Sykes Cottages - £20 Deposit

LABMAN

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

They do it because they get away with it and will no doubt only stop once the courts step in..... look at the way airlines used to cancelled the return flight if you missed the outbound one. Courts have stepped in and told them they can’t do that.

When did the Courts rule on that? Genuine question BTW.

Side

Hi Andy,

We're having the same problem, trying to charge us £454 to cancel 7 months in advance.

There is no way they have or will incur these costs. I can understand a £20 administration fee as we've booked online and somebody needs to cancel it on their system which will take minutes. However they can't justify £454, especially when they will most likely re-book the cottage out due to it being in the school holidays in August and 7 months away.

It's misleading because a deposit is what you believe is paid upfront. If they had asked us for a £454 deposit upfront then we probably wouldn't have booked it with them. If they want to take a large deposit from their customers then they should do so at the booking stage in my opinion, not hide it in the small print. The reason they don't is they know it will deter people from booking with them, so it's an unfair trading practice weighted in their favour.

I'm going to speak to citizens advice and the ombudsman for advice, then let them take us to court with our solicitor if they decide to do so. It's really not fair to consumers as the business haven't incurred the costs and therefore it's unjustifiable. I believe a judge should decide on the matter, hopefully get it changed for more people in the future.

Regards

Mark

The_Rainmaker

Side wrote: »

It's misleading because a deposit is what you believe is paid upfront.

Read the terms and conditions before you book, if you don't like them then don't book.

I am about to book a wedding for my daughter with my ex and I have asked her to get everyone's cancellation policy in writing so I know exactly where I stand.

This is just common sense.

Side

The_Rainmaker wrote: »

Read the terms and conditions before you book, if you don't like them then don't book.

I am about to book a wedding for my daughter with my ex and I have asked her to get everyone's cancellation policy in writing so I know exactly where I stand.

This is just common sense.

My wife booked it. We didn't think we'd need to change the booking but our circumstances have changed in the last 4 weeks. We have tried to get them to change the booking to another cottage which we've seen is available online and is more suitable to our change in circumstances and we'll pay the difference, but they have refused to do this which is forcing us to cancel. By doing so they are going to massively increase there profit on this as they will still rent out the cottage we had booked for at least the same price plus try to take £454 from us for nothing. We'll be going to court to fight it.

Aylesbury_Duck

Let us know how you get on.

FiestaRed

Must admit I fell for this one too.

I thought I had read the conditions but obviously I didn't read them well enough. I accept age isn't an excuse but the £20 deposit scheme certainly fooled me into booking two holidays that now, due to a change in circumstances I've had to cancel. One holiday was in June and the other not until late September.

I should also add that when I cancelled the two holidays, although the emails confirming the cancellation showed the correct amount, on checking my credit card transactions I spotted that Sykes had taken almost £200 to much. I spoke with them and was told that the finance department was closed for the weekend and to try again later on Monday. I would advise anyone who has cancelled with Sykes to check their credit cards.

wesleyad

It's definitely set up to catch out and I would argue that its deliberate. The obvious thing is.. if they are always due the whole deposit, then why do they even charge a £20 deposit? 

Why don't they say "free now pay later" (the £20 isn't enough to help with cash flow). I'd say the reason they don't say this, is you know you are tied into a contract under that scheme. Here they are implying your deposit is £20, when in fact its £400 split into 2 amounts both due at different times.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

wesleyad said:

Why don't they say "free now pay later"

Don't know if they've changed it recently but it now seems to be called "Book now pay later" 

It's clearly designed to encourage you to book a holiday as £20 is nothing and worry about the rest later.

Might be worth those affected making a complaint to the ASA

mattyprice4004

While I can see how this can catch people out, it's really not deeply hidden nor hard to find the actual cancellation costs. 
Seems to be more a case of click happy followed by regret than anything else - lesson is read what you're clicking before bashing away! 

soolin

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

wesleyad said:

Why don't they say "free now pay later"

Don't know if they've changed it recently but it now seems to be called "Book now pay later" 

It's clearly designed to encourage you to book a holiday as £20 is nothing and worry about the rest later.

Might be worth those affected making a complaint to the ASA

It still says that- ' book now pay later' and with a very large clickable 'Terms and conditions ' button immediately below the statement. Click on that and you get the full t and Cs

https://www.sykescottages.co.uk/book-now-pay-later-terms.html

Point 4 on those states 'You will also be responsible (even if you cancel your Booking) for paying the difference between the initial deposit that you would have paid if we had not made The Offer available to you and the Deposit (we call this the "Deposit Balance"). You will be quoted what your initial deposit would have been during the Booking process.'

so they are very upfront that any cancellation incurs the full deposit that would have been due if they hadn't offered th elow cost deposit.

I cannot see that being misleading at all?