Received holiday tickets but no payments made!

pink30

We booked a holiday to Jamaica last year for July 08 through Direct Holidays and paid a small deposit. However then decided not to go and didnt pay anything else towards the holiday, from past experience I'm aware that if no payments are made you receive a reminder letter and if no subsequent payments are made, the holiday is automatically cancelled.

However we have have received the tickets in the post today and are really not sure whether to risk going on the holiday. I have just called the airline with a random enquiry about upgrading the seats 'just to test the water!' and they havn't said a thing about payment and just confirmed that we are booked on the flight.

I'm aware from reading other threads that this has happened to a few other people, however no one has actually stated whether they went on the holiday without experiencing any problems.

My concerns are that we arrive at the airport and have to turn around and go back home, or we arrive in Jamaica and have no accommodation.

Any advice on the possible outcome would be appreciate.

lonestar1

I think I would be more worried about flying out there and having the return flights cancelled TBH

Incapuppy

pink30 wrote: »

from past experience I'm aware that if no payments are made you receive a reminder letter and if no subsequent payments are made, the holiday is automatically cancelled.

Are you quite sure this is the case in this instance? Did you not supply written confirmation of your intention to cancel? What does it say in the T&C's regarding - 'if you cancel?'

pink30

Absolutely possitive, T&C state that if payment is not made by the specified date Direct Holidays have the right to cancel the holiday and they will retain the deposit. There is simply no further information for situations such as this. No written confirmation was provided by myself to cancel the holiday, and cannot understand why they have not contacted me for payment and just sent out the tickets!

Pooky23

I think u need to be honest and speak to Direct Holidays. If you book and pay a deposit for a holiday it simply doesn't "disappear" if you make no further payments. They do reserve the right to cancel the holiday if payment not received but in my experience, this only happens in extreme circumstances and usually at the last minute (I've worked for a Tour Operator) having given the customer several opportunities and reminders to cough up.

What you should have done is cancel the holiday in writing as soon as you knew you didn't want to go on it.

They may have sent the tix to you in error, usually there are systems in place to stop this happening on a booking which isn't paid for. Whatever has happened, and whatever has gone wrong with Direct Holidays, you would be in effect be committing fraud if you traveled on this holiday knowing that you haven't paid for it.

Direct Holidays would be within their rights to cancel this holiday and charge you full cancellation charges or if you do decide to travel, to ask you to pay in full immediately. Either way, you will have to cough up sooner or later.

Smi1er

If you do use the tickets then are you prepared to pay if they do ask for payment at some point?

They might not. I still haven't paid for the decent matress a local bed company delivered to me three years ago:rotfl:

bookduck

..... Yeh heard about tickets for hols arriving in the post. When you get back home you find your house is empty or sold. When you contact the agents and they know nothing about anything

susancs

Have just checked the terms and conditions on Direct Holidays and it states that "when you book your holiday you agree to pay us a deposit at the time of the booking, followed by the remaining balance on the booking, due by the date specified on your confirmation booking". You probably had to tick a box to say you had read the terms and conditions when booking on line (how may of us do!!), so you entered into a legal contract with them, by paying the deposit.

You say you are meant to go in July and in "the Cancellation by you t&C", it states that the lead name on the booking must give notice in writing to cancel and charges will be in line with the date the letter is received at their offices. The charges being 90-100% for under 21 days. It seems that you will be liable to pay nearly/in full whether you go on the holiday or not, so I expect they are assuming you would rather benefit from the holiday, hence the tickets. I would contact the travel company asap to make arrangement to pay, as if you leave it, you may have extra legal costs added if they take steps to recover their money through the courts.
Link to cancellation t&C for your info.
http://www.directholidays.co.uk/AniteNextPage.asp?p=EXTRAINFO_74817

Incapuppy

To be honest, I'm staggered that the OP decided not to travel and then did absolutely nothing with regards to contacting the tour operator about cancellation.

I was once in the unfortunate position of having to cancel a holiday and the first thing I did was contact the TO by telephone to clarify exactly what was needed from myself in respect of the cancellation. I then received written confirmation from the TO that the holiday was indeed cancelled and no further monies were due. Seemed like common sense to me

debs66_2

i have to agree with Incapuppy. in my day job i give out free appointments to see surgeons, but we have had to start asking for credit card security because people who change their mind cannot be courteous and let us know. because it's not costing them anything, they don't give a t*** who it affects.

the OP is basically saying she couldn't be bothered to cancel, which would have opened up a holiday for someone else, and not cost the travel company revenue. now she wants people to say, 'yeah, go for it. have a freebie on the travel company'.

i know the travel company is being a bt slack, but this is a moneysaving site, not a how to get something for nowt at the expense of someone else site.

sorry if that sounds harsh :cool:

M4RKM

isn't this the third of fourth thread like this in recent weeks..
hmmm..

did the OP pay deposit on CC... did the TO take the balance via the same CC..