I can't recall anyone else going to mediation so this is a first. Stick to your guns, you have right on your side and the precedent of several people on here settling out of court for the full amount of a cruise including the SINGLE supplement.

luci

Well done Luci in putting in the reminder about the Single Supplement. That element will be vital in any claim since these supplements are generally swingeing.

thanks, any further help or info is ALWAYS appreciated and i will be using past victories to highlight my case and of course the single supplement is stingy but then i think the DE thought that originally more people were going to pair up and take someone else on a cruise with them,of course i suppose they didnt think that a lot of people like travelling by themselves!
i will be offline for 3 weeks im going on holiday........thanks to all for info
BAO-LOU

Have a good holiday Bao Lou and here's hoping you have good news when you get back! I hope you have someone who can open your mail while you are away, just in case the newspaper send you a time limited offer!!!!! If you haven't done so, I think it might be a good idea to inform them that you will be away!!! Leave no I undotted or T uncrossed is a good motto!!!

I can't believe that these people have still not stumped up for the cruises they offered

Like Luci says - stick to your guns and make sure that you get what you were originally offered - a cruise for £10

Good luck to all that are still fighting and never give up.

Just to make a note of something I heard from an Accountant at my table on Summit. Most of you will recall the Hoover Fiasco. I got my flight from Heathrow after a lot of calls with phone numbers for the Press and was offered the flight but no mention of the shuttle. My daughter when she came that weekend looked at the conditions and said I didn't need to pay for these tickets. I bought my Shuttle tickets having given them a deadline until 5 pm and then went and bought the tickets when the deadline passed at 5.05pm I sent them the bill and gave them 7-10 days to pay. They called me immediately and I asked for this to be put in writing. paid in the Hoover Fiasco and because they paid it for me I didn't think that those who had paid for the shuttle from Glasgow would be able to claim in retrospect and so a prescient was set and they had to pay for any shuttle anyone had paid and then put in a claim,

My cheque was in the post on my return home 10 days later. We can change things we just need the will to do it!! I would never have stood for the length of time you have waited. I would have gone to the small claim court as soon as I issued them an ultimatum! ie. perhaps 14 days and informed them that I would commence proceedings against them.

Once I wrote giving them 2 days notice of intending to buy the tickets they were on the phone constantly until at last I said I will call you. This was Hoover directly.
Don't take any more nonsense from them get right in there as having paid out to others there is no need to wait any longer.

Good luck to all of you and more power to your elbow!!

Sue

hi bao-lou here and back from sunny Corfu,the mediation took place today and i have some very good news.....the DE have agreed to settle rather than going to court,ive got to say it was in the end a doddle,a walk in the park and it took all of ten minutes to reach an agreement,im satisfied with the outcome as it compares with past settlements,as you might guess the DE have put a clause in that doesnt allow me to discuss the settlement and of course i dont want to jeopardise the aggreement that we have reached,they apparently are well aware of this forum wich comes as no suprise,so from May 04 to now..some 4 and a half years later another satisfied "cruiser" has at last got what was deserved,so for anyone that hasn't taken steps to recover what was due to them or has just said "i cant be bothered"then all i can say is..."DO IT"..."NOW" and good luck,keep on chipping away its a good feeling when you win the day,and to have all these people who have contributed to this forum....the advice,help,knowledge was absolutely marvellous and im so glad to have "discovered" holidaytruths and of course all of you who contributed to this forum,many many thanks to all of you for that help and encouragement and wise words of wisdom,what am i going to do with the money?well...i recently went to China and taught English and i would love to go back and teach more to them so this will go a long way to realising my return to them...ah happy days
ps i willkeepin touch with HT as i would like to see more people succeed and of course to give any help that i can
good luck to all
BAO-LOU

:
CONGRATULATIONS! WELL DONE ON YOUR PERSEVERENCE!! Now enjoy what you received ... it's your right especially after all that time xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Great news Bao Lou!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's a shame you wont actually experience a cruise but I can understand your alternative choice! Should you ever get the opportunity after your planned sojourn to China, do try cruising! (Cruising the South China seas would be great!)

Well done for hanging in there and very good luck with your plans for returning to China!

There can't be all that many more members of this forum still waiting - can there be? I am sure our Luci will know the answer to that one!

The only really sad thing is the thousand and thousands of people who never discovered Holiday Truths.

Just as a matter of interest Bao Lou, this thread was pulled off air on at least two occasions!!!! We just got far too hot for them to handle but thankfully our beloved forum came back for us to continue kicking and screaming until we got what was rightfully ours, albeit rather later than originally promised.

Anyway, Congratulations and well done for hanging in there!

That great new baa lou, well worth the wait, hope everybody else gets their just rewards in the future. Keep fighting for whats yours. Well done. I love these happy outcomes.

Excellent news! I didn't doubt for one minute that you wouldn't win as you had complied with the terms of the offer.

Well done!

luci

Brilliant news Bao-lou. I think most of us old-timers guessed it would turn out the way it did as it was unlikely the DE would let it go to court. It's just a pity that the paper feels the need to make people jump through so many hoops when they know they are on a hiding to nothing. We, too, are glad that you found HT and I'm sure you will make full use of it in the future. Enjoy China and, as Magsy suggests, perhaps try a cruise another time.

Just a quick hello to all the old timers here, I often pop in for a quick look to see who has taken the Express to court. Long may it continue.
I travelled with a pal of mine in June 2005 on MSC Melody and had a great time for ten pounds, both of us had a single cabin, with free upgrade, and every now and then the trip gets brought up by friends and acquaintances I have shared the story with. It remains the best bargain I have ever had and I fear will never be repeated. Good luck to all who are still fighting for justice. No Surrender.
Oh and I forgot to add, thank you to the Express for giving me my holiday with no fuss whatsoever, perhaps everybody should be treated this way.

well done Bao-lou, great news. Good outcome for you but still soured by the dillydallying by the DE in giving you only now, what you were entitled to a long time ago.

Enjoy whatever you elect to spend your money on.
( but do try a cruise at some time, please, you will thoroughly enjoy )

wow!!!thanks for all the messages of congrats,when i think that only 3months ago when i was looking through some old things and rediscovered the old paperwork relating to the £10 offer i wondered"what happened to that",never any replies from DE and the line had gone dead for a very long time,so i googled it and thats when i discovered HT and boy oh boy am i glad i did!i was suprised that there was still so many people who were fighting for thier right to the offer made to them and so many winners as well which so inspired me to take up the fight,i am not sure how many there are that are still left wondering the same as i did but i relly hope that they discover HT and take the advice from the many peeps who "won" and follow the same path to succsess,4 and a half years is a long time to wait but it is sweet when it comes and i really cant thank all of you HTers for the inspiration,
ah the money will go towards a rtw for 2010 so i can see more of this beautiful world and also to return to China to suprise my former English students as every good teacher should check up on his students,such a sweet victory... i am a happy bunny indeed
love and success to all
ps i will promise to"pop" in from time to time
BAO-LOU XXX

hi, just wondering would the daily express repeat this offer, as i had TWO wonderful £10 cruises,

Very interesting Forum with lots of useful information!

I'm sure I'm must be like many people in that I did all the right things, got quite frustrated when nothing came of my original Cruise Offer, and then eventually after many months {now years!} of fruitless waiting, simply gave up.

Anyway, I was wondering would anyone care to offer up a current summary of *exactly* what to do if you want to try and make a claim.

I mean I have some idea what a 'Small Claims Court' is... but don't really have any idea what the first steps would be to get this going - that kind of thing.

Thanks,
Andrew

welcome to you Andrew,first of all DONT give up hope,second go to i think page 246 of this forum and see the sample letter that (REDO?) wrote to th DE,i used this text in my recent claim and like so many others was glad that i didnt "give up"though the trail had gone "cold",with the help and guidance from this forum and the many people who gave thier support i too won through,dont worry about the small claims procedure..its a real walk in the park,i firstly sent the DE copies of ALL the correspondance,t's and c's,newspaper offer of the supposed cruise for a tenner,etc,etc and gave them 14 days to reply with a satisfactory outcome if not i would pursue them in the small claims court,it costs £70.
if you have most of the info relating to the cruise then i think you too will be a happy bunny!
good luck "we" are always popping in to this forum,and any help WILL be a pleasure
bao-lou

Thanks for the reply.

I wrote twice to the Daily Express ages ago....and rather frustratingly but predicatably never received a reply.

Assuming I try 'Recorded Delivery' this time, can you suggest a 'targetted' up-to-date address to a particular department, i.e. Legal Dept??.

Please don't get me wrong - I really appreciate your {any!} reply that tries to help me....but I'm already thinking that I'm going to go down yet more 'blind alleys' unless maybe some 'people in the know' on here can give 'lost souls' like me very *specific* information.

I hope that point came across in the 'positive' way that I meant it to?!

Thanks, Andrew