I haven't sent them back, but have not cashed them or anything. I sent a letter back refusing the offer though so they know I don't want the £300.

Slightly off topic, I did take thomson holidays to court a few years ago over something and they settled out of court before it even got there. Dont back down. What have you got to lose. It cost about £30 to go to small claims court and thats what I done and got more money then I was after!

surely Micky if you lose the case you have a lot to lose?

Not with a small claims court as the court cost are only about £30, (well it was when we had the dealings with thomson anyway) if you lose, all you lose is the £30.

Hi Micky, I hope you don't mind me asking, just out of interest what percentage of your holiday cost did you get back. Its just I kept on being told go for the full holiday cost plus comp, but I can't ever see them offering that!

Well our was slightly different to retrieving the whole holiday cost. What happened was they sold us an out of date travel insurance policy. The rules etc had changed. We didnt know this and when we went to use it when we got home as we had used a private doctor whilst abroard we couldnt. Thomson and the insurance company were blaming each other and so in the end I gave up talking to them and went straight to small claims and as my hol contract was with thomson they copped it!lol. We ended up getting quite a few hundred pounds. Not bad as I originally only wanted about £20 off them. This was due to inconvenience, stress, missed work whilst at court etc. Told you I was a person of principles!!lol!

Most TO's work on a 60/40 ratio.
That being 60% of your total holiday cost for your flight, 40% for accomodation, transfers and reps service.
So for example if you are in a shocking accomodation with many legitimate complaints you can fairly ask for 40% of your total holiday cost back.
Wether they will give it without a fight is another matter.

A TO will rarely offer to recompense the whole holiday unless it is taken all the way to court/arbitration. I doubt a judge would look favourably on the 60/40 so worth a go if the complaint is strong.

There are some members here who have received the whole amount back plus some extra who can advise better than me.

Louby

Thanks for all the help. I have carried on trying Ros, but with no luck, I shall keep trying tomorrow. I do genuinely believe that I have a strong case, every day of my holiday was spent complaining and not just over silly things. At one point of the holiday I was showering in one room but living in another because they couldn't give me an alternative. This forum has helped me to make my decision to keep the complaint going and not to except the first offer.

Micky is slightly wrong - if you lose in court it could cost you more than your own fee as you could be required to pay some of their costs. However this is capped quite low and would probably be nowhere near enough to cover what they would have spent, especially if they had to travel any distance to court. Also your own fee could vary depending on how much you were claiming, it goes up in bands.

Fees can be reduced by going through the online service at http://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk

It is likely that TOs will reject any claim when served with the first set of papers (and will take the full allowance of time to do it). Expect them to go at least as far as getting a court date allocated.

My Daughter got all the cost of a holiday booked with First Choice as well as £600 in compensation. The main point was that it was a clear breach of contract and she has a law degree and knew her rights. The case went on for almost a year and she had raised an action in the Small Claims Court. They had made numerous offers right from the beginning but she stuck to her guns. They wanted holiday photo's etc but she said she would only give them these if the court ordered her to do so.
They eventually came to a settlement 2 days before the court case.

Sue

Im sorry if I have given the wrong information or misguided but I am pretty sure all we had to lose was the fee that we paid at the begining to make the claim. If that is wrong, well I am sorry and Im glad we didnt lose the case then.

Hi, I have been trying to contact Ros all week on the number given but had no luck. Does anyone know if her number has changed? thanks

New Ros number is at top of this board:

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=117254

Just to say thanks for the new number, I called them today and they are sending me out the documents to get started!