If the balance was paid by cheque, the first thing to find out is if its been cashed. If he paid in cash or card there must be some kind of receipt, I'd take that to the shop and ask them where the money went.

Another question is, did they take out any travel insurance?

They paid on his debit card and they took the reciept to the shop but, thomascook.com still have not been forwarded the money. It is a nightmare as you can imagine and being elderly and in poor health my aunt said she is so fed up with she may just give up but, I am not prepared to let her do this. The girl in the shop really should not have taken his payment but, as he is mentally ill he would not have understood why she wouldnt take it. They do have travel insurance with primary.

If they have a receipt then Thomas Cook have the money. I don't really understand why the TC employee wouldn't take the balance, unless they booked the holiday on the internet.
As Silverpixie asked did your Uncle and Aunt take out travel insurance, if so providing that Thomas Cook do find record of the payment they may be able to claim on the insurance, though if your uncle had previously been diagnosed as being Bi-polar the insurance company may refuse to pay.

I would contact his bank without delay and explain the situation. They would not normally deal with you due to customer privacy but they may be able to contact Thos Cook on his behalf given the circumstances and give them the details they need to enable them to trace the payment.

I assume it has come out of his account and shows on a statement.

Have you contacted the shop in person? We again run into the Data protection Act when trying to do something over the telephone where a face to face contact can sometimes produce results.

fwh

When the holiday was booked it was done by another family member over the internet and it was explained to them that all payments would have to be made to thomascook.com and not in the shop but, he just does not understand. The staff in the shop do not feel it is their problem even though she has shown them the receipt from the shop. I do feel that they could have tried to help her a little but, they have just told her it was not booked there so she must deal with the call centre. She is 75 and finds things difficult as it is and a little help would have gone a long way.
I have not as yet managed to find any bank statements amongst his things to check them. I really dont think the insurance company would help either as he gave the money to the wrong people himself.

Very strange indeed! Could you not accompany your aunt to the shop and demand to speak to the girl who issued the receipt. What does she say happened to the payment once she accepted it? I think what you first need to establish is that the money has definitely come out of the bank account, by means of a statement. If it's come out of the bank and TC are denying having it, then it's a case of fraud and should be reported to the bank, as basically, you don't know where the money's gone.

I am going to go to the shop with her and see if we acn get anywhere. I always thought when paying with debit card the money comes out of the account straightaway but, it would seem that is not always the case.

If it was paid with a debit card then yes, it should have come out of the account within 2-3 days if not immediately.

You haven't said when they were due to travel. If it is within the cancellation period then they would need to claim on their insurance. It may be prudent to cancel it officially with thomascookl.com

However, I hope that your uncle declared his bi-polar when he took out his insurance and had it covered. If not then they will not pay out for cancellation.

luci

The local agency should not have accepted his money but that apart if she actually did process his card the money has to be somewhere. Maybe it is in their agency account? I think any monies paid prior to due dates stay in their account. You didn't say what their date of travel was. Even if the balance has been paid as far as I understand if it is before the due date then only the deposit should be forfeited which in turn makes me wonder if the agency is sitting on it.

As has been said previously if any pre existing conditions weren't declared when the insurance was taken out, or the insurance company kept informed of any changes they may not cover if there is cause to claim.

They are not due to travel until 12th May so plenty of time. The last time he had a bad episode was 7yrs ago and this one is worse so we have been told he could be in hospital up to a year. I am going to go to the shop with her and see if we can get anywhere. It is just one big headache. I know it is not the fault of thomascook but, I wish the girl had not accepted his card.

With your help hopefully your aunt can get this sorted quickly. Do make sure that Thomas Cook are aware that the holiday is cancelled. As the date of the holiday is more than three months away they may be able to get most of the monies paid back from TC.
I'm so sorry about your Uncle's condition. Having first hand experience of someone diagnosed as Bi-polar I know how this illness can affect both the patient and relatives. Hopefully with the correct medication his recovery won't take as long as a year.

Let us know how you get on.

Judith

If you have the receipt from the shop, at least that is proof of sorts. I would try and find out the name of the customer services director at TC, or someone else higher up the tree, make a copy of the receipt and send it to them with a covering letter.
I have found it always helps to send to a named person- Google, Thomas Cook and send it to the most senior person you can find, but make sure it goes on a postal service where you can track it and make sure it has arrived.
In the meantime try and find the bank statement to check that the payment has come out, although if there's a receipt it would seem odd if it hasn't. Also as others have said, start making enquiries with the insurance to establish what the position is there.

At least you have time on your side, just make sure you keep a record as to what has been done and when.

Good luck- they shouldn't be allowed to get away with taking the money and 'losing it' Let us know how you get on.

Pam

Thankyou all for taking the time to reply to me. Judith thanks for the kind words regarding is condition. It is a case of slowly does it I think as it was last time. I will let you all know the outcome of this situation

Yes the first thing you should do is cancel the holiday in writing as you should only be liable for the deposit at this stage. However that may be easier said than done as your uncle will have to cancel it if he is the lead passenger. You could draft a letter in his name and have him sign it, but the sooner you do that the better.

You may also get the deposit back if he has declared his illness to the travel insurance.

I wish him a speedy recovery.

luci

I think that the travel agencies hang onto the money until it needs to be paid. More interest accruing for them !! I seem to remember being told this when enquiring why my T.O invoice didn't show that I had paid monies into the T.A. Do you think Ros could help at all in this situation ?

I would just like to update you all on this and let you know that after visiting the shop with my aunt we eventually came away with a cheque for the full £927. Thankyou all for trying to help us. We are going to try to get the deposits back now off the insurance. Jacqui

Good news Jacqui,

Glad to hear everything is working out OK.

Judith

That's great news

I'm glad you got that sorted