Dear Which?,
I bought two vouchers for a 'Mystery Holiday' package from the deals website Wowcher. The package cost £99 per person and promised a two or three-night trip, flights included, to a surprise destination.
The location was meant to be revealed in mid-January, but there was a delay with Wowcher's announcement, which it put down to overwhelming demand.
I finally received a call from Wowcher's holiday supplier, Weekender Breaks, at the end of January, and was pleased to have won a three-day break to Naples. I was asked to choose a departure date over the phone but I needed to speak to my wife before confirming, so they said they'd call me back within 48 hours.
A few days later, however, I still hadn't heard anything.
I reached out to Wowcher a number of times via email and Twitter to try and confirm my trip, but I struggled to get through to anyone. Every time I messaged Wowcher I received an automated reply saying somebody would be in touch within 48 hours, only to be met with silence thereafter.
To my surprise, I then received a message saying that a refund had been issued - despite the fact I hadn't requested my money back and very much wanted to go to Naples.
I feel extremely frustrated by Wowcher's customer service - can you help me redeem my trip please?
Theo, Kent
Put to Rights
Hannah Downes consumer rights expert at Which? says:We contacted Wowcher on Theo's behalf to find out what happened to his trip.
It said that due to overwhelming demand, Weekender Breaks had to delay the destination announcement.
It explained that its customer service team had attempted to reach out to Weekender Breaks on a number of occasions to get the holiday arranged.
The cancellation, however, was due to a breakdown in communication on Wowcher's side. It confirmed that a customer service agent had misunderstood an email and mistakenly issued a refund to Theo's account.
'This absolutely shouldn't have happened and we would like to sincerely apologise for this error,' Wowcher told us.
After we contacted Wowcher, Theo was offered a similar three-day trip to Portugal. 'Which?'s support has been invaluable and is really appreciated,' he added.
Need to know
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source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/my-wowcher-mystery-holiday-was-randomly-refunded-aJ61b2U8lubo