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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

TO be hacked off that Daily Mail/sun cheap holidays advertise as £15 pp and never is????

29 replies

salsmum · 17/07/2009 13:29

Its the first time that I've booked 'newspaper hols' and as soon as it was confirmed I'd been chosen (1st come 1st served)£60 'flew' out of my account offering me a haven holiday mon-fri 4 nights.GREAT I thought at least we'll get a holiday this year!. My daughter is Wheelchair bound so I knew I'd have to pay a little extra. The switchboard tell me I cannot get adapted accomodation until I get a ref number... ref number came through today with confirmation BUT they are putting £93.96 services charges on top! This is £30 for club passes£10 for made beds a power charge for £39.96 and £14 for 'promo linen'...this is BEFORE they know I want w/c caravan! I'm not going in high season [term time] we are going 7 sept till 11. so...my £60 holiday will poss turn into £200 with the accessable caravan I just think if the paper says £15 pp it should be just that! AIBU??

OP posts:
FAQinglovely · 17/07/2009 13:31

I think the small print on the choices form does say there are extra bits of money to pay out.

Iklboo · 17/07/2009 13:32

You have to read every centimetre of the small print, preferably with a lawyer in tow with these I think.
Never done it myself but have heard of other being charged for 'extras'. for you

Original poster
salsmum · 17/07/2009 13:38

iklboo pmsl...small print with my failing eyesight??? lol I was too busy trying to be the first in line to be one of the 'chosen ones' that'll teach me!! x

OP posts:
shouldweorshouldntwe · 17/07/2009 13:39

YANBU and this is why I stopped going on them.

kitsmummy · 17/07/2009 13:53

so just don't have the extras, we never do and it always comes in at around the £9.50 per person

Iklboo · 17/07/2009 13:55

That's a point - can you refuse the 'extras'?

Woooozle100 · 17/07/2009 13:58

they shouldn't be charging you extra to have the accessible caravan surely? The charges must be same service charges which you'd have paid anyway?

call up and speak to someone.

surely paying extra for wheelchair access is against DDA?

shouldweorshouldntwe · 17/07/2009 13:59

KM - but there are usually always compulsory gas and elec charges. We have maybe found 1 or 2 without but this severly restricts your choice of park and I think there really are only a token one or two parks where its free so that the advertised price can be 'justified'.

growingout · 17/07/2009 14:03

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FritesMenthe · 17/07/2009 14:08

You will have to pay the service charge - that sounds high though - it's usually about £5 per night. Refuse the linen and made beds. Only need club passes if you are using the pool/clubhouse.

It is clear in the brochure though, about the extra charges, and probably compares favourably with the price for booking direct.

shouldweorshouldntwe · 17/07/2009 14:17

Well why are they allowed to advertise prices that dont exist? Surely they should be advertised 'from' the lowest possible price available. Its very misleading.

FritesMenthe · 17/07/2009 14:30

Not defending the Sun, but we have been several times and had plenty of bargain breaks. There are certain dates and parks when no added extras apply, so it is certainly possible to go for £9.50 pp.

Original poster
salsmum · 17/07/2009 15:18

growingout...no I'm fine making my own beds and taking linen thats not a problem . This is the first time D.M have run this offer so what happens is you go online with the 'passwords'-in paper, you choose your destination and then go on the haven site so as far as I could see the 'extras' were not advertised on the haven site. I have been rung by haven to say that they have disabled access caravans BUT only for people who can transfer, i.e. stand and get on loo or bed/shower...because my DD cannot stand on her own we would have to upgrade! ££££ teqnically [sp] speaking this does not discriminate against disabled people because basic accessable vans are available i.e. ramp etc...the lady did say that she will try and investigate BUT if the accommodation we need is too pricey I can have my £60 back...more than a lil bit now as I've told DD.

OP posts:
growingout · 17/07/2009 15:55

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cheltenhamgal · 17/07/2009 16:15

I think it must depend on which park you pick, when I used to take advantage of the Sun holidays, I didn't pay for the passes or anything extra except for linen hire, which we never took

carrielou2007 · 17/07/2009 21:40

It does say quite clearly about the extras? I have to pay for 4 people even though it is dd (2.5) and I but I thought, have never been to Haven before I'll give it a go (thinking of dd and she will love this sort of thing for the next few years).

Went in May and was 86 mon to fri. The site was quite empty and we were given a much bigger caravan, 3 beds and had heating in each room (thank heavens as it was pretty cold all week!!) Booked another one for dd and I in Oct fri-mon 77. When I went on Haven site direct same holiday would have cost 240 odd.

Some of the sites have chalets rather than caravans for disabled access, my mum has always had this when she's gone with my sis and her family though that was John Fowler not Haven. Refunding your money is not the point though is it when you are looking forward to a break.

katiestar · 17/07/2009 21:53

MUSES on which would be worse, going on holiday to a park full of sun readers or one full of daily mail readers ?

sazm · 17/07/2009 23:13

a friend of mine just gave us the daily mail offer details, i've just booked blackpood,during the lights and ours was £106 for 7 of us,including passes,
same holiday through the haven site was £376!

helpYOUiWILL · 18/07/2009 09:55

i have done several sun holidays. We always upgrade so pay extra anyway - but it still works out cheaper than paying via the holiday camp. I decline all extras.

imaynotbeperfectbutimokmummy · 18/07/2009 10:02

Once you have been to Haven, they inundate you with special offers and it actually becomes cheaper to book directly with the site in future. I think if you choose your site very selectively with the sun you can avoid extra charges to a certain degree, but they all seem to want to charge you for linen - we took our own as they dont provide enough anyway and its pretty bogging.

FritesMenthe · 18/07/2009 16:05

LOL Katiestar. I don't actually buy the Sun, just get the codes from Moneysavingexpert. And judging by the size of each stack of newspapers in the camp shops, the sites we go are stuffed with Daily Telegraph readers.

nkf · 18/07/2009 16:25

It's a huge investment of time trying to get the holiday for £9.50 per person though. I tried.

  • First of all, I had to buy The Sun which made me feel unclean.
  • Then there was this appalling double page spread in 6 point type.
  • The extras seemed compulsory. I mean, there's a pool but you don't use it?

In the end I decided it was better to stick with youth hostels.

Original poster
salsmum · 25/07/2009 02:12

quick up-date is: Helpful lady from Haven (wheelchair user herself) rang my moby to say...You could upgrade to accessable caravan..BUT.. they are ALL booked up till sept so..I said well can I book it in oct half term she then said Daily Mail offer isnt valid in half term I'd already told my daughter and now shes really dissapointed I feel that it really is a no-win situation!.

OP posts:
SOLOisMeredithGrey · 25/07/2009 02:18

I went on a Sun one last Oct/Nov. Never again.

sunnydelight · 25/07/2009 07:46

Talk of these holidays always reminds me of one of my most cringe-worthy moments when my childminder told me she was going on a sun holiday and I asked which airport she was flying from. I took sun to mean sunshine

That's really rotten OP.

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