort for them as PR wise it is a disaster and catastrophic for brand loyalty.

MW's contracts do allow some form of refund for cancellation up to 14 days beforehand (on a sliding scale depending on the notice you give). If some people decide to cancel in protest are they going to be able to pay?

[southoftheriver]

Does their letter make it clear what happens if you refuse to pay ?

Its not as if the snow conditions are the best at the moment either

[Joeybar]

No they don't - it just says a new invoice will be sent out. I was also a little surprised to learn that they are not offering cancellations with no penalty - the sliding scale would be applied. In our case we have just paid the deposit (£500) with the balance due in January - we would loose that for sure.
We're taking a risk with the weather as it is as we're not going until first week of April.

[SW11er]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/ ... surcharge/

[juliantenniscoach]

I worked 10 seasons in the Alps. All the companies hedge, if they don't they're stupid. Mark Warner's are clearly taking the p7ss. Not good.

[VickiMcd]

Has anyone paid this yet, or disputed it?

[Joeybar]

We have resigned ourselves to paying it.

I did email a contact who is quite 'high up' in a travel company to see if he could suggest an angle for disputing it. One of the things he said was that his company made a choice to purchase euros essentially to protect themselves (and the customer). The assumption is that Mark Warner didn't do this and chose to effectively gamble. This is exactly what a previous poster had put.
My contact thinks there's no 'legal' way to dispute but gave me lots of 'points' for a stern email to mark Warner.
It's a long email - if anyone would like me to forward it to them please pm me.

[FLH03]

Was listening to Radio 4 today about complaints and customer relations being handled in the social media age - you could try tweeting about this, to Mark Warner and generally, often the public nature of a complaint like this makes the company more keen to do something, plus connects up other disgruntled customers.

Also post on their Facebook page.