dispute over cancelled holiday

jaytar

If your daughter had not gone on the holiday, would the friend have been willing to pay her back the £500 she would have lost? I doubt it.

jacx_2

Atomised wrote: »

I must have a soft heart as i'd be thinking my daughters enjoyed a holiday and although this girl caused some trouble , someone else took her place without much trouble. Is £500 really worth more than the friendship?

In this case, I would say it is. What sort of a "friend" leaves a person in this situation with 5 minutes to spare then makes plans to go a festival? (Which sounds like her real motive for backing out). Not the kind of friend worth keeping in my opinion. I wouldn't give her any money - as others have said both this girl and eevie's daughter would most likely have lost all their money anyway if the sister hadn't gone - and it doesn't seem like she's the type of person who would have compensated eevie's daughter for the financial loss - not even taking into account the disappointment of not going. It wasn't ideal for the sister going on holiday with only 5 minutes notice - the fact that she was able to do this was lucky. The friend may be quite naive at 19, thinking she could just back out at the last minute and claim on insurance easily, but this should be a lesson to her to grow up and learn that she can't act like she did without some consequences.

Mark_Hewitt

eevie wrote: »

, 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.

Evidence, if it were needed, of disinclination to travel, rather than illness. Just for that I wouldn't be willing to give her a single penny back. It's quite clear she backed out just to go to the Reading/Leeds festival and somehow expects to get her money back? Some chance.

eevie

My biggest problem is she says her insurance said it won't pay beacuse someone took her place and she did say that the doctor thinks she may have glandular fever. She did not say she got a doctors certificate to say she was unfit to travel, I don't know if she has or hasn't. Would she be able to get one hours or a day or two after the event or later on say it is confirmed that she had glandular fever (does glandular fever automatically prevent you from travelling?), or do you have to be physically unable to travel at the time ie 6.15 on wed Morning? She did not ask to seek medical attention and as mentioned her parent did not attend straight away. She did say on the morning that she had been unwell for a while and was intending to go for tests. TBH i also think she is a bit of a fibber which does not help the situation.

Would her insurance company discuss paying out if she could not recover the money?

If she chose the legal route would she sue the lead booker or the person who took her place?

Many thanks for all of the replies

carolineb23

I agree with Jaytar, I can't see this girl being willing to have paid your daughter the £500 she would have lost had she not have been able to find another person to travel with. I wouldn't be incluned to give her anything back to be honest. It might teach her a lesson that she can't just back out and not expect to be out of pocket.

Mark_Hewitt

carolineb23 wrote: »

I agree with Jaytar, I can't see this girl being willing to have paid your daughter the £500 she would have lost had she not have been able to find another person to travel with. I wouldn't be incluned to give her anything back to be honest. It might teach her a lesson that she can't just back out and not expect to be out of pocket.

Exactly my view. It's a life lession. You can't just change your mind on a whim and expect there to be no consequences for your actions.

Bennifred

How about giving her, say, half of the cost of the holiday back? That way she is not totally out of pocket (although I totally agree that she should be!) and may let the matter rest, and your second daughter has had a cheap holiday, albeit unplanned.

melb

she was quite willing to leave your daughter in the lurch - most people would not have been able to find anybody to go with at such short notice and she had no thought for your daughter. I don't mean to be disrespectful to anyone with glandular fever as I know it can be very debilitating but i bet it would be quite easy to give your doctor all the symptoms and convince them you may have it. someone i know was diagnosed with it but had no outward signs. she's trying it on. Pay her nothing. I hope your daughters enjoy themselves.

Smiley82

Out of interest - why does everyone keep saying that the OP's daughter could have lost her holiday?

If one passenger decides not to travel, providing it's all paid for, and not cancelled by the person pulling out, then can't the remaining passenger just continue with the trip, albeit by themselves? Providing the accommodation etc is paid for already, why would the hotel care?

If it was me, I would find out what portion of the holiday was likely to have been refunded by the tour operator for such a last minute cancellation (most likely....nil, possibly taxes on the airfares less an admin fee) and I would offer that to the girl who pulled out.

I would then explain to her that she would only have got that amount by cancelling at such a late stage, that you've seen her postings on Facebook stating that she's looking for Festival tickets (and highly doubt that she was indeed too sick to travel that day) and that if she wants to continue with Insurance fraud, she's most welcome. You are more than happy to discuss legalities with the Insurance company (we all know they probably won't talk to you.....but she might not know that!).

Might scare the pants off her and make her see some sense!

I'm sorry you've been left with this situation, but hope your daughters have a great holiday.

davetrousers

If the holiday cost £500 pp. Why not meet half way at £250?