Velo Birmingham sportive cancelled with no refunds

from what theyve updated on Facebook,this years event wasnt at full capacity,and that much has been obvious from the multiple offers of registration to ride the 100 and then the tie up with BC nationals (which have also been cancelled fwiw)to try and promote more to sign up, but given the current circumstances they wouldnt expect any more registrations to come in now anyway even if we werent in lockdown, and the entries so far didnt cover their costs, whilst previous years (2017,2019) had run at significant loss.

the refunds for a cancelled event, would have normally been covered by insurance,but insurance doesnt cover a Covid19 pandemic, and theres very few insurance cover out there for this type of thing in advance precisely for the reason its completely unprecedented in modern times.

and they cant move people to next years event, because next years event basically wont be happening as the combination of losses sustained & no income or turnover to speak of as a business means I think this has probably finished them off.

what it might mean for Velo Essex we wait and see

For my tuppence, that is shocking behaviour and I would be writing letters of complaint to anyone who would listen...

Is there a FoI request to see what they have actually spent? Most of these guys will have charitable status, so they can make more money!

Both Etape Caledonia and Etape Loch Ness organisers have had to cancel or reschedule and they have been great. The former has had to cancel but are giving you free entry to the event in 2021. ELN have rescheduled to later in the year BUT gave the option to defer to 2021.

I don't know whether to get worked up about this at the moment. It is certainly cheeky to keep all the money, but we don't know how much they have spent. I understand the company might go bust if the whole thing gets cancelled, and they can't change the date. But what about the insurance, surely any policy should cover complete cancellation. What if there had been a terrorist attack? Doesn't make sense.

Perhaps I'll justifiably gatecrash next years event.

Firstly, why should the organisers insurance (or lack of) become the problem of the cyclists who paid in good faith?!

Secondly, isn't the whole point of insurance to provide security against the unexpected? Insurers are very happy to take our money but now they are crying "not fair ". How am I somehow not surprised?!

I don't believe that the organisers have spent more than a fraction of my money.  The expenditure would mainly have been in the final weeks and days, when the "boots on the ground" are required.

If the company had offered a partial refund, or a transfer to another (reasonably local?) event, I would not be so dissatisfied.

But this is profiteering, pure and simple.

i will look to see what action can be taken once things are a little clearer, but on action point is certain - I will not spend a single penny with them ever again.  They have my entry fee for 2020; they will not get my (very likely) entry fees for 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 etc.  For far as I am concerned, their business is dead to me.

I think that there is a real difference here from other cancellations. Since we are all being told to stay home and work from home and self isolate and not panic buy and keep our kids at home and not go to the doctors and not use public transport and not go to hotels or pubs or cafes and so on. I really can understand how a business that needs to have people on the ground meeting and discussing and planning (with other people!) would find it almost impossible to function.

Help me out here: how many of the naysayers here have access to the policy documentation & wording applied to the particular insurance policy in place here?  None of you?  Yeah, thought so.

The insurance industry, as per almost every other industry at the moment, is being hit by unprecedented circumstances & losses that I don't think anybody, anywhere, ever saw coming.  Travel insurers, as an example, are running up huge losses from cancelled or curtailed trips to areas deemed "no go" by the FCO.

Pandemic insurance CAN be included as part of a Business Interuption policy but, if you've declined to take out the cover then would you really expect a policy to respond to a loss?  Seriously; did anybody really expect to see a virus pandemic in their lifetime until recently?!

Whilst is it right to cancel the event, there is no way on earth that all the costs have been paid.  At least half the funds should be available, so a partial refund should be in order.

What a croc.   Insurance wont cover cancellation due to the virus.    Dont make me laugh.

How to get rich quick scheme.   Hopefully a lot of people will never ride for them and their events again.

Its disgusting.