Section 75 Refund For Holiday

dhammy

Hi all, I got back from our first family holiday ever last week. Generally it was a nice place but (and its a big one) 3 days in my 5 YO son was assaulted by a member of staff who hit him around the head several times. My lad was a mess after it and didn't want to go anywhere other than by the pool where we had spent our first couple of days.
The staff around when it happened were useless and tried brushing it under the carpet, wouldn't call the police or a manager. Eventually the manager we did speak to was good, he sacked the employee but didn't offer anything other than late check out and a toy car to make up for it although I wasn't expecting much from the hotel themselves more the company when I returned. I'm asking for the cost holiday minus the flights to be refunded or the full cost of the holiday in vouchers so we can try and have our holiday experience again which I think is completely fair.

If they refuse I'm thinking of trying to get a section 75 refund from my credit card company under the grounds that the holiday was sold as a family friendly hotel, I think my son being assaulted makes that a miss representation?
My main question is, would this be the sort of thing section 75 would cover?
Also do you all think I'm being reasonable in expecting a fairly significant refund? This incident is all this holiday has become about and it certainly wasn't the experience I saved for 2 years to give my children.
Thanks for your responses in advance!

[Deleted User]

Section 75 typically deals with refunds where something is not provided.

his is more complex - it's a compensation issue. While theoretically section 75 could be a route, it would be a challenge.

Who did you book it through? Approach them in the first instance.

I think a full refund of the holiday cost (minus flights) is excessive.

gardner1

dhammy wrote: »

Hi all, I got back from our first family holiday ever last week. Generally it was a nice place but (and its a big one) 3 days in my 5 YO son was assaulted by a member of staff who hit him around the head several times. My lad was a mess after it and didn't want to go anywhere other than by the pool where we had spent our first couple of days.
The staff around when it happened were useless and tried brushing it under the carpet, wouldn't call the police or a manager. Eventually the manager we did speak to was good, he sacked the employee but didn't offer anything other than late check out and a toy car to make up for it although I wasn't expecting much from the hotel themselves more the company when I returned. I'm asking for the cost holiday minus the flights to be refunded or the full cost of the holiday in vouchers so we can try and have our holiday experience again which I think is completely fair.

If they refuse I'm thinking of trying to get a section 75 refund from my credit card company under the grounds that the holiday was sold as a family friendly hotel, I think my son being assaulted makes that a miss representation?
My main question is, would this be the sort of thing section 75 would cover?
Also do you all think I'm being reasonable in expecting a fairly significant refund? This incident is all this holiday has become about and it certainly wasn't the experience I saved for 2 years to give my children.
Thanks for your responses in advance!

Why did he hit him.......more info needed here

eskbanker

It's obviously a nasty experience - have you considered pressing charges for the incident as assault is a criminal offence? This may bolster your claim for financial compensation - were there witnesses and did you get any admission of liability in writing from the hotel manager?

I suspect that it'll be more fruitful to complain long and hard to the holiday company though rather than relying on section 75 though - I wouldn't have thought that it's misrepresentation to describe the hotel as family friendly on the basis of what is presumably an isolated incident caused by the actions of a specific individual, and although breach of contract is another claim basis, it may be hard to make that stick in strictly legal terms. However, one of the initial key factors in any section 75 claim is exactly which parties are involved, i.e. did you pay the holiday company or a travel agent?

dhammy

gardner1 wrote: »

What did he hit him.......more info needed here

Sorry not quite sure what your asking? He hit him round the head knocking his hat off and marking his face, at this point my son started cowering and crying when the staff member picked up the hat and hit him several times with that as well.
It was because he was playing running around a water sprinkler which apparently he shouldn't have been. My boys very well behaved and timid and would have stopped if asked straight away.

dhammy

eskbanker wrote: »

It's obviously a nasty experience - have you considered pressing charges for the incident as assault is a criminal offence? This may bolster your claim for financial compensation - were there witnesses and did you get any admission of liability in writing from the hotel manager?

I suspect that it'll be more fruitful to complain long and hard to the holiday company though rather than relying on section 75 though - I wouldn't have thought that it's misrepresentation to describe the hotel as family friendly on the basis of what is presumably an isolated incident caused by the actions of a specific individual, and although breach of contract is another claim basis, it may be hard to make that stick in strictly legal terms. However, one of the initial key factors in any section 75 claim is exactly which parties are involved, i.e. did you pay the holiday company or a travel agent?

Thanks for the response. It was Thomson who I paid and booked with.
I attempted to get the police involved at the time but as you can imagine the hotel did everything it could to avoid this. We asked our rep the same who said she would look into the legal side but nothing ever came of it in time for us leaving.

dhammy

Deleted_User wrote: »

Section 75 typically deals with refunds where something is not provided.

his is more complex - it's a compensation issue. While theoretically section 75 could be a route, it would be a challenge.

Who did you book it through? Approach them in the first instance.

I think a full refund of the holiday cost (minus flights) is excessive.

Thanks, I thought it may be difficult, its not something i have ever done so not sure exactly what it covers.
Genuine question, what would you suggest is reasonable with the holiday costing around 2200 in total? as far as I'm concerned the whole experience was ruined by this and its all the holiday became about from that point on and will be what the family will remember most about it looking back and thought I was being reasonable. I understand people are getting full refunds and more for being i'll for a few days.. this is much more serious in my opinion.

societys_child

Did you leave and return home or continue the rest of the booked holiday?

dhammy

societys_child wrote: »

Did you leave and return home or continue the rest of the booked holiday?

We stayed, getting home early would have been a nightmare and we needed to stay to get the thing sorted with the rep/ hotel staff, we had a meeting with the guest relations guy the day after, then the general manager the next day, the rep for the next 2 days.

[Deleted User]

dhammy wrote: »

Genuine question, what would you suggest is reasonable with the holiday costing around 2200 in total?

I'd guess a couple of hundred would be in the right ballpark. Maybe £500 if you're lucky.

But it's all subjective. I've not heard of people getting full refunds for being unwell though.

sjbrun

What did Thomsons say when you showed them the report from the hospital after the incident and the police report?

Their customer service is really bad so without the above two things it is high likely they will just ignore you.