only 2 questions

1] did you take out insurance either before you booked or at the time of booking

2] what are the reasons you cant travel

provided you took out insurance [as in 1] and the cancelation is for a recognised reason [health or similar] then claim on the insurance

Just wondered if onthebeach can bill me through the mail if I foot pay the remaining balance on my holiday, it would be 60quid cheaper just to cancel my debit card so they can't take any more payments and just lose the 240 already paid towards my holiday, is that just askin for trouble,
Any advice please thanks

Is that asking for trouble? Yes, it is, you will still owe them that £60 and if they record you as a defaulted debtor with any of the credit reference agencies you will then find it difficult to get credit in the future. And that is an absolute hassle.

The other thing is that by giving them a debit card number you gave them permission to request the money from whatever bank account that card is for - you could well find that your bank will still honour the debt anyway. I recently had to cancel a debit card because of the possibility that it had been cloned and when I asked the bank whether this would effect a future payment that had been set-up using that debit card ( for the balance of a holiday in fact), they said that it would be advisable to inform the recipient that I had changed my card but that, no it wouldn't as long as they were sure that it was a payment that I had authorised before the card had been cancelled.

SM

I'm sorry that you are in a difficult situation. For information, and future reference, might I suggest you use a CREDIT CARD to book your holiday with, because as has been pointed out, the bank may well honour the balance on your holiday payment. Contestation with a credit card payment is often more successful.

Also, and I'm sorry if I seem to be kicking you whilst you are down, but you have entered into a written contract with the holiday company when you booked the holiday. This contract for payment is still legally binding, and if you stop your debit card to avoid any further payment towards the balance and do not pay by any other method, you could find yourself in very hot water legally as the company may take you to court for payment of the balance, interest charges (if any) and compensation to them for the hassle you've caused them ... plus the court costs etc.

I hope you find a way forward ... but please don't compromise yourself either with the banks or the legal system en route.

Sorry for the double post, didn't see the admin post check on my first post, just re checked my costs to pay its only 40 quid so I,ll pay the remaining balance to cancel, how can there modern day robin hood,s get away with this, they are basically legal mugging you, not at all happy how this has worked out, my flight is 6 months away and can't get a refund, how can the government allow this to happen, this country does my head in, , , never been abroad before so this was my first experience, nightmare isn't the word, , no insurance, started a new a business so the holiday would of cost me much more, even though it wont change a damn thing, contacted BBC watchdog, thanks for the help anyway

Why are they modern day Robin Hoods? You entered into the contract knowing the terms and conditions. What have they done that you didn't agree to let them do in the first place?
Most flights are non refundable unless you get a fully flex ticket with a full service carrier, so that has nothing to do with On The Beach. It's not as if they are keeping your money.

If onthebeach booked you onto either easyjet or Ryanair flights or any other scheduled carrier they will have passed the money on to those company's to pay for your flight already so I don't understand why you think you are entitled to a refund?

What on earth has the government go to do with it ? ? ?

You don't pay a deposit on a flight you pay for the flight upfront.

It's up to you if you cancel your card but then you will have a debt shown against you. Depends on if you are worried about your credit record and if you don't mind hacking off your bank.

If you are cancelling for a legitimate reason like Heath issues then your travel insurance should cove it (if you have bothered to take out holiday insurance)

If you have simply changed your mind about going then holiday insurance would not pay out anyway.

Because of the simple fact this is my first attempt at flyin, I never read the terms as most are self explanatory usually ,even train companies give you a refund of some sort, without the extortionate fees with it, which would make the refund pretty pointless, and the other fact from start to finish during the booking process I had a clock sayin you have to complete this booking because this is a live price and someone else could get these tickets, so I was under pressure to complete the booking as I wanted it at that price, something. As important as non refundable tickets should be somewhere under the booking form and not hidden away, I bet many people do not read terms, its just feel the whole system stinks and until the government accepts they need to stop companies becomin rich from robbin the poor and blind, but as its great Britain no body cases if you get shafted.

Its the government fault for letting people like that get away with it, yeah so I cancelled, the flight wasn't for another 6 months, refund a bit back as good faith and sell the tickets on, its not hard to see they would still make profit, rather than take 100 for a ticket, give 50 back refund and. Sell again for 100 thats 50 better off than just keeping 100 surely

there is a term in British law ""Caveat emptor"" or let the buyer beware..... it is up to the buyer to make sure that they understand conditions of purchase and the quality of goods

im sorry you feel duped but this company works in the same way as many other booking agents [they are not tour operators or travel agents as such]

back to my original question why do you wish to cancel and did you arrange insurance at the time..

wizard

Wizard, in Paul 2772's post he says that he didn't take out insurance so I'm afraid that his reasons for cancelling are probably irrelevant - he has no insurance he can claim against even if his reasons for cancelling might have been covered by decent insurance.

Paul 2772, I'm sorry that you feel burnt by this company but the moment you ticked the box on their website to say that you'd read their terms and conditions you were accepting that you wouldn't be able to get a refund on the flights. This really is standard practice unless you pay an awful lot of money for a full price ticket on a full service scheduled fare. And it is standard practice on the trains too - you won't usually get a refund from them on a cheap advance purchase ticket either.

This has been the hard way to learn but next time, do not tick that you accept the T&Cs without reading them and being absolutely sure that you know and understand what you are agreeing to in. In this instance, if you have just started your own business you really cannot afford to do anything that would jeopardise your credit rating so best to pay of the balance due for the flights and write this down to experience.

SM

ah missed that but if the reasons are valid he may still have some form of cover tied to his bank account [many include travel insurance these days]

I do understand the frustration. If you had booked the flight yourself and cancelled you would have got the taxes refunded.

paul2772 wrote:

Its the government fault for letting people like that get away with it, yeah so I cancelled, the flight wasn't for another 6 months, refund a bit back as good faith and sell the tickets on, its not hard to see they would still make profit, rather than take 100 for a ticket, give 50 back refund and. Sell again for 100 thats 50 better off than just keeping 100 surely

Even if it was the governments fault, which it isn't, you should be complaining about the airline, not On The Beach.
This isn't the fault of the government, or On The Beach. It was your responsibility to read the terms and conditions. They are linked on the front page of their website, and can be read before even starting to book. It's an unfortunate position you find yourself in, but please don't blame other people for your mistakes.

Yes I realise their is no one to blame but myself, but I was excited to think about this break and jumped in, you wouldnt think it would be hard to cancel and get a refund, or even just change the name so you can sell them on, never mind I wont make that mistake again, and I wont make the mistake of goin through onthebeach so in respect they have lost any further custom from me, not that it will make a difference to them I,m sure their lining up their next victim as we speak, but as it stands I will pay the 40 and leave my credit in tact, the tickets were bought on a personal card not business so not covered, I woulda been happier to give my money to charity, oh well win some not lose some, but will keep all my evidence because you never no, one day these companies might feel the backlash that the banks did with ppi and be forced to shell out millions in compensation because of high cancellation charges or other charges,no matter how you look at it even though its in black and white, its still wrong to do it to people, I would never treat my customers in that way, any way thanks for the comment, I'm out,

I have to agree with part of Paul 2272's complaint.

The charges made for amending or changing details on tickets are grossly unfair.
It's obvious to most people that the charges in no way represent the actual costs of alteration but are simply a method of extorting money from people who are usually in a difficult position and have little choice of alternatives.
In that repspect it is down to the government to ensure that these charges are fair and appropriate.

I'm not singling out any particular company on this issue as I imagine the charges are the same across the industry.

I would agree that there needs to be something done del. I have twice had to cancel a non refundable flight. When I claimed back the taxes I had actually not lost that much. Why isn't this refunded ( minus admin etc) to customers who don't book directely with the airline? This is obviously not a specific complaint about OTB but for all similar companies.

When companies factor on the costs of things such as a cancellation. It is not just the hours time the person spends on the emails and the phone calls undoing a booking they have made in good faith on behalf of someone who has basically changed their mind.

The costs of providing the office building, electricity, paying the business rates on that building, the employers part of the national insurance contribution for that person, income tax, pension for the person, ensuring the office complies with H& S lrgislation and all manner of overheads etc

Oh and possibly suing people like the OP who basically are asking advice on how to default and defraud a company (ie cancelling his debit card cost he messed up. Yes I know they wouldn't sue in this case for a small amount of money but they will in much larger cases of default.

I get sick of hearing 'its only five mins work and that should cost a tenner why am I paying a hundred'

In this case OTB will have already passed his money on to Easyjet or whoever.

It's quite simply business, we have enough over regulation in this country without the government interfering to protect people who basically have breached a contract and couldn't be arised to read the terms and conditions they signed up to. So IMHO its got nothing to do with the government they should have bigger fish to fry.

I get sick of hearing 'its only five mins work and that should cost a tenner why am I paying a hundred'

1) I bet you don't say that when you get a £30 charge from the bank for a bouncing check/ insufficient funds/unauthorised overdraft etc.

2) they have the same expenses when they take your booking but wouldn't dare to try and charge you £100 for that service.

No one is suggesting that they should do it for free but the charge should be "proportionate" to the work actually involved.

Del949,

1) Yes, I would get annoyed if I was charged by my bank for the things that you mention but with myself not the bank - they've been up front about their charges and it's my fault if I'm not keeping a good enough check on my account balance etc. In fact the reverse would be true, as someone who makes sure I do keep an eye on my balance and have never incurred the charges you mention, why should a responsible customer like me pick up the additional expenses incurred as a consequences of others not managing their accounts properly? It's the same with travel, if I want flexibility I pay the extra. If I want the cheapest option, I accept the risks that arise from agreeing to enter into an inflexible contract.

2) The cost of providing a service is usually factored into the price we are charged but it's a common practice for all sorts of retailers to set-up 'loss leaders' where the price charged does not reflect the true cost but is done to reel you in so that you spend money on other things where they will make a bigger profit. This is basically Ryanair's business model and a lot of others in the travel industry. And, yes, one of the ways they the make a profit is by doing everything they can to make sure they don't have to give you any of it back if you cancel.

We never did find out why Paul 2772 decided to cancel his trip but not taking out any insurance was foolhardy and further reduced his chances of recouping any costs incurred in the event of having to cancel. Yes, the travel industry is littered with pitfalls just waiting to catch us consumers out but we don't do ourselves any favours when we do things like ticking the box saying we've read and accepted the T&Cs when we've done no such thing. No wonder they think that we are gullible fools who are easy to part from our money. You might think that's harsh but sometimes we are our own worst enemies when we think we're on the trail of a bargain and too often flick the commonsense button off in our brains.

SM