David Williams

and twitter

The last Siem ship has now been handed over (though it is still at the yard), that just leaves the Honfleur ! https://www.fsg-ship.de/wordpress/en/fsg-delivers-eighth-new-building-for-siem/

Not very reassuring, especially the line about 'working tirelessly to secure our long term future' which translates as 'unless we do something we haven't got one' ! However there are loads of travel companies in the same 'boat' and as has been mentioned there are loads of French jobs involved and unless BF is saved by France, any future sailings will not have the French flag ! PS on the positive side, it looks like they are ok in the short to medium term,

I would have thought that if you asked for cancellation in time then you should be able to dispute the transaction, as long as you have a copy of the instruction to BF and it is in time you would be on strong grounds if BF disagree. Basically a dispute usually gives you money back temporarily and the card company asks for justification of the charge to the retailer.

In addition to Jane’s tweet re 2 years, I received my second voucher today and it says valid for 2 years

Some good news on the voucher, up to 2years now https://twitter.com/BrittanyFerries/status/1243129581516832768?s=20

Gareth, you are meant to be calming us down ! i am now taking the view that if my loved ones ( including me ) are still alive in a years time that will be good news, a number of travel companies have severe problems, at least France has a track record of propping up companies Que sera sera

If you can access the booking online, you should be able to cancel it, however cancellation is not usually the best option - amendment usually is depending on the requirements.

It is effectively a 'free' option as if you don't pay the balance then the deposit is lost, those tickets with a deposit (Standard and Flexi) can be changed online free of charge and if you change to the start of November on a midweek crossing the ticket price is less anyway and the final balance is not then due to September (I believe - can someone confirm that) . That way the deposit is banked for the future and if it can be used it is a bonus, if BF start obeying their T&C's again, it is possible to reduce the loss further by further amendments to a cheap sailing (I am not sure if it is possible to switch to a 1 one way foot crossing !) If someone could confirm whether the above would work that would be useful.

It depends on what is driving your decision, if it is that June is probably not going to be a good month for a holiday, the best response is to amend it to the far future for a cheaper crossing and then amend that when you are ready to book. If it is that BF will go bust (unlikely), your credit card offers some form of protection & as you paid for a contract should cover an amended crossing as well. If it is that BF will cause you hassle and hold onto the money and give you a voucher then yes, that is an issue so I think that vouchers should be used asap (in connection with a booking involving a credit card).

I did check and vouchers can be applied to outstanding balances.

If the August crossings still have money to pay, it might be worth considering applying the vouchers to them, they would be slightly more protected then if the first payment was via credit card.

It's not as bad now as they are cancelled until the 22nd and thus the Easter returns will get refunded (by voucher !). However it was sharp practice as I believe reading some of the tweets that the return could only get cancelled under standard T&C 's so the deposit element would be lost. This will get harsher ongoing as tickets will be under the new T&C's and could be 100% charge if the cheapest ticket was bought.

We have all been told to stay in London and not move to our second homes so that we don't overburden the local facilities and pass on any bugs. The Queen is in Windsor, Charles is in Scotland , William is in Sandringham and who cares where Harry is.