Do You Get A 7 Day Cooling Off Period When Booking A Holiday On The Phone ?

[kaptinparv]

kaptinparv
My Wife booked a holiday to Egypt combining a nile cruise and ahotel stay with flights. It was booked through Querty travel, their Ts & Cs state the deposit is non-refundable if booking is cancelled at any time. The terms and conditions were not stated when the holiday was booked last week in Jan 2013 and the holiday is 7 months away in August 2013. Distance selling regulations state you have a 7 day cooling off period but other people indicate that this dosn't apply to holiday bookings. This doesn't seem fair as no contract was provided to sign and a deposit was needed to confirm the booking before details were confirmed. This means if the booking was not what was expected then your deposit is lost. Where do we stand legally as we paid the deposit 4 days ago on a debit card.
Really appreciate any advice that can be offered.

[murraymints]

Local trading standards will advise you will be in phone book or go through local council switchboard...good luck..

[boxtops]

I don't think so, if their conditions say not - Is Qwerty ABTA-bonded? why do you want to cancel? why did you book without checking all the T&C first?

[kaptinparv]

We were going to view holiday conplexis for off plan investment and wanted to combine a holiday with it. Been before and love it in Egypt but following recent escallations and potential conflicts in Iran and Isreal. We felt it would be best to avoid going until much later in the year when we could asses the situation again.
The nile cruise seems really boaring as well. However the travel company Querty - Abta / Atol bonded - say the deposit of £695 is non refundable if we cancel. We booked it 4 days ago! So I am very confused as to why we have to pay so much when we have actually received nothing. Their terms were not stated when the holiday was booked either.

[boxtops]

I don't understand therefore why your wife went ahead and booked this - was it a spur of the moment thing? This sounds just like you changed your minds, surely you looked at literature about the cruise before she booked? Did she do it over the phone, could she not have asked some questions?

[boxtops]

PS - their terms and conditions are very clearly laid out on their website for anyone to look at before booking. They are not a travel company, they are agents selling holidays and flights for other organisations. It's all laid out plainly here http://www.qwertytravel.com/terms-and-conditions.html

[ubasses]

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/shopping/online-shopping/returning-unwanted-goods/index_en.htm

Liiking at the above site it seems that planes and hotel bookings are excluded.

[Buenchico]

There's no cooling-off period:
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/scotland/consumer_s/consumer_different_ways_of_buying_e/consumer_buying_by_internet_mail_order_or_phone_e/consumer_cancelling_a_distance_sale_order_e/does_the_distance_sale_cooling-off_period_apply_to_you.htm

Qwerty Travels T&Cs are freely available on their website:
http://www.qwertytravel.com/terms-and-conditions.html
(If you can't be bothered to read them it's not the company's fault!)

[boxtops]

...and all you've done is change your mind - it sounds as if you should have given it a bit more thought before paying that deposit.

[kaptinparv]

Should have looked into what was being offered inmore detail agreed.
It seems unfair. If, like in these circumstance, an indervidual pays a deposit and finds out later the details of the holiday are not as agreed then their is no come back apart from court and losing a deposit.
Holidays are expensive and I would have thought a cooling off period is needed to ensure all parties are appropriately addressed.

Looks like we will have to risk it.

[sherrardk]

Sorry, but I think it is a case of tough luck. You should have read the holiday details more carefully. You can't just change your mind because the cruise looks boring, didn't it look boring four days ago? Have you only just become aware of the problems in Egypt?