We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Was I misled?
Jason_....._2
Posts: 7 Forumite
Hi, just need some advice.
I was looking to holiday in Fuerteventura and after a lot of looking I found a place called Club Magic Life which had the perfect room which they called a 'Family Room'
I then found this hotel is exclusive to Thomson in the UK so I phoned my local branch and booked a 'Family Room' with them (as part of a package holiday).
It later transpired that their 'Family Room' is very different to the 'Family Room' on the Club Magic Life website.
Once I discovered this I asked about cancelling the holiday and the said that would mean a loss of deposit (£700)
Does anyone know if they are responsible (under Package holiday Regulations) for me being 'misled' with this booking.
If they just used the same room names as the hotel I would never have booked the wrong room type.
Please help.
I was looking to holiday in Fuerteventura and after a lot of looking I found a place called Club Magic Life which had the perfect room which they called a 'Family Room'
I then found this hotel is exclusive to Thomson in the UK so I phoned my local branch and booked a 'Family Room' with them (as part of a package holiday).
It later transpired that their 'Family Room' is very different to the 'Family Room' on the Club Magic Life website.
Once I discovered this I asked about cancelling the holiday and the said that would mean a loss of deposit (£700)
Does anyone know if they are responsible (under Package holiday Regulations) for me being 'misled' with this booking.
If they just used the same room names as the hotel I would never have booked the wrong room type.
Please help.
0
Comments
-
Did you look at the Thomson website or brochure before booking? If they are misleading then you may have a claim, if you just asked them to book a Family Room, without checking it was the same as you had seen on the hotel's website, then I don't think you are going to get very far, sorry.0
-
What is the difference? The double family rooms look (at a glance) to be the same.
The hotel's website also offers family rooms which appear to be two interlinked rooms which are not mentioned on the Thomson website.0 -
Sorry, you won't have a leg to stand on. If they advertise a family room in their brochure or on line and you ring them and ask to book a family room then you have booked what they advertise, irrespective of what the hotels website advertise. You are booking with them, not the hotel.
The only chance you would have is if Thomson gave you the wrong description over the phone of the room.:beer:0 -
Not something I personally have great experience of, so I may be missing something here, but I was under the impression that sales of services (including holidays) made over the telephone was covered by the Distance Selling Regulations, which provide a seven-day cancellation period. It might be worth pursuing the matter from that angle, although you wouldn't be covered if you had previously made enquiries at the local shop.
More generally, I would say that if what is to be supplied is not what you were expecting, you were certainly misled. One of the issues is whether any of the organisations involved was doing so deliberately. Probably not, but the variation in advertising on the hotel's and Thomson's websites is a potential source of confusion, at least. If the DSR angle doesn't work, I would be inclined to try a letter to a senior level at Thomson seeking their agreement to cancel without charge, if necessary as a goodwill gesture.
Perhaps I am overly suspicious, but I wonder whether the response you received might have had more to do with a salesperson losing their commission than representation of company policy.0 -
I was under the impression that sales of services (including holidays) made over the telephone was covered by the Distance Selling Regulations
No, they aren't.
The OP was not misled, they failed to compare like for like when booking.
If they do not wish to cancel I would suggest the best course of action would be to ask the TO if they can get the room required 'on request' for a supplement or email the hotel directly and ask about the possibility of availability and cost of upgrade on arrival.0 -
Your response caused me to look around a bit on this site and elsewhere, and at the DSRs themselves. Here's what I have been able to find out:
Firstly (and in spite of repeated statements on these forums), the DSRs DO apply to the sale of package holidays, BUT only in part.
Secondly, some consumer advice sites explicitly say that the 7-day cooling-off period applies to package holidays. For example, http://www.onlineshoppingrights.co.uk/buying-a-holiday-online-consumer-rights-cancellations-refunds-and-complaints.html which is the second that comes up on Google if you search for "distance selling regulations uk holidays". (The first result, from the Consumer Council, uses words that are more circumspect "you have to be given ... information on cancellation rights").
The government's own consumer advice site direct.gov.uk does not include package holidays in its list of items for which there is no cooling-off period. That suggests that those responsible for that site believe that there is one.
So I looked at the regulations themselves. They could perhaps have been a shade more clearly worded.
6(2b) says "Regulations 7 to 19(1) shall not apply to ... contracts for the provision of accommodation, transport, catering or leisure services, where the supplier undertakes, when the contract is concluded, to provide these services on a specific date or within a specific period."
6(3) says "Regulations 19(2) to (8) and 20 do not apply to a contract for a “package” within the meaning of the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992(2) ..."
Regulation 12 is the one which refers to a cooling-off period for services. So if you think that only 6(3) applies to package holidays, there is a cooling-off period. However, having looked at it, I tend to think package holidays are also covered by 6(2b), in which case there is no cooling-off period.
Looking around further, the travel industry seems to forget that parts of the DSRs apply to them and speak only of the Package Holiday Regulations. I looked at them too, but they seem to make no provision for cancellation in circumstances such as OP's. This strikes me as a major omission in legislation.
And by the way, there can be no doubt that OP was misled – the only real questions are the extent to which Thomson contributed to his misunderstanding, and the extent of their responsibilities, moral and legal, to make good the situation in which he now finds himself. Without for a moment suggesting that OP has been in any way stupid or negligent, Martin's blog http://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2011/10/21/a-blog-in-support-of-stupid-peoples-rights-probably-the-most-important-blog-ive-ever-written/ is very relevant here.0 -
Your response caused me to look around a bit on this site and elsewhere, and at the DSRs themselves. Here's what I have been able to find out:
Firstly (and in spite of repeated statements on these forums), the DSRs DO apply to the sale of package holidays, BUT only in part.
Secondly, some consumer advice sites explicitly say that the 7-day cooling-off period applies to package holidays. For example, http://www.onlineshoppingrights.co.uk/buying-a-holiday-online-consumer-rights-cancellations-refunds-and-complaints.html which is the second that comes up on Google if you search for "distance selling regulations uk holidays". (The first result, from the Consumer Council, uses words that are more circumspect "you have to be given ... information on cancellation rights").
The government's own consumer advice site direct.gov.uk does not include package holidays in its list of items for which there is no cooling-off period. That suggests that those responsible for that site believe that there is one.
So I looked at the regulations themselves. They could perhaps have been a shade more clearly worded.
6(2b) says "Regulations 7 to 19(1) shall not apply to ... contracts for the provision of accommodation, transport, catering or leisure services, where the supplier undertakes, when the contract is concluded, to provide these services on a specific date or within a specific period."
6(3) says "Regulations 19(2) to (8) and 20 do not apply to a contract for a “package” within the meaning of the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992(2) ..."
Regulation 12 is the one which refers to a cooling-off period for services. So if you think that only 6(3) applies to package holidays, there is a cooling-off period. However, having looked at it, I tend to think package holidays are also covered by 6(2b), in which case there is no cooling-off period.
Looking around further, the travel industry seems to forget that parts of the DSRs apply to them and speak only of the Package Holiday Regulations. I looked at them too, but they seem to make no provision for cancellation in circumstances such as OP's. This strikes me as a major omission in legislation.
And by the way, there can be no doubt that OP was misled – the only real questions are the extent to which Thomson contributed to his misunderstanding, and the extent of their responsibilities, moral and legal, to make good the situation in which he now finds himself. Without for a moment suggesting that OP has been in any way stupid or negligent, Martin's blog http://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2011/10/21/a-blog-in-support-of-stupid-peoples-rights-probably-the-most-important-blog-ive-ever-written/ is very relevant here.
How was the OP misled
he checked on the hotels website and saw a family room.
he then went to thomson and asked them for a family room which is what they booked him.
Did he ask is that the same as the family room on the hotels website?
If he didnt then thomson booked exactly what he asked for
reading all those regs I still dont think DSR apply to holidays,
the only link you supplied that states they do is an article written by an individual, who is she?0 -
How was the OP misled
he checked on the hotels website and saw a family room.
he then went to thomson and asked them for a family room which is what they booked him.
Did he ask is that the same as the family room on the hotels website?
If he didnt then thomson booked exactly what he asked for
Let's look at a similar situation not involving holidays. Jason wants a new doormat and looks online. He finds that Acme Doormats Inc. offer their Welcome Mat, size 3ft by 2ft, and it is just what he wants. They also offer a Small Welcome Mat, size 2ft by 1ft. Their sole UK agent is Doormats Are Us. He rings the local branch, and they confirm that they can supply Acme's Welcome Mat. He orders one, but when it arrives he finds it is only 2ft by 1ft. He calls the local shop, who say that they sell only the Small Welcome Mat, but call it the Acme Welcome Mat. Are you saying that he was not misled?
And it is not entirely irrelevant that in this situation, Jason would have 7 days in which to return the mat for a full refund, no questions asked.
And again, Martin's blog is relevant.0 -
reading all those regs I still dont think DSR apply to holidays,
the only link you supplied that states they do is an article written by an individual, who is she?
That is why I went on to quote the regulations themselves. If they did not apply to the travel industry at all, there would be no need for the regulations I quoted which exempt that industry from specific parts of that legislation. Plainly, some of the DSRs apply and some do not.
You can read them for yourself at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2000/2334/resources - the 2005 amendments are at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/689/contents/made0 -
Let's look at a similar situation not involving holidays. Jason wants a new doormat and looks online. He finds that Acme Doormats Inc. offer their Welcome Mat, size 3ft by 2ft, and it is just what he wants. They also offer a Small Welcome Mat, size 2ft by 1ft. Their sole UK agent is Doormats Are Us. He rings the local branch, and they confirm that they can supply Acme's Welcome Mat. He orders one, but when it arrives he finds it is only 2ft by 1ft. He calls the local shop, who say that they sell only the Small Welcome Mat, but call it the Acme Welcome Mat. Are you saying that he was not misled?
And it is not entirely irrelevant that in this situation, Jason would have 7 days in which to return the mat for a full refund, no questions asked.
And again, Martin's blog is relevant.
Again the doormat company would not be misleading you as they only sell one mat and if that is what is asked for that is what they supply.
If the customer asked for a 3ft x 2ft mat and was supplied with the smaller one thats a different matter.
agreed he would have 7 days to refund but not on a holiday purchase0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 351.6K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.3K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.9K Spending & Discounts
- 244.6K Work, Benefits & Business
- 599.9K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177.2K Life & Family
- 258.2K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards