Should I use ABTA or Small Claims Court?

Dogface830

A few weeks ago we had a disastrous cruise with a well known company. I required a pool hoist as I'm disabled. We asked obvious questions when booking, checked the literature on booking that said the ship had 2 hoists. Well it only had one hoist that was broken 13 out of the 14 day holiday. The company have offered me compensation which I feel is too little. The company have suggested using ABTA disputes system but I'm dubious as the company have suggested it. Or should I use the Small Claims court? Which route is better for holiday disputes? :mad::mad:

agrinnall

Although I've never done it I assume complaining to ABTA is free for the consumer, whereas court action will incur up front costs, although you may well get them back if you are eventually successful.

shaun_from_Africa

Another thing to bear in mind is that I recall reading on here that if taking legal action through the courts, you are expected to have made a reasonable effort to resolve the problem first otherwise jumping straight into court could count against you.


Declining the ABTA dispute process in favour of legal action may be seen as rushing into court too quickly.

richardw

Do a thorough search and try and find out what others have experienced with disputes with this company, Internet forums are usually picked up with Google.

There's no harm discussing further with them about your concerns in a reasonable non emotive manner.

Having done the small claims process it is very important to be reasonable and do things well, I think this is one reason that in my case they settled before going to a hearing.

Voyager2002

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Another thing to bear in mind is that I recall reading on here that if taking legal action through the courts, you are expected to have made a reasonable effort to resolve the problem first otherwise jumping straight into court could count against you.


Declining the ABTA dispute process in favour of legal action may be seen as rushing into court too quickly.

However, if the ABTA process is "final" that could mean that if you use it then you undertake to accept the outcome and agree not to go to court later, no matter what they decide.

In this case, it seems very clear that 1. your decision to buy this particular holiday depended on information that they gave you, but which was not accurate (the availability of a hoist) and 2. since no hoist was available, the holiday you received was not "fit for purpose". Under these circumstances a court would surely rule in your favour, so you should not give up your right to take the matter to court unless you are given a satisfactory resolution.

Alan_Bowen

Let me point out two issues that may help you decide. I assume the booking was direct with the cruise company and not through an agent? If so then whether you have a legal right depends on whether you relied on a representation that a hoist would be available, was the fact of your disability and need for the hoist mentioned on the invoice that you received after booking for example? If it wasn't and it was merely something discussed on a phone call, your position is weaker and if you go to court they may well argue that it needed major work because of some specific reason and this could not be carried out without parts which they did not have on board. If a court considers that to be a reasonable position, you will get nothing.

ABTA arbitration is entirely independent and consumers win more times than they lose but the average payout tends to be lower than a court award. ABTA's scheme is entirely paper based, there are no hearings, you put your argument in writing, with photos if necessary and explain how important a hoist was to you. Arbitration is not free but you get the fee back if you win, that is to say you get more than any offer made before arbitration.

The benefit is that it is much much quicker than court actions, depending on where you are you can be waiting 9 months for a hearing date and there are additional fees to pay prior to a hearing. Arbitration can be completed in 2 months if everyone sticks by the rules. The other benefit is that once you apply for arbitration the cruise company has to pay a much bigger fee than you and this can tempt some to increase the offer, if you go to court, they have nothing to pay until judgement day.

Either way, the decision is final, you have to accept the arbitration award and can't have a second bite at the cherry by going to court. If you cannot point to evidence that you were booking solely on the promise of a hoist my advice would be to choose arbitration, they tend to look at what is reasonable, rather than a strict interpretation of the law which a judge has to consider.

I hope this helps