Help! Cancelling holiday (african safari club) without losing too much money

Holly25

Hello all I was wondering if anyone could help me. I need to cancel my holiday, but need to get out of it without losing too much money!

I booked a holiday to Kenya with the African Safari Club because it was cheap. I'd read all the terrible reviews about the hotel and the company but decided to take it with a pinch of salt, afterall not all the reviews were that bad. I thought people were being a bit picky since it is a third world country.

I've been keeping a close eye on recent reviews and the forum on trip advisor to see if any more promising reviews would come about. However, its gotten worse...

Part of the company (the swiss owned bit) has gone into administration. Its quite possible that the rest will too.

The company ownes 3 or 4 hotels on the same beach - one has shut down, one only has about 60% of the complex open and one is ours. Ours is still open but there is talk of people being moved around hotels once they get there.

The staff at our hotel have not been paid. Apparently this has been going on for months.

all the recent reviews I read say that ppl got ill from the food (it is a buffet style)

The safaris keeo getting cancelled (we also booked one of these through the site)


Anyway, these are just a few of the issues that are making me want to cancel. I'm wondering whether its better to stick it out, with the possibility of the company going under at the last minute, or even worse when we are out there and not being able to get back. I'm also worried about the hotel and staff not being paid, I heard it got a bit violent once or twice.

I looked at the site, it says if you give notice before 55 days you only lose your deposit, if you give notice between 55 and 28 days you only get half your money back. We are 45 days away so will only get 50% back. Does anyone know a way we might be able to get all of it back? Anything we could say?

I know, it doesnt sound hopeful, but any advice greatfully recieved

richardw

Did you pay all monies by Credit Card?

Holly25

no unfortunately not it was via direct bank transfer

Alan_Bowen

If you are determined to cancel do it now. There are certainly no rumours about the company closing down, it used to own an airline and that certainly closed but that was around 3 years ago, and it has survived since then. You won't be able to make a claim on your insurance since this is disinclination to travel, and it seems the warning signs about why it was cheap were there when you booked. If you are only going to get 50% back, you might as well have it now unless you can be convinced on its imminent failure, slightly worried you paid by bank transfer, did they ask you do that or was that your choice? If they are not accepting any credit cards, that might be a sign of serious financial difficulties..............

TheMoneySpider

I know someone who works for African Safari Club and as far as they know there is no problems with the company. Can't comment on the hotels but my mate insists they definitely, definitely do pay their staff

Holly25

hmm its not just that, they have completeley changed our holiday. Two of the three hotels they have are shut and they have moved us to another one.

Furthermore the safari we booked with them to kilamanjaro for two nights at £295 each has been cancelled and they put us on another one in a completely different safari park in another area of the country. Its not even as good as the one we booked. We mainly booked it to see kilamanjaro.

what makes me really mad is that they waited until a week after we paid the full balance to change it all so we'd lose all of our money and not just our deposit. Sneaky.

they say that if there is a major change to the holiday we are entitled to a full refund. I bet they dont think a hotel change and a safari change is 'major' and will screw us over anyway cos thats the kind of company it seems.

We already phoned and they said no, so we have written a letter. Will see how far that gets us.

bex332

Hi Holly, don't panic - we got back 2 days ago and we had a great time. Staff told us that they have not been paid for 10 months so we gave them lots of tips our clothes at the end of the hol and bought things from them such as hats made of palm tree leaves, bead bracelets and coconuts with staws - the holiday itself cost only £599 half board for 2 weeks with sea view at Dolphin Hotel. If people stop going then ACS will definately go under and the 700 ish staff will all be made unemployed. They already halved their staff after the troubles in kenya - we spoke to a man in the village who had been sacked when this happened and was struggling to get money to feed his family. I hope that their business increases soon so that the staff get paid. The food was nice and we didn't get ill. We had palm trees and white sands under our balcony and monkeys running about. The staff were lovely. We booked all our trips including our safari outside the hotel so the local people go thte money directly but heard that ACS are now using local safari companies more often to save money. Our safari was booked through North Coast Safaris, cost us £200 for 2 nights at a 5* and a 4* lodge with all meals. It was very quiet at the hotel and they started only doing lunch at Flamingo next door while we were there but it wasn't a problem. They also have a generator and switch the electric off at set times of day when you don't tend to need it eg between 1am and 3am and from 9.30am and 3.30pm. Our rooms were cleaned everyday and it was the best holiday of my life.

delwynshd

Hi

They company is ATOL and ABTA bonded so if they go down your safe, you will get your money back

Del