Thomas Cook - non refund of deposit even with 106 days notice of cancellation

Charliebhoy

Can someone please advice me of what I can do???

I booked a holiday approx 5 months ago with Thomas Cook, unfortunatley circumstances for me have changed financially and I can no longer afford to clear the rest of the holiday, money is needed elsewhere.

I have contacted my local Thomas cook who have told that even though I have given them 106 days notice (more than 3 months) I will still lose all of the money I have spent so far £765 and still owe them £33 on top.

The holiday cost £2520 in total, they have told me I can transfer it to another package, a cheaper option but I simply cannot afford to go on holiday.

Anyone advise the best course of action????

Thanks

Charlie

:(:(:(:(

B00

What do your booking conditions state?

FATBALLZ

This is how deposits work. Maybe you should transfer it to a later holiday in case you can afford it later on.

B00

If we receive notice of your cancellation more than 70 days before departure you will lose your deposit

This is what it states on their T&C's

Taken from
http://www.thomascook.com/travel-info/before-you-go/cancellations/

There's nothing you can do about getting your money back i'm afraid.

Pollycat

Usually, regardless of when you cancel your holiday, you lose your deposit - unless there is a valid reason for cancellation that you can claim against your travel insurance e.g. illness that is covered by the policy.

With Thomas Cook, if you cancel before 70 days of travel, you just lose your deposit.
Within 70 days of travel, you lose further percentages of the total cost of the holiday depending how near to your departure date you cancel.

This is in many tour operators T&Cs, including Thomas Cook.

So, how much was your deposit?

If you paid a 'low deposit', you will be expected to pay the balance of the deposit on cancellation, which may be what the £33 is.

You need to make sure that you only lose your deposit if you cancel outside the 70 days but I don't think you have any 'best course of action' to recover your deposit.

Have you asked how long you can defer the holiday for?
Could you afford to go later next year for example?

withabix

There is nothing you can do about this, as their terms and conditions are fair.

Otherwise, people would be free to book holidays, pay the deposit and then cancel them later when they holiday got cheaper and re-book, or when they changed their mind, like you have for example.

I don't see the point in booking early. You just pay top whack.

Foggster

withabix wrote: »

There is nothing you can do about this, as their terms and conditions are fair.

Otherwise, people would be free to book holidays, pay the deposit and then cancel them later when they holiday got cheaper and re-book, or when they changed their mind, like you have for example.

I don't see the point in booking early. You just pay top whack.

I booked in September 2009 for this summer and I have continued to check the prices and it has never been less than what I have paid, the lowest price is still some £300 more than what I paid.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Sorry to hear of your problems.

You've lost your deposit.

It's better than losing the full amount.

You're not covered on insurance for being skint (being made redundant would be a different thing, but I'm assuming this isn't the case here).

If there is no way that you can transfer this over to a cheaper holiday, I'm afraid it's one you'll have to chalk up to experience.

trumpton

Sorry to hear of your problem, Charlie.

Can you not find a holiday around the £800 price range and then transfer what you have paid? If it's a family holiday then it will be hard to find one, but if it's just two of you, you could maybe try. I realise you will have to find spending money etc. but it would be better than losing such a large amount. We have had hols where we have been skint and made sandwiches instead of eating out, hardly bought a drink etc.

If you post the dates you want to go, people will help you find a cheap hol or cheap location.

If you can't find a cheap holiday, could you transfer the money spent onto flights with Thomas Cook and get cheap accomodation somewhere? Just trying to think of ways you can have a holiday and not lose such a large amount of money.

jimbms

The best you can do is to check to see if it is transferable i.e. can you change the names of people going, if so see if you can seel it slightly discounted to at least recoup some monies.

tomitma

You have paid a lot of money out and it is a pity to waste it. We booked a holiday on Monday starting on the 11th of June for two of us to go to Marmaris, for 2 weeks in an all inclusive hotel, so if we dont want to we dont have to spend a penny any where, the whold lot came to £675 this was a thomas cook holiday as well. so maybe you could do something like this book a last minute holiday in an all inclusive hotel.