Hoseasons taking me to court please help

EllaBeagle

I have worked really hard to get on top of mine and my partners debts and our credit files have improved so much. Still not good but getting there.

Anyway last year when I was working I decided to book me and my partner a weekend break for this year to Hen wrych hall tower in Wales so I googled the tower and up it comes on a website but not Hoseasons website. I rang the number, booked and paid my £25 deposit. I then lost my job so I rang up to cancel the holiday knowing I would lose my deposit. They told me because they had a low deposit offer on I had to pay £85 there and then to cancel the holiday as the deposit should have been £110.

I obviously refused as 1. I had no idea there had been this offer on and 2. surely if they knew the £25 wasn´t going to cover losses they should have asked people for the full deposit amount.

I then started to receive letters from cottages for you, hoseasons, english country cottages etc asking for the money. I was extremely confused with all these different companies contacting me until I realised they all come under the Hoseasons group.

I rang them up to dispute it and they said that under section 4 of their terms and conditions blah blah it says as soon as I pick up the phone to book a holiday I am automatically aware of their terms and conditions.

I have received a letter today from Skipton Court regarding this £85 with a £35 court fee added on.

What I want to know is if I attended court would I not have a leg to stand on if I disputed it? Will they have recorded phonecalls in court of me agreeing to this? What worries me is if they did mention it on the phone (which I really think I would have remembered) and I didn´t really understand or something and agreed?

Also, will I have a CCJ or will this affect my credit history in some way.

I am so worried

Bravehearted_2

When you paid, didn't you get a T & C? Read it, what does it say in the so called Section 4?

Is all this hassle really worth £85?

EllaBeagle

£85 is alot of money to me that would be our weekly food bill or part of our rent. We are never left with so much as £10 at the end of a week so this £85 would already be allocated to something else.

I contacted a solicitor and they said if I disputed it I wouldn´t really have a leg to stand on. I´ve just rang up hoseasons and paid the £120 that I haven´t got.

EllaBeagle

I didn´t get a copy of their and conditions I just saw the place I wanted on the cottages4you website and rang them to book it. Nothing was said over the phone by them either.

mrsb83_2

I'm sorry you had such bad advice from a solicitor. If you weren't provided with any information regarding the T&Cs then you would have been able to defend the claim.

~Brock~

Cottages4u_website wrote:

4 Offers with a low deposit
Occasionally, we make offers giving you the chance to book properties with either no deposit, or a deposit which is lower than usual. We will give you details of any extra terms that may apply to the offer before, or when, you make your booking. You should read these with these booking conditions. If you book a property with either no deposit or one which is lower than usual, you also agree to pay the difference between the amount paid and the usual deposit, plus any booking fee and any travel insurance premiums due, either at the time the balance of your booking is due or, if you cancel, at the time you cancel the booking. If you cancel, you must also pay all other cancellation charges which may apply. Please see section 7 for details on cancellations. You will still have to pay any travel insurance premiums at the time of booking if this is something you have chosen. We can also decide to extend any offer

Seems pretty clear to me....

Gordon_Hose

Wow, they wanted £85 and you called up and paid £120?

Are you mad?!

You didn't even go to court and you've paid court costs.

EllaBeagle

To Brock - I booked over the phone, nothing was read out to me regarding the low deposit nor was anything sent out to me in writing. Hoseasons contacted me using 3 different company names also.

Gordon Hose - I must definately be mad

EllaBeagle

It says on the court letter I may either pay the total amount i.e amount claimed, court fee etc or dispute.

Gordon_Hose

Then you should have let them have their time in court, maybe even put across the argument that the part in their T's 7 C's where you pay full deposit on cancelling should have been explained to you. Provided you paid the £120 within 28 days a CCJ wouldn't have been recorded against you.

All they've done is put the frighteners on you and mugged you off to the tune of £35.

McKneff

The terms and conditions would probably have been on the website to be honest, you maybe just missed them,
and also likely to be on the paperwork sent to you after you paid your deposit, you possibly just read the parts that were prominent.