TUI holiday - should I pay balance

something_else

I rebooked for next year. Price was decent and delays any future isn't to this time next year. 

43722

I am waiting to see what happens when any travel company tries to take a customer to court for not paying any more towards a holiday that may not happen, or may be altered substantially to the original proposal. Any Travel Company needs to consider the future of its own trading relationships with its customers.

accorian

If it's a case of accepting a diffeent holiday on a different date from TUI, think crefully. Very carefully before accepting the idea.

We were booked on a coach touring holiday due to depart on March 23rd. The coach company was luvvly; it cancelled and repaid us every penny of our booking within a week. But it also asked if we'd like to consider shifting the monies we'd paid for the cancelled holiday to another holiday later in the year -- a not unreasonable request, seeing as how the company is a small, friendly, honest family-owned business.

We checked with a barrister friend of ours who advised against anything of the kind. He pointed out that our insurer had already said that no insurance cover existed for the COVID-19 related cancellation of any holiday booking after March 20th, and that if we "shifted" our monies to another holiday at a different date, we were, in effect, entering into a new holiday contract after March 20, in full and certain knowledge of the existing COVID-19 risk. If it then turned out, God forbid, that either of us could not travel on that later date through illness,of any other change in personal health and circumstance, the insurer would not be legally bound to pay us a penny.

It was for that reason that we asked the coach tour company for our money back. As mentioned above, they refunded in full within 5 days of us explaining our position re the March 20th 2020 cut-off point for insurable holiday bookings.

something_else

accorian said:

If it's a case of accepting a diffeent holiday on a different date from TUI, think crefully. Very carefully before accepting the idea.

We were booked on a coach touring holiday due to depart on March 23rd. The coach company was luvvly; it cancelled and repaid us every penny of our booking within a week. But it also asked if we'd like to consider shifting the monies we'd paid for the cancelled holiday to another holiday later in the year -- a not unreasonable request, seeing as how the company is a small, friendly, honest family-owned business.

We checked with a barrister friend of ours who advised against anything of the kind. He pointed out that our insurer had already said that no insurance cover existed for the COVID-19 related cancellation of any holiday booking after March 20th, and that if we "shifted" our monies to another holiday at a different date, we were, in effect, entering into a new holiday contract after March 20, in full and certain knowledge of the existing COVID-19 risk. If it then turned out, God forbid, that either of us could not travel on that later date through illness,of any other change in personal health and circumstance, the insurer would not be legally bound to pay us a penny.

It was for that reason that we asked the coach tour company for our money back. As mentioned above, they refunded in full within 5 days of us explaining our position re the March 20th 2020 cut-off point for insurable holiday bookings.

For clarity, your insurance would cover you for any illness or change in personal circumstances that was not directly related to covid-19

Moving from a June date to August carries more risk than moving to next year (of course, there is still a level of risk)

Butts

43722 said:

I am waiting to see what happens when any travel company tries to take a customer to court for not paying any more towards a holiday that may not happen, or may be altered substantially to the original proposal. Any Travel Company needs to consider the future of its own trading relationships with its customers.

I think you'll have a long wait, indeed i can'f find any examples of this happening in the past let alone in the current climate.
As long as they continue to breach their own terms and conditions they can hardly start to complain if their customers take that as a cue to follow suit.

Tonet

I booked a holiday for the beginning of October paid £100 and then last week £300 my full balance of £1800 due in July.
The last thing I want to do is go on holiday.
can anyone advise me please. 

Pollycat

Have you read the replies on this thread?

Assuming your booking is with TUI:

SHOULD I PAY MY BALANCE?

We appreciate that you may be feeling apprehensive about paying your balance. Unfortunately, if you don’t continue with payments your holiday will be cancelled. If you booked in a TUI store you can call 0800 009 3836 or 0203 636 1997 between 9am and 5.30pm from Monday to Friday as we have Travel Advisors working who are able to help you.

To give you peace of mind, we’d like to reassure you that all of our package holidays are ATOL protected, and all of our Marella Cruises or TUI River Cruises bookings which are cabin-only or sail from a UK port are protected under the ABTA bonding scheme, so you can pay your balance with confidence. And, should your holiday be cancelled at a later date, you’ll have the option to receive a refund credit or cash refund.

We understand that you may need more flexibility at the moment, which is why we're offering our TUI Travel Promise:

• If you booked a TUI holiday on or before 16 March 2020, and are due to travel before 11 July 2020, you can amend your holiday for free and your balance due date will move to 12 weeks before your new departure date.

• If you booked a Marella Cruises sailing on or before 16 March 2020, and are due to travel before 31 July 2020, you can amend your holiday for free and your balance due date will move to 12 weeks before your new departure date.

• If you made your booking after 16 March, you have the added flexibility of being able to pay your balance four weeks before your departure date.

https://www.tui.co.uk/destinations/info/coronavirus-faqs

If you don't pay your balance, you will have cancelled your holiday and will lose your deposit.

Streaky_Bacon

It is very widely assumed that anything a company puts in it's T&Cs is legally enforceable. This is not neccessarily true for deposits and many other clauses.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47949915

Cancelling or not paying a balance or further deposits will certainly complicate the contract situation, but it should be clear to everyone by now that getting the extra money back will be an uphill battle which may take months at best.

It is clear to a lot of people that there is a difference between an apparent legal protection and actually enforcing that legal protection. In that case it is much better to have the money in your account than having to chase it with no guarantee of success.

All cases will be different, but depending upon the amount involved and how soon the holiday is booked for, it may be prudent to write to the supplier, state that your are not cancelling, but that you will not be paying the extra amount until restictions are lifted to at least make the trip legally possible. Also ask them to clarify whether they can guarantee the holiday is going ahead, and how they have come to that conclusion, and tell them that you will review your position depending upon their response.

It is true that the supplier, in line with their T&Cs may try to claim that amounts to a cancellation, but that will be for a future arbitrator to decide on the facts and on the actions of both parties.

Life__Goes__On

Streaky_Bacon said:

It is very widely assumed that anything a company puts in it's T&Cs is legally enforceable. This is not neccessarily true for deposits and many other clauses.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47949915

Cancelling or not paying a balance or further deposits will certainly complicate the contract situation, but it should be clear to everyone by now that getting the extra money back will be an uphill battle which may take months at best.

It is clear to a lot of people that there is a difference between an apparent legal protection and actually enforcing that legal protection. In that case it is much better to have the money in your account than having to chase it with no guarantee of success.

All cases will be different, but depending upon the amount involved and how soon the holiday is booked for, it may be prudent to write to the supplier, state that your are not cancelling, but that you will not be paying the extra amount until restictions are lifted to at least make the trip legally possible. Also ask them to clarify whether they can guarantee the holiday is going ahead, and how they have come to that conclusion, and tell them that you will review your position depending upon their response.

It is true that the supplier, in line with their T&Cs may try to claim that amounts to a cancellation, but that will be for a future arbitrator to decide on the facts and on the actions of both parties.

This thread also one that covers this topic
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6139353/refund-of-deposit-retrospectively/p1

The more people informed that a larger deposit isn't always lost the better.

Streaky_Bacon

Life__Goes__On said:

This thread also one that covers this topic
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6139353/refund-of-deposit-retrospectively/p1

The more people informed that a larger deposit isn't always lost the better.

Thanks. You make an excellent point in that thread about actual loss to the supplier, when you note that if the flight/package never goes ahead, then it could never have been sold to another customer and so the supplier can not claim loss due to a missed sale.