Holiday cancellation nightmare

leann1

I booked a £3500 holiday in August 2016 with First Choice in December & paid £400 deposit (for a family of 4).
My husband has since been offered a job in Australia & we're currently going through the process of obtaining a visa.
I contacted First Choice to cancel the holiday expecting to lose the £400 deposit, however they refuse to cancel the trip unless I pay a further £400.
Has this happened to anyone else? Is there anything I can do?

elsien

What do their terms and conditions say about the cancellation fees and timescales? You will have agreed to these when you booked.
A quick google shows the following:

Period Before Departure When Notice Of Cancellation Is Received Percentage Of Total Booking Price
70 days or more Loss of deposit
69 - 63 days 30%
62 - 49 days 50%
48 - 29 days 70%
28 - 15 days 90%
14 - 0 days 100%

Your deposit is non-refundable, even if the cancellation charge calculated is lower than the deposit amount paid. Where extra facilities or transport options, see Sections 10 and 11.4, are non-refundable, in part or in full, the cost of these will be added to the cancellation charge you have to pay.

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

The cancellation charge may be higher for certain travel arrangements, such as coach tours or scheduled airfares. Please ask for details of cancellation charges when you book and check your insurance policy to see if you’d be covered for the cost of any cancellation charges.

What reason have they given for the extra?

leann1

Thanks for getting back to me. Well within the 70 days but we paid the low deposit. Had no idea at the time, my mistake but just a bit excited when booking!!!!
Looks like I haven't got a leg to stand on.
We thinking that if we do emigrate they won't get me anyway.

agrinnall

So you want to emigrate with a CCJ against you? Well, I suppose it's following a tradition of people moving to Australia.

zagfles

leann1 wrote: »

I booked a £3500 holiday in August 2016 with First Choice in December & paid £400 deposit (for a family of 4).
My husband has since been offered a job in Australia & we're currently going through the process of obtaining a visa.
I contacted First Choice to cancel the holiday expecting to lose the £400 deposit, however they refuse to cancel the trip unless I pay a further £400.
Has this happened to anyone else? Is there anything I can do?

Contrary to what some people think, the T&Cs aren't everything. They are only allowed to charge a genuine pre-estimate of their loss - for this much notice for a holiday in the peak holiday period they'll almost certainly be able to resell the holiday. Extra admin etc would be needed so some sort of charge is appropriate but £800 seems OTT. So you might have a case to challenge it, but you may need to go to the small claims court if they refuse to budge.

For instance see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/advice/Thomson-case-could-spell-end-of-unfair-holiday-cancellation-charges/

joerugby

If you don't cancel they will be after you for the full £3,500

leylandsunaddict

Pay what you agreed to pay them in the event of you cancelling. Hardly a nightmare.

dickydonkin

agrinnall wrote: »

So you want to emigrate with a CCJ against you? Well, I suppose it's following a tradition of people moving to Australia.

and the relevance of this to the OP's question is..............?

It isn't really that funny.

mgdavid

dickydonkin wrote: »

and the relevance of this to the OP's question is..............?

It isn't really that funny.

oh for goodness' sake, take a chill pill, stop being so PC and lighten up

Gloomendoom

dickydonkin wrote: »

and the relevance of this to the OP's question is..............?

It isn't really that funny.

It made me chuckle.

agrinnall

dickydonkin wrote: »

and the relevance of this to the OP's question is..............?

It isn't really that funny.

Actually, I wasn't meaning for it to be particularly humorous (although I'm happy that some people seem to get the joke that is there), it was making a point that the OP seems to be prepared to run up a debt and not pay it, which is not behaviour that I approve of. And because of that I really don't care about the question.