Cancelled journeys, unavailable sailings and hour-long phone calls are just a few of the problems facing Wightlink customers today (Wednesday).
The ferry firm's facing furious backlash after an 'engine issue' with one of its ships meant many customers travelling on its Portsmouth to Fishbourne route had their bookings changed.
Victoria of Wight's withdrawal means that some weekend sailings on the route, both to and from the Island, are completely sold-out, leaving Islanders stranded.
Those who already had a booking have been moved to ones hours later. In certain cases, it's left those with children facing late-night trips.
@wightlinkferry @WightlinkTravel @iwightradio @islandecho I appreciate how busy your call centres on but after being cut off at 46minutes please tell me how you do actually communicate? I really don’t want to take my 3 under 5s on a ferry home at 23.40 on Friday
— Megan Mudie (@Megiow) June 16, 2021
The firm does give passengers the option to amend times, but they say they're finding it impossible due to limited sailings.
At the time of writing, all of Friday's sailings, from both sides of the water are unavailable, while Saturday has limited crossings with some prices exceeding £100 (one-way).
To make matters worse, some customers trying to call up and cancel bookings say they've been waiting on the phone for an hour. Wightlink initially said they were 'extremely busy', but have since said they have 'technical issues'.
Sorry our Contact Centre is having technical issues with phones and it may take us longer to answer your call. We are working hard to get this resolved as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.
— Wightlink Travel (@WightlinkTravel) June 16, 2021
Wightlink says the disruption is down to having to operate a two boat service, as opposed to its usual three.
A reduced timetable is in place until next Wednesday (23).
Wightlink’s Fleet and Operations Director John Burrows said yesterday:
“We apologise to all our customers who will be affected by this unavoidable change to our timetable.
“Although we are doing our best to make sure everyone will be able to travel this weekend, we know many people may be inconvenienced at this busy time of the year.”
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