Be aware that when paying by credit card an extra 2% surchage I think it is is added to the bill by your credit card company

Hi Debbie,
They have to make money somehow i suppose,i just need to know what safety it gives me if any???

If the purchase is over £100, the Credit Card Company is jointly liable for the service/goods purchased. So in the event that something goes wrong and you have reason to complain/sue against Thomson you could complain/sue the Credit Card Company too.

Mark

Cheers Mark,
Was also looking at using this system for a Virgin Holiday to Barbados in 2011(March)as Virgin do not offer insurance with the hoildays are you covered just the same,would purchase the insurance October so it will cover us for 12months.Sorry for the questions this is a new way of booking for me.

Normally if you pay only the deposit by credit card a 2% fee is not charged. You are only charged the 2% if you pay off the balance by CC. In the past when paying for a package in the UK I have used my CC for deposit then a cheque or debit card for the balance. You will be covered for the whole amount with the CC company if Thomson go bust. This isn't an insurance. So you do need to have insurance in place in case of cancellation by yourself.

Judith

Hi, booking by credit card gives you a lot more protection if the company goes bust or doesn't deliver the service as paid for but a Judith points out, it isn't a substitute for holiday insurance because it doesn't cover you for all the other things that holiday insurance does - for example if you have to cancel for some reason. If you mean that you already have an annual policy in place that will come up for renewal in October then that is OK but I wouldn't book a holiday now for March 2011 and then leave it until October 2010 to sort out the insurance. All sorts could happen in the intervening period and you wouldn't be able to recover any money if for some reason you had to cancel the holiday.

Bear in mind too that as long as you have paid at least £100 (eg the deposit) by credit card you are covered - you don't have to pay the full amount by this method. Doing this will keep any surcharge down - it is usually around 2%, 3% max so I just regard the extra £2/3 as the 'insurance' premium that is worth paying for a handy bit of extra peace of mind should I end up in dispute with the TA/TO or airline. Note too that you seem to get the same peace of mind if you use a VISA debit card (not Mastercard) and many TAs ans TOs don't levy a surcharge if you pay using a debit card.

SM

Thank you all for your replies I understand where to go from here.