Help - am I entitled through the Distance Selling Regulations...??

borman

Dear Money Saving Team and Forum

I booked a holiday through The Club (as it is known) - (Diamond Resorts) to go to Madeira on 28 Feb for 1 week using their Interval International catalogue. I was invited to use The Club's flight team to book flights. I booked 2 x flights to Funchal for that date at a cost of £206 each. I was told as I booked that the flights were not refundable. Within minutes of booking I realised that I unavoidably could not go that week. So I rang back to try and rearrange the booking. I was told it would cost me another £300 or more to change the flights. I have lost the holiday but I have not yet cancelled the flights. The Club book budget airlines through a consolidator, this is a company called Jetset - they then pass the money to the airline - Jet2.com.

I have tried writing to the company Jetset and have written to Diamond Resorts asking for help to get a refund. They told me that I agreed to book the flights having been told that I cannot get a refund, and as far as they are concerned - that is it.

But - I read Martin's article in one of the papers over Christmas about the 'Distance Selling Regulations' - especially Regulation 10 - the right to cancel and as a result of that , I have written again to Diamond Resorts and asked for a refund based on the legislation written into those Regs.

I just wondered if I had a chance to recover £412 - or if I have no rights to cancel. As the company is International does that Regulation not apply to them. And if it does, then they should be aware of it and not be selling holidays or working with other companies that do not offer refunds if customer need to cancel or change their minds.

Another question: If they tell me that the flights are non-refundable - have they covered themselves? I have just booked again another week when we can travel - and this time Monarch Airlines - just before pressing the enter key they remind you again that - the flight is non - refundable.

Why can't I change my mind - have a cooling off period? I knew in minutes that I had made a mistake and tried to rectify it. So are they in the wrong and am I right to try for a refund do you think?

Yours sincerely
borman:(

dzug1

Accommodation and transport (and a few other things) are specifically excluded from the distance selling regulations so you are on a total loser I'm afraid.

It's always worth asking (but quoting DSR will get you nowwhere) but don't expect anything.

Further down Martin's article there's this:

Exceptions:
Fresh food and flowers (for obvious reasons of decay!), personalised goods, accommodation, transport, newspapers and magazines, sealed audio, video or computer software that has been opened or a service that has already started, can't be cancelled.

ferf1223

borman wrote: »

Why can't I change my mind - have a cooling off period? I knew in minutes that I had made a mistake and tried to rectify it. So are they in the wrong and am I right to try for a refund do you think?

You can change your mind - if you buy fully-flexible tickets on scheduled airlines...unfortunately, most of us do not go that route as they are extremely expensive (for obvious reasons). I'm sure it's frustrating, but I don't think they are in the wrong I'm afraid...

HXDave

the trouble is that the company you used to book the flights used anothe company to book the flight who then booked the flights with Jet2.com. In all fairness, if you had booked the flights with Jet2.com directly, whilst it would have cost you to amend the flights with Jet2.com, it would have been much cheaper to do so than using 2 intermediatary companies who both effectively will 'charge you' for their service.

HXDave