Wastelandski

CHRIS COULSON IS A LEGEND. He was always so helpful about any questions we had and really good with advice. Thought wasteland security were harsh but Chris made up for it. He always backed us up. I love Chris.

Chris Coulson made our trip. He was so helpful and kind, wouldn’t have been the same without him.

Wasteland Ski has directly refused me a refund after cancelling the university ski trip. This is not in accordance with UK law (Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018) which requires package holiday providers to offer customers a full refund within 14 days of cancelling the trip. At the time of writing this, it has been 15 days and the company has offered partial refunds and credit notes for future trips but has not offered full refunds as they are currently legally required to do.

Regardless of the current situation and their claims that they are unable to get refunds from their suppliers, consumers should not have to suffer because they are unable to provide the service they were paid to.

Wasteland Ski have refused to refund my daughter’s money for her cancelled ski trip offering her a voucher instead. She is leaving university this year and so won’t be going on next year’s trip. ABTA have now issued this statement: Abta spokesman says: 'Customers whose holidays have been cancelled because of the pandemic absolutely have the right to a refund, and where cash refunds are requested they should be given as soon as possible.'

Very unprofessional staff that are rude and extreamly unhelpful. Contracted everything they as there was no communication between staff. They think they can get away with it because they are dealing with students. Would not book with them again and would advice anyone else NOT to book with them.

Wasteland ski are the company approved for my sons package ski holiday which they have cancelled. They are ATOL AND ABTA registered. My son needs a full refund. Legally he is entitled to one. No ifs, no buts. They are trying to push this onto travel insurance companies. Utter nonsense. They even created an email to trick students into clicking a link which (they said) would invalidate their ability to get a refund from Wasteland. At the point of clicking the link there was no mention of any responsibility altering from Wasteland to a travel insurance company. Wasteland are fully responsible legally for making refunds if a customer doesn’t want a voucher.

The UK law Is called the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018.

Where package holidays have been cancelled, consumers are entitled to a full refund within two weeks of the trip being called off under the Package Travel Regulations 2018.

Wasteland Ski have cancelled his holiday a while ago. They have to either provide a refund or my son accepts a replacement holiday, whichever he prefers. He prefers a full refund.

UK law states:

If a holiday is cancelled by the tour operator the customer has three options under the Package Travel Regulations. He/shecan:

· take a package of equal or superior quality from the operator (Wasteland Ski)

· take a package of lower quality and recover the difference in price between the packages.

· receive a full refund.

If Wasteland Ski don’t refund you within 14 days they are breaking the law. It’s as simple as that. The next step is to take them to the Small Claims Court which will massively inconvenience them. It costs hardly anything (c £35) to do this and an appropriate letter can be got online if you google search it ee a small claims court letter.

There is no argument here. They have to pay and if they do not play ball then you will win in the small claims court and you might include some expenses for hassle too in your claim.

Companies like this should not be allowed to run a sham like this. They are a shocking example in the travel business. If they go out of business over this so be it. Maybe some honourable operators will take their place and it would be good to see the back of these amateur businesses.

Wasteland, if you read this, you have been warned. Your delaying emails just make consumers see red. You will be out of business so quick you will regret your current actions

Wasteland Ski company are playing a very dangerous game trying to get out of refunding a University ski trip, cancelled due to Coronavirus. They have tricked students into downloading a document which then cancels any chance of getting a refund. Travel insurance companies have clearly said it is Wastelands responsibility to refund. Having taken legal advice, it would seem the only option is to pursue them in court. If this isn't resolved to my satisfaction, I have the backing of a legal representative to expose them for dodgy practice. Bring it on!!

Very vague emails from Wasteland Ski regarding my daughter’s university trip due to depart tomorrow. Obviously the trip has been cancelled but Wasteland seem to be trying to defer bookings to next year (not an option for my daughter who is in her final year) - or encourage everyone to claim on their own travel insurance. Wasteland should be refunding all payments as any professional company would. They have also collected damage deposits and ski hire money as part of the ‘package’ but have not even offered to refund these!!! 6.11 of their t&cs clearly states they will offer full refunds so why aren’t they? And they are ATOL bonded!

I had booked a Wasteland Trip for my time abroad. I am a US Student who was studying in Madrid (before COVID-19 sent me home). I waited as long as possible to make the full payment of the trip, seeing as though COVID-19 was rapidly spreading through Europe and Madrid specifically. Then one day I received a notice that my trip was cancelled because I had not paid by the deadline and that I had to pay 80% of the trip (and not go on the trip). I emailed customer service and they denied my request to waive the charges given the unprecedented circumstances. I was trying to act responsibly in response to the global pandemic and not go on the trip. I didn't want to pose the risk of potentially spreading disease. I understand their cancellation policy but given the circumstances, the charges should have been waived following my decision to not attend the trip.

Then a week later, all ski resorts in Europe shut down. I followed up with an email, again requesting them to waive the charges. My abroad site had forced us to evacuate and return to the United States. Wasteland finally waived the charges on my account and closed the booking (thank you!) but I was disappointed with their initial response.

Wasteland did not understand the scope of COVID-19 until all of the ski resorts in Europe closed. Their initial response to the pandemic disappointed me, but ultimately they now understand the scope of the virus.

This company are an absolute disgrace. They are absolutely determined to use every possible ploy in order to avoid returning the vast amount of money paid by their customers for cancelled ski trips. There were 1000 students booked on my daughter’s ski trip paying on average £700 each so for that ski trip alone they are sitting on around £700,000 and if you add that to all the other cancelled ski trips on their books it probably runs into millions of pounds. I should not be surprised after this company’s performance on the previous ski trips my daughter had been on with this company. Be warned, the damage deposit will never be refunded, if you’re very lucky you may get a small portion of it back but they will do their best to think of every excuse under the sun to retain it. Excuses have so far been that they have received a fine from the ski resort because of the bad behaviour of some of the guests so have docked everyone on the trip £30 and another was that the room had not been cleaned adequately at the end of the stay ( my daughter ran 2 ski chalets prior to university and had cleaned the room to a good standard, however she was naive and didn’t take photos or get it signed off before she left the resort) But I guess if Wasteland retain at least half of the deposit for a ski trip for 1000 students then that is another £30k in their coffers for nothing and if they do this for every ski trip each season this con must net them hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Do not even bother trying to claim on your travel insurance as it will be declined on the grounds that Wastelands terms and conditions say that they will offer a refund if the trip is cancelled. Even Wasteland posted that that theIr own overpriced insurance policy which they sold would not cover the cancelled trips. Wasteland have sent us numerous e mails where they avoid actually telling you that they are not offering a refund but a credit note which if not used by September 2021 they will then offer a refund but I’m sure that they will either not be around by then or at that point they will add another condition so that they still don’t have repay it. My daughter is in her final year of university so obviously she would not want to go on a university ski trip after she has left. I would have thought that most of the students who booked are year 1 or 2 students so that option may still be acceptable to them but they are hellbent on keeping every single persons money. Some serious questions also need to be asked of the ski societies at the universities who continue to use this company and expose thousands of students to the underhand dealings of Wasteland who are ‘persuaded’ to choose this company with free ski trips, holidays and festivals so that they continue organising trips with Wasteland rather than switching their business to one of the more reputable and professional companies out there. I will now be reporting this company to its governing bodies and am now looking into logging a claim with the small claims court. Wasteland show some common decency and refund the students who do not wish to rebook, send clear plain English replies to e mails rather than trying to pull the wool over your customers eyes for weeks until you finally admit you won’t be offering a refund for at least another 16 months. Do not think that we are just going to go away and let you keep our money and get away with this because I for one as a matter of principal will pursue this to the bitter end.

Poor communication from representatives, issue rescheduling return journey. Room provided was a third of the size of the room given to others who paid equal amount. Hob and kitchen unit is poorly designed and prone to failure. Small portion of damage deposit only returned because of the issues with the accommodation. Overall skiing experience was good.

Probably one of the worst companies I have ever dealt with. The staff were lazy and rude. Customer service had no interest in actually helping. And the actions of the staff ruined the first three days of our skiing. Would advise to avoid this company.

Thanks for keeping us informed over this scary time Wasteland - you’ve been amazing to deal with!

Worst company I have ever dealt with. This company thinks they can get away with being a trash company because their customers are young people, mainly students who won't complain.

Turned up for my pre-fit at my allotted time slot and they still hadn't set everything up so I was told to wait for 15 minutes, didn't receive an apology or a thank you for waiting, even though I said I needed to get a train urgently. The girl who served me had absolutely no customer service skill, very demanding during the pre-fit, didn't even smile seem remotely like she wanted to be there. No one likes to work hun, but you could at least make an effort as my friend and I were left feeling really unwelcome. This was our first real life contact with the company and already we didn't have good first impressions.

The company doesn't initially tell you the time or date of your pre-fit when you book it, but my friend was charged for not turning up because the time didn't suit her. That's a very unethical thing to do, charging someone for not turning up to a pre-fit that they never agreed the time on. Wasteland knows full well when they are able to do pre-fits so I don't know why they don't make the time and date of slots available for customers before so customers can choose an appropriate time for them. It's just another money making ploy.

Once out in France, we never even met our rep and had no communication with anyone from the company apart from the occasional text sent from Wasteland.

On the way back, 5 bags, including mine weren't fitting in the bottom of the bus and the door. A girl and guy from Wasteland tried for 2 hours to reconfigure the bags managing to get it down to 3 bags. In the end it came to just damaging peoples bags to get them on the coach. One of the guys who worked for Wasteland was trying to ram the door closed repeatedly and I told him numerous times not to as I could see it was going to damage my suitcase but he carried on anyway. Inevitably my case became damaged with a huge dent and hole in it. I told him and he said 'we'll sort out some compensation for you' in the least sincere way possible, didn't even apologise. When the door wasn't shutting, he told me that I would need to have my suitcase sent back to the UK via courier even though I was a paying customer who expected to have my bag with me. I said there was no way I was having it sent back, to which I was made to feel bad that I had said no, even though I was really uncomfortable with it. I was made out to be the problem and why the coach couldn't get going because I didn't agree to have my bag sent, when really it was all down to Wasteland's poor organisation.

Wasteland sort yourself out so everyone can actually get their bags on the coach next time without being kept in the resort at the side of the road for 2 hours.

Your company is crap our university isn't dealing with you again next year.

Great week! Jess was a lovely rep and helped us with any questions we had. Loved drop zone and blue girl! Skiing was great, loved the sun- bit icy though. Thank you guys for a fab week!

Had a great time and Jessica h the rep made it One of the funnest holidays I’ve had tysm Jessica xoxo

Very poor information. Wasteland ski is doing every thing posible no to decalre that the ski trip has to be cancelled .... look at their stamtent follwoing france closing all of there ski resorts

"We will be working hard this week to establish the various options that will be made available to everyone. Please bear with us at this time and please just be assured that we will be doing our best."

Where do you think your sending people ... No French Ski Resorts open , no Italian ski resorts open, Germany closed boarders. Perhaps there trying to book the Caingorms or similar .. Closed due to high winds..

Time you guys woke up and smelled the roses ...
Feels like there trying to hold onto your money until you cancel or the FPO advises your not to travel that way they can keep all or most of your money (wow look at are profit ..for doing nothing)

And so their reply is the same confusion that’s on their website . If your looking into “various options” tell us what your thinking you are acting evasive

We have yet to receive any offer of the credit note that you mention Wayne. To date we have still received nothing despite repeated requests.
If it finally arrives we shall be checking it carefully and if there is no offer of a refund until September 2021 we too will be taking action.

I am a Newcastle University student who, like many other students, was booked on the Easter 2020 ski trip with Wasteland Ski which was cancelled due to the coronavirus. I have contacted the company several times to request a refund of the £499 and each time I get the same response. They insist I have a refund voucher for a future trip which is useless to me as I shall be on a placement in a hospital next year so unable to go on any ski trip. I understand that the company is in a difficult situation due to the virus but as a student I cannot afford to lose £499. We are all in a difficult financial position and I dont understand why students should be made to suffer the full financial burden for this. Wasteland Ski are members of ABTA and ATOL so are obliged by law to confirm that they will provide a full refund if it is requested. They say that cannot claim the money back from the hotels/bus companies - I am sure these companies would provide refunds if Wasteland Ski suggested they might not use them for future ski trips. They have advised me to claim on my travel insurance. My insurance company say that my trip was booked through a ABTA company so the travel company should provide a full refund. In any case why should an insurance company take the financial hit while Wasteland Ski retain my £499 and then fill that place with another student on next years trip so they have infact been paid twice for one place..
In these difficult times when so many companies are going above and beyond to do the right thing Wasteland Ski are sadly doing exactly the opposite!

Yet again this company is hiding behind smoke and mirrors by refusing to give refunds as per the LAW
Do not book with this company, they are a sham
They have now sent an email saying they will not refund before September 2021, we need to all report them to ABTA as a group action, and take a group action against this company to force them into paying refunds, and if they refuse issue proceedings as a group, and if need be issue a winding up order against them, as then ABTA will have to pay us back and it would be a whole lot quicker than Sep 2021 !!!!
If your interested leave a review and we can get the ball rolling