ok i have a complaint against holiday company re cancellation of our holiday giving one days notice had to cancel the holiday for various reasons i have a good case under package holiday act 1992 so my claim is for loss of enjoyment stress etc plus various cost parking insurance etc

.......... please remember that we can only offer opinions and not anything legally binding ....

daviee ... I have merged your various topics, so that those in a position to help may have a clearer idea what you are referring to.

David

You do not say who the operator is.
Was the holiday a package holiday or a dynamic package? There is a big difference and that could have a bearing on things.
The Terms & Conditions will play a part in any action. If the the TO has abided by them then you may struggle. When you book any holiday then you agree to abide by them as part of the contract.
When submitting your a claim of any kind then KISS applies. Keep it simple. State facts not opinions. Assuming it gets to court then you will have the opportunity to go into the detail - trying to write your version of War and Peace will only confuse things and will not help your case. Costs incurred because of the cancellation are easily documented but loss of enjoyment, stress etc are intangible. You quote "package holiday act 1992" - the defence legal team will have studied these and will be more aware of any testing of these regulations which will assist them in their case.

fwh

thankyou for your reply this was a package holiday

I'm afraid that I can't offer any help because on the basis of the information that you provide I don't think that you stand much chance of getting anywhere with this claim. Without knowing who the travel agent or tour operator were I can't check their terms and conditions of business to help.

From what you have told us so far, there were two separate bookings made - yes, I note that you booked them at the same time and made it clear that you wanted to be together but unless everybody is on the same booking or you have confirmation that the two bookings were linked on the reservation system then there was never any guarantee that you would be in the same place under most T&Cs - it would have had the same status as a request (eg for a ground floor room) rather than being an agreed part of the written contract.

Yes, you sould have been entitled to a full refund as a change of accommodation is generally regarded as grounds for you being entitled to cancel and get all your money back. This doesn't necessarily entitle you to compensation over and above any monies you have paid. But I can't work out whether you have or haven't received a refund and hence whether you are taking them to court in order to get your money back. Or whether you were refunded the cost of the holiday but want compensation over and above that.

Either way, having decided to cancel, any replacement booking would be an entirely new one with no guarantee that the original flights would still be available. Once you cancelled, the flights would have been released and hence, whilst they would have been available for you to use had you not cancelled, once you had cancelled they could well have been resold on very quickly. Yes, it was unfortunate that they raised your hopes with the prospect of being able to re-book everything for you but once you cancelled they could have just left it at that. I think that you would ahve a hard job convincing the court that this was incompetence as opposed to a premature attempt to salvage the holiday for you - they didn't have to try to do that.

I'm sorry that you lost your holiday and that you've had so much stress as a result but I would be reluctant to proffer you any advice on how to move forward with a court case because you have provided us with very little information beyond the fact that you wanted to go on holiday with your brother and decided to cancel when it wasn't possible for you to all stay in the same place. As fwh says, if the TA and/or TO has complied with their respective terms and conditions of service then there isn't much hope of this claim getting very far. Without further information on this, eg who the TA and TO were etc, none of us here can advise you on how to take this further.

SM

I seem to have missed this thread when it started.

I can tell you there is a legal precedence (in Engalnd & Wales) which says you can't sue for disappointment or loss of enjoyment. I did have a reference to it in a letter that Mytravel sent to me when they'd misread a complaint of mine but I threw it out a couple of weeks ago.

And I agree with Sma's summary. The T&Cs of the contract will almost certainly allow them to change accomodation (that get out clause has been in use for decades) with no more liability than allowing cancellation and free refund if you don't like it. If you went you lose that right. The two bookings are two contracts so they can change one independently of the other.

I thought I'd heard you could claim for loss of enjoyment, so went for a poke about and here's some info :- http://www.compensationculture.co.uk/what-can-you-claim-for.html

A lot of the info out there is based on package holidays.

I wish I hadn't thrown that letter away, however I did make a note of the case name - guess where? Yup, on this board three years ago yesterday!!! Having given the web time to catch up on things there is now more info available and it turns out that the case was Lucas -v- Avro plc (Sheffield County Court, 15th March 1994).

Lucas purchased flight seats from Avro but there was a mistake on the tickets and the return flight in fact took place almost 24 hours later than expected. Avro admitted a breach of contract, and their liability to pay £165 in respect of hotel, taxi and telephone expenses, and loss of earnings. However, Lucas also claimed damages for mental distress and suffering. It was held that a contract which supplied flight seats only was not a contract to provide peace of mind or freedom from stress and that therefore damages for mental distress were not recoverable. I love the bit I've put in italics, if it wasn't so outrageous it would be funny! So it didn't refer to enjoyment but is a contract to provide a holiday also a contract to provide enjoyment? You'd have thought so but then again you'd expect a flight would come with peace of mind!!

Please note that a District Judge does not set precedence. I succesfully claimed for loss of enjoyment last year.

Mark

Agreed my Daughter had a total refund of a holiday as well as compensation the day before it was due to go to court.
There was a clear breach of contract and this in turn resulted in a very stressful holiday for everyone. Total refund and £600 compensation. 4 Adults and 2 children on the holiday.

Sue

daviee,
please read the post by SMa above.
this explains the situation in a very clear way.
steves post relates to flight only booking, and if you did book a package holiday, with someone like thomsons, you would be entitled to some compensation for loss of enjoyment; but i believe that there is something in the T&Cs where you get a (small) amount if they cancel your holiday just before departure.
you seem reluctant to advise who you booked with, but by telling us who it was with we may be able to provide further information.
i don't think you will get any "real" compensation by going to court as enjoyment is a subjective rather than a quantative view -i would pay extra not to be in the same place as my family on holiday - and so even if the court found in your favour i doubt you would get more than a token amount. it would probably be less than the cost of filing the court papers!
i think you may be best by just putting this down to experience, unless there is any paperwork showing that the 2 bookings were linked by the tour operator, and not just by the travel agent.

we usually holiday with another family, we book at the same time, same flights ect, and we cross reference our booking number too.

it has always been made clear to us from firstchoice that even though we cross reference the bookings, that is no guarentee.

a few years ago, our flight was changed, they were given seats from one airport, us from another.....nothing we could do except either cancel, or speak to a very nice man who went out of his way to help....

would it not have been easier for the travel agency to look for somewhere that would accomadate all of you, as oppsoe to you cancelling, your brother may have had to pay an amendmant fee, but you would all of had your holiday.

good luck anyway.
x

well just to let every one know i have gone all the way and have a hearing in the county court
the holiday company are employing a barrister to defend them

I would like to wish you luck.You must have been so disappointed.

Good Luck with this daviee, it sounds like you were really messed about regardless of which company it was.

Please come back on and let us know how it went as it will be very helpful for others who wish to persue this kind of thing.

I admire you for sticking with it as most people get fed up and don't bother, it seems that others have managed to claim for the stress being caused by having a holiday cancelled by the TO at the 9th hour so hopefully you will have some success.

thanks for your post
i will keep you informed it has cost me approx £300 to pursure but i dont think you should be messed about this way.
the tour operator think you are nothing and wont go all the way
and think that they can offer you a derisory offer if they cancel you holiday but if you cancel with them charge you 100%of your holiday

Hi who did you book it with

i court tommorrow will let you know what happens its taken a lot of my time and expenses but i something has to be done with these travel companies who think they can muck you around and you wont do anything about it