Take the money or go to Small Claims Court?

Just canvassing opinion on this.

We bought a two centre holiday last year costing €2K and booked and paid for well (several months) in advance. On arrival we discovered that booking for first week accommodation had been cancelled and that we were switched to alternative accommodation which we considered sub-standard. We made complaints about accommodation and general service to the local reps in both centres but to no avail. We pursued the matter directly with the travel agent while abroad and for several months after our return.

Eventually it transpires that (on admission of the travel agent and in contradiction of what we were told by the local rep aborad) the cancellation was known about in advance of us travelling but we were not informed of this material alteration in the package. From our reading this was in breach of the relevant statutory legislation and IATA code of conduct and denied us the opportunity to cancel and take a full refund.

The operator finally offered us €700 in compensation and then unilaterally sent us on €800 in spite of us not actually explicitly agreeing to this offer. Because the opportunity to cancel and take a full refund was denied us and we were subsequently dealt with quite shabbily we feel entitled to a full refund. However, realistically, we recognised that this is unlikely. We are not inclined to go to court with this so reckon that there are two options (a) take the offer - i.e. cash the cheques and put the whole episode behind us or (b) don't cash the cheques and pursue the matter to the Small Claims Court in the hope of recouping more of the cost up to a maximum of the court's maximum award of €1,270 but presumably at the risk of ending up with less than €800!

Just wondering if anybody has thoughts on the matter.

Re: Take the money

Hi ClubMan

I think that I would take the money. You had your holiday - albeit, not the one you hoped to have.

Yes, you were denied your rights to cancel prior to the event, but the reality is that you had your holiday. It is likely that the Small Claims' Court would take this into consideration when deciding how much of the claim you would be entitled to receive as compensation.

I think you have done very well to get €800. You have received a compensation payment of 40% for the stress and for being assigned sub-standard accommodation for one week of your 2-week holiday. I suspect that you would not receive much more from the court.

I think you would only be entitled to a full refund if the holiday had been cancelled.

Marion :hat

Re: Take the money

Thanks for the comments Marion. Just to clarify we did indeed have the holiday but we certainly did not enjoy it as much as we should have and spend a significant amount of time over there emailing and chasing the reps and the travel agant back in Dublin. Initially our complaints were about the substitute accommodation and the poor customer service and lack of assistance that we received. However when it became clear that the reps had lied to us and that the accommodation problem was known about in advance but not communicated to us (unlike the change in return flight times which was) thereby depriving us of the opportunity to cancel and take a full refund, that became the focus of our complaint. My motivation for continuing to the SCC is as much with a view to highlighting the problem with this specific travel agent to a wider audience and causing them maximum invconvenience as to the possibility of further reimbursement. However you may well be right in saying that c. 40% of the cost (38% actually since the full total cost was €2,100 as it happens) isn't a bad return maybe taking the money and putting an end to the matter is the prudent course of action. One way or another I will at least be highlighting the name of the travel agent in question here on AAM as well as elsewhere and will be writing to the IATA to complain about one of their own members and have told the agent as much already.

If you dont enjoy picking over the past then take it & be done with the matter.

4 or 5 years ago I took the Small Claims Court route rather than settle for a half-satisfactory offer from a retailer to replace a faulty product I had purchased. Worst decision I ever made. I personally think the Small Claims Court offers much less to consumers than is made out.

Thanks for all the comments/input so far.

If you dont enjoy picking over the past then take it & be done with the matter.

Fair point although, while I didn't enjoy being messed around or having to put some much time and effort into chasing the matter since, I did enjoy a small sense of satisfaction in finally, through persistence and (I guess) effective arguing of our case, getting them to improve their offer from one of an unconvincing rebuttal of our complaints and an offer of precisely €0 to an offer of €800 something more akin to a reasonable apology.

I am certainly more inclined to take the offer (cash the cheques), write the letter of complaint to the IATA, discourage others from dealing with the agent in question (which we have already been doing since the holiday) and be done with it than go the SCC route at this stage.

Worst decision I ever made. I personally think the Small Claims Court offers much less to consumers than is made out.

Interesting comments Tommy. My understanding is that the SCC tends to mediate to settle most cases before they actually end up in court. I presumed that they were more consumer friendly than your experience would suggest. Perhaps they have improved in the meantime?

As I say - chances are I will forget about the SCC option but would welcome further input.

Re: Small claims

I have had a good experience in dealing with the Small Claims' Court. In fact I recall Tommy and I did a Good Cop /Bad Cop report on our exeriences with the Small Claims' Court a couple of years ago.

In short, my experience was that I put a deposit on a furniture item. The seller disappeared. I was able to trace him via the PO in his old town telling me that mail would be forwarded to his new address. I received my deposit back within 5/6 days after contacting the District Court Office and filling out the Small Claims' Form. I couldn't believe it!

Anyway, back to the substantive issue. When you posted this query a while back with regard to multiple claims, I rang a District Court Office to see if they could throw some light on the issue. They couldn't. But, they did tell me that, in general, one would expect to receive around 25% back when one has a bad holiday experience.

So, you have, probably, done better by dealing with this yourself. You have effectively received your bad-holiday week for nothing (taking into consideration that your package would also have included your air fares.

Well done ClubMan.

It goes to prove that one shouldn't sit back and take what is offered. One should always take the initiative and assert oneself and wear the service providers down where they fail to provide good customer service.

Marion :hat

Re: Small claims

When you posted this query a while back with regard to multiple claims, I rang a District Court Office to see if they could throw some light on the issue. They couldn't. But, they did tell me that, in general, one would expect to receive around 25% back when one has a bad holiday experience.

That's very interesting Marion.

You have effectively received your bad-holiday week for nothing (taking into consideration that your package would also have included your air fares.

Funny - that's precisely the way that the MD of the travel agency put it! However I didn't have that much sympathy for them when he asserted that was they who were out of pocket after offering us €700 back. The last time I called to discuss the matter and attempt to negotiate, which included me mentioning the SCC again, he eventually said that he was sending the cheque out anyway and I could do what I wanted with it and then he put the phone down. Subsequently, a few weeks later, we received €800 and a scribbled letter of apology for the delay in sending it out. This was all fairly typical of our dealings with this crowd.

Well done ClubMan.

Thanks.

Re: Take the money

Funny - that's precisely the way that the MD of the travel agency put it!

Click to expand...

I'm not an MD - honest!

Marion :hat

Factor in the stress

If you do go ahead, whats the most you could be awarded?
Is it worth the stress of running the action in the small claims court, the time off work, the time preparing for it, the worry about it the night before? People might think as a solicitor that I wouldnt hesitate to pursue something like this myself, but in reality, knowing the amount of preparation involved, the time spent at the case itself and the potential rewards means I'd be less likely than most to bother!

Or maybe you're a cool customer and you know you wouldnt worry at all?

I think personally you've done well to get the offer you did- small compensation though if it ruined a holiday, which can't be reduced solely to monetary terms.After all, I'm sure you looked forward to that holiday for a while. Probably like the rest of us you dont have all that much holiday time to take anyway, so when you do go away, you dont just want it to be 'ok', you want it to be great! So while I sympathise, my gut reaction would be that if you are the type of person to worry about the case at all or if it would add to your stress level ( if any!), dont do it, take the money.

Have to agree

Clubman

I agree with everyone else, take the money and run. Why not use it to go away for a nice luxury weekend away where you wouldn't normally go?

C

Re: Have to agree

I might be wrong but I think that small claims court determinations can be appealed to a higher court. I think that an "airline that will remain nameless" has successfully appealed a number of small claims court decisions recently.
ajapale

Re: Have to agree

Yes - as far as I know anybody can proceed to the main court system if they choose but the idea of the SCC is to keep costs low (i.e. €9 per claim and no need for legal representation/expenses).

Thanks for all the input so far. In the light of this and having considered things a bit more we've decided to just take the money (i.e. cash the cheques that are already in our possession) and put an end to the matter. This is in spite my temptation to go the SCC route out of interest in how the process works!

Now - must ask Brendan if it would be OK to name the travel agent in question since I would definitely not recommend them to others....