Consumer Rights were reinforced by the introduction of the Package Holiday Regulations, which imposes liability on the tour operator for any failure to suitably perform any aspect of the contract. This means the tour operator takes responsibility for flights, accommodation, transfers etc, even if it was not their fault directly. As the name suggests, these regulations only apply to holidays booked as a package and consumers who book travel and accommodation separately are not afforded this protection. The regulations dictate that:
- Specific information related to accommodation, meals, itinerary, price, deposit etc must be included in the brochure, and these shall be legally binding. Changes to these particulars may be made but the consumer must be informed of them before the contract is concluded
- Essential information (such as passport or visa requirements, health precautions and repatriation in event of insolvency) must be provided to the customer before the contract is concluded.
- Price will be fixed unless the contract specifically states how the revised price is to be calculated
- In the event that the operator becomes insolvent, they must still have enough to refund or repatriate any consumers affected.
Complaints & Remedies
As with other consumer legislation, failure on the part of the operator to comply with the terms of the contract will enable the consumer to claim damages. This refers not just to the cost of any additional expenses the consumer has made, but compensation for mental distress, upset, disappointment and injury to feelings.
In order to make a complaint, there will usually be a procedure offered by the tour operator and will usually consist of a complaints form or the requirement to put it in writing. One thing is important however, the remedies offered to the consumer under these regulations require complaints to be made quickly – i.e immediately after (if not during) the holiday.
Trade Association Assistance
If the complaint has not been dealt with to the consumer’s satisfaction in the first instance by the tour operator, the consumer may take their case to the relevant trade body (e.g ABTA; AITO) who have a dispute resolution service. Additionally, if a credit card was used to pay for the holiday, consumers can also take advantage of Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act which imposes equal liability on the credit card provider for any claims.
Statutory entitlements for flight delays
For all travellers who experience flight delays are automatically entitled to monetary compensation for overbooking (where they are ‘bumped off), and compensation ‘in kind’ for delays due to late arrivals and technical faults – these are refreshments, free telephone calls etc. For further details on this go to the CAA website (www.caa.co.uk)
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I Book a Cruise with Planet Cruise. I had to cancel the first cruise as a few weeks after booing & Paying for the Cruise I had a coronary
this was August 2012 the Cruise did not go until March 2013. My surgeon told me I would be okay to go by-then. Unfortunately I developed more problems in my health. I was worried about loosing the payment for the Holiday in March. Planet Cruise gave me £2.000 towards another Cruise. so I would only loose £1.000. But after they had got my monies, I found they would answer my e:mails or letters nothing. I was booked on Celebrity cruise. I wrote to the Cruise Company they did not respond at all. I tried to borrow a wheel Chair to take on the Cruise. No good. On the Ship I borrowed a wheel chair but could not use it. Nobody gave way for people in wheel chairs it took me 4 attempts to get into a lift. so the rest of the cruise I had to rely on my stick. This made me really tired by Lunch time. The problem I had made it ruing my Holiday. James
we went on a package holiday to Turkey with Thomas Cook and had a 14 hour flight delay, they provided us with a hotel,food,snacks etc.
however becuase of this we got home at midnight and I had to be at work the next morning – can we claim any compensation for the delay please
thank you
ive recently come home from a holiday to bulgaria sunny beach with my two six year old girls, i was mis sold this holiday as wen i booked it i was told resort was still open and hotel was a four star hotel. on arrival i found resort was closed all water parks too and no entertainment such as mini club closed. i spent all my holiday in hotel this was the worst holiday ive ever had, while me and my children were sat in lobby germans were partying till half two in morning i know this as we went to bed early as are entertainment was turned off at half ten and my children got woke up by the germans returning to there rooms, i have videos and pictures to back this up. i have complainet to thomas cook by phone for them to offer me 350 pounds back in vouchers, i refused this offer as i payed by debit card (not credit card) wat else can i do im in process of going to the press at minute. can u advice me to do anything i havnt already,,,, miss m brattley
We travelled to Mexico and whilst staying at the hotel there was extensive building work at the hotel which we weren’t informed of. The building work consisted of a whole floor being closed off and the paint fumes and noise, which started at 5.30 am until well after midnight most days meant that we could not stay in the room. We complained in resort and when we returned home, but Thomas Cook insist we are not being compensated because guests at the hotel before we arrived did not have any problems. However, they have compensated other people that we travelled with on the same holiday, do I have a claim?
I booked a holiday to Majorca for my sister and granddaughter. Last week I got a telephone call from Thomson holidays to say the flight has been changed and instead of leaving at 6am we are now leaving at 3,40pm. We will lose a day of our holiday and our evening meal.
I have sent messages to Thomson and am told that there is nothing that can be done.
I was not informed by the tour company that this could happen. Surely a big company like Thomson could at the very least offer us some compensation for the loss of a days holiday and our evening meal.
Hi we are travaling on the 1 st of july and have jusst found out that there is building work going on next to the resort so we asked to be moved hotels and the travel agents said they were going to moniter the siguation we are travaling with a 2 year old after already experiencing a bad hoiliday through them what can we do about this ?
booked a holiday for 20th july 2014 in november 2013 didnt do insurance due to us moving in dec 2014 and planning a party for my 70th in june the 2 weeks ago we were told my husband of 74 yrs old has bowl cancer tried to get my money back from thomas cook and got no joy do i have any rights the surgeon at the hospital said he would give me a letter to confirm he has cancer
many thanks for your reply
Hi All,
Need a bit of advice. I booked a holiday with Thomson for the price of £2300+ for 11 nights to Mexcio. Six days later the price of this holiday had decreased by £600 and was now being sold for 14 nights. Obviously this seems like a huge discrepancy in such a short amount of time, I understand changes in prices over time, but £100 per day seems excessive.
Having spoken to Thomson and they have said they offer ‘flexible pricing’ and essentially tough luck. Is this the case? Can anything be done to mitigate the disappointment I feel about this or is it just something I should suck up?
Any advice really appreciated.
Thanks
Booking a flycruise with imagine cruises via phone they were to email additional cost but did not then invoiced me without our agreement and are overcharging by £2000 and say we agreed to there choice of accommodation they are dishonest bullies what can we do we trusted them and paid. £6000 deposit
Hi,
We had decided on our trip to Florida in December a very long time ago, as we are going for a 40th birthday and Christmas, so was in no rush to book it.
I had a look at some prices, and on the 27th January I found a good dea lon the internet with Kenwood travel (who we have previously never booked with).
We had decided on this trip we wouldn’t use a car, but I was a bit unsure about the transfers so decided to give them a call about the full price, at this point I was not planning on booking, just finding out some prices.
The sales woman ( which she definitely was) gave me a price of £4177, and told me this was SALE price and would end on the 30th January.
The deposit for 4 of us would be £420, which I thought was a bit steep, but I had a good deal and like she said it was in the sale.
I decided on the 17th February, out of curiosity, to have a look to see what we had saved.
To my utter dismay, the holiday was now £3627!!!
Well to a family with 2 small children, this is a huge difference!!
I would not have booked the holiday, which I was led to believe, was in the SALE, if I had known it wasn’t in the SALE.
I have contacted Kenwood travel numerous times, and have been told they cannot alter the price.
I fully understand this, but as a customer I have been misled into buying something, by a pushy sales person.
I have booked many holidays with different tour operators, and have never been treated this way.
3 weeks after I book a holiday, and it goes down £500, surely I am entitled to some courtesy compensation??
Hope you can advise me,
Kind Regards
Lisa Moss
Book package holiday 24 hours is there cooling down period
EXPEDIA’s customer service SUCKS! They have promised to reimburse me for my trip 7 months ago and I am wasting my time talking to them every day and THEY DO NOTHING to help me! They are just finding excuses to avoid reimbursing me, finding novel reasons every time. I have been on the phone with them for more than an hour everyday for the past week, and they make promises that they do not keep! It is unbelievable and unacceptable behavior from their behalf! Any help of how I could take this legally will be greatly appreciated! Many thanks