Would really love to get some opinions/advice from AAM members in relation to this:
We originally booked flights and one week’s accommodation to leave to a longhaul destination on 15th December. However, because of the long-distance we subsequently altered our outgoing flights (at additional expense) to leave a week earlier, 8th December while keeping the existing 7-night hotel stay previously reserved by our (UK based) travel agent. We advised them that we would make our own accommodation arrangements in another part of the country for the first week and then avail of the hotel reservation we had earlier booked through them.
However, following the severe weather conditions experienced last weekend, early on the morning of Sat 8th our house suffered serious storm damage to the roof which necessitated urgent repairs, and resulted in our having to miss our outgoing flight. We immediately advised the travel company that we could not travel out that day and discussed the possibility of making other arrangements to travel to our destination the following week.
In the meantime, we also spoke with our holiday insurance company as to whether the missed departure and accommodation might be covered by our policy, and when it was discovered that this was not the case, (as in their eyes we still had a week left to take up) and given that we stood to forgo a considerable amount of money we decided to continue with the remaining week, arrange an alterative outbound flight on 15th December and carry on with the hotel accommodation and return flights already paid for.
But when we advised the travel company of our intention to continue, they informed us that they had since cancelled and resold our accommodation and return flights on the assumption that our insurance company would cover it! At no stage did we advise them to cancel this and at no stage did they advise us that they were planning to do so, especially given there was time for us to arrange another outbound flight. Following this, we have examined their booking conditions and there is no mention of automatic cancellation if a flight happens to be missed (particularly a week before check-in!)
We are now left in a position where we have received no service for the monies paid and even though we have gone to considerable effort and expense to remedy the situation and despite having resold everything they have refused to reimburse us. The entire holiday cost over 5000 not including the replacement flights we since booked!
In consumer rights terms etc, does anyone know if we have any recourse in this situation?
Many thanks in advance.
We originally booked flights and one week’s accommodation to leave to a longhaul destination on 15th December. However, because of the long-distance we subsequently altered our outgoing flights (at additional expense) to leave a week earlier, 8th December while keeping the existing 7-night hotel stay previously reserved by our (UK based) travel agent. We advised them that we would make our own accommodation arrangements in another part of the country for the first week and then avail of the hotel reservation we had earlier booked through them.
However, following the severe weather conditions experienced last weekend, early on the morning of Sat 8th our house suffered serious storm damage to the roof which necessitated urgent repairs, and resulted in our having to miss our outgoing flight. We immediately advised the travel company that we could not travel out that day and discussed the possibility of making other arrangements to travel to our destination the following week.
In the meantime, we also spoke with our holiday insurance company as to whether the missed departure and accommodation might be covered by our policy, and when it was discovered that this was not the case, (as in their eyes we still had a week left to take up) and given that we stood to forgo a considerable amount of money we decided to continue with the remaining week, arrange an alterative outbound flight on 15th December and carry on with the hotel accommodation and return flights already paid for.
But when we advised the travel company of our intention to continue, they informed us that they had since cancelled and resold our accommodation and return flights on the assumption that our insurance company would cover it! At no stage did we advise them to cancel this and at no stage did they advise us that they were planning to do so, especially given there was time for us to arrange another outbound flight. Following this, we have examined their booking conditions and there is no mention of automatic cancellation if a flight happens to be missed (particularly a week before check-in!)
We are now left in a position where we have received no service for the monies paid and even though we have gone to considerable effort and expense to remedy the situation and despite having resold everything they have refused to reimburse us. The entire holiday cost over 5000 not including the replacement flights we since booked!
In consumer rights terms etc, does anyone know if we have any recourse in this situation?
Many thanks in advance.