# Email to Eurotunnel



## Pusser (May 9, 2005)

"My large family and I have travelled with Euro tunnel since the tunnel opened and have enjoyed normally, hassle free journeys to and fro across the channel.

This time I booked a single ticket from Uk to France with the intention of staying for some weeks to look for a property. However, a recurrent illness meant I had to return after only a few days.

I was amazed to find that Eurotunnel took this opportunity to charge me 285 euros for one single trip home. While I am sure you have a battery of reasons already to hand why this is justified, to me, a travelling member of the public,it appears to be extortion.

Therefore, for the next few years I will be travelling on P&O and will ensure my family also travels with them by paying their fares for them thus leaving them with little choice.

Once I have calculated that you have lost £5000 of my business I may return to Euro tunnel.

I realise that this figure is neither here nor there to you but 285 euros is to important to me as is £5000, so I will be content giving you a tiny lesson in what extortion feels like."

Bitter and twisted of Buckinghamshire.


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## emjaiuk (Jun 3, 2005)

That seems like an awful lot to me. I travel frequently on the freight shuttle in a VWT5 which is classed as up to 7m and that's 'only' just under two hundred pounds. I've never known tourist rates to be greater than freight. I'd be interested in any reply you get. BTW, same day bookings at Calais for one way C-D can be as high as £120.00 for my vehicle. ALWAYS book day before if at all possible.


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## Pusser (May 9, 2005)

Yer's the la dish shon. (Sorry. Forget I am not in Fracne and keep coming out with the lingo. ) :roll:


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Tunnel*

Yes support P&O - British ships flying the British flag.

On another note, I agree with you Pusser. I must add my own tale though.

When Oscar (dog) died just over two years ago, I was in France. I was planning on a pretty much permanent settlement in Italy where I had been for four months prior. I decided to alterm my plans and return to the UK. I phoned the tunnel to amend my booking and explained that firstly I needed to remove the dog from my booking and then alter the crossing from the end of June to another crossing. Those of you that know me and Oscar will know how close we were. During the conversation, I ended up getting quite upset and had to ask the lady at the tunnel to hang on for a minute or two whilst I sorted myself out. The amendment was about two hundred pounds, but the lady took the "bugger the proceedures" approach and switched me free of charge. Having just spent £1000 on vets bills, this was a bonus.

Imagine my surprise when a few weeks later I received an email asking me for my correct address as they had a refund of £30 for me. The tunnel people had sent the £30 refund to my old address and this was returned as "gone away". The £30 was arefund of the cost of the pet crossing.

I phoned in a few weeks later to thank the lady for what she had done, and also her kindness during the call.

I know proceedures and policies are there, but sometimes rules are made to be broken.

Russell


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## Pusser (May 9, 2005)

I'm just wondering whether I have actually bought one of their trains.


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## GerryD (Sep 20, 2007)

A couple of years ago we tried to come home early and they wanted to charge us a similar amount, so we went to Calais and got on the P&O. I then phoned Eurotunnel to speak about our return ticket and they explained that I could change it to any date within 1 year of the original booking. I made a provisional booking then and changed it to a more suitable date later on. Combined it with a new Out ticket and used Tesco points to pay again.
Won all round.
Gerry


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## ambegayo (Jan 7, 2007)

*Eurotunnel*

In 2008 we went out on Eurotunnel Jan 1st for £61.lowest price you'll ever get. But this was booking online. Coming back we drove to Eurotunel france and the lady said 285 euros - w e said were only want one way - she said that is the price whatever time or day one way :!: We drove round to one of the ferries and got on a 1am at 11pm (once you pay they let you on first available ferry, that cost about £36. 2009 I booked again online for Jan 1st £61. On our return the weather was horrendous and so we phoned a friend here and asked if she would book us online to come back, we got it for £106 which is more than a ferry but it was worth every penny. Our friend was coming with us on 1st Jan and had booked but her husband became ill so she phoned Eurotunnel which was answered by a very nice French man explained their predicament and he immediately held the £61 till November this year towards a new crossing. Sadly this will not be of use to her, but she did appreciate the sympathetic treatment she received. But just turning up at the ferry - forget it, has someone an explanation why it costs so much at the kiosk :?: It would cert ainly build a few :? :? 
Wendy


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## metblue1500 (Sep 11, 2009)

*eurotunnel*

 hello,much the same happened to us when we had to return early.I called ahead to ask if a space was available,there was plenty available the lady said.I asked if I could at the check in and was told yes cost 200+ but the kind lady told me as long as I booked online in the morning prior to us leaving our site it would only be 70 euros !!
She told me that the management discourages payment prior to boarding and that it why it is so expensive.Book online for the best prices.


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## Pusser (May 9, 2005)

Well it has discouraged me off the tunnel altogether. Point of principle m'lud. Plus they didn't even have the courtesy to reply to my email probably as there is nothing really to mitigate a deliberate scam. When their balance of accounts is so precarious, one would have thought they would encourage people to simply drive up just as you can with ferries.

I suspect charging customers extra to discourage certain methods of payment is illegal under european law so I shall have to look into this during a bored moment.


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## Briarose (Oct 9, 2007)

Hi if my memory serves me correctly I am sure a similiar thing happened to Sonesta a couple of years ago, they also had to return home early and I am sure that they left on the Eurotnnel and returned via ferry. I remember her phoning me up and saying how much they were going to charge her to amend her booking and return early..........can't remember how much it was though.


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## anallew (May 1, 2007)

Hi Pusser

While I feel your pain and you have all my sympathies etc etc etc, what I really want to know is whether you sent them your highly entertaining email or not.

My favourite line: "I realise that this figure is neither here nor there to you but 285 euros is to important to me as is £5000, so I will be content giving you a tiny lesson in what extortion feels like." 

Classic. Made me smile. Keep up the good work.

Ana


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## Pusser (May 9, 2005)

anallew said:


> Ana


It was copy and paste as in quotes. But signed with my proper name and not Bitter and Twisted as I didn't want to get myself confused with many more of their clients.

But I spend my life writing stuff like that and here is one that is now not confidential for obvious reasons plus accounts do not exist anymore.

Letter to Abbey (one of hundreds)

"Mr. Richard Harris
Complaints
Abbey
PO Box 297
BRADFORD
BD1 1BR

Dear Mr. Harris,

With reference to your letter dated 8th June 2007

Accounts:-

090126 02678268
78476847
K1581798 HIL
X2160145 HIL
026 782 68

Thank you for your letter dated 8 June 07.

It appears that still, despite you receiving documents, requests by mail and telephone that I am not being understood. The following points I do hope simplify some of the issues you are struggling with.

1…My father, whom you addressed the above letter to is dead and therefore will have extreme difficulty replying to you.

2…As with most people who die, they are buried underground or cremated and as such one can determine that they cannot possibly still remain at their home address.

3…Since December 2006, some six months ago, there has been no one living at the address you sent the letter and previous letters, statements, cheque books and account cards so it really is pointless sending correspondence there and as I have Power of Attorney for my mother who has now taken over all of my fathers accounts and probate has been done and dusted it really would be good if you could address all further letters to my above address.

4… It is my opinion that due to these many oversights and requests not to send correspondence to my parents old address, that many breaches of security could or may have happened. With estate agents and viewers and builders and gardeners all accessing this empty property, my mother could have had her personal finances seen, stolen, used or even subject to identity fraud. This is a gross breach of client confidentiality.

I do accept that now I have written this letter that your investigation into these matters will take even longer, but rest assured, time is not an issue so please do investigate the issues raised at your convenience.

In summary, your letter epitomises the essence of my previous complaints.

Yours sincerely,
"


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## Pusser (May 9, 2005)

To the FSA copy Darling, Osbourne for what it was worth.

" have been associated with the Life Assurance Industry from a distance and I have always been amazed at the severity of fines and restrictions imposed on the industry for the slightest mistake, very often to the consumers disadvantage leaving many now, unprotected.

Equally I am amazed at the total lack of consumers interest you show for those having problems with the Banking Sector in which I include Building Societies.

The Financial Ombudsman is only able to compensate consumers for assessed losses of a particular grievance which of course is but a tiny irritation to Banks and Building Societies.

It is also perfectly obvious that this lack of interest or more probably lack of understanding that the FSA has assisted in plunging this country in very deep and long lasting recession rather than a recession we could tackle from a position of strength. I do not need to elaborate simply because you know this as well as I do.

Please consider this. This is a shortened version of issues with Abbey that I have been struggling to resolve since the beginning of 2007 and I can tell you that after a delay of 9 months by the Financial Ombudsman I have finally had credited to my mothers account one hundred pounds of the two hundred awarded. No penalty has been allowed for the many times my parents accounts were wide open for ID fraud, no account has been made for the lack of interest that Abbey had in the issues even though my parents could well have been one of their very first clients plus many other mistakes that you simply will not be interested in anymore than the Financial Ombudsman and there is no one else left, is there?

I should have pointed out that bizarrely, the final £100 was paid into my mothers account which was closed in May 2007. And then I found out there was another account that had not been closed. And then, having POA for my now single parent, I find that a pension which I was unaware of has been paid into this account since my fathers death. As I had no knowledge of this pension and as I received no bank statements as the account was closed and as I cannot withdraw the money as the account is closed you would think that Abbey would simply close the accounts properly, and forward the residue to my mothers account in Lloyds TSB, the details of which Abbey has held for over a year as has the Financial Ombudsman.

But, Abbey say they cannot transfer the money over because it is subject to a complaint and the Financial Ombudsman says the complaint was done and dusted over two months ago, so it appears I now have to make a new complaint which will take the Financial Ombudsman at least 8 months to find an adjudicator and this means Abbey will have the benefit of my mothers money for a further year and of course she will not have the benefit of her money.

As I write this I am becoming less amazed at what is happening in the world. As I assess your performance and assess the Financial Ombudsman performance and Abbey and other Banks performance I wonder how on earth this country did not collapse years ago.

I am aware that you are unable to respond to individual issues as that would mean you were doing your job properly but I am writing this to you so I can hawk this email to everyone that I can think of that may be disturbed by your incompetence and impotence and ignorance of banking affairs.

Finally, to justify the other recipricants of this email, it is my view that an all party consensus really get to grips with the FSA otherwise we can rest assured that apart from consumer inconvenience that bothers no one, our once proud banking industry has no chance of ever getting back on its feet as customers will find more secure and more profitable places for their money. I have already started shoving mine out to Australia. Incidently, I was asked in by my bank for a review so they can advise me on where to put my investments. They are surely having a laugh - aren't they?"

I shall stop there otherwise me blood pressure will pop.


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## steco1958 (Mar 5, 2009)

Pusser ,

I bet you didn't get an answer to the above letter


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## Pusser (May 9, 2005)

steco1958 said:


> Pusser ,
> 
> I bet you didn't get an answer to the above letter


Yes I did but only from the FSA. They thanked me for writing to them and that the issues I raised would be put on record. I had no reply from any political person of any colour even though there were several in the address but c.c.


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## steco1958 (Mar 5, 2009)

The they promised to put your comments on record !!

All that is saying is yep received your letter.

I must say, I would do the same thing if I received this type of correspondence, for to sarcastic and very little substance, surely you would be better to temper the sarcasm and bullet point your concerns or wishes.


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## Pusser (May 9, 2005)

steco1958 said:


> The they promised to put your comments on record !!
> 
> All that is saying is yep received your letter.
> 
> I must say, I would do the same thing if I received this type of correspondence, for to sarcastic and very little substance, surely you would be better to temper the sarcasm and bullet point your concerns or wishes.


The bullet points and substance and lack of sarcasm accounted for most of the first 20 letters to Abbey. And I am in the middle of doing my second complaint over the same thing as we speak which will be another twenty letters, recorded delivery charges and 8 to 9 months before anything will happen. I suspect I could send blank sheets of paper and achieve similar results.


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## steco1958 (Mar 5, 2009)

Have you visited branch / office, rather than write.

The amount of time, effort, delivery costs, it must be a substantial amount


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## Pusser (May 9, 2005)

steco1958 said:


> Have you visited branch / office, rather than write.
> 
> The amount of time, effort, delivery costs, it must be a substantial amount


With ref to Abbey it was complicated as I had EPOA but their computer could only acknowledge my mother account had a POA not not who it was so although I tried in Newton Abbot and my hometown to pursue these issues, there was no one that could talk to me about in effect, someone elses account. This was an ironic piece of po faced security as they were continually prepared to send statements etc to a house where only house hunters, estate agents, carers had access. It wasn't as though we were talking small amounts of money either.

This second crusade I am on is because even after them getting fined by the ODDBODsMan (who was a lady actually  ) they had not closed the accounts and were still sending statements to the same address although by this time there were new people in it. If they had not written to me to say the last of the fines imposed were paid into the account, I would never have known about this account as it was closed over a year earlier - (In theory).

Abbey are so brazen that even though the Ombudsman has told myself and them it does not require a completely new complaint as it is part of the same problem, Abbey do not accept this so we have to go through another year of writing silly letters and going through all the motions so that they can be fined £200. Will only be a £100 as the Ombudsman does not like to take advantage of the Banks but I know like last time I can push for £200.

But my satisfaction in all this is that Mr Santanders incompetent staff saw me drag out thousands and close all asccounts so I hope they feel this was worth it.


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## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

I started one of mine off . . .

_"Dear Office Cat, (May I call you Tibbles?)

I am addressing my comments you you personally, since from recent past experience I feel certain that you have more sense than the rest of your colleagues put together."_

I got the most po-faced and humourless reply you could imagine, but it did get their attention. 8) 8O

Dave

Edited - typos.


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## Pusser (May 9, 2005)

Zebedee said:


> I started one of min off . . .
> 
> _"Dear Office Cat, (May I call you Tibbles?)Dave_


_

 I have thought of one similar to yours but so far have never used it.

"Dear ****,

............. "

It was to go to the judge I had but he is dead. How on earth anyone would know he was is a mystery. Must have had a post mortem._


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