...and just a thought, but this trip didn't involve the use of the Stena Line High Speed ferry from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire did it? Stena suddenly withdrew it with only a few days warning at the beginning of September which would fit with the date you gave.

Hello Steve.
The Insurance was Shearings own Insurance sold with the holiday @£35 pp ie £70.
I queried how they could cancel MY INSURANCE at the same time as the holiday it was taken out for but they just stated the insurance was cancelled at the same time as the holiday.
The problem I have with them is A:They had cancelled the holiday and the insurance and THEN phoned me to say it was done,no discussion,no nothing.B:I believe they are in violation of the 1992 Package Holiday Regulations that state The Holiday must be identified as subject to cancellation in writing as the holiday is booked.They say this is covered in their Customer Charter which says they can cancel the holiday if not enough seats are sold.
However the Consumer Rights version states the possibility of this must be advised IN WRITING at the time of booking and regular updates on the risk of cancellation must be also updated.
I booked 27 June 2011 they cancelled Sept 15 2011 with no information being received the holiday was under subscribed.
I am concerned at your comment regarding ABTA as they are currently looking at my complaint.
Thanks for your advice.

£35pp sounds like a fully underwritten policy, I'd be very interested to know how they can stop you using it for a different holiday on the same dates. In the longer term this is actually a much more serious issue than their rules on cancelling holidays they haven't got enough bookings on. BUT, if the premium has been passed to an seperate underwriter who is prepared to honour the cover for a different holiday then it's much harder to argue.

ABTA is something we've got sad experience of. They are basically a trade body not a consumer protection organisation. They seem to actively encourage 28 day delays on answering correspondence and rarely come out in favour of the customer.

If the warning about possible cancellation was shown in the brochure/website you booked from then that probably counts as being in writing, it doesn't mean they have to send you a specific letter. This is quite common in this sort of small group holiday, we recently had one that gave itself the right to cancel without refunds and insisted customers change to a different holiday within a year or lose their money! However, "Regular updates" is something that could be chased, I don't recall seeing any of these companies do that very clearly - or are they saying every 8 weeks is regular?

Thanks again Steve.
I will soldier on and see how it goes.I will chase the Insurance issue and see what ABTA come up with.

Hi, I would try going to the insurance ombusdman - you in fact get in touch with the financial ombudsman who covers insurance disputes. They are very helpful. You can have a chat with someone and they will give you a reference number. Then tell Shearings that you are going through the ombusdman (do this in writing), they will not be happy with this because it can cause them lots of extra work. It usually gets a swift settlement. Hope this helps. The ombudsman service is free of charge.

Can I just clarify something - are you saying that Shearings cancelled the policy without either refunding the preium or giving you the option of transferring the cover to another holiday? I ask because in a not that dissimilar situation some years back I was refunded the premium which was added to the refund given for the cost of the cancelled holiday. I can't remember the full details because I've taken out annual policies for some years now and so never needed to arrange cover through the TO.

SM

No I was refunded the total holiday cost including the insurance premium.My issue is this was a holiday booked 3 months before but cancelled wthin 14 days of departure.
The cancellation was informed to me by phone IE "Your holiday is cancelled" The insurance was not mentioned and I when I requested the options available to be put in writing,I was informed "we don`t do that"
So in effect they cancelled my booking and my Insurance and then told me what they had done.
Not what I call "CUSTOMER CARE" more like CUSTOMER DON!T CARE.

Hi, I work at Shearings and have highlighted your problem internally as the last thing we want is for you to be having a bad time with us. The feedback is as follows:

Only our annual policies can be used in the way yo are talking about - we only sell single trip policies alongside one of our holidays and if the said holiday is cancelled, the insurance is automatically cancelled with it and the premium refunded. The only way this insurance could still be used is if you transferred to a different Shearings holiday.

Can you IM me with your booking reference and your telephone number and name and I will get some one from Customer Care to contact you to explain fully the situation and hopefully help you more.

Hi and welcome to HT to both of you!

As DOWNBUTNOTOUT does not yet have enough posts to be able to send you a PM, I have sent him a PM asking for the details which I shall forward if required.

luci

Also be warned not only do they cancell your holiday,they also pull the plug on the Travel Insurance taken out with them.

No I was refunded the total holiday cost including the insurance premium.

I can understand you being miffed about your holiday being cancelled but I would have been even more upset if they hadn't refunded the insurance premium as well and had expected me to still pay for it!

But like Steve, I would think that reserving the right to cancel a holiday if there were insufficinet bookings etc would be covered by Shearings T&Cs - it's feature of those of every TO Ive travelled with. Havantour seem to be one of the exceptions in that even though there is such a clause in their T&Cs they didn't cancel a tour of Cuba I did with them even though there just 4 of us for the 1st week and just me on my own for the 2nd!

SM

So the bottom line is that they cancelled an underbooked tour - always a risk in off season - AND refunded the insurance premium, even though some cover had already been used (cancellation due to passenegr illness etc, since booking). That's actually not bad, most people who buy the insurance seperately wold have lost the money if they couldn't find a different holiday.

Which leaves the method of cancellation. Clearly this should have been done in writing properly, I'm pretty certain there's something in contract law about that. There's nothing wrong in phoning up and giving people a day or two extra warning whilst the letter is in the post but the letter should have been sent as soon as the decision was made, even if they were still arranging refunds.

It will be interesting to see what ABTA say, if only to confirm our misgivings about them. But the big outstanding point here is the "Regular Updates" rule. Someone at ABTA or the OfT needs to define what exactly that means. And we need clarification on what customers can do anyway, what's the point of phoning people every 2 weeks to tell them their holiday is at risk of cancellation if they can't do anything about it?

Thanks again Steve.
The fact that "you can`t do anything about it" is the main point.Had we been told in August that the holiday was in "some doubt" we would have had 8 weeks to look at other alternatives but this cancellation was 14 days before on by a phone call.(I know this makes no difference to the commercial facts,but the holiday dates/destination (was to celebrate our Golden Anniversary)had special memories for us and to be honest was like a slap in the face.I am less concerned with the financial implications from Shearings cancellation technique,but the method was deplorable.
Incidently the Consumer Direct Website advises that Package Deal Regulations 1992 state the Tour Company must advise at the time of booking that the holiday has a seat number risk.Surely Shearings should put this in the big blank space on their confirmation invoice and at least keep customers advised of the growing inability to sell their seats.

I'd really like to know how this warning process is supposed to work. Giving out regular disclosures of booking numbers on each tour is handing commercially sensitive info to the competition - and possibly worrying banks into withdrawing credit. In a good commercial climate it will put up prices as companies realise how little choice there is and in a weak climate it could cause companies to go bust! Neither scenario is good for the public.

Let us know what ABTA say.

Incidently the Consumer Direct Website advises that Package Deal Regulations 1992 state the Tour Company must advise at the time of booking that the holiday has a seat number risk.Surely Shearings should put this in the big blank space on their confirmation invoice and at least keep customers advised of the growing inability to sell their seats.

Shearings, like all TOs that don't commit themselves to running a holiday regardless of numbers booked, will have included in their T&Cs a clause to the effect that they reserve the right to cancel any holiday for which they receive too few bookings for along with the info on your rights in the event of them doing this. My understanding is that this fully covers them under the Act you refer to you - they have warned you that there is a seat number risk ie that ALL their holidays run the risk of being cancelled if not enough bookings are taken within the T&Cs that customers must tick that they have read as part of the booking process.

Like Steve, I can't see how anything else would work - Including the 'regular updates' thing. No company is going to willingly cut it's own throat by telling it's customers that a particular holiday on particular dates is selling very slowly and might be cancelled. Cue for nobody else to make a booking and making it even more likely that the holiday will be cancelled for those who already have or else a general stushie as those who have booked start asking forr their money back and/or cancel their booking so they can re-book something else.

I fully understand that you must be gutted in the circumstances - my brother and I have recently booked our ballroom dancing mad parents into a special 'Strictly Come Dancing' weekend for their Daimond Anniversary and we'll all be very disappointed if it gets cancelled but the T&Cs made it clear that this is a possibility. As it happens, the company concerned are now publishing on their website how many bookings have been made but this only started to appear once more than 50% of the places had gone and it is clearly a marketing ploy to encourage people to book ASAP and not leave it until the last minute rather than an update on the risk of your holiday being cancelled. And it worked exactly like that in our case because that information wasn't there when we first started thinking about at it in mid-August (even though it doesn't take place until March 2012) and we booked pretty smartish once it did appear stating that 200 of the available 300 places had been taken.

SM

Thanks for that.
I can`t see that as the regulation I have seen 1992 states impending cancellation risk must be advised in writing at the time the holiday looks dodgy.So the comment in their Customer Charter is part of their booking terms at the outset not during the approach period and in my mind does not constitute written advice prior to their intended cancellation.
Good luck with Strictly.

davidgtjones2002 read the PM with DOWNBUTNOTOUT's details over a week ago, but unfortunately has not responded.

luci

Thanks to all who offered advice on this.
After much correspondence and involvement of ABTA (Not used eventually) and my bank (Cancelled Debit card payment of £120 during negotiations)Shearings finally agreed to refund the £120 and also sent us £40 vouchers valid for 12 Months against a future booking.
The £120 was a deposit against a Christmas booking that I cancelled after Shearings cancellation of the original Ireland holiday.
So in the end I am satisfied that I was able to have my deposit refunded and the £40 voucher was appreciated but obviously did not make up for our planned Golden Wedding Anniverary.
The eventual discussion with Shearings Customer Care was in total contradiction to the call that originally cancelled our booking to Ireland and the outcome was acceptable to both parties,
I had informed ABTA of the issues but eventually did not need to use their services.
With 12 days notice it was a bit of a rush to reorganise a different break but we had 7 days
in Cyprus via First Choice and this went well and TO PLAN.

Many thanks for the update. Please stick around and join in. Never know you might be able to help someone else with a problem.

fwh

Yes I will be happy to do that.
Thanks to all for their relevant input to my issue.

DOWNBUTNOTOUT