Advice please - Packaged tour supplement???

Xav

Hiya,

The wife and myself have booked the holidays of a lifetime last February. The tour will take us in Siberia and Mongolia in August and September and we can't wait for it. Trouble is now the travel company wants to charge us a fair bit more....

After doing a fair bit of research, we have decided to book our holidays through Trailfinders. The actual travel company is called Sundowners and are specialised in trips in these parts of the world.

Our travel arrangements are tailor made and a combination of arranged hotel stays and some special tours in between, but I am assuming that as the only price quoted was for the whole trip it falls under the category 'package' holidays (or am I wrong here???)

Out of a total of £4500 we paid a deposit of £1300 in March, with the remainder due in a few weeks. Part of the deposit goes towards plane tickets and such, who are non-refundable. All papers were signed at the time when we paid the deposit.

Now less than two weeks before we are due to pay them the remainder they are calling back telling us that they have misquoted us because they forgot to count one of the special tours in the total price:mad:. And they want to charge us an extra £620 each _pale_ for it.

Question 1: can they do it? I have the feeling that when I signed off the paperwork that is a contract and they cannot modify it like that (if they made an accountant error, tough!).

Question 2: what recourse do I have if discussions with them fail? We cannot afford the supplement but stand to lose the deposit as it was for 'non-refundable' plane tickets so I feel like being squeezed between two very uncomfortable rocks....

Trailfinders are also looking into this, but I would like to know what you think and who I should contact if I cannot resolve the issue...

Thanks in advance

Sam_Bee

Xav -

Couple of questions -

Did they include the trip 'they forgot to charge for' in the itinerary?

Does Trailfinders take all your money and book the sundowners trip for you? Or did you book them direct? Who has made the error?
Do you have an 'all-in' price, or are all components (i.e. flights, hotels, trips) of your holiday broken down on your itinerary?

This is a bad mis-quote, but I feel it should be resolved in your favour.

dmg24

You will need to refer to the terms and conditions that were issued to you at the time of booking. From the way that you have described the holiday, I would be surprised if it was classed as a package deal.

Xav

The trip is in the itinerary and all the monies and talking is done through Trailfinders.
As for the the price on our booking forms, it is separated in two parts: one for the flights and one for all the other components of the trip put together.

Sundowners have accepted already that it is an account error from their part though, Trailfinders told me that much over the phone.

Sam_Bee

OK, I see it as Trailfinders problem to resolve.

TBH, there will be lots of complexity with this. If I was you, i'd post the same thing on http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk who will refer you to a travel solicitor who will provide free initial advice. I think you'll need it.

Good luck, and have a fabulous trip.