Have you read the thread below on cancelling a low deposit holiday, very similar to yours. They did have a positive outcome with first choice, so you might have a case.

As you had insurance, did that not include cancellation insurance? If so surely this can all be recouped from the insurance company?

Hi there

To put a bit more information to my first post.

Cancelled my holiday with First Choice and have today received a cancellation invoice for £510.00.

I cancelled this holiday within the time allowed whereby you only loose your deposit. The deposit I paid was £99.00 as that is what I was asked to pay when I booked. So I cannot understand why they have charged me cancellation charges.

Also they have charged me for insurance. When I booked the holiday I was given free insurance. How can they take something away that was free to start with.

They also say in their letter that their terms and conditions are on both their web site and in their brochures.

I did not book through their web site or with a brochure. I booked over the telephone. I saw holiday accomodation on their web site but did not use the web site to book. Apparently if you go through the booking system on the web site the terms and conditions bit is there but only if you go through this system, which I did not. I have never seen any of their terms and conditions, none were sent with my booking invoice. There are a few bits on the back of the invoice but nothing to do with cancellation within the time allowed.

Also I never signed anything apart from the cheque for the deposit!

Helpppppp
Marion

Marion try giving Ros Fernihough a ring on 01922 621114 for free legal travel law advice.

normally when a travel agents of free insurance, it comes from them and not the tour operator as the shop is doing this offer and not the tour op

how much exactly have to paid, do you still owe them money or have you paid extra payments of your holiday

normally if insurance is given free, you still wouldnt have to pay for it if you cancel, some times if you cancel and want to make a claim of the insurance they can charge you a premium cos you never travelled

as for the low deposit you paid did they tell you about the remainder of the deposit, amounts and due dates and also did you sign any agreement when you booked the holiday

It is the legal obligation for the travel clerk who booked your holiday to make you aware of the conditions you are booking under

I worked as a tour op clerk and we always had to put notes on the inhouse systems to clarify that this had been done , as if there is a legal issue with the booking the notes can be called upon for evidence.

How can they impose a charge you were not aware off?

Stick to your guns , they may have recorded your call (would be in your favour if they did) and if they didnt it is up to them to prove that you were told about T/C's

hi, i had to cancel my holiday the day before travel a couple of years ago. The cancellation was for medical reasons so i was therefore able to recoup most of my holiday cost through the FREE insurance given by First Choice with the booking. The reason I say most is that First Choice cancellation invoice was minus the amount for the insurance. If you cancel a holiday that was booked with free insurance , the insurance is only free if you do not claim on it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I too cancelled my holiday with First Choice after paying the low deposit. However, after I booked it, I did receive a letter stating I was liable for the remainder of the 'normal' deposit should I cancel it within the normal time, so I knew I had to pay the extra amount.

They did try and make us pay the insurance, and after a few phone calls, they backed down with that.

My invoice from First Choice says on the back:

Low Deposit

Please note that if you have taken up a low deposit offer and need to cancel your holiday you are still liable to pay the full cancellation fee as deatiled in the Terms and Conditions of the brochure and website.

even though it states on your invoice they still have to tell you about the agreement you are entering before you book and pay any money
for the holiday

even though it states on your invoice they still have to tell you about the agreement you are entering before you book and pay any money
for the holiday

Spot on, courtney-jade.

As posted on another thread about so-called "low deposits", Schedule 9b of the Package Travel Regulations requires that all the terms of the contract are set out in writing or such other form as is comprehensible and accessible to the consumer and are communicated to the consumer before the contract is made; not afterwards.

In other words, any conditions attached to the contract which are not made crystal clear to the customer prior to entering into the holiday contract are unenforceable.

I too cancelled my holiday with First Choice after paying the low deposit. However, after I booked it, I did receive a letter stating I was liable for the remainder of the 'normal' deposit should I cancel it within the normal time, so I knew I had to pay the extra amount.

Not true. See my comments above. To put it bluntly, in my view you were conned. I suggest that you write to First Choice and ask for the difference between what you initially paid and what they ultimatedly charged you to cancel the holiday back, pointing out that they are in breach of section 9 of the Package Travel Regulations.

As for charging customers for "free insurance" should they choose to cancel, my understanding of the law is that Tour Operators are on a very sticky wicket trying to do this, as it would seem to fall foul of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations. "Free insurance" is not free - it is factored into the overall price which a Tour Operator charges for a package. By charging you for it should you cancel, it could be reasonably argued that they are making a windfall profit that they have no entitlement to, on top of pocketing your deposit.

Many thanks for all your replies.

In answer to your questions:-

No I was not told that I was paying a low deposit and when my confirmation invoice arrived it said nothing about a low deposit.

Also I was offered free insurance and nothing was said when I booked that if I cancelled I would forefit my right to this free insurance.

In fact when I booked the booking agent said absolutely nothing regarding terms and conditions. They are now saying that their terms and conditions are both in their brochures and on the web site. As I booked over the telephone based on what I had seen on their web site and did not use a brochure, I still have not got one! Surely as you say it is down to them to ensure that I am aware of all of the pitfalls before I book?

I have written to them stating these facts and will have to wait and see what they say.

on the First Choice Website, it says the following:

http://www.firstchoice.co.uk/info/siteinfo/terms.html

Q: Where can I view Terms and Conditions for holidays and flights booked online?

A: You can view Terms and Conditions for your holiday further along the booking process, on the Payment Details page.

In other words, as you booked your holiday over the telephone and not on the web site, you never reached the point at any time where you viewed the terms and conditions on the tour operators web site and consented to them.

As you say that you hadn't seen their brochure before booking the holiday either, it seems to me that First Choice is in no position to argue that you owe them any money over and above the initial deposit you paid.

See what they say in their reply, although you might want to print the page I linked out to use as evidence should they still persist in trying to chase you for the money.

Hi there

I think you will find that most if not all travel agents will charge you the full amount for a free insurance policy if you cancel your holiday at deposit stage.

The reason being that if a holiday is cancelled at deposit stage the agent does not make enough commission to cover the nett rate of the insurance policy and why should they lose money when it is the customer who had chosen to cancel?

Although I will admit that the agency should make you aware of this when you book.

In the vast majority of cases, it will be the tour operator and not the travel agent who is offering the free insurance policy though, surely?

Certainly that has always been the case whenever I have booked a holiday where "free" insurance was part of the deal (which seems to be most of the time, these days.)

Generally speaking, a travel agent's role is merely to sell any pre-arranged packages and insurance policies on behalf of a tour operator to a customer; not to organise any elements of the package themselves.

Therefore, in theory, it would be the tour operator who would have to bear the loss of any wasted policy which was taken out - bearing in mind:

A) that the price a tour operator pays to arrange the policies they sell on to customers is likely to be buttons in comparison to the price they sell them on to the public for; and

B) that the deposit you have paid (whatever amount it is set at) is supposed to cover any abortive costs a tour operator incurs should you cancel at any point before you are liable to pay the final balance.

If a tour operator offers low deposits and free insurance as an inducement, then the onus is on them (or the travel agent, if the booking is made through an agency) to make it crystal clear to the customer before they book if there are conditions attached should the customer cancel; otherwise, any penalties they seek to impose after the customer has booked are unenforceable.

As for the travel agents' position in cases such as this, if a travel agent suffers financial loss because they have failed to spell out the terms of a contract properly before the customer signs on the dotted line, then I don't see how this is either the customer's fault, or the customer's problem. Should a tour operator seek to claw back any commission it has paid to a travel agent where a customer cancels for whatever reason, then it seems to me that this is an issue that travel agent and tour operator need to thrash out between themselves. At the end of the day, the travel agent is the agent of the tour operator; not the customer.

When I worked for Going Places and we offered Free Insurance, it was GP that offered it, not the tour operator.

Bear in mind that the insurance covers you from the moment it is taken out, so even if you cancel before you have taken the holiday the insurance has covered you against illness etc that may cause you to cancel between the booking date and the cancellation date. The travel agent will still owe that money for the insurance cover to the insurance company (GP used to use Whitehorse or something similar to that). Normally it is in the terms and conditions from the TA (including the low deposit terms) that if you cancel you will have to pay for the insurance.

I think you will find that if you book a holiday with a travel agent and get free insurance, it is the travel agent who gives the insurance policy NOT the tour operator, same applies if you pay for a policy at the travel agents.

Travel Agents offer free insurance as an incentive for you to book wuth them and not elsewhere, I dont think you will find many tour operators that offer free insurance, they do not need to as the travel agents doe it for them.

As I did say in my previous post it is up to the travel agent to inform the customer of all terms and conditions (low deposit and insurance) when they book.

As Going Places Girl explains about being covered from the day you take the policy whether it be free or paid for, so in the event the cusotmer cancels for whatever reason the insurance needs to be paid back, as the insurance has already been paid for by the travel agent, and it is the tour operator who makes the money from the loss of deposit the customer has forfeited by cancelling NOT the travel agent.

In my agency we actually make the customer pay the insurance premiuim even if it is given free, and it is shown as a discount against the holiday when the customer pays their balance, so their are no cases like this.