How can we sell our holiday?

TrulyMadly

We have a family holiday booked to Cyprus on the 1st of July.

My mother in law has had breast cancer for a long time and we therefore knew when we took out the insurance that as this was a pre existing condition that we would not be covered if anything went wrong.

Tragically we have been told that the cancer has spread to her liver and she might only have a short time to live. We are heartbroken.

Does anyone know whether any web sites exist where we would be able to try and sell our holiday. We know we will lose out but I can't bear the thought of Thompsons making £2500 out of us by reselling the holiday. I would rather give it away. None of our friends or family can go in our place but Thompsons say that it will only cost £50 pp to change the names on the tickets.
Thank you for any advice.

giovanni

Have you tried contacting Thompsons are asking to cancel?

noonesperfect

It may be worth trying to appeal to Thomson's (or the insurance company's) better nature, after all, you knew about your Mother-in-law's breast cancer but had no way of knowing that it had already spread to her liver.

I don't know of any official sites where you can sell holidays, but if you can bear the hassle at this sad time, Ebay might be worth a try.

I'm so sorry about your predicament, my best wishes are with you and your family.

sunny_puglia

Do you have an account with Ebay?

ferf1223

it never occurred to me that a pre-existing condition of a family member would impact your ability to claim if you have to cancel a holiday due to that family member's illness...I assumed that the pre-existing conditions thing only applied to those who were being insured...so while your MIL wouldn't be able to claim (if she was due to travel), others would be?

TrulyMadly

Thank you everyone.

I have already spoken to Thompsons and they cannot do anything other than giving us the option of travelling sooner (no help at all)

Unfortunately any pre existing condition of ANY family member who might impact on your journey invalidates insurance. Something everyone should be aware of.

Thank you again

luci

eBay is not an option as you have to be a travel agent to list it on there.

Yes you need to declare the PEMC of anyone travelling and "anyone on whom the travel depends". I always declare all PEMC's of our parents when I take out my annual policy.

Can Thomson's not let you change the date of the holiday for an admin fee? I would check the T&C's very careful as this should be an option, not just a name change. Then you could defer it for a few months.

ferf1223

luci wrote: »

Yes you need to declare the PEMC of anyone travelling and "anyone on whom the travel depends". I always declare all PEMC's of our parents when I take out my annual policy.

Wow...I really had no idea...will look into this for our upcoming renewal...only PEMC is something one of the in-laws had treatment for about 5 years ago and has been fine since, so will have to see what sort of timeframe these things need to fit into under the PEMC rules. Thanks for the info!

TrulyMadly

Thanks Luci, I had written off ebay anyway.

Thompsons have said they can do nothing as we are within the 10 week period before we go but I will read the T and C's thoroughly to make sure. They said that all we can do is bring the holiday forward but not defer it.

Thank you all again.
Anyone more ideas..... please.

noonesperfect

I don't mean this to sound offensive, but how long is long?

Could you maybe postpone the holiday till later in the year? It's still nice in Cyprus in Oct/Nov I believe.

Granted, we were using an online travel agent when we postponed our holiday, but even though it incurred some cost we were allowed to do so.
That is, from September 08 to May 09 - tho unfortunately the airline went bust so we didn't get a holiday after all.

***Oh sorry TrulyMadly, I've just read that they won't defer it....hope you find a solution soon.

poet123

I am so sorry for your predicament, I have been in a similar position when my mother was diagnosed as terminal. As we had booked prior to her condition being diagnosed we were covered and got all our money back. What I would say is that as it is only 3 weeks away I would consider going. A terminal diagnosis may not mean that she will die so soon, and she could go on for months. I appreciate though, that your DH and indeed you yourself, may not feel going away is appropriate now, or even enjoy it very much. I would think carefully about it though.

The other option is for your DH to obtain a medical certificate saying he is unfit to travel due to emotional/anxiety issues, (relating to her illness). It may well be the truth.