Brittany Ferries Cork

Yes, that is what the are doing, but they are obliged under EU Regulations to also offer alternative rerouting which is satisfactory to the customer.

We had the same problem when LD lines pulled the plug on our return trip from St Nazaire a few years back. They offered us alternative return with stena out of Cherbourg or a refund, we took the stena option even thought we had at longer drive north, I can’t remember if we were compensated for the extra diesel, Anyway we were treated better than you guys are.

I would have explored land bridge routes myself with them but they are uncontactable.They are also cancelling some ferries from UK

I hope come September things run smoother from IF.

I was contacted by Cork office today offering me Cork Roscoff on the Connemara.I have already rebooked and paid for Cork to Santander Jun5th myself yesterday before the phonecall and asked for a refund on the cancelled original booking.I had been informed yesterday to ask for a refund and make my own arrangements,as options at the busy time of the year were limited.
I was forced into this due to them being uncontactable for me, by phone or e mail since last Thursday(6 days).
I said that was no good for me and voiced my dissatisfaction on their service.I told the girl after she apologized for the service due to the fact that they were a small crew,that it wasn't good enough and they should have a contingency plan in place to deal with such an emergency. She promptly told me she was going to hang up on her irate customer and did so.
A little later her office colleague phoned and offered me Cork to Santander on Jun 5th,the date I had already booked. I told her I had booked this myself already and asked if this date was in danger of being the next one for the chop.She then informed me that she had cancelled my booking I made yesterday,but was holding the booking open for me.I then asked who gave her permission to cancel my booking .She said that she was trying to save me paying twice for the journey. After another bit of to and froing she told me that before she was going to hang up and I am going to e mail on this new booking confirmation. I asked once again who gave her permission to cancel my 2nd booking.She hung up.
In came my new booking on the phone. This is all very upsetting and seems to me to be bully tactics.I am now not a refunded customer.I will appear to be one that they have made alternative arrangements for,even though I made them for myself.After the dust has settled on this circus,they probably received orders to give refunds as the last resort. They are a disgrace of a company. They should have opened up call lines to deal with this mess up that seems to be getting nofee by the day.The lastest is the Port Aven is out till Jun14. They have yet the update correct details on their website(latest sailing information section) concerning future cancelled Cork to Santander ferry,which are not going to sail next Friday week either.
My return on Jun 16 if there is a future extension on the repairs could be in doubt.
That would be the final nail in the coffin for me as I know what the correspondence and communication level will be from them.What a tortureist end to a already shortened holiday that would be.I seriously though today about cancelling the whole holiday after the way I was treated but it has been in the planning for so long,it wouldnt feel the same in Costa del Kerry.
Their is no goodwill to any customer,no compensation offered by this company.My options are limited otherwise I would keep my distance.I would not feel this way if they were immediately contactable to discuss options.I was like a mushroom left in the dark here for 6 days having to trawl social media for my own information and direction in this matter.All from a company with 444 million turnover a year that do not have a contingency plan in plan for emergency situations.

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ir…tHQ7JPrVK0

Hi Baguette
I had also rang Portsmouth and France.Neither believed me that the Cork office had closed their doors.At the time they said that only Cork could deal with my queries.
Good luck on your journey.

If anyone wants a name in the BF Cork office to quote why not give Hugh Bruton a mention, he's the head man down there, I would normally say manager but he sure ain't managing with any degree of competence.

One thing I just can't understand is why re-routing via landbridge is not part of their offer to affected clients. IF & Stena are surely not running at capacity on the Irish Sea and there is plenty of choices to cross The Channel.

Colin.
I think you will find the reason for this is, The Pont Avan is the ship normally used on the Plymouth Santander ferry route ie, the landbridge from Ireland.
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BF go into five different ports in France and have combined choice between 7 or 8 sailings per day on different ships. The Pont Avan is only on England - Spain and Ireland - France.

if they wanted or cared for their customers


The answer to that is they don't and the Irish dept of transport are no better they should be kicking ass but as usual they're asleep

Just a little bit of info on Brittany Ferries, They came into the ferry business because of the then British Rail ferry leaving the fresh produce sitting on the docks because of over booking, so when it got to the U.K. it was wasted. The farmers of Brittany got together and with the help of the French goverment, chartered a ferry so Brittany Ferries was born. This is why as Thorn states everything is in french hands and even to this day Freight is more important than summer tourists.

They have today taken full payment for my new booking.No sign of my refund for the cancelled journey yet despite getting a cancellation invoice a couple of days ago.They are uncontactable so there is nothing I can do about it only wait.I have e mailed them about it once more. Nothing I have e mailed them about has had a response, bar my refund request which generated an automated reply.
It really beggars beliefs.

We had no problem

Didn't think their could be worse customer service after last year's IF debacle but BF have brought it to a new low, it's a wonder they didn't ask for contributions towards the repair of the ship

That sounds like what happenes with IF when they had the cancelations aswell Colin,

Believe it or not these are photos of two of the car decks of the Connemara on the Sunday morning sailing.

This needs to go to mainstream media........ not good enough.

If the ferry was that empty why did they put cars up on the open deck??

It covers some English routes in between as well I think, not sure which ones