Can a company really change the price of a holiday after a deposit is paid

morganb

(I've already posted this in the Travel forum but it's also a bit of a Vent topic too!)

I was hoping someone could help.

We booked a holiday online in January with http://www.suncampholidays.co.uk/

It was for a week long caravan holiday on a site in Italy.

For this kind of holiday some sites charge for the caravan and the number of occupants separately whilst others have a flat rate per caravan including occupants.

The holiday we booked states on the booking confirmation :

"Price incl. 4 pers and 1 car. Accommodation suitable for max. 5 pers."

We paid a deposit and received a confirmation email plus invoice confirming the booking details and outstanding balance

About 10 days ago we got a phone call from "Suncamp UK" to say that their HQ in the Netherlands had spotted an error in the pricing on the web site and for the campsite we have booked at the details should have read :

"Price excl. 4 pers and 1 car. Accommodation suitable for max. 5 pers."

And because of this error on their part we now owe them another £56 (this figure actually includes a 35% discount on the actual amount owed as a good will gesture!) for the occupants charges.

I have re-read all the paperwork provided to us and all the details on their web site and have been unable to see where it says that they can make price changes due to errors on their web site.

The pages on the site referring to Terms and Conditions I have found are :

http://www.suncampholidays.co.uk/faq...ns%29/campers/

http://www.suncampholidays.co.uk/gen...onditions/347/

http://www.suncampholidays.co.uk/disclaimer/364/

The UK office apparently disagrees with the ruling of their HQ but can not really do much more. The Netherlands office claim that all their Dutch customers were happy to pay the outstanding balance without quibbling.

Can Suncamp really change the price of the holiday after we have made a deposit and been invoiced for the outstanding balance?

Any helpful comments appreciated...

thescouselander

As I understand it, once money has been exchanged (i.e. the deposit) a contract becomes legally binding. If there is nothing your agreement stating they can change the price and you have all the paperwork stating how much there is left to pay I'd say they dont have a leg to stand on. They are probably just trying it on in the hope you pay up.

IvanOpinion

I don't undrstand what does 'Price excl. 4 persons and 1 car' actually mean?

Most sites generally use the phrase E&OE however if money has changed hands then the contract should have ben created. If no money has been paid then I suppose they could alter the price giving you the option to cancel.

Ivan

dmg24

thescouselander wrote:

As I understand it, once money has been exchanged (i.e. the deposit) a contract becomes legally binding.

This is not always the case. I can't find their terms and conditions (the first link doesn't work). If you can post the link again I'd be happy to look through them x

morganb

IvanOpinion wrote:

I don't undrstand what does 'Price excl. 4 persons and 1 car' actually mean?

When you book a caravan in Europe it appears that you get either :

- an "all inclusive" price where for the price you may any number of people can stay in the caravan up to a maximum number

or

- you pay for the caravan only then you are charged an extra amount per person staying in said caravan (excl. = excluding)

Also there is no mention of "E&OE" on any paperwork or their site, and yes, money (i.e. a deposit) has changed hands so in your opinion a contract has been formed.

morganb

The link is :

hxxp://www.suncampholidays.co.uk/faqs-%28frequently-asked-questions%29/campers/

(replace xx with tt otherwise the text is translated to HTML)

or :

http://www.suncampholidays.co.uk/faqs-%28frequently-asked-questions%29/campers/

as a clickable link...

p.s. They don't appear to have anything actually called "Terms and Conditions" (either on their site or the paperwork received)

IvanOpinion

A tricky one and definitely one for somebody who knows the law ... if you had paid the full amount then I would b einclined to tell them to take a running jump ... however you have only paid a deposit, I would have thought that that the contract came into effect as soon as the money changed hands.

One other thing though, are you dealing direct with a UK company .. if not then could there be 'differences' in UK law and their law? Probably just me clutching at straws here

Ivan

Astaroth

The second link is the terms and conditions that they say you have to tick to agree to.

These are terrible T&Cs and really dont cover 90% of what you would expect them to. Saying that the whole site is terrible when you go through the booking system with fields not showing labels and having to ask you for the reg and make/ model of car on the way there and then again on the way back.. how many are not going to have the same?

morganb

IvanOpinion wrote:

One other thing though, are you dealing direct with a UK company .. if not then could there be 'differences' in UK law and their law? Probably just me clutching at straws here

As per : http://www.suncampholidays.co.uk/about-suncamp-holidays/282/

Suncamp holidays UK is a division of the Dutch company of the same name which, with 40 years experience, has selected 200 of the best camp sites in France, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Whatever that means...

But - the web site and email address are .co.uk so imply English law

kittiwoz

I think IvanOpinion's point is that it doesn't make sense to say "price excluding four persons and one car. Accomodation suitable for five persons maximum" because why assume the extra charge will be for four people and one car, particularly if the caravan sleeps five. What if three people book this caravan and travel by train? Or two couples, one with a child book the caravan and arrive in separate cars? The price excludes specifically four people and one car so does that imply that three people without a car would be included, or five people with two cars?

morganb

Ok - just checked the site today and it currently says :

(Price excl. pers. and incl. 1 car. Accommodation suitable for max. 5 pers.)