written by Greenwoodpl184 on 04/06/2023
I booked a flexi ticket through direct ferries. They are an agent. I normally book directly with the ferry company. When i tried to change my flexi booking they tried to charge me the same price as the return cost originally paid!!! always book through the ferry operator. These people at direct ferries are robbers & charlatans. no trust. I will be refunded come hell or high water.
written by on 19/04/2023
Sham & Bad correspondance and response only at night, lots of emails from many agents to make changes. I paid $38 and changed my returned ferry tickets in January to April 2023 due to I had Covid at the time. I had to change my dates again due to Covid again grrr. Through correspondance of emails I get a message stating my ferry was sailed in January due to I did not pay $227 to change my ferry dates to April. After sending proof of payments and screenshots of confirmed dates, invoice changed for my ferry Direct Ferries tell me they sent me the wrong payment amount of $38 it should have been $227. I emailed and said that is your mistake not mine, I would like a full refund of my $500 I previously paid and the $38, they would only refund the $38 would not take responsibility of there mistake. I recommend to go directly through NZ Interislander or Bluebridge to book online. Direct Ferries is based in London.
written by Betty111111 on 18/11/2022
I 100% agree with all of the bad reviews on here. If you are ever in a situation with them where you need help or to amend and it is not possible online then your money is lost. There is no customer support and communication is non existent! There is no phone number and no email
written by Paddy177 on 10/08/2022
I contacted Direct ferries to change a trip I had made from 29th July to 1st August. They said that it would be €54.I paid the fee and didn't get a confirmation email. Emailed them then got confirmation email. Went to Cherbourg on 1st but no booking. Then got email stating no change was made and no fee paid? Had to pay again for another ticket. Emailed them to complain but surprise surprise, no reply. How are they still in business! Avoid at all cost.
written by Elcaminowardy on 10/08/2022
Please avoid this company like the PLAGUE. When you have problems, and oh, you will, you have no way to contact them other than via email, which they will NEVER respond to. AVOID AT ALL COST!!!
written by BasherBaz on 24/06/2022
Booked return ferry from Algeciras to Ceuta with these never again! We only received a booking confirmation and a note to say boarding passes would be printed when checking in. NO! We were told by numerous staff the boarding passes should have been sent by Direct Ferries and held to one side while everyone boarded. We were the only ones who didn’t have any. In the end a member of staff took pity on us with 5 mins to sail and printed some. We emailed Direct Ferries to sort the return sailing and was assured all was good and the boarding passes would be printed and Trasmed knew all about it. NO! Same again we were held at the book in while 5 members of staff tried to sort out Direct Ferries mess up. Even when showing them the email saying they knew all about it they still said Direct Ferries should’ve sent us the boarding passes. Never again will I use this company. I rather turn up with no ticket and chance my luck!
written by Jarman71 on 12/05/2022
Direct Ferries want to sell you the illusion of a quality service but in reality they deliver nothing of the sort! Their website is geared up to blind you with addons and upsells and hide the fine print that you should be aware of. Even in this post-pandemic customer-is-king world we now live in, these people won't hear you out over a refund request , nor do they advise you of your chosen ticket type (and its pitfalls) or your statutory rights when receiving a confirmation email. Even alerting them to the fact that we needed to cancel due to Cancer Surgery, they simply ignored us and closed our tickets 4 times, without warning! Their sheer arrogance, bad attitude, lack of communication, empathy & awful customer service are something to behold! My family, friends (and more) will no longer be using these, other than to find the ferry times of all providers (that bit is okay) and then go directly to their individual websites for real service, real humans with customer service skills/simple common sense and some real savings. Avoid these charlatans at all costs and use the ferry companies directly!
written by Abdiel131 on 29/04/2022
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. Bought P&O tickets via Direct Ferries in late 2019 for trip in May 2020 for £300+. Covid intervened with lockdowns. Quoting section 14 of their Booking Conditions "can terminate contract when the outbreak of a serious disease at destination", asked for refund as no longer travelling because of Covid. After delays and no replies, eventually email told us they had made "temporary changes to our cancellation policy". We said this was a breach of the contract we agreed on payment. They said we had to accept a non-refundable voucher. Found they are not ABTA protected. Then with the P&O crisis in March, we asked for advice. The same pattern of them too busy to answer, then asking for us to give them a customer review. This is our customer review advice; from our experience DO NOT TOUCH THIS COMPANY
written by EdgarCas on 06/04/2022
I bought 2 trips from Dover to Calais and back for £143, but unfortunately got the dates wrong and had to change them. The site allowed to do the amendement and charged me £35 extra. Later I received an email stating "Unfortunately your booking cannot be amended", after being charged for this. I wrote over 5 or 6 messages on different days, since there is no phone number or customer service available, and a week later still never got any reply. The email only states that I have to pay more to get new dates, after which I will most likely get charged again and end up with the same message stating "Unfortunately your booking cannot be amended". My trip day is coming and I lost in total almost £200, was charged twice and I still don't have any trip and no refund or any contact. This is the worst company ever. Avoid this company and just but the trips directly to the ferries or you will lose all your money and getting nothing in return, and you won't even be able to communicate with them.
written by Tuckest on 28/09/2021
booked this service through my booking but because I had to cancel and re book they charged me £51 extra. Even though it clearly states no charges if you re book through my booking Can never speak to anyone and all you get are standards reply’s Faceless company
written by Dontusedirectfeery on 06/09/2021
I will never use them again. Utter shambles of a company. Emails sent asking me to check in, and then explaining I would receive an email with tickets. No email arrived. No customer service to speak of. Farcical. Bill and Ben would do a better job. Absolute chancers this crowd
written by on 09/07/2021
I would definitely not use this service. The website is easy to use but if anything goes wrong with the booking then beware. We paid 122.00 for a return fair to the IofW. Immediately after making the booking I realised I had made a mistake with the dates so I cancelled it within minutes and requested a refund. I guessed that there would be a cancellation fee but was shocked to receive 53.00 from a total of 122.00. They charged me 79.00 to cacel a booking. I will never use this company again
written by Bjsss on 07/04/2021
Impossible to get hold of Not registered with ABTA so no protection Booked me on a ferry that didn’t exist and refused a refund Stay well clean!!
written by alexismvt on 08/03/2021
! DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, BOOK A TRIP WITH DIRECTFERRIES ! They are the worst customer experience I’ve ever had ! They sold me 250€ of tickets (wrong price / wrong time of arrival), left me struggling with their operators who, as a matter of fact wouldn’t let us onboard my wife and I without paying overcost, and then Direct Ferries told me to go screw myself when I simply asked them for the refund of this overcost, even though I had attached to my claim all documents and proofs. BOOK DIRECTLY ON THEIR OPERATORS’ WEBSITE. THIS WAY IT IS CHEAPER AS YOU DON’T PAY FEES TO DIRECT FERRIES, BUT YOU ALSO MAKE SURE TO NOT FACE THIS PROBLEM. Their customer service are also very insulting. Their technique is abusive as they get you a different helpless person answering each time, this way you have to explain over and over the same situation until you get so exhausted psychologically that you give up. I never did write this kind of things but this time it was too much, I had to warn you from them...
written by AishaPeacock on 03/11/2020
This company are only interested in your money, not your custom. Appalling customer service, not interested into trying to help. Avoid at all costs
written by kgribben1 on 03/10/2020
Won't ever book through a third party again. Useless communication, poor customer care. Didn't reply to see if my ferry was able to change date, sent 3 emails and just got fobbed off. Ended up having to contact ferry company directly, wish I had just done that in the first place as I didn't even know by the date I was traveling!! Useless!
written by Thereviewmanuk on 30/08/2020
We booked a ferry to Ireland and they did not even respond ONCE to our emails and questions regarding the COVID-19 situation and quarantine. We could not travel to the UK because of the 14-day quarantine and they did not care. Not one response by a person, totally ignored by this unprofessional company. They really should be shut down. NEVER buy from these guys, go to a better website or the actual ferry for safety and professional service and security in my opinion. They have not followed the guidelines from the government and need to be shamed for such DISGUSTING behaviour when the world is suffering and dying from this virus, they only have GREED in their hearts. BEWARE. A totally shocked and disgusted customer sharing his opinion and experience, a loss of 280 GBP, will update the legal options once explored, looks like small claims court though. I am currently contacting the HMRC gov protal to show them how they ignored the fact we cannot travel to the UK at this time due to the quarantine. They have removed their contact details from their website and no phone or email is present, how can you trust a company without these details!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
written by adrianwargen on 24/08/2020
I would strongly advise against using this company unless you're inclined to gamble with your travel money, even if it costs a little more its money well spent. There is poor customer service and there is no customer service. Sadly, Direct Ferries fall into the latter category. I bought a ferry ticket through them at the end of last year and paid a little extra to include the free cancellation option. As the year progressed, it became apparent that the sensible thing to do would be to postpone any foreign travel until the Covid-19 situation settles, so I tried to activate my free cancellation. My initial attempt through the website (after numerous attempts to log in) was greeted with an automated response asking me to try again in a month because they were so busy. Not hugely unreasonable, so after 5 or 6 weeks I tried again. Again my request was declined. This time I tried to email the company directly with no response forthcoming. In the meantime, I managed to log on to their system, only to find that I'd been issued with a voucher instead of a refund. Another email was sent stating that this wasn't acceptable and that I wanted a refund. I actually received a reply to this email. Telling me how to redeem my voucher! Back to another email of complaint, which was ignored. Then, out of the blue, a chink of light. I received an email informing me that as I'd paid via PayPal that they would need my bank details to process the refund. These were, after some deliberation and consultation, given up. That was five weeks ago and I've still not received a refund or a reply to any of my emails chasing the matter up. I would dearly love to speak to someone at DF about my issues but emails go unanswered and there isn't a phone number available for the company anywhere. I would certainly nor recommend spending any of your hard earned with this company.
written by on 17/08/2020
My experience re: non-payment of a refund is similar to others. Crossing cancelled (10.06.20) voucher offered & declined and since then, no meaningful comms with DF. What to do ? Statutory/consumer organisations. Citizens Advice suggest a step by step logical approach - Trustpilot don't allow links but if you follow your nose through their website you'll see they cover all relevant aspects in a logical order including formal complaint (write/email). Emails just get a automated noreply response, RD letters therefore an alternative. Any complaint letter should be cc'd to whichever seller provided your credit/debit card, if you paid that way. Moving on from formal complaint, final response, application to trade association (I don't think Direct Ferries belongs to any trade association - they are not ABTA members. No rights under EU regulation 1177/2010 apply to customers as DF are just booking agents), application to card provider, Paypal for chargeback etc and application to the Financial Ombudsman if you haven't had reply or a decision letter within 8 weeks of complaining. The advice varies slightly depending on which nations the UK you live. Also covers use of the Alternative Dispute Resolution process, but not sure whether DF are part of this scheme - and unsure how to find out as they don't communicate. If you are from an EU member state, you might be able to use the EU Online Dispute Resolution service, but I'm unsure whether DF have to be a member of the scheme for its provisions to apply. Again, covered. Also covers the small claims process If the money you are owed is worth it. The site has separate but related page on what you can do in the event of non-provision of a refund related to Coronavirus, Also covers risks re: accepting vouchers etc. Other approaches. Obviously good to make sure you set out your experience on TripAdvisor, Trustpilot and any other review sites. I also suggest write to Martin Lewis (Money saving Expert) and Which, which is running a campaign on this issue. Perhaps also your MP and any consumer programme you are aware of. DF have their own Facebook page. Also tells you how to report to Trading Standards - they don't help you get your refund back, but they may decide to undertake an investigation if for example there are a lot of complaints received. If we all apply pressure, we may get some results - even if not straightaway - and at least provide a warning to others. In the meantime, as many have said, for heavens sake book ferries directly with the actual ferry company - avoid a booking agent especially non-ABTA ones like DF.
written by azizessafi on 13/08/2020
Very bad service. I booked a ticket from dover to Calais return on the 7th of august return on the 13th of august. I asked to amend the date for departure on the 13th of august but I had reply on the 7th after my sailing time the amendement is rejected with no explanation. This has caused me to loose the original ticket because the response was to late for the sailing time.nowing their website advertise the amendement are allowed with no extra charge., I am happy to pay the extra charge, if they asked. I have emailed but no response. There is no one to talk to on the phone. I really think is terrible service, P&O ferries shouldn't allow them to take bookings on their behalf, they will give them bad reputation.
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