On the Beach – family holiday lost

IndigoVioletRain

I’m looking for advice specifically about On the Beach and whether we have any recourse against them following the loss of our family holiday.

We booked a package holiday to Egypt for our family of four through On the Beach. Shortly before travelling, we realised that one of our children’s passports had expired.

We accept completely that the passport issue was our responsibility. We immediately arranged a replacement passport and then tried to rearrange the holiday for alternative dates.

Unfortunately, while attempting to contact On the Beach to make the amendment, we ended up dealing with scammers who we genuinely believed were handling the change to our booking. We paid approximately £1,300 by debit card for what we believed was the cost of moving the holiday to the new dates.

We subsequently discovered that no amendment had ever been made to our genuine On the Beach booking.

The scam has already been reported to our bank and is being dealt with separately. My question here isn’t really about recovering the £1,300 from the scammers – it’s about On the Beach and the loss of the original holiday.

Once we realised what had happened, we contacted On the Beach and explained the situation. By then our original flights were due to depart and the holiday has effectively been lost.

What has been particularly upsetting is the response from On the Beach. We fully understand that they did not perpetrate the scam, but we were hoping that, given the exceptional circumstances, somebody would take ownership of the situation and at least try to help us salvage something from the booking.

Instead, we have found it incredibly difficult to get meaningful personal support. We were a family of four who had been victims of fraud while genuinely attempting to amend an existing On the Beach holiday, yet there appeared to be very little willingness to investigate whether anything could be done with the flights, accommodation or the value of the original booking.

We are not asking On the Beach to reimburse the £1,300 fraud payment – that is a separate matter with the bank.

What we are questioning is whether it is reasonable for us to lose the entire original package holiday as well, particularly when we contacted On the Beach as soon as we discovered what had happened and desperately tried to find a solution.

I would therefore really appreciate advice from anyone familiar with package holiday regulations or On the Beach:

• Does On the Beach have any responsibility to try to mitigate the loss once informed of the circumstances?
• Should they have contacted the hotel/airline/suppliers to see whether any part of the booking could be moved or salvaged?
• If the outbound flight was missed, does that necessarily mean the entire package – including accommodation and return flights – is lost?
• Would it be reasonable to ask On the Beach for a credit or transfer of some of the original holiday value as a goodwill resolution?
• Is a formal complaint to On the Beach worthwhile?
• If they reject the complaint, is ABTA the appropriate next step?
• Is there anything under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 that might be relevant?

I accept that we made the initial mistake regarding the passport and that On the Beach didn’t cause the subsequent scam. What I am struggling with is the apparent lack of any meaningful assistance once we told them that their customer had been the victim of a substantial fraud while trying to amend one of their bookings.

We have lost a family holiday and potentially thousands of pounds on top of the £1,300 scam payment.

I’d be particularly interested to hear from anyone who has successfully escalated a complaint against On the Beach, or who knows whether they have any obligation to assist in circumstances like these rather than simply treating the original booking as a no-show.

elsien

On the beach are not noted for their customer service.

however given the very short notice I’m not sure there was anything that could realistically have been salvaged from the holiday even if they were a good company deal with.

If you miss your outward flight, it is normal practice for the airline to presume that you are not coming back so the return flight gets cancelled. The hotel will be nonrefundable at such short notice..

I think your expectations are not reasonable in the circumstances. They can’t shift the holiday to another date and time on the day that you were meant to be travelling.

Pollycat

I can't see that OnTheBeach (although it's a company that I would never do business with) have done anything wrong here.

caprikid1

Cannot see there is any fault with the provider, whilst unfortunate these are all issues of your own making.

One element missing is the timeline.

"Once we realised what had happened, we contacted On the Beach and explained the situation. By then our original flights were due to depart and the holiday has effectively been lost."

Sounds like far too late to make any amends and the tour operator has incurred the costs of the flights etc as cannot replace you.

NoodleDoodleMan

I don't wish to sound harsh, however the key factor is the lack of a valid passport to travel, that is not OTB's responsibility.

The unfortunate scam also which is not relevant in any claim with OTB.

As above, they are not noted for sympathetic customer care, quite the opposite in fact, and will most likely adhere to the terms and conditions of the booking.

Only they can respond to the questions you wish answered.

Hopefully something can be salvaged from this sad scenario, good luck.

eskbanker

Unfortunately, while attempting to contact On the Beach to make the amendment, we ended up dealing with scammers who we genuinely believed were handling the change to our booking. We paid approximately £1,300 by debit card for what we believed was the cost of moving the holiday to the new dates.

Could you clarify exactly how you came to be dealing with scammers rather than OTB, in terms of whether OTB could perhaps be held liable in any way for this, e.g. if their phone line was compromised in some way?

Woodstok2000

• Does On the Beach have any responsibility to try to mitigate the loss once informed of the circumstances? No
• Should they have contacted the hotel/airline/suppliers to see whether any part of the booking could be moved or salvaged? No
• If the outbound flight was missed, does that necessarily mean the entire package – including accommodation and return flights – is lost? - Yes
• Would it be reasonable to ask On the Beach for a credit or transfer of some of the original holiday value as a goodwill resolution? Reasonable to ask - Yes, Reasonable for OTB to say No - Also Yes
• Is a formal complaint to On the Beach worthwhile? Probably No, but you've nothing to lose
• If they reject the complaint, is ABTA the appropriate next step? See above
• Is there anything under the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 that might be relevant? Not that I can think of

martindow

Sorry that this has happened to you. Do you know how you ended up speaking to the scammers?

I know you said that your question is not about getting money back from them, but I assume that you have tried a chargeback from your bank to try to reclaim some or all of this money.

Westin

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82100493#Comment_82100493

I would hazard a guess that the OP 'googled' a contact for On The Beach and clicked on a suspicious link to a 'helpful agent'.

Ayr_Rage

I cannot see OTB are on the hook for anything.

I hope you can recover the £1300 that you say was stolen in the scam.

jimjames

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82100938#Comment_82100938

An undoubtably much more helpful than OTB as noted above for their lack of customer "service" so makes it more appealing to customers