First Choice will not cancel! Help!

villaprincess

Hi, I am having a nightmare with First Choice at the moment. We booked a holiday for next summer back in August but having been made redundant back in May and my new job not paying as much as I thought it would, there is no way we can afford to go.

I emailed the shop to ask them to cancel the booking and they are saying they are unable to cancel as we have not paid the full deposit?! We paid £250.00 at the time of booking (low deposit) with the rest of the deposit, £550.00 due in about 10 days.

They are basically asking me to give them another £550 to cancel my holiday but then I'll loose the deposit because I've cancelled!

I explained to them that I can't afford to do that and they said that I would go down as a 'low-deposit defaulter',which means that after the date the £550 is due, their head office will cancel the booking and chase me for the remainder of the deposit!

Has anybody got any idea of how I can move forward with this?

richardw

It's how the low deposit thing works.

Perhaps find a cheaper TUI holiday that you can afford and ask them to change it to that one.

Moto2

You may as well just ignore them now and see what happens
I take it the TCs say that you will lose the whole deposit if you cancel?

London50

Sorry but if you read the T & C's {see below} it gives you the info. If you choose not to pay the due balance even if First Choice did not chase for it {they will} you stand a good chance of getting listed on credit listings so I would be very careful if I were in your place.
The T&C are there to be read and the company will not except the reason you have given to cancel without the full deposit being paid. Can you not get a part time job to get the holiday?/ if not I am afraid that you are stuck

If you booked using a Low Deposit Offer, the full deposit amount stated on your confirmation invoice will need to be paid upon cancellation.

jhe

do you have holiday insurance?
as richardw says ask if you can transfer to a cheaper holiday

Moto2

London50 wrote: »

............ If you choose not to pay the due balance even if First Choice did not chase for it {they will} you stand a good chance of getting listed on credit listings so I would be very careful if I were in your place.
.

So without entering into any credit agreement and without any CCJ etc?
I'm not sure they can do that

There are anecdotes of TC reducing the amount owed when people have flatly refused to pay the extra deposit.
I suppose they take the view that something is better than nothing.

opinions4u

Moto2 wrote: »

So without entering into any credit agreement and without any CCJ etc?
I'm not sure they can do that

Of course they can.

A CCJ doesn't require a credit agreement. Just a breach of contract.

Moto2

opinions4u wrote: »

Of course they can.

A CCJ doesn't require a credit agreement. Just a breach of contract.

I know that
But can they file a report on a credit record before it gets to that?

FC don't have a CCJ against the OP so I was questioning how they could end up with a credit report without it

shiningfaery

I had a similar problem with them a few years back they wouldnt cancel without full deposit. I just ignored the letters and nothing came of it.
Not saying this is what will happen just sharing my experience.

opinions4u

Moto2 wrote: »

I know that
But can they file a report on a credit record before it gets to that?

FC don't have a CCJ against the OP so I was questioning how they could end up with a credit report without it

Sorry.

I must stop skim reading at work!

It needs to get to CCJ for the CRAs to be aware.

van22663

This is normal procedure for low deposits.
First step, as already mentioned, is check if your travel insurance covers you for redundancy.
You could try changing to a cheaper holiday but some tour operators will still class that as cancellation because holiday of a lesser value...not all, but some.
You will get chased by First Choices legal department for the remainder of deposit but not sure how far they will go, maybe other people on here have had experiences of this.
Good Luck.