Holiday refund nightmare - help

Piffpaffpoff

I’m in Scotland.
Booked a self catering holiday in Scotland in January with a small Scottish company. When the Scottish gov said no holidays til 16 July we got in touch with the company and agreed that the holiday would not be going ahead.  I had no insurance by this point (*) and company were refusing to refund my deposit so I instigated a chargeback on my credit card. 

As we now know, Scottish Gov have said self catering can go ahead from 3 July. Holiday company have been in touch today asking me to pay my balance.  Can they make me?  I’m not going on the holiday, I cancelled my ferry booking when I cancelled the holiday. Help! 

(*) my annual insurance ran out at the end of May and the company stopped all renewals .  I didn’t take out a new policy with someone else as my understanding was there would be no COVID-19 cover so it would have been pointless (no continuity of cover). 

eskbanker

Piffpaffpoff said:

When the Scottish gov said no holidays til 16 July we got in touch with the company and agreed that the holiday would not be going ahead.  I had no insurance by this point (*) and company were refusing to refund my deposit so I instigated a chargeback on my credit card. 

There are presumably three options:

1. The contract stands and the holiday proceeds
2. The company cancelled
3. You cancelled

The company's conduct clearly suggests that option 2 isn't their view, so unless you have meaningful evidence that the company cancelled then it will be one of the other options.

If the company is refusing to refund the deposit and is pushing for the balance, they'll no doubt challenge the chargeback - what do the contract Ts & Cs say about liability to complete payment in the event of cancellation by the customer?

phillw

Piffpaffpoff said:
 Can they make me?  I’m not going on the holiday, I cancelled my ferry booking when I cancelled the holiday. Help! 

They can't make you do anything. They can only give you the choice to pay and go on the holiday or cancel and forfeit the deposit.
I'm sure you could re-book on the ferry. But if you don't want to go, then you don't want to go and it's not their fault (insurance doesn't cover being too worried to go either).

Piffpaffpoff

But as far as I’m concerned it was cancelled two weeks ago by mutual agreement, which I gave in writing. I agree that I’m probably on a hiding to nothing with the chargeback (although I’ve successfully argued and won one before when the company rejected the claim) but there’s no way I’m paying the balance for a holiday that was cancelled two weeks ago.

Piffpaffpoff

“...which I have in writing...“

sharpe106

agreed with the information at the time as the cottage was not available for you but it is now.

eskbanker

Piffpaffpoff said:

But as far as I’m concerned it was cancelled two weeks ago by mutual agreement, which I gave[have] in writing. I agree that I’m probably on a hiding to nothing with the chargeback (although I’ve successfully argued and won one before when the company rejected the claim) but there’s no way I’m paying the balance for a holiday that was cancelled two weeks ago.

What exactly does the writing say though?  I still don't see how cancellation can be by mutual agreement - either you cancel or they do, and their refusal to refund your deposit obviously implies that their position is that you cancelled.

Hence my question what the contract Ts & Cs say about customer cancellation, i.e. does that contract require you to pay the balance in full beyond a certain date, rather than just forfeiting a deposit?

[Deleted User]

What is it that you have in writing?   Does it confirm your request to cancel?   OR does it start something like "I am writing to state your holiday has been cancelled"?   Very important wording.

As you have already instigated a chargeback then all you can do is wait to see what they say.   If they reject on grounds of holiday home available then it will all depend on who cancelled first.     

[Deleted User]

eskbanker said:

What exactly does the writing say though?  I still don't see how cancellation can be by mutual agreement - either you cancel or they do, and their refusal to refund your deposit obviously implies that their position is that you cancelled.

Hence my question what the contract Ts & Cs say about customer cancellation, i.e. does that contract require you to pay the balance in full beyond a certain date, rather than just forfeiting a deposit?

Sorry just read this and agree, you may actually owe more than just a deposit if you cancelled?   

Piffpaffpoff

Thanks all. Balance is due tomorrow. We had an email conversation about two weeks ago, initiated by me to say with the govt advice and dates laid out (at the time), we obviously couldn’t go and I didn’t want to reschedule. They agreed to that, we discussed the Ts and Cs about the deposit being non-refundable, and I said I’d initiated a chargeback, we wished each other well and that was it.  

I’m worried now as the word ‘cancelled’ was not used but it was implicit, given the travel situation at that point.  Looks like I might be stuffed.  Crap.

sharpe106

there is nothing in what you put that suggests they had canceled the holiday only that they agreed you could not I at that point but the situation has since changed, the situation he always been fluid and the government and holiday companies have said that