Cancelled

[iloveglee]

Can anyone help me with the legal position here. We recently booked a cruise, which does not take place until next november. unfortunately we have to cancel. the cruise line's cancellation policy is loss of deposit and i did know this, they at least make it clear. this is a european cruise line, and i notice that when selling cruise into the american market, deposit is not lost at this early stage.

because we booked this cruise through an agency, i find now that the agency want to charge £50 per person as well. this fee is not very apparent on their website, i have looked twice and can find no reference to this amount. they will not cancel until i have paid it. this seems to be grossly excessive, and cannot possibly represent the amount of work they have put in. on top of which, at this stage, they are certain to sell this cruise again, there were only 2 cabins available when we booked it, so fail to see how they can have made a loss.

i have written to them expressing my disappointment at this unfair charge, and that i will never use them again. i have been a good customer previously. this doesn't seem to have made any difference, and i wondered if there was any legal argument i can put forward. i seem to think that there is something about unfair contract terms but can't remember if this refers to employment.

[woofgang]

well if you can't find any reference to a cancellation fee in their T's and C's you might start by asking to be shown where the cancellation fee is mentioned?

[Mamyalynne]

I was about to say exactly the same, if it isn't in their terms they are out of order.

[iloveglee]

Its kind of odd really, if you look on the website, the link to customer services leads to some faq's one of which is cancellation or changes. it mentions a possible cancellation fee and to get in touch if you need to cancel to find out what it is!! personally I would have thought that this information needs to be readily available before booking. their view is that there is a cancellation fee, this is what it is. if you want to cancel you have to pay it. if you don't pay it, you can't cancel. the cruise line is not helpful because they always refer you to the agent you booked with. it is not exactly that there is a cancellation fee, i expected a small admin charge but £50 per person is excessive. but given their obstructive attitude, i don't see what i can do. it is not that i am cancelling because i want to, rather that i have to. it is more than a year before this cruise takes place, and we had not decided exactly how long we were going to be away on top of the cruise, so had not taken insurance yet. we knew that there would be lost deposit, and accepted that, but to add a further £100 to the loss is a bit hard to take.

[murraymints]

I'd take it to ABTA
https://abta.com/holiday-help-and-complaints/abta-complaints-process

[Islay]

The deposit lost probably goes to the cruise line and the £50 each goes to the agent for admin costs.

[iloveglee]

Yes indeed, the deposit loss it the cruise line, their cancellation policy is very clear on their website. The £100 is to the agency, but i would argue it is excessive. the cancelled cabin will return to their inventory, and as ours was only one of two left, they will have no difficulty re-selling it. it is the amount they are charging i have issue with, i do not see how they can justify this amount, i do not believe for one minute they are paying their staff so well that the cancellation of a cruise and time it takes to do it costs them £100.

[Islay]

You would need to prove that it is excessive and unjustified - difficult without taking it further.

[iloveglee]

Basically this company have simply ignored my messages which state that i believe this is excessive, and finding reference to it on the website was exceedingly difficult. i found it eventually, right at the bottom of the page, beneath a list of all the cruise lines they deal with, in very small writing, under a link called site map. i expect that they may be abiding by the letter of the law, but certainly not the spirit. i expect that i will have no option but to pay it, but will not use them again, and will review the company where ever possible to warn people to be very careful. it's a bad state of affairs when companies do not make their terms and conditions obvious and easy to access, but having experienced this with another company, will be very wary in future. on balance its probably better, when booking a cruise, to book directly with the line, even it may be a little bit more expensive. at least then you can deal direct with them, and in my experience their terms and conditions are very easy to see

[dannyk13]

Do as Murraymints says and contact ABTA.That way you will at least know where you stand,

[donny48]

Is the agency an ABTA member ?

[iloveglee]

Not sure about abta, but in any case, it pays to be persistent. I expressed my view that this may comply with the letter of the law, not the spirit in that the terms and conditions are exceedingly difficult to find, and that the fee is excessive etc. i went on to say that we have been loyal customers for many years, have recommended them to other people yada yada, and that this would be the end of their relationship with us. I asked the customer service agent to put this to a supervisor. For 36 hours they made no response. then i just received a message to say that due to our loyalty as a customer the supervisor had agreed to waive the charge. this is my preferred method of dealing with this kind of thing, i just couldn't remember which law i was dealing with, i do believe travel comes under separate regulations. i have tried it many times with sky when they want to charge a huge fee for coming out to their faulty service, and as yet, threatening to withdraw our custom has worked. one day i expect it won't but it's much better to actually know where you stand with the relevent regulations, quote them constantly and make it obvious you won't give them your custom again. only works obviously when you have given them your custom in the past. it certainly does pay though, before booking or buying anything online, to comb through websites minutely for hidden conditions, so many of them do that these days. I have been burnt before, and it looked like i was going to get burnt again here.

[jno]

good to hear that's worked out okay.