Holiday canceled

junebug555

Could anyone advice if I’m being given the correct information-  So I had a holiday booked with a “friend” deposit and first payment was paid in full via “friends” bank account we’d fallen out before next payment was due I tried many times to get in contact via call and text as I was still happy to go ahead with the holiday or for me to be taken off of the booking and stated I would pay the amendment fees but I was ignored, 6 weeks later they contacted me telling me the holiday was cancelled due to insufficient funds so they are now saying I am liable for the cancellation fee of over £400  I was not the lead passenger on this booking) I also wasn’t told who the holiday was booked with at the time of paying deposit ( i know that was very silly of me) I have since found out it’s booked with love holidays via a very badly edited screenshot of an emailed reply they’d had from love holidays 

Brie

I'd be tempted to tell them to talk to the person who booked the holiday if there's money outstanding.  From what you've said you have no contract with the holiday company so you don't owe them anything.

eskbanker

Brie said:

I'd be tempted to tell them to talk to the person who booked the holiday if there's money outstanding.  From what you've said you have no contract with the holiday company so you don't owe them anything.

The way I read it, it's the friend who's pursuing OP for the money, not the holiday company.  However, as you say, the contract will be between the friend and the holiday company, so OP could technically leave them to it and see if the ex-friend wants to take their chances in court in recovering money from OP.

Or maybe the question is whether or not the holiday company is entitled to levy a cancellation charge if the lead booker was unable (or perhaps unwilling) to keep up with payments, the answer to this being yes, in all likelihood.

lisyloo

My answer to friend would be "sue me"

Hoenir

Ignore your ex friend. As they ignored you. 

bagand96

LoveHolidays aren't a traditional Tour Operator like Jet2Holidays or TUI, they don't operate or charter their own flights. Therefore they'd have paid the airline upfront for the flights component of the holiday and this would be fully payable in the event of cancellation (even if only a deposit was paid at the time of booking)

As others have said though, if you're not the lead passenger then you have no liability to LoveHolidays. They can only pay, or persue the lead passenger 

The other issue is whether you should or shouldn't share the cancellation costs with your former friend. No easy answer in a falling out situation, especially as we don't know the intracacies. It seems you've at least tried to engage with the individual to seek an initial resolution and they ignored you which is a shame.

The flights may well still be booked and available. Depends if LoveHolidays actually go and cancel them or not. 

TELLIT01

The OP has no contract with the tour operator so should have no liability for the debt.  I would just ignore any attempted contact from the ex-friend.

NoodleDoodleMan

This type of scenario, or similar, has cropped up on the forum more than once in recent years - just shows the potential difficulties of friends agreeing to holiday together, then one or more pulling out causing financial dramas.

Not apportioning blame - just an observation.

The only solution IMO is for all to pay the full amount upfront on the understanding that there will be no refunds, unless granted by the tour operator - and the chances of that are zero.

TELLIT01

NoodleDoodleMan said:

This type of scenario, or similar, has cropped up on the forum more than once in recent years - just shows the potential difficulties of friends agreeing to holiday together, then one or more pulling out causing financial dramas.

Not apportioning blame - just an observation.

The only solution IMO is for all to pay the full amount upfront on the understanding that there will be no refunds, unless granted by the tour operator - and the chances of that are zero.

Even that solution is fraught with risk.  The lead passenger may only pay the deposit despite being given the full cost by other party members.  Then the others are in a worse state than that outlined by the OP.

junebug555

NoodleDoodleMan said:

This type of scenario, or similar, has cropped up on the forum more than once in recent years - just shows the potential difficulties of friends agreeing to holiday together, then one or more pulling out causing financial dramas.

Not apportioning blame - just an observation.

The only solution IMO is for all to pay the full amount upfront on the understanding that there will be no refunds, unless granted by the tour operator - and the chances of that are zero.

I understand that and with the way the friendship ended I wasn’t happy to pay any more money towards it until I had confirmation if either the holiday was still going ahead or not , I’ve recently received messages regarding things to do with money that are completely out of context or anything to do with the holiday so  I’m glad I didn’t pay any more than I actually did as I’m know of the opinion they would have taken my money with no intention to pay towards holiday . my question is if I am liable to pay the cancellation fees ? I wasn’t lead passenger and I was totally ignored until the money was due 

eskbanker

junebug555 said:
my question is if I am liable to pay the cancellation fees ? I wasn’t lead passenger and I was totally ignored until the money was due 

There are effectively two separate questions:

1. Is a cancellation fee payable according to the terms of the agreement?
2. If so, who is liable to pay it?

Chances are that the answer to the first is yes, but obviously there'd need to be sight of the booking terms.

Assuming that a fee is applicable, the default position is undoubtedly that the lead passenger is legally on the hook to pay it.  If the holiday cost was to be split 50/50 then it's not unreasonable to expect that each party would bear half the cost of cancelling (unless there's any reason to pin the cancellation more on one than the other), but that's just a matter of what's ethical or moral rather than legal, so there'd be no liability as such for someone other than the lead booker....