Cooling off period, cancellation

Toxopholus

ON THE BEACH. co.uk. or OTB have just informed me that there is no ‘Cooling-off period’ for travel agents, apparently because the service provided e.g. flight, could be on the same day as purchase. Is this true? This I find surprising and a problem for all of us. My accommodation has been booked almost a year in advance (July 2011) and I discovered by chance that it wasn’t yet on the market – dates and prices not yet available from the hotel. I thought this odd and decided to cancel my booking until I knew the actual price! I did this within 24 hours but now discover to my cost that all travel agents can use the no cooling off deal. I wondered how many others fall into this money-making trap.

unholyangel

Travel/accommodation (among other things) arent covered by the DSR.

Did you not check the T&C's with regards to cancellations at the time of booking?

dmg24

They are correct, there is no cooling off period for most travel bookings. I am a little confused - have you booked flights with them? You could not have entered into a contract for the hotel without knowing the price to be paid.

unholyangel

dmg24 wrote: »

They are correct, there is no cooling off period for most travel bookings. I am a little confused - have you booked flights with them? You could not have entered into a contract for the hotel without knowing the price to be paid.

From what i understood of his post, he was using flights as an example. He got prices from OTB website but when checking the hotels website, there were no prices available for those dates (as a lot of hotels will only take bookings for a few months in advance i'm presuming).

dmg24

unholyangel wrote: »

From what i understood of his post, he was using flights as an example. He got prices from OTB website but when checking the hotels website, there were no prices available for those dates (as a lot of hotels will only take bookings for a few months in advance i'm presuming).

That was my understanding, but I wasn't sure as I couldn't understand why somebody would book one element of a holiday without at least checking the other elements were available!

unholyangel

dmg24 wrote: »

That was my understanding, but I wasn't sure as I couldn't understand why somebody would book one element of a holiday without at least checking the other elements were available!

AFAIK (or understood anyway) he's only talking about the hotel side of things. He's booked the hotel with OTB, then checked the hotels website and discovered the hotel arent taking bookings for these dates yet. This has worried him so he's attempted to cancel his booking.

Although its normal for travel ops to take bookings for hotels before the hotels themselves will.

Toxopholus

Thank you all for your interest and opinions. Nothing is mentioned in T&C's about a lack of a 'cooling off period'. The important part of my saga is to make sure that holiday makers who book on-line understand that contrary to normal consumer law; Travel Agents in general and OTB in particular can avoid paying cancellation repayments because of a legal loophole which is not dislosed by them, and as a result there is no 'Cooling Off Period' for consumers. I am sure you agree this is a particularly nasty way to take money from customers.

funkymonkey1

But surely cooling off periods only apply when the contract is made in your own home? If you go to a travel agents office you wouldn't expect to have a cooling off period.

Also, dsr doesn't apply as you don't need time to inspect the goods - the main reason behind the 7 days to send goods back and get a refund.

So sorry, I don't agree that this is a "nasty" way to get money, it is just a contract and is the way contracts are.

fthl

it is helpful to follow the general rule that there isn't a cooling off period unless something says there is. If that makes sense.

Equaliser123

Toxopholus wrote: »

Nothing is mentioned in T&C's about a lack of a 'cooling off period'. The important part of my saga is to make sure that holiday makers who book on-line understand that contrary to normal consumer law; Travel Agents in general and OTB in particular can avoid paying cancellation repayments because of a legal loophole which is not dislosed by them,

What do you expect them to say in their T's and C's. Something like: "The right to cancel under the DSR which doesn't apply, doesn't apply?"

It isn't a loophole at all.

Hintza

I'm confused! What is the problem?