Advice please re paying for holiday

diamond57

We have booked through Travel Republic to go on holiday in July. We opted to pay the balance by cheque to avoid the high charges for using a credit or debit card. We posted the cheque in time using recorded delivery and got confirmation of receipt. Also, the booking record on line showed receipt of the cheque but we have received email warnings that the holiday will be cancelled because they have not received payment. I have checked with the bank and the money left my account a week ago.

Can they cancel the holiday? As we do not have the money to pay by card today, and we have been told we have until noon to pay.

johnnyroper

diamond57 wrote: »

We have booked through Travel Republic to go on holiday in July. We opted to pay the balance by cheque to avoid the high charges for using a credit or debit card. We posted the cheque in time using recorded delivery and got confirmation of receipt. Also, the booking record on line showed receipt of the cheque but we have received email warnings that the holiday will be cancelled because they have not received payment. I have checked with the bank and the money left my account a week ago.

Can they cancel the holiday? As we do not have the money to pay by card today, and we have been told we have until noon to pay.

it is obviously a !!!! up their end,have you spoke to anyone at travel republic and explained the cheque was sent recorded you can prove it was signed for and cashed by them and also your internet booking information reflects this?

FH_Brit

For goodness sake! - Call Travel Republic - NOT the bank, NOT asking here - I bet it is a puter glitch and they'll sort it out.

Why on earth, when people have a problem - they call or complain to everyone else EXCEPT the people that matter. In my business, our first letter says YOU MUST CALL THIS OFFICE, and what do they do? Call their travel insurers and then wonder why a few weeks later things go wrong!

diamond57

We have spoken three times to Travel Republic and they can only confirm that they have had the cheque, but that it is showing the balance outstanding. In today's conversation they said that they believed that they had had the funds, but could not confirm. We have tried phoning again this afternoon, but each time we have to stay on hold for about 20-30 minutes which is not easy when working full time. The information on the website has not changed today, so we will try again to phone after work to see if we can get any confirmation.

I was really worried this morning, and was hoping that some-one could have put my mind at ease that they could not cancel if the money had left my account even if they had not allocated to our booking, as we could not afford to rebook as the prices have jumped since we initially booked over 4 months ago.

FH_Brit

Heres the bottom line - Technically, legally they are in the wrong, you entered into a contract that was agreed and you paid (and more important can prove it!).

However, if they are (as it seems) incompetent to match your booking to your payment then they could, being a travel agent, not have booked your flight. And as the airline has not been paid for your ticket(s) then they are not going to board you no matter what!

It could also be that as you paid by cheque, the balance still shows until your cheque clears. We actually do this, holding cheques 10 days before we mark the account paid or issue reciepts.

I suggest you call them and insist it is sorted out in this one call - get them to send e-mail and follow with actual letter, that they acknowledge your booking and payment. So if it does go wrong - ABTA - ATOL - FOS - Court!

You should not have to cancel & re-book at higher price THEY entered into a verbal contract and you have completed your obligation (i.e. you paid).

If they are ABTA/ATOL I suggest you call that scheme and ask for advice - they may be able to "pressure" Travel Republic to get it right.

Good luck!