Help! I've won a holiday & now they've said the terms were wrong!

SussexGal

Help!
I received a letter this week confirming I had won a weeks holiday abroad including flights. The holiday was thru a magazine and it was them who sent me the letter along with details of the travel operator. I had 28 days to contact the travel operator and the letter stated only to contact the magazine if I couldn't get hold of the travel operator. The magazine also stated again the terms & conditions of the holiday namely that the prize could not be taken between 1st July 2014 - 14th September 2014. The prize had to be taken by 30th April 2015.

I rang the travel operator and they were initially great. I have a young child & they said they would pay for or atleast contribute to him coming aswell. I asked if we could take the holiday Easter 2015 & they said they would check & get back to me.

The came back saying that the prize couldn't be taken at Easter or for that matter Christmas but they could do after Christmas.

I went back asking if I could take the prize October half term week or February half term week, they replied saying that They only fly between April and September???? (which incidentally isn't true).

I asked the travel operator to clarify and sent them a copy of my letter from the magazine and the travel operator has replied today saying that the magazine got the terms wrong.

So basically I can't take the holiday before 14th September 2014 according to the letter.
According to the travel operator They don't fly between Oct - March
I have to take the holiday by 30th April 2015
But I can't go for the first 2 weeks of April as that's Easter and not included.
The flights out are Sunday to Sunday - which by my reckoning only leaves the last week in Sept 2014 or the last 2 weeks in April 2015.

I have just replied copying in the magazine but so far when I have copied them in they havnt replied.

Is anyone else thinking that regarding availability this is unreasonable?

I checked the online terms for the competition and again it only states what was written in my letter.

marleyboy

Smells like a timeshare pitch. Be sure to mention you rent your property and have no savings whatsoever (regardless of your circumstances). If they hang up or say you don't qualify for it as a result, you know its a timeshare pitch.

sax11

what comp was it - might be able to have a look at the terms there

duchy

If it was a genuine mainstream magazine comp I'd get in touch with them and let them know what is going on and if they can't help drop Edwin Mutton a line.

CheCazzo

What Sax says. Can we see the comp?

JessicAhh

duchy wrote: »

If it was a genuine mainstream magazine comp I'd get in touch with them and let them know what is going on and if they can't help drop Edwin Mutton a line.

Edwin's retired, apparently, and they now just refer people to the ASA... Not sure how helpful the IPM is going to be in future.

Marleyboy - why do you think it sounds like a timeshare pitch?! It sounds to me it's the usual holiday annoying terms and conditions that say you can't take during a school holiday... And now they're blustering because they didn't include the correct terms.

If it's the likes of Chat / TaB / That's Life! / other well-known magazine, one of us might still have the copy lying around somewhere

ETA - the ASA will be able to help (you should mention that you'll be forced to contact them, if the mag / travel op don't obey the published Ts and Cs), because comps have to adhere to Ts and Cs, unless there is some major reason why they can't. Which obviously in this case, is unlikely.

ETA2 - look up "<NAME OF TRAVEL OP> Reviews" on Google: if they're dodgy, chances are someone else will have found out before you...

SussexGal

Here is the original competition link here on the MSE site - kindly posted by One-Eye so thank you so much to them.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4929125

SussexGal

However, since posting this post a few hours ago, I have received a reply from the competition promoter which seems to suggest they will let me travel the second week in Easter...I will keep you informed!! Thank you for all your replies so far, greatly appreciated.

Ms_Chocaholic

Is this the same competition on their FB page, you could comment on that to get their attention.

https://www.facebook.com/HealthyMagazine/posts/10152308948545115?stream_ref=10

Who are the flights with?

SussexGal

T&Cs

http://www.hotukdeals.com/competitions/win-an-escape-a-sun-kissed-hideaway-heart-cyprus-healthy-magazine-1860606