Holiday Deposits/True Adventure

Loredana1

Help

My son, and a number of his friends, signed up to an Expedition to Africa through their school. The company (True Adventure) has cancelled the trip 4 months before the teenagers were due to go. Whilst the company has returned the majority of the money (the children have been fundraising for over 18 months to pay for their trip), it has kept a £200 deposit. All of the young people have incurred significant losses (kit has been bought/jabs have been got...), and we felt that the company should pay back the deposit. We have written to the company but they will not shift on their position. Any ideas?
Thanks!

JJG

Why has the company cancelled?

DoaM

If the company have cancelled then they have no right to hold onto any deposit ... UNLESS ... the contract was with the school and it was deemed a business to business contract. In such a situation the contract terms may allow them to retain a portion of the deposit.

If each pupil (their parents) had a direct contract with the company, then this would be a business to consumer contract and they must return the deposit.

Loredana1

Thanks so much for responding.

The company cancelled as one girl hurt her knee and they weren't able to accommodate her on the 3 day hike (God knows what would have happened if one of the kids had injured themselves on the hike!). This took the numbers below a profitable level - trip cancelled. We've asked for their equal opps policy which they have refused to send or discuss.

The contract is with individuals.

agrinnall

If it was booked through the school why isn't the school pursuing this on behalf of all of the affected pupils?

daytona0

Their blurb:

Website wrote:

If we decide to drop out of the expedition can we get our money back?

This depends on many factors but the simple answer is, no, we’re afraid not. We start incurring costs from the moment you apply, such as for administration, recces, itinerary research and planning and travelling to your school every half term, so we still need to cover these costs even if you don’t go on expedition. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule however, so we advise you read the Terms and Conditions very carefully to ensure you are fully aware of what you are agreeing to before signing up. If in any doubt, do get in touch. - See more at: https://www.true-adventure.co.uk/how-it-works/any-other-questions#sthash.QqSwlEre.dpuf

Nowww the interesting two questions I have:


1. Why didn't you find a replacement person?

2. What "hurt her knee" scenario results in knowing 4 months in advance that a trip to Africa is out of the question? You said it so casually, yet the poor girl may have a broken knee or something quite serious i would assume that's the case....? A lot of "hurt her knee" situations will be healed after 4 months

Loredana1

Unfortunately nobody was prepared to stump up £4000 at such short notice, the school did try.

The young lady in question developed pains in her knees, which upon investigation by the hospital, turned out to be caused by over-exercising (????) . The advice was she was able to do everything but the 3-day trek.

The company have refused to send us their equal opps policy .

daytona0

This really does not make sense....


1. How did that girl know that the "pains in her knee" would persist for 4 MONTHS?! Because this trip was "cancelled the trip 4 months before the teenagers were due to go.". I'd understand if she had broken her knee, or something serious like that, but that doesn't seem to be the case?

2. You mention 4k. That presumably wasn't 4k PER PERSON (but more or the whole group), in which case the party could have either: a. Found someone else or b. Paid the shortfall (few hundred quid, depending on how many people were going) to cover the missing person.

3. What's this about equal opportunities? Isn't that for like disabilities or anything which is a protected characteristic? I don't think "pains in her knee" and "The advice was she was able to do everything but the 3-day trek. " quite covers the need to see an equal opportunities policy in the first place? Sounds like you're just being awkward...

Forgetting the B2B contract in place (because the website suggests that they deal with schools directly, so you may not have any consumer rights anyway), they do sound like they do a lot of work with you before the trip AND I'm not fully buying your cancellation reason...

steampowered

An unfortunate situation.

I imagine you should have received a set of terms and conditions when you signed up for the trip. You need to check those to see what they say about refunding the deposit.

If you weren't given any T&Cs, or the T&Cs don't actually say that the deposit would be kept of the trip has to be cancelled due to lack of numbers, then you should get a refund.

steampowered

daytona0 wrote: »

2. You mention 4k. That presumably wasn't 4k PER PERSON (but more or the whole group), in which case the party could have either: a. Found someone else or b. Paid the shortfall (few hundred quid, depending on how many people were going) to cover the missing person

The cost could easily be £4k per person for a supervised expedition to Africa.

daytona0

steampowered wrote: »

The cost could easily be £4k per person for a supervised expedition to Africa.

Thinking about it further, you could be right there! But 4k for a trip to Africa seems to be very expensive! And even if it is 4k, surely there is a huge profit margin built into that? Return flights would not top 1k (to put it into perspective) and I doubt the accommodation would be 5 star?