Thomas Cook

hutje

Around the 9th of May 2007 we booked a 2-week holiday to the Dominican Republic leaving on the 17th of December 2007 returning on the 1st of January 2008. Cost £ 3,381.00.
We paid £ 151.00 at the time of the booking.
Remaining £ 3,230.00 minus a discount of £ 321.00.
The total outstanding was £2,909.00, which we paid in full by credit card on the 25th of September 2007.

My wife, Glenda, broke her elbow on the 14th of December 2007, so we had to cancel the holiday, which I did on the 15th of December in writing, by e-mail, at the request of Thomas Cook. In the e-mail I asked for a cancellation invoice, which we needed in order to claim on our cancellation insurance (By the way our claim has already been settled by our own cancellation insurance).

On the 18th of December 2007 we received a letter from Thomas Cook telling us, in a nutshell, we had to pay back the DISCOUNT, £ 321.00, which we had received on our holiday at the time of the booking.

We said we would not pay back a discount given to us in the first place. Thomas Cook now has given the matter to a dept collector, Intrum Justitia, PO Box 7182, CM19 5WF Harlow Essex. They have called me yesterday 15th threatening to take us to court and again today they said they are going to have their solliciters send me a letter, which will cost me another £ 90.00, making the total for me to pay £ 411.00.


Thank you in advance for any advice you can give.,
Hutje.

Engadine

On the confirmation invoice you would have received when you booked, does it make any mention anywhere that you would have to pay the discount back if you cancelled? T&Cs are quite often on the back of the invoices.

I've had a look at TC's T&Cs can't see anywhere anything about paying back any discounts if you cancel.

I would give your local CAB a call on Monday and see what they have to say.

I work in travel, was a travel agent a few years ago but not now, I can't ever remember having to get a customer to pay back their discount when the cancelled

hutje

We don't have a confirmation invoice. Never got one. We received the complete travel intinary and a confirmation letter telling us the remaining balance. No terms and conditions. We will call the CAB. Thank you so much for your help.

Engadine

When did you receive the confirmation letter advising of the outstanding balance? If you received this within a couple of weeks then it's the confirmation invoice and you should normally have the T&Cs somewhere on it.

Hopefully the CAB will be able to give you a bit more advice, hope you get it sorted out

casevlloyds

This is standard practice I'm afraid.

I have worked in four different travel agencies over the last 10yrs and it has always been the case.

If you pull out your original receipt from Thomas Cook (that you would have been given when you booked, showing your deposit amount) it states on the receipt something along the lines of.....
"any discounts offered are subject to the outstanding balance being paid in full by the due date. Discounts will be reversed in the event of cancellation of the holiday"

This is due to the fact that when you make an insurance claim, the insurance company will require a copy of your cancellation invoice and will pay you whatever the tour operator (not the travel agent) has charged you to cancel. When you receive a discount from the travel agent it does not alter the original cost of the booking it simply means that the travel agent is paying that amount off the holiday for you. Therefore if they didnt reverse the discount you would be refunded money from your insurance company that you had never paid.


For example if your holiday cost was £2000 as far as the tour operator was concerned and the travel agent gave you £200 discount that would make the cost to you £1800.00 but the cost to the tour operator is still £2000.00.
If you then cancelled the booking and the cancellation charge was 100% then your cancellation invoice from the tour operator would show £2000.00 and that is what you would then claim from the insurance company.
If the travel agent doesnt reverse their discount that means you are getting back £2000 even though youve only paid £1800 and the travel agent is out of pocket £200.00.


Hope this makes sense.

Basically they are perfectly within their rights and if they took you to court they would definately win. you are best off paying it asap before they add lots more legal charges.

You wont be out of pocket once your insurance pays out.

hutje

Thank you for your elaborate reply.

We have already claimed on our travel insurance, without a cancellation invoice. We claimed exactly what we paid Thomas Cook. We did not claim the discount so we did not receive £ 321.00 extra. Our insurance paid out about 2 weeks ago without us being able to send them a cancellation invoice. They didn't even query our claim. We received a check 6 days after we sent the claim.

I don't see how Thomas Cook is within their rights to take us to court or how they would definitely win this case. We only got back what we paid out. No more no less.

If Thomas Cook think they are £ 321.00 out of pocket they can put a claim in with their insurance, which they must have. Just like we had to do to get our money back. Why is it the responsabillity of the customer to get Thomas Cook money back that was not paid in the first place.

I have been in business for over 25 years and have never heard of any company wanting a discount back because the customer cancelled an order with very good reason. We have all the documentation to prove my wife could not go on holiday. What more do we need to do.

After having been 'black mailed' by Thomas Cook (in ther letter they say they will not supply a cancellation invoice if we do not pay the £ 321.00) they now threaten to take us to court.

It looks very much to me that as a customer of Thomas Cook you are guilty unless proven not guilty. Should it not be the other way around?

Thank you again for your very helpfull input.

casevlloyds

Oh ok I can see where the problem has arrisen then. As you have not claimed for the full amount through your insurance company.

The cost of your holiday was £3381.00. As you cancelled within 7 days of intended travel the tour operator will have charged 100% cancellation fees therefore their cancellation invoice will be for the amount of £3381.00.

The travel agent has offered to pay £321.00 of this total on your behalf as a booking incentive. It is not a discount as such as a travel agent cannot reduce the cost of a holiday - the cost is still £3381.00 its just they are paying £321.00 of it for you.

Im very certain that Thomas Cookhave this in their terms and conditions and to save yourself alot of time and effort that untimately I cant see you winning you would be better to pay the money and then request a full cancellation invoice showing the ammount of £3381.00. You best bet is to then contact your insurance company and explain the situation to them (they will be well aware of how it works - probably why they were happy to pay out just based on your receipts rather than the invoice as theyve saved themselves over £300!) and they should refund you the difference between the amount on the cancellation invoice and they amount youve already received.

I agree with you though it dosnt seem a very fair way of doing things but it is a rule thats in place to stop people reclaiming more from the insurance companies than the holidays actually cost them.

hutje

Right it looks like we do have to pay the discount back after all. I just checked the travel and payment details which we received around the 9th of May 2007, confirming the holiday.

And the last line states: "Any discount offered to you is subject to the balance of your holiday being paid by the date advised to you at the time of booking and will becoome invalid if the holiday is cancelled."

So I guess Thomas Cook win.

We will NEVER book a holiday with Thomas Cook again. That is where they loose.

Casevlloyds and Engadine, thank you both very much for your input and help.

With best regards
Hutje.

casevlloyds

Hmm yes I knew the wording was something along those lines. i know this company and they'll have a get out for every eventuality!

Dont fear - once you have paid the money ensure you get a copy of your cancellation invoice and chase your insurance company for the difference.

I worked for TC for 6 years and the stories I could tell..........!

hutje

Yep. Very clever.

Now I have another consern.
Our insurance has already paid out our claim. Minus £ 150.00 excess.

Now if we put in an additional claim for £ 321.00 will they take out the £ 150.00 excess again?

If they do will I be able to claim that of Thomas Cook?

Interesting isn't it??

casevlloyds

I dont know is the honest answer.

Theoretically not as they have not settled the claim in full yet. The cost of cancelling that holiday was £3381.00 so that is what you should be able to claim less your £150.00 excess.

You will have to call them and explain whats happened.

Good luck!