Travel Agent help needed
Discussion
Bit of a confusing one this one...
Just found out Mrs Puggit has a bun in the oven and decided to book a last big holiday. We had 2 weeks booked off in Feb in order to get a last minute deal. Went to a high street travel agent because we were fed up of misleading web ads - a first for both of us!
The travel agent found us a deal in Kenya with another firm - great! We found the agent friendly and helpful and she advised us we'd only lose our deposit (approx £110 each) if we cancelled. Fantastic, we booked.
Now we've been warned off Kenya by the midwife and travel advisor at the doctors because of the infinitely small risk of malaria.
Rang the agents, who rang the supplier... We'll lose 50% of our money (approx £650). No budging...
Where do we stand? Any advice? I suppose we were slightly niave about this
Edited to add, we are insured
>> Edited by puggit on Thursday 5th January 17:19
Just found out Mrs Puggit has a bun in the oven and decided to book a last big holiday. We had 2 weeks booked off in Feb in order to get a last minute deal. Went to a high street travel agent because we were fed up of misleading web ads - a first for both of us!
The travel agent found us a deal in Kenya with another firm - great! We found the agent friendly and helpful and she advised us we'd only lose our deposit (approx £110 each) if we cancelled. Fantastic, we booked.
Now we've been warned off Kenya by the midwife and travel advisor at the doctors because of the infinitely small risk of malaria.
Rang the agents, who rang the supplier... We'll lose 50% of our money (approx £650). No budging...
Where do we stand? Any advice? I suppose we were slightly niave about this
Edited to add, we are insured
>> Edited by puggit on Thursday 5th January 17:19
So the agent said you would only lose the deposit and the travel company are now saying you will lose £650 each?
Well, I suppose one could argue that you should have got the first bit in writing. And you could also argue that if they ahered to their terms & conditions then maybe £650 is what you would lose.
Have you looked at the booking form to see the cancellation charges? You are within the 60 day period before which you would ordinarily just lose your deposit.
However, if it is a large travel company like Airtours or similar they will be working on room allocation & credit with the hotels, so the only bit they MAY get stung on is the air.
>> Edited by diddyman on Thursday 5th January 17:28
Well, I suppose one could argue that you should have got the first bit in writing. And you could also argue that if they ahered to their terms & conditions then maybe £650 is what you would lose.
Have you looked at the booking form to see the cancellation charges? You are within the 60 day period before which you would ordinarily just lose your deposit.
However, if it is a large travel company like Airtours or similar they will be working on room allocation & credit with the hotels, so the only bit they MAY get stung on is the air.
>> Edited by diddyman on Thursday 5th January 17:28
diddyman said:
So the agent said you would only lose the deposit and the travel company are now saying you will lose £650 each?
Well, I suppose one could argue that you should have got the first bit in writing. And you could also argue that if they ahered to their terms & conditions then maybe £650 is what you would lose.
Have you looked at the booking form to see the cancellation charges? You are within the 60 day period before which you would ordinarily just lose your deposit.
However, if it is a large travel company like Airtours or similar they will be working on room allocation & credit with the hotels, so the only bit they MAY get stung on is the air.
>> Edited by diddyman on Thursday 5th January 17:28
We got no small print from the travel agents, we were only verbally told we'd lose our deposit. I have just checked the Tour Operators website & sure enough it says 55 - 29 days you lose 50%
So the agents said we'd lose £110 each - the tour operator is saying we lose £650 in total. Obviously this is a significant difference & would have stopped us booking the holiday without medical advice.
(I'm also annoyed about the advice we got from the agent: we told them I was pregnant & wanting a break, where would they advise for a location? Surely they should know Malaria is a BIG risk???)
mrs puggit said:
We got no small print from the travel agents, we were only verbally told we'd lose our deposit. I have just checked the Tour Operators website & sure enough it says 55 - 29 days you lose 50%
So the agents said we'd lose £110 each - the tour operator is saying we lose £650 in total. Obviously this is a significant difference & would have stopped us booking the holiday without medical advice.
(I'm also annoyed about the advice we got from the agent: we told them I was pregnant & wanting a break, where would they advise for a location? Surely they should know Malaria is a BIG risk???)
I can sympathise Mrs P.
And no one in their right mind should have said a malaria area is OK for a pregnant woman. It;s not so much the malaria itself as the drugs.
Probloem will be trying to resolve the difference in conversation between agent and tour operator.
Do you not sign a booking form when you handed over the deposit?
TBH, I'd call up the manager of the travel agent explain the sitution inc the malaria and preggers bit thus immediatly implying the agent that served you was incompetant and untrained (its their job to know this stuff - would they reccomend bungee jumping for people who've just had back surgery ?) If they still hold firm, state the next step is to tell them you are cancelling the holiday, report them to abta (I think?!?!) and inform the credit card company you are disputing the charge minus the £110. Tell them you are going to do all these things ask for the managers name so you can cc the head office of their firm and include it in all correspondance.
And if you've got the balls do this in the store when its really busy
Oh and also demand a discount on your next holiday in terms of vouchers you can flog on fleabay
Cheers
Dave
And if you've got the balls do this in the store when its really busy
Oh and also demand a discount on your next holiday in terms of vouchers you can flog on fleabay
Cheers
Dave
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