First Choice Holidays Scam

We booked a holiday through First Choice Holidays (part of the TUI Travel Plc group) about 2 weeks ago. We took advantage of their £99 low deposit scheme. After some careful consideration (impulse purchase) we decided against going on that holiday and decided to cancel.

After a discussion about losing the £99, we decided that it really wasn't a good idea (us and the two kids in a hotel room for two weeks - early nights all round every night) and that we'd accept the loss of £99.

That's where the situation gets interesting: what actually happens when you sign the form to book the holiday and take advantage of the £99 deposit deal you are actually agreeing not only to the two pages of terms and conditions on those pages, but also all the small print in the brochure. After complaining it was confirmed that this wasn't explained to us and the girl that served us "isn't very good" (according to the store manager).

So, the terms in the brochure basically state that even though it was explained as a £deposit, it's actually £130 per person if you cancel before 56 days before the flight. Therefore instead of losing just under a hundred pounds, it was actually going to cost us just over five hundred!

We tried talking to the Office of Fair Trading's Consumer Direct helpline and they said that while we'd have a good case to argue in front of a judge, that there was no alternative but to not pay the bill, let them sue us (after going through various levels of scummy debt collectors) and then explain it to a judge.

They said the three grounds for claiming that it was unreasonable was that it was advertised as a £99 deposit with no asterisk and small print stating that it was actually a much higher deposit, that the terms they were claiming us to have breached haven't been signed by us and therefore cannot be proved that we even saw and finally that they are only allowed to claim for actual damages not punitive fees so they would have to justify that it had actually cost them £520 for two weeks worth of a holiday booking (in February for a holiday in August).

After much discussion (between Julie and myself, and then subsequently between me and First Choice Holidays) they said they would transfer £260 of the deposit to Julie's sister that wanted to book a holiday anyway but we would lose the additional £160 on top of the £100 already paid. In the interests of a low stress level, we went for it under protest.

However, I did already go to the step of getting the home addresses for each of the Directors of First Choice Holidays Ltd so I'll amend this blog entry with their details on Monday - to save anyone else the £1 it cost to get them (and in case they don't know where from.