TUI low deposit - August holiday

[holidayheadache]

Another holiday one - sorry!

I've got a long haul holiday booked for the end of August through TUI. So far I have only paid £250 but as this is part of the low deposit scheme, a second deposit payment is due at the end of the month of an additional £250.

I'm under no illusion that this holiday will go ahead unfortunately. Does anyone know what will happen if I don't pay this? I understand that they can go to small claims court but is this realistic under the circumstance?

It seems ridiculous for us to pay money for something we're highly unlikely to benefit from.

Thanks!

Handbag we are in the same situation... due to go 17th. So frustrating! We will not get the holiday we paid for so I dont care if our flights are still on, I'm not going!

Exactly Hmmmmminteresting, especially if we have to quarantine as well. I can't see them happening in all honesty. Hopefully we will be in the next round of cancellations. I think TUI have made the refund process easier as well so you don't have to spend days and days trying to speak to someone.

I’ve just looked at the “Cancel@ option on the app and they’ve changed it to try and deter you as much as possible from cancelling. It now says you have to call to cancel but then there is still a “Continue” button. If they are removing the option to cancel online then that is really really shitty of them given that the majority of people can’t get through to them on the phones!

Does anyone know if we can bypass cancelling through tui and get a refund direct with our credit card company?

My concern is they are going to try and force us to go.

How on earth are they going to allow us to socially distance in an airport/on a plane/in a holiday resort?

@Rollergirl11 - I think you can still cancel online by pressing continue.
I read the previous part as having to call them if you want to cancel individual’s not the whole party ie 2 people out of a booking day for 6.

Well I have decided to cancel. Did it on a bit of a whim to be honest. I received a cancellation email with cancellation breakdown. It showed £600 balance unpaid from my debit card number and listed it. I’m worried that it’s going to automatically debit the £600 from my account. I checked online banking and there is no transaction so far but that could just be because it’s a Sunday. We checked with our bank back when the outstanding deposit was due to make sure that the amount couldn’t be taken automatically and bank assured us that the initial payment was not set up as a continuous payment and they are not authorised to take further payments. But I don’t know if the same applies to the cancellation fee. I will email the bank and ask them not to authorise any further payments from TUI.

I’m absolutely kicking myself now! Does anyone know if they automatically take payment of the full deposit amount upon cancellation?

@Rollergirl11 I’d be surprised if they could particularly as they haven’t ‘helped themselves’ to the second parts of our deposits even though they’re well overdue. Otherwise they’d just be automatically debiting everyone on their payment dates.

@Nearlyadoctor that’s what I’m hoping but I’m concerned that cancellation is slightly different as it’s part of their T&C’s.

@MrsSpenserGregson I notice that you posted on this thread that you cancelled your holiday online and you hadn’t paid the full deposit amount. Did they ever take the unpaid amount or chase for it?

I'm supposed to be going to Greece at the end of August, if the flights and hotel are open, I'll be going with the DC.

Why would I not?

@Oopsiedaisyy

Why would you not? Because FCO advice may still be not to travel therefore invalidating insurance etc, because not everyone can quarantine for 14days when they return, because some people / children are shielding or in the vulnerable category.

@Oopsiedaisyy and if you are allowed to travel then social distancing restrictions at airport, on plane and at the hotel will ensure that it won’t be the holiday that I booked and paid for!

So I’ve been obsessively checking my online banking and nothing has come out today with no transaction sat as pending so it looks like there is no automated transaction generated from the cancellation. Will keep checking obviously.
@Jedstre, @Cuddling57, @Nearlyadoctor what are you guys planning to do? Are you still sitting tight?

@Rollergirl11 - our final payment date is next Monday, at the moment I’m planning on sitting tight until we get to 70/71 days and then will cancel. It’s Florida so not going to happen and definitely wouldn’t be the holiday there that we booked.
Will then wait for the no doubt numerous emails saying we owe the 2nd part of the deposit. I know advice is to pay and then get it all back, but with the very slightest chance the holiday could go ahead still and we don’t want to go, whatever now so would therefore lose it all if we don’t cancel.

I’ve rung TUI this morning to see if they could do anything re the price increase if we moved to exactly the same holiday next year.
The increase is £1400, the lady I spoke to was so unhelpful. I asked re the discount we got of £250 and she said that was only valid this year. I pointed out that FCO advice is not to travel indefinitely at present and was told their head office have not made staff aware.
I mentioned the 20% rebooking incentive and she said it was only applicable to current cancelled holidays.
Basically I did everything I could to try and give TUI our business, but the woman abrupt and not actually downright rude but no customer service at all. There is no way we will ever be booking a holiday with TUI again.

We’ve gone over the 70 days and I still haven’t cancelled. I’m still sitting tight but a bit scared to be honest. I did look to cancel but it wanted another £600 so I chickened out. I might live to regret that!
We definitely don’t want to go. No way I’m spending time in an airport, on a flight then trying to socially I’m distance whilst on holiday. This virus is going nowhere.

I'm 70 days to go today on my countdown - had a genius idea to look for a really cheap holiday like a city weekend away (we couldn't commit to a week/two weeks next year yet as don't know dates we could go). But I don't think Tui do cheap holidays 😂

Sorry that wasn't clear - I thought maybe I could transfer my deposit to a cheap weekend away next year but can't see anything cheap on there so I don't know what to do!

@Cuddling57 it’s not looking like TUI automatically take the remainder of the deposit amount if you do decide to cancel as they haven’t done with me so far. I also PM’d a few people from the thread that cancelled online and neither of them have been chased or had to pay the outstanding amount. But if you go in to the 70 days the amount payable jumps up to 30% so personally I would just continue to do nothing if you don’t cancel today.

Thanks for the update @Rollergirl11, I’m going to go ahead and cancel ours now. Tbh I’m fed up of giving it headspace.

Hi.I have tried to cancel online but I cannot find the option. Is this because I booked in store? Thanks in advance.

I just pressed cancel too!
It's a bit worrying getting the email saying the cancellation fee £450 which is the rest of our deposit is due with our credit card number beneath it !

@Cuddling57 nice idea about a cheap weekend
You’ve all gone and cancelled- damn you - and now I’ve passed the 70 days 😩

We are supposed to be in Mexico currently with Tui.

I got my credit thing and have applied for a refund . It says it can take up to 4 weeks so we will see

I can't cancel, apparently they will be proactively contacting people who are flying with a different carrier. So I'm still playing holiday chicken. I should have paid a month ago and have had no contact whatsoever.

@Cuddling57 - I got exactly the same with the credit card number, on the cancellation email although did screenshot the couple of pics when I placed my cancellation.