£336 warning issued to anyone buying Virgin Experiences for Christmas

A £336 warning has been issued to people buying Virgin Experience vouchers for Christmas. One buyer wrote into the Guardian newspaper, where they admitted being left "deflated" by air balloon ride vouchers costing an eye-watering £336.

ML, from Bath, wrote: "At the end of 2022 I was given two Virgin hot air balloon ride vouchers for my 30th birthday that I hoped to enjoy with my partner. We have tried repeatedly to book this experience and each time find there are hardly any spaces available. We managed to secure a booking on two occasions but both times they were cancelled because of the weather.

"I contacted Virgin Balloon Flights and asked whether we could exchange the vouchers for another experience. However, it will only do this after seven or more trips have been cancelled. I mentioned the difficulty we had booking on to flights in the first place and the likelihood that the vouchers will expire before reaching that number of cancellations.

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"Virgin says it is not bound to the Consumer Rights Act 2015 as it offer a weather-dependent activity. However, we have not been able to make use of these vouchers for two years now and they expire in January. This gift has been a nightmare and a burden that cost my mum £336. At this stage we just want the money back and not to have to worry about using these awful vouchers."

Responding to the letter, a reader fumed: "I had exactly the same experience several years ago. I gave up in the end. The £180 value lost. I'm pretty sure people buying and NOT using the voucher is an important part of these companies revenue streams"

"Just don’t buy them. You’re giving a curse, not a gift. It’s deliberately difficult to redeem the things. I’m sure that’s policy, because if they’re not redeemed it’s pure profit. Sadly a good idea has been done to death," a second wrote.