Do you have to pay the deposit balance?

ruddoug09

A work colleague has paid a small deposit (£300) for a £6,000 holiday in August, with £1,100 to pay by the end of March (the rest payable in April)

A week after booking, they found out they are expecting a child and haven't got travel insurance arranged yet. They obviously can't go on the holiday, and are wondering if they HAVE to pay the £1,100 sum to Thomas Cook.

Bringing the holiday forward isn't an option due to work commitments.

Can anybody advise what the implications are of not paying the £1,100?

wiogs

What do the T&C state?

London50

I THINK you will find the deposit paid would be termed as a "low deposit" and as far as I understand the t&c's the balance will need to be paid. If I read the t&c's correctly after that because the holiday is being cancelled the whole deposit would be forfit. See link below

http://www.thomascook.com/travel-info/before-you-go/cancellations/

ruddoug09

Thanks London50, he's going to dig out the T's & C's himself but I suspect you are right having read your link. Its a shame their options of delaying it or bringing forward don't work but it looks like there ins't an option but to lose the deposit.
Thanks again for the replies!

1trainer1

Why obviously can they not go on the holiday? unless they are doing some extreme sports then it will be fine to go when 5/6 months pregnant

Archergirl

I did wonder that, when is she due?

agrinnall

ruddoug09 wrote: »

... and haven't got travel insurance arranged yet.

Well that piece of foolishness could well end up costing them between £300 and £1100, an expensive lesson. Thinking about insurance first is the right thing to do, as with this sensible poster.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5182173

duchy

I don't understand the "obviously" either. A normal pregnancy wouldn't be any reason not to fly at that point. Even insurance wouldn't cover it without a doctor's letter advising it is not safe to travel.

gettingtheresometime

agrinnall wrote: »

Well that piece of foolishness could well end up costing them between £300 and £1100, an expensive lesson. Thinking about insurance first is the right thing to do, as with this sensible poster.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5182173

first time I've ever been called sensible

stephb34

Why don't they delay the holiday until next year, of course there will be admin fees but saves them having to pay the full deposit then losing it all.

SallyCinnamon

This happened to us, we hadn't even thought of getting insurance (it's the first thing we would do now). We were due to fly 2 days after my due date so it definitely wasn't viable. We spoke to the company as we hoped that given they had about 8 months to resell the holiday that we would only forfeit the small deposit. They said we would have to pay the larger deposit.

Fortunately for us, the advertised kids club was no longer going to be running as they informed us by letter, so that allowed us to say the holiday was no longer suitable and they even refunded our original deposit which we were expecting and willing to lose.

No help here obviously but it's taught us the lesson about insurance