holiday booked- now they want more

[rrrrrrrrrr]

We booked our holiday to South Africa 5 months ago with Slattereys and are due to depart in 2 weeks time.

When Slattereys went bust, Club Travel took over the booking and we were told there would be no problem.

The cost is about e2k each and was to include return flights, hotels, B&Bs, game park, car hire and 1 internal flight.

We paid about e1,000 booking deposit in June and the balance 2 weeks ago.

Now Club Travel have are telling us that car hire is not included and we need to pay about another e450 if we want a car!

We have the original quote from Slatterys and a confirmation invoice from them, both of which are clear that the car is included. Club Travel don't dispute that the car was included in the offer to us (which we accepted and paid for in full), but they say that they have looked at the original pricing behind the quote ( which we have never seen) and that the car was not included in these and that no car has been booked.

Does anyone know where we stand on this?

Club could just as easily tell us tomorrow that, say, flights are not included and we must pay more for them.

R

 

[Purple]

Price car hire yourself and see what it works out at. I presume you are not doing too much driving (if you are covering long distances by private car in South Africa you’re mad!) so €450 sounds steep.

 

[rrrrrrrrrr]

Thanks purple, but my main point is that we had been promised and we have fully paid for, an all in package that included a car, by Slattereys.

Now Club travel have taken over the booking and said that the car is not included.

Don't they have to honor the original contract?

 

[dinjoecurry]

I think Club Travel are "trying it on " if you have confirmation that car hire is included I think you could enforce this in law However is it worth it ? It would be woth asking the small claims court i

 

[priscilla]

Hi r,

Try giving the Consumers' assosciation Ireland a call for their opinion, they are based in Ranelagh and take calls from all over. You will find their contact details on their website, just google them.

I've found them very helpful in the past.

Priscilla.

 

[dkieran]

Hi r,

We had same problem back in September, except we only found out the morning of ticket collection (friday) that we had to fork out €2k extra and we were flying out the following monday. It was a case of pay up or no honeymoon. To this date we're still waiting for full explanation etc. from Club Travel into the additional cost.

If I were you I'd get alternative quotes from other travel agents for same honeymoon and look into if you can get a refund for the amount you've paid Slatterys / Club Travel back from Commission of Aviation? Might be the only way to be sure they don't come back looking for more.

Hope it works out.

 

[rrrrrrrrrr]

Thanks for the advice.

It seems that Club are not liable as it was a 'mistake' on Slattereys part and Club are only there to process the bookings, and have not taken on the Slattereys business as such.


We've found cheaper car hire online and will go for that ourselves.

R

 

[JJ1982]

I might be off the mark here, but you know they travel agents are bonded in Ireland, does this take into account things like car hire if its included in the original quote not matter what the circumsrtances or does the bond only refer to flights and accomodation?

 

[tall chapy]

I think they are trying it on also..from the other post it might be their modus operandi.
From Citzens Information
[broken link removed]

The Package Holidays and Travel Trade Act 1995 requires tour operators and travel agents to protect you in the event of their becoming insolvent (bankrupt).

You could contact these


National Consumer Agency

Opening Hours:
- Lines open Monday - Friday 8am - 6pm
Tel 01) 402 5555

Locall:1890 432 432

Fax 01) 402 5501

Homepage:
http://www.consumerconnect.ie

IMHO once you gave a deposit prior to them going bust then you had a contract & the contract says that a car is included, assuming that Slattery's were bonded, then the bonded insurance should cover everything. Then again it could depend on how club travel took over the booking. They could view it as a new and separate booking. It this case you maybe advised to book the car hire yourself. You could chance your arm and see what they could do for you seeing that it was a genuine error not caused by you and at a minimum they may at least match your online quote for car hire.