You will find the t and c within their brochures , normally at the back .

What is their website showing the holiday at now? If the Co-op are giving you your money back then is Thos Cook are still advertising it at the same price try a test booking or give them a ring.

Someone such as Steve8482 is probably the best person to answer your query. He is pretty clued upon such things.

fwh

If Coop refund your money it may be worth asking a Thomas Cook travel shop to match the web price.
Our local branch have always matched it for me but the local Coop branch cant despite now being part of Thomas Cook.

Thanks fwh

I just looked at the TC website, still advertised at the same price however when you go through to make a booking it brings up

Sorry, due to a system problem we cannot currently continue this booking online. We are working very hard to resolve this issue as soon as possible. Please try changing your choices. [Error Code: c174]

Jay Trip

The Coop matched the web price but the problem is with Thomas Cook not the Coop, it is TC that have cancelled the booking as they say their web price is wrong

Ouch! Is this not a case of the seller 'offering an invitation to buy' in legal terms ...

Sorry to learn of your disappointment, but I'm sure they've got their behinds covered in the small print.

Hi Alsacienne

I am very sure they will be covered as it is well know holiday companies are very one sided when it comes to their small print and protecting themselves, however it would be nice to see where they actually state they have the right to cancel within 48hrs because of an alleged error on their website.

It used to be the case in the old days that no holiday was confirmed until such time a confirmation invoice was issued.

Was such document issued?

Mark

Hi Mark good to hear from you

That is a bit of a grey area, I phoned and booked / paid it over the phone with the Coop so haven't received any paperwork although I presume it was fully booked at the time of the call with some form of confirmation

Hi Graham - even though you booked over the phone, you should surely have had some sort of confirmation, if not by letter, then by an email. It doesn't make sense not to have any sort of booking confirmation whatsoever

Helen, as it was cancelled within 48 hours of being booked, The agent probably hadn't had time to send out the confirmation invoice.

Graham, as Alsa says although the holiday was advertised at that price, the seller is not obliged to sell at that price- it is an offer to sell and they can withdraw that offer. As I see it you would have no issue, had they told you at the point of sale that they could not honour that price but I'm not sure if it's within their rights to cancel after accepting your payment.

As you say yourself they're probably covered in their Ts and Cs but if you can't find any mention of it, you might be best asking the co-op to point it out to you.

I seem to have got an undeserved reputation! I wouldn't say I'm clued up - just have a memory for what has happened in the past and can zoom into the real issue.

In this case the issue is what exactly Coop were offering to do. I suspect they never advertised or offered to do this deal at any price of their own, they said they would match the price that someone else was selling at, and probably subject to the same terms. And the key part of that would be the "was selling at". So they are now saying they have taken the booking in good faith but have discovered that TC are NOT selling at that price, it's a mistake in TC marketing. Which leaves you caught in the middle because you have no contract at all with the company that made the mistake. Coop are sticking to their part of the deal by now saying they will do it at the price that TC really are selling at

There is another standard issue here. TC are the tour operator as well as the retailer on that particular website that you didn't actually use. In this case Coop are just a retail agent - and more to the point, they are YOUR agent not TCs, that's a very standard rule in the T&Cs of the trade. So when you thought you had done the deal with Coop, their responsiblity was to represent you in booking with TC. They have tried to do that but TC won't accept the booking. Coop have done their bit, and you never had a confirmed contract with TC.

I don't see any way to save this deal. Mistakes on computer databases are best snapped up using the computer, people may ask questions!! I once got a bargain with Ryanair when someone set up their database with the price in pence not pounds. Say nothing, don't give them chance to check! Just click the keys and let the computer do the rest. If it was overpriced on the computer they wouldn't call you back later to offer a refund.

Thanks everybody for all the advice, I have spoken to the Coop this morning and infact they have received a booking confirmation from Thoma Cook but within an hour and before they were able to post it out to us TC contacted them and cancelled and they Coop then contacted us to inform us.

The only thing I can see on the TC website is

Where a price is obviously incorrect due to a system error, we shall not be bound by such price.

Nothing of 48 hrs and as this holiday was advertised at this price for at least 5 days before I decided to book it wasn't an obvious error or it wouls have been snapped up.


Thanks again
Graham

In this case the issue is what exactly Coop were offering to do. I suspect they never advertised or offered to do this deal at any price of their own, they said they would match the price that someone else was selling at, and probably subject to the same terms. And the key part of that would be the "was selling at". So they are now saying they have taken the booking in good faith but have discovered that TC are NOT selling at that price, it's a mistake in TC marketing. Which leaves you caught in the middle because you have no contract at all with the company that made the mistake. Coop are sticking to their part of the deal by now saying they will do it at the price that TC really are selling at

There is another standard issue here. TC are the tour operator as well as the retailer on that particular website that you didn't actually use. In this case Coop are just a retail agent - and more to the point, they are YOUR agent not TCs, that's a very standard rule in the T&Cs of the trade. So when you thought you had done the deal with Coop, their responsiblity was to represent you in booking with TC. They have tried to do that but TC won't accept the booking. Coop have done their bit, and you never had a confirmed contract with TC.

I don't see any way to save this deal. Mistakes on computer databases are best snapped up using the computer, people may ask questions!! I once got a bargain with Ryanair when someone set up their database with the price in pence not pounds. Say nothing, don't give them chance to check! Just click the keys and let the computer do the rest. If it was overpriced on the computer they wouldn't call you back later to offer a refund.

This is the best answer i have seen on here for a long time.
Well laid out and easy to understand.
Should me made HT agony aunt

Just had a phone call and an email from the Coop Travelcare including this from ABTA

Q.
I've booked a holiday for a client on Viewdata and now the tour operator says that the price shown on Viewdata was wrong. What can I do for my client?



A.
The first thing to say is that the tour operator cannot insist on the client paying the higher price. Equally, however, the client is unlikely to be able to insist that the operator provide the holiday at the lower price. The most likely result will be that the tour operator will cancel the booking and the client will receive a refund of any monies paid.

In these cases the first thing to do is look at when the contract comes into effect. This will be stated in the tour operator's booking conditions but is usually when the tour operator issues their confirmation invoice (not when it is received).

If the contract has not come into effect then the tour operator simply returns any money paid and that is the end of it.

If the contract has come into effect, the next thing to check is when the balance due date is. If the balance due date has not been reached, the tour operator is entitled, under the ABTA Code of Conduct and, usually, under the booking conditions, to cancel the booking and give a refund of monies paid without any other reason.

If the balance due date is passed, the tour operator will not be able to cancel the booking but is likely to argue that the contract has been entered into on the basis of a mistake. If this is correct then the contract will be void and the client will be entitled to a refund but not to any further
compensation, nor to have the holiday at the lower price.

The client should not be able to hold the travel agent liable for this as long as the travel agent has made the booking properly and disclosed his agency status and the identity and booking conditions of the tour operator.

Thomas Cook are also willing to give an additional £100 off another holiday over and above any other discount if we should choose to book one as a goodwill gesture.

This is probably as far as I can go and will have to accept it, Steve I will just book direct from the website next time

Cheers
Graham

Well done to Travel care for contacting ABTA on your behalf, seeking guidance

the tour operator will not be able to cancel the booking but is likely to argue that the contract has been entered into on the basis of a mistake. If this is correct then the contract will be void and the client will be entitled to a refund but not to any further compensation, nor to have the holiday at the lower price

if that is legally correct then it could apply right up to the moment of departure! I think we need serious independent advice here - and possibly a referal to Government!

-------------------------------------

thanks to AP1408 for kind words but I have enough work to keep me going thanks!!

if that is legally correct then it could apply right up to the moment of departure!

No it couldn't because the relevant sentence in the reply from ABTA makes it clear that a) whether the balance has been paid or not has an impact and b) that they have to prove that it is correct that the reason for cancellation is that the contract was entered in to.

If the balance due date is passed, the tour operator will not be able to cancel the booking but is likely to argue that the contract has been entered into on the basis of a mistake. If this is correct then the contract will be void and the client will be entitled to a refund but not to any further compensation, nor to have the holiday at the lower price.

So timing is crucial on both counts - the error in Kiltman's case was spotted really quickly (and after he'd paid only a deposit) and action taken 11 months before departure and hence why TC 'won' the argument. It would be a lot harder for TC to do this if they left it until he was at the airport next October! If they HAD of done so then he would have had a very good case for arguing that the real reason for cancellation was probably other than a mistake that they had not previously noticed nor corrected on their website for 11 months.

SM

Having looked at the recent post on the TC thread on the TO and TA forum, Kiltman, it occurs to me that it could be important to check out who you had paid the deposit to. I would ask the bank for confirmation of if/when money was debitied from your account. That is, who was the deposit paid to? To Travelcare as your agent or direct to TC?

Also, am I right in thinking that you booked this over the phone? And hence Travelcare phoned you back before you'd been issued with any paperwork from TC to confirm the booking? I'm not sure, therefore, whether TC were actually cancelling, that is cancelling a contract that had been entered into by then or simply declining to sell it to Travelcare, acting as your agent, at the price on their booking system. The 48 hrs makes sense if the T&Cs which govern their contract with Travelcare (not you) contains reference to eg the booking not being confirmed by them in 'real time' but only once they receive the deposut from Travelcare. Either way, if there is any uncertainty about whether the sales and booking process had got to the stage of TC issuing paperwork confirming their contract with you as the end customer, I think that the T&Cs which relate to Travelcare's contract and terms of business with TC are the more important ones rather than those which are listed on their website for what would count as a direct sale by them to you as the customer .

SM<

As agents work on account, the deposit would have been paid to Co-op. They just take the card details and enter them manually into their pdq. Thomas Cook automatically debit the Co-op at whatever date they've agreed between them.