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Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
48 Posts
Whisper
2008-11-05 22:02:00
Hi can you help, My father in law booked a holiday to the red sea but did not get any travel insurance :whoops , he has now been taken ill and he is in hospital recovering from an opperation. We have been on the phone to Thomascook all day but we can't get our money back or a change of date, although they did say that we could change the names for a admin cost which would have been £40 but now they want to charge us £100 per ticket.

I have just put the holiday on that big online auction site (I'm not sure if I can mention the name here) but I'm worried if we don't sell it my father in law will be left with nothing! And as the holiday just cost £1700 (2 weeks 5 str all inclusive) he is devastated.

Can anyone tell me the best way to sell this holiday or how to get the money back. I need to move quickly with this as the holiday was due to start on the 18th November.

Thanks in advance for any advice that you can give us.
Reply
luci HT Mod
2008-11-05 22:43:50
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
Hi and welcome to HT!

Sorry to hear that your FIL isn't well and hope he has a full and speedy recovery.

We do not allow holidays or flights to be sold on HT. I hope that you are successful with the auction.

Normally you can have a name or date change for the cost of an admin fee, but I'm not sure that is still an option this close to the date of travel.

luci :wave
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Whisper
2008-11-05 23:23:19
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
Thanks for your sympathy, it was well received.

It's just disappointing that the holiday can't be postponed, but then that is what insurance is for! :que :duh :(
An expensive lesson to learn for a 70 year old.
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lynwestie
2008-11-06 08:26:24
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
Hi whisper and welcome to HT .

so sorry to hear about your FIL and I also wish him a speedy recovery.

I was just going to suggest you tried to pospone but I see you already tried that . looks like auction may be your best bet even if you can recoupe some of your costs. The best of luck in getting a half decent offer .please let us know how you get on . Not sure if the amount your asking though is low enough to attract the last minute bargain hunters . Im sure there will be people out there willing to take a great holiday like this off your hands but suspect you may need to take an offer on this .

The very best of luck.

lyn
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Whisper
2008-11-06 11:14:54
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
It gets worse!!! :cry

ebay has just ended our buy it now auction as we are not licenced to sell a package holiday!!! This is turning out to be a nightmare.

I think the only chance we have now is to sell the holiday to someone we know and we have asked everybody.

Thanks for the the advice.
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stevebell001
2008-11-06 11:29:43
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
You could try something in your local paper warning elderly people about the folly of failing to get travel insurance and how is it going to be a costly experience for your ill aged father in law, unless you can sell it type article.
If people can meet you and go through the process together you may have a better chance of doing a deal.
Unfortunately, anyone who can arrange 2 weeks vacation at this late stage will probably only be on the look out for a next to freebie. Good Luck. No one else in the extended family to try?
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Whisper
2008-11-06 12:11:10
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
I have just tried to get an extra seat on the plane for my child to see if we can go but there is none available. It's a good idea to run a story in the local paper but I would need to talk this through with my father in law first.

I can sell the holiday back to Thomascook before this Sat for 10% of the cost (£170) but I can't bring myself to do it.

I know it's his fault but i'm feeling really bad for the poor guy right now :(
Reply
Derwentrocker
2008-11-06 12:49:17
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
I am sorry for your f.i.l predicament, i hope he recovers soon. If you took on the holiday, could some of the family go on the original flight and someone with your child follow on with a flight only option, then meet up with you in resort? You could try selling it via an admag but it would have to be cheap :cry saying this though you would have added costs by changing all the names on the policy. Would teletext help? I have no idea on their policy i'm afraid. Good Luck x
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lynwestie
2008-11-06 13:58:50
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
I can sell the holiday back to Thomascook before this Sat for 10% of the cost (£170) but I can't bring myself to do it.


I dont think I could bear to give them the satisfaction either whisper.

I hope somebody sees this topic who is on the lookout for something last minute and pms you but is there any chance at all he may be well enough by the 18th to take a chilled out rest on the red sea .Sounds like your FIL could do with it as part of his recovery .
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Whisper
2008-11-06 14:15:48
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
Now that would be great if someone wanted to go from here ;) :sun2 :cheers

I'm sure that he would love to go but I don't know if he would get insurance now and even if he did would it cover him for his current illness if something were to go wrong? Has anyone come accross this before? Can you recomend any insurance?
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lynwestie
2008-11-06 14:34:56
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
Im sure somebody would insure him at a price whisper . This topic has come up before somewhere and a couple of suggestions made im sure of companies who specialise in this sort of thing although it would obviously depend on his illness It would probably cost a few hundred but given the situation at the moment if there was any chance he would be well enough it could be a small price to pay and well deserved .

I will have a dig through and see If I can find it .Im sure someone else will remember it too . Steve maybe ?

In the meantime this is where im heading http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=1329&hilit=insurance+current+illness

lyn
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Whisper
2008-11-06 14:49:34
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
I have just spoken to my mother in law and I don't think that he is going to be well enough to go, even if he could get insurance it would not be worth it. But thanks for looking.
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lynwestie
2008-11-06 15:05:14
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
Your welcome whisper .At least we can rule that out and you can concentrate efforts on seling the holiday or taking it yourselves.
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luci HT Mod
2008-11-06 19:14:41
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
Whisper wrote:
It gets worse!!! :cry

ebay has just ended our buy it now auction as we are not licenced to sell a package holiday!!! This is turning out to be a nightmare.


I actually posted in my earlier post that I didn't think ebay allowed holidays to be sold, but I deleted it thinking I was wrong after you were able to list it.

HT does not allow holidays to be sold on the site for similar reasons to ebay. We would take no responsibility should such a transaction go wrong between the buyer and seller for any reason.

I shall not lock this topic yet to allow members to offer further suggestions, but I think your only option will be to advertise it in the press, if they accept it, at half price or less.

Unfortunately it's yet another story of someone finding out the hard way that insurance should be bought as soon as the holiday is booked.

luci :wave
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Derwentrocker
2008-11-06 21:26:28
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
The strange thing is Luci, when i booked all my holidays this year from NYC, Egypt twice and even good old great yarmouth, they wouldnt let me proceed with the booking until i showed them evidence of insurance :think Maybe this is something that should be adhere to, to stop this happening again in future.

Michelle x
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luci HT Mod
2008-11-06 21:46:50
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
Well you have no way of "showing" insurance if you book online, but I can't remember if I was asked for details of insurance during the booking process.

I have also booked with a travel agent by phone. They did ask if I had insurance and all I had to do was sign a waiver stating that I had my own insurance.

luci :wave
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Whisper
2008-11-06 22:17:42
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
To be honest I don't know how he got around it, but he did book it over the phone.

When we booked 2 holidays to Portugal over the phone we just told them that we had our own insurance and they never asked for proof of it. However when we booked our honeymoon we chose to have our own annual insurance and if I remember correctly they would not release the tickets until we showed them proof, but that was 6 years ago now.

May be something has changed? Or maybe it depends on the tour operator? Or may he should be taking legal advice?

:que
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fwh
2008-11-06 23:02:25
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
When I booked a holiday online with Thos Cook back in May I ticked the box to say I had my own insurance. I was not asked who with or for proof.

It is a condition of booking that you do have insurance but obviously the system is at fault when no proof is asked for.

fwh
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Chivas69
2008-11-07 08:49:42
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
Is it just your FIL thats booked to go or is it for two or more people?
The reason I ask is because obviously if it was for more than 1 person, a name change alone would mean sharing the hotel with the others in the party!
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walks
2008-11-07 09:18:24
Re: Father in law taken ill - How do I sell his holiday?
:think

Hi Whisper i no this is a long shot but have you checked who he banks with ?? i am saying this as my partner always payed for his holiday insurace from where ever he could untill i noticed he got it free with his Bank account !!!

its just a thought :que

Pip
x
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