Withdrawing from a lad`s holiday

Fimbo77

Looking for some advice here and have carried out a search but can`t find what I`m looking for.

Basically my son booked a lad`s holiday in about April or May of 2015. The holiday is actually in June/July this year. Five of them booked but now my son and his pal no longer want to go as they have fallen out with the other three!

He was only 17 when he booked (does that make any difference legally) so one of the other in the group had to act as Leader as he was the only 18 year old.

They all paid a desposit ages ago and I realise that my son will lose that. However, he went to Thomson`s today and was told it would cost another £200 and a £50 admin fee to pull out. He was also told that the Leader had to be present as the Leader`s name is the one on the booking?

I had a look at Thomson`s cancellation policy as it says "loss of deposit if cancelling 70 days or more from departure" which they qualify for?

My main concern is are Thomson`s trying to take advantage of a couple of daft laddies?. By the time they pay the £200 and the admin fee and include a £100 deposit, that`s nearly covering the price of the holiday (I think the total was something like £550 each).

Also, why can`t my son withdraw from the holiday without the Leader being present? He took his passport down to the shop today to prove who he was.

i`m actually going to take him back down tomorrow to discuss with Thomson`s but I thought fore-warned is fore-armed lol

Any advice well appreciated!

Moto2

I suspect it isn't a cancellation, rather an amendment, hence the fees

Fimbo77

According to Thomson`s - a change is only £50 if it`s done more than 29 days before departure.

One thing I did over-look is the possibility that my son failed to understand what the Thomson employee actually said to him today!

photome

Was it initially a low deposit so the "extra" is the remaining balance of the full deposit


Edit I have just looked and £100 is indeed a low deposit so he is being asked for the balance,

tomtontom

Only the lead name can change the booking - can you not make contact with them? I wouldn't go back to the shop until you have spoken to them.

Voyager2002

The simplest solution would be to find someone else willing to take his place...

Otherwise: when he made the booking he would indeed have agreed to pay the full amount of the deposit (including the extra amount that Thomson are now asking him to pay) but since he was under 18 he could not enter into a legally binding contract and so there is nothing they can do to make him pay the money now.

photome

Voyager2002 wrote: »

The simplest solution would be to find someone else willing to take his place...

Otherwise: when he made the booking he would indeed have agreed to pay the full amount of the deposit (including the extra amount that Thomson are now asking him to pay) but since he was under 18 he could not enter into a legally binding contract and so there is nothing they can do to make him pay the money now.

Wouldn't there be a problem for the rest of the group if he didn't pay the balance, or at least for the lead name?

stephb34

Fimbo77 wrote: »

Looking for some advice here and have carried out a search but can`t find what I`m looking for.

Basically my son booked a lad`s holiday in about April or May of 2015. The holiday is actually in June/July this year. Five of them booked but now my son and his pal no longer want to go as they have fallen out with the other three!

He was only 17 when he booked (does that make any difference legally) so one of the other in the group had to act as Leader as he was the only 18 year old.

They all paid a desposit ages ago and I realise that my son will lose that. However, he went to Thomson`s today and was told it would cost another £200 and a £50 admin fee to pull out. He was also told that the Leader had to be present as the Leader`s name is the one on the booking?

I had a look at Thomson`s cancellation policy as it says "loss of deposit if cancelling 70 days or more from departure" which they qualify for?

My main concern is are Thomson`s trying to take advantage of a couple of daft laddies?. By the time they pay the £200 and the admin fee and include a £100 deposit, that`s nearly covering the price of the holiday (I think the total was something like £550 each).

Also, why can`t my son withdraw from the holiday without the Leader being present? He took his passport down to the shop today to prove who he was.

i`m actually going to take him back down tomorrow to discuss with Thomson`s but I thought fore-warned is fore-armed lol

Any advice well appreciated!

Only the lead passenger can make amendments, he could give permission over the phone and not be there as the shop will have his contact details. As they booked so long ago I would think they would have paid a full deposit so would lose that and not owe anymore deposit. The only reason they may have to pay more money is if the room is then under occupied, which would need to be paid.
Its a grey area really and also depends on your morals.
If your son is 17 at time of travel you should have written a letter to give permission for him to travel, if he will be 18 then its not needed. Here's the moral bit. The lad who is lead passenger is liable for all payments so when the balance is required it will be him Thomson chase for it. If your son and his friend don't pay anymore money as they are dropping out then the other 3 lads will have to pay the difference between them or the holiday will be cancelled. The best thing all round would be to see if the lead pass could get 2 others to go in their places and do name changes. As the parent I would ask the agent exactly what your son owes and see if your son misunderstood the amount yesterday. If the boot was on the other foot and your son was lead passenger what would you hope the other lads would do if they dropped out?

stephb34

Also you need to know what sort of holiday he has booked. Just because its in a Thomson shop it may not be a Thomson holiday, it could be anyones and they all have different t+cs. If its one of these dynamically packaged things that could cause more problems as usually they are low cost carriers and the flights need to be paid in full and that could be where the admin charges come in.

richardw

It'd save money if diplomacy could succeed and friendships re-built.

They'll be football on the screens at happy hour in the bars, simple pleasure to enjoy together.

duchy

stephb34 wrote: »

Only the lead passenger can make amendments, he could give permission over the phone and not be there as the shop will have his contact details. As they booked so long ago I would think they would have paid a full deposit so would lose that and not owe anymore deposit. The only reason they may have to pay more money is if the room is then under occupied, which would need to be paid.
Its a grey area really and also depends on your morals.
If your son is 17 at time of travel you should have written a letter to give permission for him to travel, if he will be 18 then its not needed. Here's the moral bit. The lad who is lead passenger is liable for all payments so when the balance is required it will be him Thomson chase for it. If your son and his friend don't pay anymore money as they are dropping out then the other 3 lads will have to pay the difference between them or the holiday will be cancelled. The best thing all round would be to see if the lead pass could get 2 others to go in their places and do name changes. As the parent I would ask the agent exactly what your son owes and see if your son misunderstood the amount yesterday. If the boot was on the other foot and your son was lead passenger what would you hope the other lads would do if they dropped out?

Excellent post