cancel or no show?!

firebird21

Due to personal circumstances my partner and I definitely can't go on our package holiday which we have booked through lowcostholidays.ie and is fully paid for. We have no travel insurance. We know we will have to suck up the cost of the holiday as it is non refundable but admin and cancellation fees etc come to about half again of the cost of the holiday which we just cannot afford. Would the fees still apply if we did not cancel and were just a 'no show'?

coylemj

Are you saying that you have fully paid for the holidays and you think that if you now tell them that you can't go that they will ask for cash on top in the form of admin and cancellation fees? That's complete rubbish.

There is no way they can demand that you pay more for not going than you would have paid if you did go.

coylemj

Is there a force majeure clause in the Ts & Cs? That would apply where you cannot go because of forces outside your control and often provides an escape route for someone in your situation.

steve-o

If you have paid in full, then they can't come after you for more money. Cancellation and admin fees only come into play if you are looking for a refund, and the closer the departure date the higher the chances that you'll get nothing back (and are typically a fair reflection of the nonrefundable costs incurred by the agent or their chances of reselling your holiday to someone else). But you don't pay more. If you have terms and conditions that say otherwise then I'd be shocked.

If you hadn't paid in full they would well be entitled to come after you for more money according to the terms of the contract.

CelticRambler

The general charges that will apply are as follows:

More tan 84 days before departure - Loss of all deposit paid plus any additional cancellation charges from your suppliers (Up to 100% of booking value)

83-43 days inclusive prior to departure - £40.00 admin fee plus loss of deposit paid and any additional cancellation charges from your suppliers (Up to 100% of booking value)

42-29 days inclusive prior to departure - £100.00 admin fee plus loss of deposit paid and any additional cancellation charges from your suppliers (Up to 100% of booking value)

28-0 days inclusive prior to departure - Full value of booking.

If you've fully paid, as you say, then that's the maximum you'll lose. You won't be asked for admin charges on top. If you're being asked to pay more, it sounds like you've only paid a deposit so far.

firebird21

It's in the 'and any additional cancellation charges' bit, cancellation fees from both aerlingus and Ryanair as we were using both and also a hotel cancellation fee plus €35 admin fee for each person that was booked in, the manager said that lowcostholidays themselves could also charge us a cancellation fee for breaching the contract but they would waive that

CelticRambler

You're still covered by the "up to 100% of the booking value" so if you've paid it, you've paid it. They can't ask you for any more. If it's part of a genuine package, the individual carrier's cancellation charges are irrelevant. The whole contract is with the agent, and they'll have already taken account of what the carriers/hotels will want.

Are you sure they don't think you're asking for a refund?

Sarn

Could you transfer the holiday to someone else albeit for a fee?

coylemj

firebird21 wrote: »

It's in the 'and any additional cancellation charges' bit, cancellation fees from both aerlingus and Ryanair as we were using both and also a hotel cancellation fee plus €35 admin fee for each person that was booked in, the manager said that lowcostholidays themselves could also charge us a cancellation fee for breaching the contract but they would waive that

Leave the 'admin' nonsense to one side for a minute. Aer Lingus and Ryanair charge cancellation fees when you can't go and you ask for a refund, those charges are taken from the fare that you have already paid and the difference is refunded to you. In the case of Ryanair the fees usually gobble up the fare so you just kiss your cash goodbye.

What you are telling us is that those charges are in addition to the fare that you have already paid. That makes no sense whatsoever - airlines don't charge you extra for not showing up, the worst that can happen (and usually does with Ryanair) is that you simply lose the money that you paid for the flight.

You mention some 'manager' guy as if he is separate from lowcostholidays.ie - who is he and how is he involved?

steve-o

firebird21 wrote: »

It's in the 'and any additional cancellation charges' bit, cancellation fees from both aerlingus and Ryanair as we were using both and also a hotel cancellation fee plus €35 admin fee for each person that was booked in, the manager said that lowcostholidays themselves could also charge us a cancellation fee for breaching the contract but they would waive that

There is no breach of contract. If you have paid in full that is your only obligation as purchaser.

Why are you ignoring what CelticRambler posted in red above? In all cases your loss is capped at your full payment amount.

Why are you ignoring what coylemj said? If you paid in full then everyone gets paid in full. There are no additional fees for not availing of a service.

People have offered sound advice, but you seem to want to ignore it.

coylemj

steve-o wrote: »

People have offered sound advice, but you seem to want to ignore it.

+1 and I have asked who this 'manager' guy is but am still waiting for an answer.

firebird21 wrote: »

....the manager said that lowcostholidays themselves could also charge us a cancellation fee for breaching the contract but they would waive that

OP, I responded at 20:45 and all you did was retype a previous post that you had posted at 20:14 and 20:16 and you posted it again at 21:18, what sort of game are you playing? Are you reading any of our responses?

piperh

Can you not change the holiday date? It may be better than losing the whole cost. I would also look at a name change and transferring the holiday to somebody else. There maybe a charge but get the receiver to pay it will still be a cheap break for them.

CelticRambler

Have just re-visited the lowcostholidays site and found their complete T&Cs http://www.lowcostholidays.ie/Documents/Lowcostholidays%20IE%20Flight%20plus%20accommodation.pdf

OP didn't book a "package holiday" because We do not organize package arrangements of any sort. The consequence is that no booking you make will fall within the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 (as amended). For each booking you make your contract for that booking is with the relevant supplier whether that is an airline or an accommodation provider;

But the cancellation T&Cs still stand. Can't quite see the point of the site myself as they offer no protection or savings that you wouldn't get booking directly with the airlines and hotels.

Gatica

Personally, if I still wasn't getting anything out of a cancellation, I'd still do it because I'd rather have any money's refunded against admin fees than let them make a few couple of bucks on the back of my cancellation. Most companies probably happily count on the fact that people won't bother cancelling unless they actually get money back...

Fred Swanson

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