David Lock

I have having a row with the travel agents (ABTA members)that arranged an overseas holiday for us this summer. Won't bore you with details but one of the hotels they booked us into was rubbish so we moved out and paid for another hotel (after first asking their local rep and phoning their UK HQ for advice which drew a blank). I am now trying to recoup the extra costs that this entailed (circa £2000). It's got to the point where either I take them to small claims court or possibly use the ABTA Independent (supposedly!) Arbitration Service. Any one used this service or indeed small claims court for this sort of dispute? Thanks, DL

David Lock

One last trawl if I may........

Crapaud62

David

I used them years ago and they were excellent.

It is completely independent of ABTA. In my case they appointed a Professor from the Institute of Arbitration who did a very professional job.

My dispute was with Airtours who were shockingly unhelpful when everything went wrong with our holiday. They gave us the run around for nearly a year and told me (over a recorded telephone line) that I would be stupid if I didn't accept their final offer of £500.

The arbitration service found fully in our favour and awarded us £1,000 for the direct losses and a further £1,000 special damages for the way Airtours had messed us about.

Hold out to the end. As soon as the travel company know you are serious about going to arbitration they will double their offer but still never to the full amount.

The only cost you have is around £30 for the process and you even recover this if you are successful.

Contact me if you want any further info or help.

Sid

David Lock

Sid - you're a star. Just the advice/feedback I wanted. The company concerned first offered a £300 travel voucher for one of their holidays which I told them to shove. I then said I was considering ABTA adjudication and within 3 days had a letter offering £500 to settle. They also said that they had had a letter from ABTA telling them that they - ABTA - had been asked by me for the necessary ABTA claims forms which I thought was a bit odd. I am not the "sue for what they have got" type but I may now think about adding a special damages claim as all this pi$$ing about really has upset my wife and family. This was an expensive and special holiday for us, the first for 12 years BTW. Thanks again. David

Crapaud62

The travel companies work to a standard response. I was helped in my claim by the travel writer from the Daily Mirror. I never read that paper but I was shown an article they did about "holidays from hell" so I contacted them. The reporter concerned was very professional and told me what to expect along the way from Airtours i.e. first offer of voucher off next years holiday, followed buy offer of £250, followed by offer of £500 etc. He was proved to be completely correct. They assume that you will crack at some point and give in. Not many people bother to take it all the way so the travel companies have nothing to loose and everything to gain by messing you around for months on end. Also they do get a lot of false claims from people who are trying it on.

Make sure that you claim is 100% factual and avoid negative opinions of people. If anything slightly understate the problems and let the arbitrator make his own judgement rather than trying to steer him to yours.

His report to us noted that we had been very reasonable in trying to mitigate the losses and that counted in our favour. It clearly showed that we were not out for everything we could get. It also helps if you can say something positive, however small, about the holiday as it again shows that you are reasonable and fair minded e.g. we complimented the rep at the second centre who genuinely tried to help us but was prevented by the company from doing so.

I believe that the arbitration service finds in favour of the customer in over 90% of cases and of course the travel companies are well aware of this.

Good luck!

David Lock

Thanks again. One last question - did you attend the inquest or was it just done by post and documentation? David.

AudiMan

Spooky or what ?
I'm just doing the same thing (against a big tour operator who offers tents in Europe),
Basically, crap holiday, nothing like the brochure, etc etc...
I've been offered £72 off next holiday - stick that !
now £92 cheque - stick that too !

What should I do now, don't think going back again is relevant so am either going small claim court (£50 cost) or the route the above are members of AITO (but that will cost £94), they are members of ABTA
Which way would you recommend I go ???


Ian

David Lock

Ian - agreed Spooky! As you see I am not the expert but I "think" ABTA is just done through the post whereas Small Claims Court you have the hassle of attending etc which may be a factor. Following Sid's very helpful comments I will be writing one last letter to travel company and then go the ABTA route. By the way I also copied correspondence to Trading Standards and note if you paid by credit (not debit) card the card company have a joint responsibility with tour people if you were misled so put that in the pot as well!! David

AudiMan

David,
I think in my case the small claims would favour me because of the amount (circa £500), as you say there is the agro of having to attend, for me it wouldn't be much hassle as the county court is local to me, the tour operator on the other hand has to prepare their case and send someone along, for that amount it may not be worth thier while.
Good luck with your case, it's about time these companies started to be accountable for what they sell.

Ian..

David Lock

Barstar,ds the lot of them

type-r-stan

i worked for Thomson holidays for 10 years in the customer legal services dept. my job was to put the company's case forward to either the small claims court or abta. I think that the arbitration service is very good if you can articulate what the problems were and if you have photographic or witness evidence. You have to put yourself in the shoes or the person reading your case and if you 'over rant' you start to lose the argument. also it is helpful if you can demonstrate what you did to recitfy the situation 'in resort' e.g- complaint form, letter to rep.. your aim is to show that you are a reasonable person and accept that things go wrong blah blah...

small claims court is good if you are better at verbal articulation but don't get too hot under the collar.. You can insist that the case is heard locally and often the tour operator won't want to defend a case unless they truly believe that they have got a good chance of a positive judgement because it is an expensive business and often cheaper to pay you off unless you have got a lot of people together for a class action.

the abta scheme is all on paper and abta employ magistrates, ex-lawyers etc to judge the case and as with all these types of things it is often down to luck who you get. fingers crossed for a tour op hater!! (we once had to pay a woman 3k that she said got stolen from her safe whilst on holiday!! - she said she'd withdrawn the cash for builders that were due to work on her house but they didn't turn up so she took the money on holiday with her!! )
what did i say about ranting!!!!
oh, and if you have got pictures and are claiming a full refund for lack of enjoyment they may ask to see ALL your snaps to see if you have been pictured smiling!!!

if you want any help feel free to ask.
katrina (mrs type-r-stan)