When a deposit on a flight is non refundable

eskbanker

adronocus said:

Thank you all so much for your very kind and helpful responses on this

Are you planning to resolve some of the above speculation by clarifying exactly which company you dealt with, in order to determine which country they're based in and how that might influence how you progress from here?

Voyager2002

After reading this thread, I am confident that in law you have no valid defence and so will lose if the case comes to court. The distance selling rules do not apply to products such as air tickets.

Your best way forward would be to pay the balance outstanding by credit card and allow the company to provide the tickets that you originally wanted to purchase. If for some reason they fail to provide the tickets then you could easily reclaim the total amount paid from the credit card. Despite the poor review that you have read, it is unlikely that this would happen and the most probable outcome would be that you would enjoy your holiday.

If you no longer have the option of proceeding with your purchase as originally agreed then you should go to mediation and resolve the matter at the lowest cost possible.

adronocus

Voyager2002 said:

After reading this thread, I am confident that in law you have no valid defence and so will lose if the case comes to court. The distance selling rules do not apply to products such as air tickets.

Your best way forward would be to pay the balance outstanding by credit card and allow the company to provide the tickets that you originally wanted to purchase. If for some reason they fail to provide the tickets then you could easily reclaim the total amount paid from the credit card. Despite the poor review that you have read, it is unlikely that this would happen and the most probable outcome would be that you would enjoy your holiday.

If you no longer have the option of proceeding with your purchase as originally agreed then you should go to mediation and resolve the matter at the lowest cost possible.

Thank you.  Yes this is what we are intending to do.  We have already offered the said company a reasonable amount of money to cover their losses but this was ignored and they obviously then decided to proceed with a claim.  Thank you

Voyager2002

adronocus said:

Voyager2002 said:

After reading this thread, I am confident that in law you have no valid defence and so will lose if the case comes to court. The distance selling rules do not apply to products such as air tickets.

Your best way forward would be to pay the balance outstanding by credit card and allow the company to provide the tickets that you originally wanted to purchase. If for some reason they fail to provide the tickets then you could easily reclaim the total amount paid from the credit card. Despite the poor review that you have read, it is unlikely that this would happen and the most probable outcome would be that you would enjoy your holiday.

If you no longer have the option of proceeding with your purchase as originally agreed then you should go to mediation and resolve the matter at the lowest cost possible.

Thank you.  Yes this is what we are intending to do.  We have already offered the said company a reasonable amount of money to cover their losses but this was ignored and they obviously then decided to proceed with a claim.  Thank you

I fear that the starting point of mediation will be that you pay the full deposit plus some of their costs. If you negotiate well you might be able to reduce that, but this is going to be expensive. Be sure that you agree to something, because if it goes to court you will lose and end up paying more.

adronocus

Thank you all so much for your responses on this and we know that to a certain extent we only have ourselves to blame.  Just one further question please if I may, here is an excerpt of their T&C: If you book a package your contract is with The Flights Guru Limited. A contract arises between us once you have completed and signed our booking form or confirm you have read and understood the booking conditions shown on our websites, or made the appropriate payment to us and we have issued our confirmation invoice. If you book other travel arrangements, flight only, The Flights Guru Limited acts as a booking agent and your contract is with the supplier(s) (e.g. the airline or hotel supplier or cruise or tour operator) concerned.

If you book other travel arrangements, The Flights Guru Limited acts as a booking agent and your contract is with the supplier(s) (e.g. the airline or hotel supplier or cruise or tour operator) concerned. The booking conditions of that other company will also apply to you. You will see that certain of the terms and conditions below only apply if you have booked a package.

Not sure if I am just being thick but it clearly states that flights only fall under "other travel arrangements).  FG Limited act as booking agent with your contract being with the supplier eg airline, hotel supplier or tour operator.  As FG Ltd did not book these flights directly with the airline and I have this in writing from the airline, surely it could be argued as to why FG Ltd T&C's apply .  Perhaps I am missing something?  Thank you

eskbanker

adronocus said:

As FG Ltd did not book these flights directly with the airline and I have this in writing from the airline, surely it could be argued as to why FG Ltd T&C's apply .  Perhaps I am missing something?  Thank you

But you engaged FG, then paid them, then charged back against them , and are now being sued by them, so the fact that there'd ultimately be a contract with the airline (regardless of this being initiated through another party) doesn't negate the obligations between the agent and you?  Hence "The booking conditions of that other company will also apply to you"....

adronocus

eskbanker said:

adronocus said:

As FG Ltd did not book these flights directly with the airline and I have this in writing from the airline, surely it could be argued as to why FG Ltd T&C's apply .  Perhaps I am missing something?  Thank you

But you engaged FG, then paid them, then charged back against them , and are now being sued by them, so the fact that there'd ultimately be a contract with the airline (regardless of this being initiated through another party) doesn't negate the obligations between the agent and you?  Hence "The booking conditions of that other company will also apply to you"....

Oh ok, thank you.  Understood