sbk1972

Hi all,

Got a bit of a problem, need all your thoughts / help.

Mother and her friend saved up, and bought themselves a curise in Feb 07. Went to the travel agents, booked one and paid for it. Got all the reciepts to prove it.

However, they have since been telephoned by the agents saying that they need to pay anothher £500 more, as theywere under charged. Since the call, both my mother and her friend have recieved letters asking for the additional payments, as on the day they booked / paid for the cruise, the asistant wasnt well, pregnant, very hormonal (their words), and had under charged them.

Can they do this ? My mum and friend feel that the cruise for this price, the amount they paid and now + the extra £500, is extremely high and too much and would like to cancel.

So, :-

1) Can the travel agents do this ? A price that was agreed on the day, paid for etc, then suddenly be asked for more ?

2) If correct, and possible, can my mum and friend now turn round and cancel ?

Who can I get advice from ? CAB Anyone professional to help / suggest ?

Cheers

SBK

Rage!

I'm sure someone will be able to answer this definitively but it seems to me that your mother has entered into a contract with the company as they have offered to supply the cruise for a sum of money, your mother has accepted and paid that sum of money. Hence I don't believe they have any right to demand more!

FlightMan

They can and are, on behalf of HMG. APD goes up on 1st Feb for those people flying after that date. Even if you've already bought you ticket in full, you still pay the extra!

So yes, it can be done.

Rage!

Yes, but they can argue that additional duty was unforeseeable or out of their control. In this case the reason is a hormonal sales assistant, ie their screw up!

fitzscoob

If the travel agent had any class, they would have let the matter go. Admitting the fault and laying the blame on a hormonal pregnant lady is not an excuse and is embaressing to say the least.

They should have not said a word, and put it down to experience.

Mind you if this same woman had been doing it all day, there might have been some rather large discounts in the offing. You might not be the only one!

mad_dr

And presumably we're talking about proper under-charging, rather than the additional tax-hike that's being referred to?

IE - if the issue was the Tax-hike - the travel agent wouldn't be looking for as much as an extra £500, surely?

fitzscoob

If you decide to cancel, and they muck you around tell them you will be going to the local paper. No one can afford bad press.

jasey

Kick up a fuss - threaten to go to the local press etc.

They should absorb the cost - wasn't your Mums fault !

Pretty sure they could cancel and get all their money back - depends on the booking small print !

jasey

That was the Government - they can do anything .

Travel Agents don't have the same power just yet

DCI Gene Hunt

It sounds as if the holiday you booked was a 'package' and therefore governed by the Package Travel, Package Holidays & Package Tours Regulations 1992. These require the price and any extra charges, such as embarkation fees, to be set out in the contract.

If a tour operator wishes to reserve the right to increase the price, this must be specified too. The regulations don't prescribe any maximum price increase, but only certain types of costs can be passed on. For example, variations in fuel prices, landing taxes, embarkation fees and exchange rates, and the organiser has to absorb the first two per cent of any increase.

Furthermore, no price increase is permitted within 30 days of departure dates, and where an increase is significant, a consumer may be entitled to withdraw.

Consequently, I suggest you check carefully the terms of your contract to see if it provides for a price increase and, if so, the reason for the price increase.

sbk1972

Bit more if gents.

Mother put £400 deposit, then another £1200. So £1600. (Alot but she been saving for ages so cant blame her). She has invoices / confirmation, and everything looks ok, paperwork wise.

This was with Bath Travel. Bath Travel rang, and told my mum that their accountant, dealing with the cruiser company, she realise that these figures are all wrong, and £563 under charged, hence the request for more.

At this price, my mother wouldnt of paid / purchased this. So, now she wants to cancel.

I will be ringing up the CAB later, but surely this cant be??? It sort of feels that, as you've paid, you've got nothing else but to pay more ? legal robbery ?

Need to sort this, as my old mum is getting stressed / upset. What annoys me is that she's a little old dear, and these companys just seem to push and push. They are ringing constantly and getting heavy.



SBK

fitzscoob

Phone up bath travel, tell them the situation.

Either they honour the original price and let your mother go on the cruise, or they refund her in full and apolgise for their massive error and ruining your mothers holiday.

If they dont like A or B, tell them you are going to the papers, they might not care but I doubt it.

jasey

Get down to the local newspaper today - Headlines for Monday morning - Upgrade for your Mum on Tuesday - Or the Travel Agents go out of business !

Your Mum had a contract which she entered into in good faith - these ***** getting "heavy" would also see me making a personal appearance at their office and getting the Manager (probably by the neck).

sbk1972

Well, this is the point, Im sitting here furious at the heavy handed methods these f**king heroes are trying to do, to my mum. Im no shrinking voilet either, and I will go down there and pull the **** across the f**king table. Typical story, the company see two old dears, and thinks, no problem.

The cruise kicks off 24/2/07, so its over 30 days away. Ive just spoken to her and have asked that she reads the contract carefully, slowly and see what the conditions are.

She just wants her money back now, as all this stress and ruined her holiday and feels upset.

Got to love her though, she said to me that she doesnt want the girl, who sold her this and mixed up the prices, to get into trouble, as she was so nice ! :-) hahaha mum's, you've got to love 'em.

SBK

jasey

Newspaper first - hit these ***** where it hurts - their pockets .

DCI Gene Hunt

Bang to rights, they can't obtain additional funds, and if they persist you will seek full reimbursement of the holiday costs as the increase they propose is excessive and unreasonable as detailed under UK Law.... then tell them you've checked the Package Travel, Package Holidays & Package Tours Regulations 1992 (below)....

Quote

Price revision
11.—(1) Any term in a contract to the effect that the prices laid down in the contract may be revised shall be void and of no effect unless the contract provides for the possibility of upward or downward revision and satisfies the conditions laid down in paragraph (2) below.

(2) The conditions mentioned in paragraph (1) are that—

• (a) the contract states precisely how the revised price is to be calculated;

• (b) the contract provides that price revisions are to be made solely to allow for variations in:—
  • (i) transportation costs, including the cost of fuel,
  • (ii) dues, taxes or fees chargeable for services such as landing taxes or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports and airports, or
  • (iii) the exchange rates applied to the particular package; and

(3) Notwithstanding any terms of a contract,

• (i) no price increase may be made in a specified period which may not be less than 30 days before the departure date stipulated; and

• (ii) as against an individual consumer liable under the contract, no price increase may be made in respect of variations which would produce an increase of less than 2%, or such greater percentage as the contract may specify, ("non-eligible variations") and that the non-eligible variations shall be left out of account in the calculation.

DCI - Col Mustard in the library with a candlestick

TopBanana

I'm working on this right now as it happens. Ryanair are charging everyone's card automatically and emailing them, whereas my client is calling everyone personally.

sbk1972

DCI - Your the man :-)

11.3 - part 2 ? explain that bit matey ?

SBK

CooperS

Do you mean bought? i'm confused

And I'd stand outside their shop telling people they're useless, see if you can cost them some money

Chrisgr31

Which cruise company is the cruise booked with? Might be worth giving them a call, to complain about the Travel Agent.

Irrespective of the reason why your mother was charged insufficient it is not the fault of your mother so it comes down to the terms of the contract. CAB is the obvious place to go, or Trading Standards of the local council. Both are free and will be very helpful to your mother.

In the meantime tell her to stop answering the phone!

sbk1972

Yes, sorry, your correct. They both bought tickets, and Ive brought this to your attention. :-) I will alter the word accordingly. Me is thick.

The only typing I do all day are unix commands, hence my grammer / spelling has dropped to a level more suited to a polish worker.

SBK

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

That means any justifiable price increase due to section 2 can be passed on to the customer, but not if the increase is less than 2% of the cost of the holiday

sbk1972

Jay, so it means that if any costs increase more that 2%, this can be passed onto the client / customer ? i.e. the agent absorbs anything under 2% ?

£563 is far more than 2%, more like 33%. So, does this mean that they can pass this over to us ?

SBK

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

I'm sure a mistake by a hormonal employee would sit in the "non-eligible variations"

DCI's post with the regulations pretty much states that?

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

The only way they can justify it, according to the price revision section in DCI's post, is part 2 (a) the contract states precisely how the revised price is to be calculated;

So if somewhere in your mums contract there is a clause that says a price can be revised due to a mis-quote then they may be going down that route.

But usually that bit is for glaring errors, like a £1000 holiday advertised on the net for £10.00 etc.

Boro

iTrader: (1)

Isnt there a term called EOE? Something like Errors and Omitions exepted?

Basically meaning, if we genuinely **** up the figures, we can rectify them and ask for the correct price?

Might be worth looking into it just to be sure and check the contract

warrenm2

exactly - this is covered by errors and omissions

DCI Gene Hunt

The companies E&O Liability Insurance covers that though

jasey

but does that mean she has to pay the error - I wouldn't have thought so .

surely she is entitled to a full refund if they've cocked up the price ???

sbk1972

I rang up ABTA, Assoc British Travel Agents. Diiscussed the problem, and was told as its outside 30 days, I can cancell and get a full refund. If under 30days, then due to the type of error, i.e. on the behalf of the travel agent, then I should be able to cancel and get a full refund.

So, passed this onto my mum, and told her to go in today, and cancel. She's been told to wait til next week, when the woman is back, but this sounds like a stalling plan, to make it within the 30 days.

SBK