Canceling A Holiday

So_Mental

My partner and I booked a holiday in September 2008 for us and our 2 kids to go on holiday to Egypt in June 2009, we did it online through First Choice's website and paid a deposit of £123.00 with the rest to be paid by 11 April 2009. Unfortunately my partner has lost her job and now we can't afford to go. I emailed First Choice to cancel and the reply was it is over 56 days so we can cancel for loss of deposit which is £130 per person. I was shocked by this as I thought the deposit was only £123 for us all. I have the booking conformation and there is no mention on it of having to pay any more towards a deposit, (unlike now when I checked by trying to rebook through the website it says deposit to be paid of £100 per person within 8 weeks). I admit I never read the terms and conditions when I booked, I just ticked the box so don't shoot me down over that, but do I really have to pay £520 just to cancel or is it worth arguing to reduce the cost especially as the kids are only 4 & 9.

delwynshd

You could give them a call but they do state in the terms and cons that this is the procedure. You will most likely have to pay it.

Unless you ask them if you can transfer the holiday to something later in the year just a cheap week on SC and hopefully your partner will get another job

So_Mental

delwynsholidaydeals wrote: »

You could give them a call but they do state in the terms and cons that this is the procedure. You will most likely have to pay it.

Unless you ask them if you can transfer the holiday to something later in the year just a cheap week on SC and hopefully your partner will get another job

That's what I was afraid of. Guess I was just hoping for a magic answer.
I didn't realise I could change the booking completely, does that mean a completely new destination and date?

RachelW1987

That would be the minumum deposit plus the extra deposit you havent paid yet unfortunatly. They will be able to transfer the funds to another holiday later on in the year or maybe at a push next year

Incapuppy

Is there anything in your partner's Travel Insurance that would cover this?

delwynshd

Hello

Yes change your destination and dates to something more cost effective.

Im not sure they will let you completely change your season but its worth a try

Thanks

So_Mental wrote: »

That's what I was afraid of. Guess I was just hoping for a magic answer.
I didn't realise I could change the booking completely, does that mean a completely new destination and date?

jcorbygas

Twice with First Choice I have ended up changing completely the season, and destination rather than cancel and lose a deposit, and I just paid an admin charge to do so. Now that they are part of Thomson you can also change to one of their holidays as well.
So you could ask to move to a holiday as far away as April 2010 and hopefully by then your situation might have changed or it would give you longer to save up.

miamoo

Haven't some of the travel agents got "redundancy insurance" included free if you book a package holiday. Im not sure of the details, I just noticed a sign in the window.

budgetflyer

You could just write to them, tell them you have lost your job and dont have any more money, they can keep the £123 but thats it!
I certainly wouldnt be handing over another £400 for a holiday Im not going to have, regardless of what the t&cs say.

So_Mental

Thanks for all the great advice, we've decided not to cancel as we can't stomach paying £520 to not go anywhere. The insurance wouldn't cover her as she wasn't made redundant (naughty girl). We're going to look at moving it to later in the year. Again thanks to everyone who gave advice.

nt_639

budgetflyer wrote: »

You could just write to them, tell them you have lost your job and dont have any more money, they can keep the £123 but thats it!
I certainly wouldnt be handing over another £400 for a holiday Im not going to have, regardless of what the t&cs say.

Think you would then find yourself in the hands of Bailiffs/ccj's etc