Angelfish

March 2024

I guess things started to unravel when Blue-O-Two announced their 'collaboration' with Master Liveaboards in February. On the 12th March my booking for September was cancelled, Blue-O-Two cited "under-occupancy" which was a bit strange because they had a full 6 months to fill any empty spaces. Anyhow, they offered me an alternative on the same boat in October at the same price, which I agreed to. BA then charged me 180GBP to change my flights! But this was just the beginning of my woe's.

On the 18th of March I bought my travel insurance from Staysure who I have dealt with for many holidays in the past, and I also paid an additional fee for Travel Disruption cover. Then disaster, Master Liveaboards cancelled their October sailing as well, but didn't offer any alternative this time. Interestingly, Master Liveaboards no longer offer a diveboat destination in the Bahamas, so it casts a doubt on the reason given for the original cancellation. They wanted to give me a credit note but I insisted on a refund to my credit card, which, give them their due, they did. But this left me with flights to Freeport and no Dive Boat to go to when I got there, so not ideal. I had no choice but to cancel my flights.

April 2023

Contacted BA Customer Services to find out what could be salvaged from all the money I'd paid. Bad news, apparently the cheaper tickets are not refundable, where the more expensive tickets are. So on that logic, those that can most afford to lose the money actually get it back, but those that can least afford to lose it, don't. There is something sickeningly cynical about that.
It's not like I didn't give them much notice, 6 month is a long time, and no doubt between now, April, and October they will resell my seats on that flight. So they actually get paid twice for the same seats! All I got back was Airport Fees and Taxes and they didn't even give me a final settlement invoice which I will need to try to claim through my Insurance. When I rang BA Customer Service and asked for a final settlement invoice I was told they couldn't give me one. When I asked to speak to the manager I was told he wasn't available. When I insisted on talking to the manager the Customer Service person hung up. So much so much customer service!

Zero stars for BA, I'm afraid, especially BA Customer Service.

Bluespotted Stingray

Grouper

May 2024

So, I finally got a final settlement invoice from BA after having to fill in another online form to request it, which was an option only given to me after I put in a complaint. I duly passed this on to my insurance company to support my claim for refund of the money that BA had, in my opinion, stolen from me.
After a couple of weeks deliberation, the Davies Group, who were handling my insurance claim on behalf of Staysure Insurance, finally got back to me. Staysure, like most Insurance companies are, metaphorically, glad to lend you an umberella when the sun is shining but as soon as it starts raining they want it back.
Sure enough, the Davies Group decision was that I was "disinclined" to travel and therefore I had no claim. Really? I have to say I was "most inclined" to travel for my diving holiday, but after the boat was cancelled what could I do? Maybe I could have booked into a hotel for the week and drowned my sorrows in the bar, but that wouldn't have been my expectation of a Bahamas diving holiday, cruising around and doing several dives in different places everyday.

April 2023

Next I tried calling Mastercard with which I'd fully paid for the flights. We've all heard how you get extra insurance protection by using a credit card to pay for things. Well forget it. They said the same thing as the Davies Group, albeit in a lot nicer way, but still no recourse for recompense.
What both the insurance company and Mastercard did was point their finger back at MasterLiveaboards which to a degree made a lot of sense since the cancellation and the source of my troubles did originally come from them.
So I approached MasterLiveaboards expecting to get knocked straight back because that seemed to be the way things were going on this. However, my approach was treated sympathetically and I have to say, well done to MasterLiveaboards, we reached a settlement which was in both of our interests. It restores your faith when you find there are still some good companies out there with integrity and morals who do not treat their customers as just cash cows.
So hurrah for MasterLiveaboards and I award them my very own 5 Stars *****.

Scorpion Fish (can you see it?)