Help!!! where do i stand?

Finchy_2

Early this year we booked a holiday over the phone with a big travel company and paid a deposit of £11 per person. Since booking the holiday which is October next year our circumstances have changed and we find our selves in a postion to Emigrate from the UK. We phone the Travel company and had to email the cancellation to them. The have now replied that as we have paid the £11 per person only there is still the remainder of the deposit to be paid on the 1/12/2007 which is £645. Can they make me pay this or is tis part of the reason I'm leaving tis country?

Advise welcome

Alan_Bowen

I expect you booked because of a low deposit scheme, this usually requires you to agree to pay the full deposit, usually around £100 at some later point and in all cases if you want to cancel. Normally it isn't a problem because cancellation charges could be recovered from insurance but deciding to leave the country is not an insurable risk so there would be no claim there. You need to check the documentation you recieved at the time of booking, but I would expect that the terms of the contract are quite clear, and yes I would expect them to chase you for the rest of the deposit

Finchy_2

Hi, thanks for the info. However, this booking was made via telephone and not the internet, it was a call prompted by a special offer in a newspaper News of the World (I think). I contacted them for a quotation only, I discussed some hotel which were offered in the promotion, and was informed that they had over 400 calls that day only regarding the promotion. One of the vacations discussed was a vacation which the operator tld me was not in the brochure and this was where she had booked to go next year as well. She then proceeded with the hard sell on the holiday. I informed the advisor that I was not able to book the holiday because I hadn't spoken to my husband and could not commit to a booking. The operator then offered me a dicsount on the holiday, I again informed her that I could not book a holiday without speaking to my husband fist. Again she continued to inform me of al the people she knew who had been on the holiday, and again discounted it further. She told me that after all the discount she had knocked off she could only hold the price for a further 30-40 mins, and then it would have t go up to full price. I again stressed my unwillingness to proceed with consulting my husband, she informed me that as well as the discount I only needed to pay £55 (£11 pp) to secure the holiday and the remainder to be paid in December. She even informed me that 'worst case scenario, I would loose £ 55). On that point I agreed to the holiday and duly paid the £ 55. Now due to a personal commitment we are unable to take the holiday, and I therefore informed then via email as requested by an advisior. Today we have been informed that we are to still pay the remainder of the deposit. This is something that I was not informed of at any point during the conversation, and had I had done so, then I would have simply not proceeded with it. We were not due to fly out until Oct 3rd 2008,and feel that I have given them sufficient notice to re-sell the holiday. Is there a case for us to refuse payment of the deposit, based on the fact that is was agressively mis-sold, and all paperwork for the holiday arrived a number of weeks after the telephone call?

jaymac_2

What does it say in the paperwork about paying the balance? Does it say anything about how much you lose if you cancel? There's often a sliding scale and a timescale.

Finchy_2

The paper work states the rest of the deposit, which we didnt get until 2 weeks after its was booked and they had already took the £11 deposit without mentioned the clause in the paper work. If they had mentioned it that the full £700 would be payable i wouldnt have booked it. The person on the other end of the phone said book it now and all you loose if you cancel is the £55 deposit. So basically this was miss sold to me on the phone and no TC's where covered.

dmg24

When did you receive the paperwork? The time to query this would have been then. If you received it some time ago, it could be argued that you accepted the terms and conditions by inaction.

Edit: Have just reread your first post. If you received the t&c's months ago, you have no right to complain about something that you have known about for over six months.

photome

I am with the others

You accepted the conditions of paying the rest of the deposit (which is normal) when you received the paperwork, 2 weeks after booking.

budgetflyer

Just dont pay it!
They have nearly a year to re sell the holiday.I bet they wont take you to court either, its too much hassle for what will be a very small profit.

That doesnt make you right though, you got sucked in by a good salesperson and really need to accept (within yourself) responsibility for your gullability (or rashness) If you can learn from it and move on, all the better

Voyager2002

Finchy wrote: »

The person on the other end of the phone said book it now and all you loose if you cancel is the £55 deposit. So basically this was miss sold to me on the phone and no TC's where covered.

This is the critical point.

What evidence do you have that this is what you were told at the time you made the booking? Did you discuss this with your husband, or any friends, at the time? Did you note it down in your diary?

You are entitled to rely on what the salesperson told you about the terms and conditions that govern your booking. While you should have read the paperwork that came later, noticed that the terms were different from those you had accepted and queried it, the company had no right to assume that you would check everything and notice that it had made a mistake.

I suggest that you write to them, stating very clearly that you made the booking because you had been assured that in the event of cancellation your total loss would be no more than fifty-five pounds, and give the exact date and time so that they can verify this with their tapes of the call. If you can give the name of the sales-person as well, that would help.

In practice the company is unlikely to pursue you for the balance: they are on dodgy ground legally; they can re-sell the holiday; and so it would all be too much trouble for them.

Finchy_2

Very good point Voyager2002, you comment is much appreciated.

Reggie_Rebel

I again stressed my unwillingness to proceed with consulting my husband, she informed me that as well as the discount I only needed to pay £55 (£11 pp) to secure the holiday and the remainder to be paid in December.

Did she say the remainder of the HOLIDAY to be paid in December, or the remainder of the DEPOSIT? If it was the remainder of the deposit then you were probably made aware at the time of booking. The company will have a recorded copy of the conversation, ask for a copy of that.