Just rang Ros and left a message, will wait to see what she says.

Sue

The following is an extract from the
The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 and Crown Copyright 1992 is acknowledged.

Contents and form of contract
9.-(1) The other party to the contract shall ensure that-

(a) depending on the nature of the package being purchased, the contract contains at least the elements specified in Schedule 2 to these Regulations;

(b) subject to paragraph (2) below, 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; and

(c) a written copy of these terms is supplied to the consumer.

(2) Paragraph (1)(b) above does not apply when the interval between the time when the consumer approaches the other party to the contract with a view to entering into a contract and the time of departure under the proposed contract is so short that it is impracticable to comply with the sub-paragraph.

I've underlined the bit I feel might be significant. As with all contracts they should be clear and not intentionally misleading. I would draw the inference that Fiona has suggested - namely, you will pay £120 (4 x £30 amendment fees). Remind them that the UK Banks are suffering massive problems of late as a result of charging penalties way in excess of their administrative costs - and consequently have broken the law requiring them to repay in full such penalties.

I wonder if the same rules apply to tour operators in so far as their amendment fees should recover their true administrative costs rather than making them a profit way in excess.

Good Luck

When I tried to access the T&Cs for this company I was unable to do so without registering. Something I was not prepared to do.

I did suggest that the poster should read these. There should be details of cancellation/amendment fees within these. A simple statement that fees would apply, would, in my opinion, be considered an unfair practice.

fwh

fwh, well spotted. If the t&c's are not accessible to a customer then point 9 (1) (b) could be breached and also 9 (1) (c). I suppose it depends how easy registration is and is it automatically undertaken as a result of booking and becoming a customer.

Sue, ask the company for a written copy to be sent to you a.s.a.p. in the post but tell them that for the purposes of having provided them with written intent to either cancel or amend you note the date to be, say, the weekend just gone. In other words, don't let their delay in providing you with the information they are legally obliged to provide result in a situation where they charge you higher fees.

I did access the T&Cs by doing a dummy booking first( which I should not have had to do) and the wording is a a minimum of £50 for cancellations and a minimum of £30 for amendments. Hardly clear is it? Lets face it, they could charge you a 100% with that wording.

Thanks so much. This is their reply:

At the bottom of the ATOL receipt email you were sent you will see the
important information I have previously referred to.

To quote our terms and conditions that you agreed to before finalising your
order on our website:

Cancellation & Amendments by You
Cancellation / amendment charges will apply to this booking once confirmed.
The minimum charge applied for cancellation will be £50 or £30 for
amendments if the cancellation/amendment is made outside of 3 weeks (21
days) prior to departure. If any amendment or cancellation is made within 3
weeks (21 days) a minimum charge of 50% or £100 whichever is greater will
apply to cancellations, however amendments will incur a minimum charge of
£30. If any amendment or cancellation is made within 1 week of departure (7
days) a charge of 100% is applicable for cancellations or £50 for amendments
(Name changes will incur a fee of £10).

This clearly states that a minimum charge of £30 will be applied for
amendments outside of 12 weeks. The reason we can only state a minimum is
that we deal with over 350 airlines and it would be impossible for us to
list the charges that each would apply in every eventuality.

For the changes you wish to make we have had to charge £50 to amend the
flights which takes into account the charges being made by the tour operator
along with our own charges. Our own charges are only £20 per person making a
total charge of £50 per person.

A further £40 would be charged to amend the hotel element.

We are unable to make the change for you at your offer of £120. Should you
wish to make the change to your booking please can you confirm by email to
myself. Please note that as we get closer to your departure date charges may
increase.

Kind regards,

I am now concerned that it is 12 weeks today and that they will now charge me even more. At the bottom of my receipt it does not have terms and conditions as suggested and I have already pointed this out to them.

Where should I go with this one. I will ask for a copy but don't want to delay this further because of further costs.

Thanks for your help.

Sue

Could try Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06 - For the cost of a telephone call it may help.

My personal view is still the same. The charges are excessive.

fwh

Where should I go with this one. I will ask for a copy but don't want to delay this further because of further costs

Am I right in thinking you have already contacted Ros ? If so, and assuming you are awaiting a reply ring them again and stress the time element to see if they can advise quickly.

Like fwh I believe their fees to be both high and unclear. It IS their responsibility to be clear in THEIR terms and conditions. Your contract is with the tour operator (I seem to say that a lot ) not with THEIR suppliers.

You need to balance the cost of the amendment at 200 pound against a hoped for admin fee of, say, 25-30 pounds per person. There's not enough of a difference to risk loosing the whole maount over.

If you cancel that money is dead - but if you find the cancellation fee is the same as the admin fee you might as well cancel and take your business elsewhere.

For that reason, the cancellation fee should be more than the admin fee. If they state a cancellation fee of 50 pound each argue the admin should be less - but they could say 49 pound for admin (change).

I think the time's arrived to make a tough decision, quickly - but in your letters state that you reserve the right to challenge the fees and that you are paying them under duress. Perhaps follow-up afterwards but you'd likely only get redress through a court.

I agree with Mike on this. I would however caution you not to do this by email.

Send a letter - use the "Signed For" service.

emails can and do get lost. I have been chasing a company regarding a refund. One of mine did - yes I do believe them - when I copied it to them the matter was sorted within four hours.

fwh

I thought I would update you on this one.

I amended our booking as suggested but before I did that I had to sort another problem out. Before I rang them, I checked the price of the new holiday I was about to book, this came to £1287, however, when I phoned to amend the booking they wanted to charge me £1615 for the same holiday, this did not include the £240 amendment fee. I worked it out that once we amended our booking we would need to pay them an additional £54, this included all costs. they worked it out that we owed them £328, quite a big difference. I explained that I had worked out the difference and it was alot less than their costs. I then asked for them to break the costs down and realised how much extra they wanted to charge me for the new holiday. I explained to the lady on the phone that the cost of £1287 was on their website but she didn't believe me, I had to then talk her through the site I was on my end, as she did the same her end, this made me feel like I was lying. She still didn't agree with me, I had to then follow the site through as if I was going to book it, when you get to the payment page you can ask them to ring you for the payment details, I was asked to do this and it would give me a reference number, I then repeated the number to the lady on the phone, she said she would ring me back, I was not happy. Eventually she rang back and said she can't find that holiday but would honnor the price.

This was a month ago and since then I have been chasing my receipt and acommodation voucher up. I received the voucher but it didn't state that the room we had booked was superior, so I rang again and she explained that the voucher never states this, I was amazed. as sat in front of me was the original voucher which stated superior room. I explained this to the lady on the phone and she said she would see what she could do. Two days later I received an email from her, she repeated that the hotel supplier did not issue vouchers with superior stated on it. I was worried that this so called company had booked the wrong room and wasn't willing to correct it because of the costing situation. I am not willing to go to Tenerife with a voucher that doesn't state superior, we will end up in a standard room. I replied to the email stating this and again asking for proof of booking and a costing breakdown, eventually I have received some confirmation but still no proof of the superior room we have booked. I will keep on at them.

One thing I do know is that I will never book through skybargains again, they have been unhelpful, they have lied to me and they tried charging me well over the top for one of their holidays. It's such a shame as this was the first time I have booked through someone other than a tour operator, not a good experience.

Thanks again for all your support. I have my fingers crossed now and just hope it will work out in the end.