No Show or cancellation with BF ?

[Miki]

We have a ticket with BF for this Saturday and returning 5 days later (Saint Malo-Portsmouth) we have now found out that the reason for going to the UK has now been put back a few weeks.

We bought the ticket online but it appears that you cannot make any changes online to a booking purchased on the net. I rang the staff at Saint Malo, who informed me that it is better to not arrive for the ferry booked and simply go back to the port and make a new booking once the new dates are known.

They will see it as a no show and tell us that when we go to book the new dates, they will reduce the ticket by the amount on the pevious ticket (they even said it might be less to pay !).

She said it will be better for us than cancelling and rebooking ?

Anyone got any ideas as to whether she was right or just another French sales staff giving me some old spiel and when we get there it will be another story, I hope not as she seemed to be saying it as if she knew but.......

 

[Hagar]

Sounds a bit strange to me.

I take it you don't yet know the revised dates for your travel and that's why they can't change the tickets today.

Assuming that they are flexible fares then I would simply make a best guess at when you might travel in a few weeks time, get your current tickets changed now, then once you know the exact dates get them changed again.

That way at least you know you always have valid tickets.

Hagar

 

[Will]

It doesn't sound right to me, never heard of that before. The BF French terms and conditions are here, http://www.brittany-ferries.fr/index.cfm?articleid=352 and would seem to indicate that there's no refund when cancelling a crossing after the sailing date (changing it after the sailing date doesn't really make much sense).

If you booked via BF UK you should get a travel voucher for the value of the crossing less the deposit and a £5 amezndment fee as llong as you cancel before the booked departure date. See http://www.brittanyferries.co.uk/index.cfm?articleid=352&CFID=11861&CFTOKEN=20716406

[Miki]

Thanks to you both.

 

Hagar, you are correct we do not know the new dates at the moment but as you will see, the lady was (we hope ) correct.

Will, on the strength of your UK URL contact, (we made the initial reservation by using the UK site, often cheaper and better to use in our case) I made call to the UK on 08703 665 333 and asked the chap on the desk there, if the lady was telling me it all wrong, unbelievably perhaps, he told me she was 100% correct !

It is easier to simply not arrive and not to cancel in advance, you will be charged just £5 for an amendment plus any extra if the sailings are dearer (or of course any reduction) for the new crossing when you arrive to make a new booking. Less of course the initial cost of the ticket.

This cannot be done on any 24 hour return but is perfectly OK on any 5 day or standard return.

If you cancel, he told me you will be charged a £10 annulation plus deposit, although how the less deposit part works if you have paid in full I am not too sure about and only be given a sales voucher to be used against any further travel. So although it is not much difference to us, it is obviously eaiser for us to act in the No Show way.

We are in Saint Malo Friday quite often, so it makes sense to us to just call in when we know the dates and change then there and then.

Thanks again to you both and as is sometimes the case, the oddest things are often the right ones. I only put it on the forum because I thought that BF at Saint Malo were telling me a big one and was concerned somewhat but.......

 

 

[Baz]

I know with P&O in the past that if you cancel a crossing that they will credit your next booking with the money paid. I have even had this method applied from one year to the next, but I have always cancelled before the date not after.

Baz

[Will]

You're right Miki, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but if it works in our favour we should take advantage of it. I usually book on line via the UK web site (because we have Property Owners discount and if I am charging the fare it's better to have it in sterling). The UK site does (or did - they've changed it recently, and not for the better) allow you to amend bookings online, though the French site doesn't. Personally, I've always found BF staff pretty good and very flexible, though in my experience the standard of customer service people on the end of the phone has deteriorated over the last month or two - on the last two or three calls we've made we've had to ask for a supervisor to sort out our queries. In fact I thought they had taken on the P&O Portsmouth customer service people .

I often tend to book at the last minute - sometimes on the afternoon of the evening I'm travelling, as I don't always know if what I'm supposed to be doing on the following day in England will be ready for me. BF always seems to be able to manage that; it's easier and usually cheaper than booking and then changing dates (though as it's chargeable and/or tax deductible that's not so important to me). As long as I have a booking reference when I turn up at Caen it's a very easy process. Unlike the old days with P&O... Although I think I could just as easily book at the port, except at real peak times (as we have done before with BF when P&O got awkward at Portsmouth).

BF does make it clear on its web sites that it doesn't issue flexible fares - amendment charges can be applied (but often are not).