Holiday firms warned over unfair cancellation charges - MSE News 17 April 2019 at 9:27AM in Overseas holidays & travel planning 26 replies 2K views

Former_MSE_Naomi

Travel firms have been warned against forcing travellers to pay large non-refundable deposits, or charging hefty cancellation fees, by the competition watchdog...

Read the full story:
'Holiday firms warned over unfair cancellation charges'

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Doc_N

Interesting.

But they had exactly the same warning three years ago and have done absolutely nothing about it because successive Conservative governments refuse to regulate and prefer voluntary compliance.

And voluntary compliance rarely works with the private sector, so here we are again with an unenforceable and unenforced pointless warning.

Cruise companies are amongst the worst culprits because of the age profile, but they continue to profit from cancelled cabins that are often resold at higher prices than the original customer paid.

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

Never trust anything with “agent” in the title...

Travel Agent
Employment Agent
Estate Agent

Etc

Westin

A_Flock_Of_Sheep wrote: »

Never trust anything with “agent” in the title...

Travel Agent
Employment Agent
Estate Agent

Etc

Never had a problem with my local News Agent.

zagfles

Doc_N wrote: »

Interesting.

But they had exactly the same warning three years ago and have done absolutely nothing about it because successive Conservative governments refuse to regulate and prefer voluntary compliance.

And voluntary compliance rarely works with the private sector, so here we are again with an unenforceable and unenforced pointless warning.

What are you on about? The law already protects consumers, fair terms are already a legal requirement, the warning is to travel companies to abide by the law! As it says in the article:

Our campaign is asking travel businesses to 'check in' on their terms to make sure they're fair. Fair terms are a legal requirement as well as helping reassure customers that they're dealing with a company they can trust. "Unfair terms can't be enforced so they also won't protect businesses if challenged.

What do you want the govt to do, pass a law saying companies have to obey the law? :rotfl:
People (particularly on MSE it seems) need to be educated that the law will always override T&Cs. Even banks have unenforceable T&Cs.

Doc_N

zagfles wrote: »

What are you on about? The law already protects consumers, fair terms are already a legal requirement, the warning is to travel companies to abide by the law!

As it says in the article:What do you want the govt to do, pass a law saying companies have to obey the law? :rotfl:


People (particularly on MSE it seems) need to be educated that the law will always override T&Cs. Even banks have unenforceable T&Cs.

You're missing the point, I'm afraid. It's a longstanding principle that unfair terms and conditions can't be enforced, but if you're a holidaymaker seeking to recover a deposit being held by a cruise or holiday company YOU will be the one having to take legal action to recover it through the courts.

What's actually needed is rather more enforcement, as I said, and it's perfectly possible but very rarely done:

A consumer can challenge an unfair term and seek redress through the courts, if unsatisfied with the business’s response after following its complaints procedures. The CMA, Trading Standards Services and other relevant bodies also have powers to pursue legal action to stop businesses using terms and notices that are unfair. If necessary, this can be achieved by seeking a court order.

zagfles

Doc_N wrote: »

You're missing the point, I'm afraid. It's a longstanding principle that unfair terms and conditions can't be enforced, but if you're a holidaymaker seeking to recover a deposit being held by a cruise or holiday company YOU will be the one having to take legal action to recover it through the courts.

Who else should take it?

What's actually needed is rather more enforcement, as I said, and it's perfectly possible but very rarely done:

A consumer can challenge an unfair term and seek redress through the courts, if unsatisfied with the business’s response after following its complaints procedures. The CMA, Trading Standards Services and other relevant bodies also have powers to pursue legal action to stop businesses using terms and notices that are unfair. If necessary, this can be achieved by seeking a court order.

So the law already protects consumers, and consumer protection bodies already have the necessary powers. Yet you claimed it's somehow the govt's fault because they "refuse to regulate"!

Doc_N

zagfles wrote: »

Who else should take it?So the law already protects consumers, and consumer protection bodies already have the necessary powers. Yet you claimed it's somehow the govt's fault because they "refuse to regulate"!

If the government regulated instead of just coming up with useless waffle every couple of years trying to persuade travel companies to play fair with their customers, those publicly funded bodies wouldn’t need to take any action.

And the cheated customers wouldn’t either.

Governmental failure by successive Conservative governments, however you choose to dress it up.

zagfles

Doc_N wrote: »

If the government regulated instead of just coming up with useless waffle every couple of years trying to persuade travel companies to play fair with their customers, those publicly funded bodies wouldn’t need to take any action.

And the cheated customers wouldn’t either.

Governmental failure by successive Conservative governments, however you choose to dress it up.

Yeah it's all them nasty Torys' fault, no-one ever lost their holiday deposit under the last Labour govt :rotfl:

brianposter

The CMA seem to be living in the clouds. As a business you write your terms and conditions to be liable for as little as possible, and then hope that those conditions will stand up in court.
If this warning indicated that the CMA was about to take some action it might make sense; otherwise it is just waffle.

Jill_Steel

My 82 year old dad had to cancel a Fred Olsen cruise over a year before travel, when my mum became ill and died. Fred Olsen have resold the September 2019 cruise, and it is sold out with a waitlist of 100s, but they still won't give my dad back his high deposit of £1454.72 even though they have already recouped the cost. Despite my repeated requests Fred Olsen refuse to return the deposit or show any empathy to my dad who hasn't cancelled simply because he changed his mind, but because of horrid personal circumstances. I'm truly shocked by the lack of customer service. Any advice would be appreciated .