What if I did not receive an email and therefore lost rights to a trip?

Questioner

In 202 I bought 2 tickets from Stena Line for Hoek van Holland - Harwich vv. Due to Covid-19 this trip was postponed and the reservation was converted to an 'open ticket' to be used as needed. The event in England for which I bought the tickets indicated in February that this will take place in June 2022. That is why I wanted to reactivate the tickets at Stena Line and sent a message to Stena Line about this. Now Stena Line says that they sent an email in October 2021 with the message: '... that if the booking is not changed before 01-11-2021, it will expire'. However, I never received this email, otherwise I would have registered a date somewhere in June 2022 (when the event usually takes place) and later changed it to the exact date. They also refer to the conditions that say that: '... there are no refunds if you cancel the booking'. My defense is that I did not cancel myself, but that this was done unilaterally by Stena Line. However, they insist that I cannot claim the tickets (worth € 500). I cannot prove that I did not receive the email, but is it sufficient for Stena Line to make this known exclusively by email? Can I still do anything about this? .

Lawyer

That is very easy for Stena Line to say and in addition you did not cancel. In the beginning, the year was missing. When exactly did you buy the tickets? For convenience, I'll assume that this was when Covid was new. It's possible that Covid wasn't taken into account in the general terms and conditions at that time. In addition, you clearly indicate that you did not receive the email. In principle, Stena Line will then have to indicate that they did send the email. For example, by retrieving the original email. Even if they can prove that the email was sent, that does not mean that you received it. Without knowing more, it is difficult to give a more concrete answer. You can contact me without obligation via my profile to discuss the matter further.