dispute over cancelled holiday

eevie

Some advice needed please.

My 20 year old daughter booked a weeks holiday with her 19 year old friend and was due to leave for the airport at 6.15 in the morning. At 6.10am her friend announced that she felt too ill to travel and would not be going, no amount of persuasion could change her mind. My daughter was obviously very upset at the thought of losing her holiday and with very little time to make a decision, she asked her sister (17) to go with her. Whilst at the airport the “friend” sent a txt asking about having her money back for the holiday, my daughter told her that as she had decided not to travel and did not leave any time to make alternative arrangement that she was not entitled to any money back. The “friend” had stopped over the previous evening in preparation for an early start and had made no indication that she would not be going. She had not outward signs of illness, no temperature, no sickness and she was well enough to wait on her own for nearly one hour before she was picked up. She telephoned the next day asking about her money and I have told her that she left no time for anything to be sorted so she would have to accept losing her holiday. She says she can’t claim from her insurance as someone else took the holiday and that they should pay for it.

Any opinions/advice most welcome.

jacnorm

This happened to my daughter last year and her friend left it right to the last minute before saying she was not going. My daughters boyfriend took her place paying for the name change and he paid the girl her money apart from the £30 for the name change as they felt this was the right thing to do and also she could not claim off the insurance.

PolishBigSpender

Depends on how important the friend is, surely?

eevie

Thanks for the reply, the problem is this holiday cost nearly £500 each which my daughter who has travelled did not want to lose and her sister who travelled with her cannot afford. We literally had 5 minutes to make a decision, either lose the holiday or drag the other daughter out of bed to accompany her. TBH I was inclined to offer her some money in compensation, but her actions were not those of an ill person, only 6 hours later she was asking her friend on facebook if there was a ticket to a festival available for her this weekend.

stephb34

Tricky one this one think the outcome of this is down to peoples morals and how much do your daughter and her friend value their friendship. Was your daughter the lead passenger if so then she has final say on who goes. If the girl was genuinely poorly and could have canx her place and claimed off her insurance then really your other daughter should give her some money back ie her share of the holiday costs minus the name change and the excess for the insurance. I suppose its a case of morally should your daughter have a nearly free holiday and should the other girl lose all her money, it will be interesting to see what other people think. When people book holidays i dont think they realise how much control the lead passenger has in it all.

delwynshd

She cant claim off her insurance unless her illness was signed off by a doctor, I would not give her anything back its her loss at the end of the day

If your daughters had not of travelled she would of lost the same so stand your ground

Del

fitzmum

To be able to claim on her insurance for cancellation due to illness she would have to have a doctor's certificate anyway - if, as you say she was showing no signs of illness then I guess she couldn't have got the doctors certificate legitimately.

In her case it seems that she simply disinclined to travel - her insurance wouldn't have covered this and so she would have lost all her money anyway regardless of whether your daughter went or not.

If she wants her money back ask for confirmation from a doctor that she was ill - its what the insurance company would have expected....

eevie

My daughter was lead passenger. I think her friend let her down very badly and she stood to lose all of her money. If someone is genuinely ill they don't leave it until 5 minutes before they are due to leave to announce they are not going. She was well enough to wait on her own to be picked up and then later on make social arrangements for the weekend. TBH I did not consider it a free holiday but a way of allowing my elder daughter not to lose hers. My younger daughter really was pulled out of bed and clothes thrown in a case and bundled in the car. If we had had time to think we could have discussed various options, but the friend did not give ys time for that. Like i say I was happy to offer her some money, but her actions since have made me very suspicious of her motives.

love-hearts

There's no way I'd be giving her any money back, and I think you did the right thing getting your other DD to take her place. I hope they have the time of their lives

stephb34

Good job your daughter was lead passenger and after reading more her friend has behaved very badly, if i were you wait until your daughters come back and see what they think about giving her any money or not and if your daughter is still wanting to be her friend, that could be the deciding factor their friendship.

foxy-roxy

I would ost definitley NOT give her any money, she pulled out, she caused the inconvienience and your daughter was lucky that she had a sister to take with her or they both could of lost the whole amount.
TBH if my friend lacked that much respect for me by pulling out of the holiday with such a feeble excuse i wouldn't want her as a friend anyway, i wouldn't trust her.
I wonder if she had no money for spends or something?

Just a quick question..was there no questions asked about your daughter only being 17? when i went away with my friend who was 17 at the time she had to get a written permission and i had to be her guardian?