G
Gravedigger
Guest
Hi all,
I wonder if anyone here has an opinion on the following?
Just before Christmas a getaway deal came up on one of the leading deal sites (which I don't want to name just yet) for a week's accommodation for 4 in a resort in Tenerife, for only €149; the catch was that you were required to sit through a 90 minute sales pitch from this timeshare crowd. The dates included the Easter school holiday period and I thought, fair enough, a good deal for that time of year. I rang the merchant to check that peak periods weren't excluded and the resort in question to make sure that there was availability for the dates we wanted. Once that was confirmed, I bought the deal and then went ahead and booked four Ryanair return flights, at a cost of €750 (steep, I know, but it's Easter week and all the airlines jack up their prices then).
Since then I have tried emailing and phoning the company dozens of times. Emails are unanswered, the phone rings out, and the (generic) answering machine doesn't let you leave any messages because "the inbox is full". The resort have confirmed that they received my booking, back in December, but say that nothing is confirmed until they get the "reservation letter" from the company. We're now 8 working days away from the supposed departure date, and I have been unable to get any resolution, or even an acknowledgement, from either the company providing the accommodation package or the deal site I paid my money to, although they've been CC'd on all correspondence. Today, I again tried ringing the company in the UK, to no avail, and then the deal site, who said (again) that the coupon was "showing up as redeemed" on their system (as I've known since December), so there "should be no problem", but weren't inclined to do anything more. I pointed out to them that my contract was with them, in the first instance, and explained politely that there is no way I can put myself, my wife and young kids on a plane to Tenerife, in high season, with no guarantee of actually getting the accommodation I paid for (or any at all). They said they'd look into it and get straight back to me, but didn't.
The crowd offering the accommodation package have a cheap, GoDaddy-hosted website that doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Their emails bounce, their phone in the UK (the only number provided) is unattended, and frankly I suspect that, like many of these timeshare set-ups, they're as bogey as hell. If it was as simple as cancelling and demanding a refund from the deal site, I would. But I've bought €750 worth of unrefundable Ryanair flights, and I really don't want to tell my wife and kids that their Easter holiday — the family's Christmas present — is cancelled.
I wrote again to the deal site to say that if the timeshare company will not or cannot fulfil the contract, then we would be prepared to accept alternative accommodation (as it happens, they are currently flogging a similar deal through a different crowd). Hopefully this will work out.
If it doesn't, what do you reckon is my legal position? I paid for the accommodation and then, in perfectly good faith, booked flights. If it ends up that we can't travel, because either the deal site or the timeshare company continues to ignore my emails, have I a case for seeking compensation for the wasted flights?
TIA for any advice you can offer.
I wonder if anyone here has an opinion on the following?
Just before Christmas a getaway deal came up on one of the leading deal sites (which I don't want to name just yet) for a week's accommodation for 4 in a resort in Tenerife, for only €149; the catch was that you were required to sit through a 90 minute sales pitch from this timeshare crowd. The dates included the Easter school holiday period and I thought, fair enough, a good deal for that time of year. I rang the merchant to check that peak periods weren't excluded and the resort in question to make sure that there was availability for the dates we wanted. Once that was confirmed, I bought the deal and then went ahead and booked four Ryanair return flights, at a cost of €750 (steep, I know, but it's Easter week and all the airlines jack up their prices then).
Since then I have tried emailing and phoning the company dozens of times. Emails are unanswered, the phone rings out, and the (generic) answering machine doesn't let you leave any messages because "the inbox is full". The resort have confirmed that they received my booking, back in December, but say that nothing is confirmed until they get the "reservation letter" from the company. We're now 8 working days away from the supposed departure date, and I have been unable to get any resolution, or even an acknowledgement, from either the company providing the accommodation package or the deal site I paid my money to, although they've been CC'd on all correspondence. Today, I again tried ringing the company in the UK, to no avail, and then the deal site, who said (again) that the coupon was "showing up as redeemed" on their system (as I've known since December), so there "should be no problem", but weren't inclined to do anything more. I pointed out to them that my contract was with them, in the first instance, and explained politely that there is no way I can put myself, my wife and young kids on a plane to Tenerife, in high season, with no guarantee of actually getting the accommodation I paid for (or any at all). They said they'd look into it and get straight back to me, but didn't.
The crowd offering the accommodation package have a cheap, GoDaddy-hosted website that doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Their emails bounce, their phone in the UK (the only number provided) is unattended, and frankly I suspect that, like many of these timeshare set-ups, they're as bogey as hell. If it was as simple as cancelling and demanding a refund from the deal site, I would. But I've bought €750 worth of unrefundable Ryanair flights, and I really don't want to tell my wife and kids that their Easter holiday — the family's Christmas present — is cancelled.
I wrote again to the deal site to say that if the timeshare company will not or cannot fulfil the contract, then we would be prepared to accept alternative accommodation (as it happens, they are currently flogging a similar deal through a different crowd). Hopefully this will work out.
If it doesn't, what do you reckon is my legal position? I paid for the accommodation and then, in perfectly good faith, booked flights. If it ends up that we can't travel, because either the deal site or the timeshare company continues to ignore my emails, have I a case for seeking compensation for the wasted flights?
TIA for any advice you can offer.