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!

Yep it is frightening on the email as it’s worded as if they are going to take payment from your card. But they haven’t from mine yet. @Cuddling57 @Nearlyadoctor have you checked to see if they have taken payment yet?

@Jedstre what will you do?

@Rollergirl11 - just checked nothing pending this morning.

Oh dear I'm a bit stressed now!
As per my previous post I pressed cancel last night and got the email with the cancellation fee on it with my credit card number underneath. £450 which was my remaining deposit due.
I've just rang my bank (Halifax MasterCard) where they told me it looks like Tui could take more money but haven't yet. The original payment of £150 low deposit looks like it was set up for them to take more. I'm not sure I agreed to that and they didn't take it automatically when the rest of the deposit was due a few weeks ago.
So I've cancelled my credit card!
The Halifax guy said they could still chase MasterCard for the money!
I'm not confident this info was all 100% correct as I take credit card payments in work and I'm sure trying to get money from a cancelled card would just come back as 'rejected'?

Oh dear @Cuddling57. It is stressful isn’t it. I just didn’t know what to do for the best so I’ve done nothing!
I’ve just looked to switch our holiday to next summer and the same trip is an extra 2K .

@Cuddling57 - it’s all such a bloody worry. I don’t think they will as I’m sure otherwise TUI being the company they are and particularly at the moment would have just automatically debited our accounts.
I may be tempted to report card lost mind you so I get a new one with a different security number

@Cuddling57 maybe it’s different for credit cards than debit cards but when I called my bank they said my initial deposit transaction for £200 back in January was not a recurring transaction and they weren’t authorised to take more from the first transaction. I was worried that the payment was going to be generated straight away automatically from the cancellation process. Now that it hasn’t I don’t think TUI will take it manually at a later date. But I think it’s good to be safe by cancelling your credit card. I would have done the same if I’d used my credit card but it was my debit card and a lot more of a pain to cancel.

The other people I spoke to that cancelled at least 2 weeks ago had used credit cards and payment still hasn’t been taken.

@Jedstre I’m sure you’ll be fine and TUI will just cancel your holiday for non-payment.

Just spoken to Virgin travel insurance and they have said if TUI take the rest of the deposit or not even and the FCO is still not to travel to the USA 48hrs before we were due to go, we would be able to reclaim our deposit.

Thanks everyone, I'm finding this thread invaluable.
I'm just reading the Citizens advise page whilst I'm cooking dinner!
It's got some useful info on there that looks like you should be able to stop a future payment on debit or credit cards.
I'll try to post a link.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/banking/stopping-a-future-payment-on-your-debit-or-credit-card/

@Cuddling57 that’s really helpful. That’s exactly what my bank said and that the initial deposit transaction hadn’t been created as a continuous payment so they weren’t authorised to take anymore. I have instructed my bank not to allow any payments from my account to TUI.

Bloody hell, I’m wishing I cancelled on Saturday now 😭

I paid by direct debit. Big mistake. Been waiting for a refund since 13 March.

I'm on hold to TUI now about my holiday on 13 June. Was looking at all the comments on the TUI Instagram page today and someone has said they were told by TUI yesterday all holidays in June have been cancelled.
Not sure how try it is. Been holding on for an hour now....

All Tui holidays cancelled until end of June now. Official.

Just thought I'd post an update to say I haven't been chased for any money from Tui after cancelling my holiday 26th May.
The hotel in Cyprus I was going to have posted on Facebook to say they are opening up again on 1st July so not sure if Tui will be flying there in August.
Hope everyone else is ok.

@Cuddling57 I haven’t either. Are you glad you cancelled or would you have gone if it were to go ahead with TUI? This has worked out for the best for us. I can’t imagine what an all-inclusive holiday would be like having to social distance. It certainly wouldn’t be the holiday we booked!

@Jedstre what’s happened with you? Did TUI chase for payment at all?

We passed the 70 days. Probably should’ve got out while we could but we’ve transferred to a holiday next summer, albeit not the same resort or as nice a holiday (it’s cheaper than this years though). I haven’t paid anymore money.

@Jedstre that's good to hear.
@Rollergirl11 I'm the same as you. Our holiday was a lot of money and I don't want to spend that unless I'm getting the full works. We love the activities, eating when we want, the spa etc. We don't drink much so get 'our moneys worth' elsewhere!
I would have spent the next two months worrying about it rather than looking forward to it!

If everything is suddenly ok by August I'll just book another one

@Jedstre well at least you’ve bought yourself some breathing space. Also it seems that TUI aren’t chasing for the remaining deposit upon cancellation so that’s always something you could consider again now you’ve extended out and are no longer within 70 days of your holiday.

@Cuddling57 exactly! I think we may look to go away at Christmas (if feasible)but I’ll decide that if and when I want to rather than be tied to TUI.

I’ve also heard nothing since cancelling on 27/5. Having heard all the changes being implemented at Disney and Universal I’m so glad we took the decision as it wouldn’t be the holiday we’ve had previously.
We’ve a weekend booked at Centreparks in October which I’m hopeful will happen and depending on what’s happening we may book a break somewhere when we’re off in August but at least now we have the flexibility to do so.

We had already paid £800 and the £1700 balance was due 1st of June. I just couldn't bring myself to transfer the remaining balance due to the uncertainty which meant losing the £800. On the day, we just used that £800 and transferred it on a 3 day trip next Easter which cost £850, which is much better than walking away from the money completely. It's not ideal but its something.

I am booked for late September with first choice and am fully paid with low deposit. When I look to cancell myself I will lose £400 which were willing to do but will I get vouchers? I really need the cash back.

Zigzagbetty you will lose your deposit should you cancel, but if you're all paid up and they cancel, you should be entitled for a full refund. Most places are offering the chance to amend your holiday for free so you could put it back a year. The issue is that holidays next year are far more pricey than this year. Our exact holiday, same dates etc is £1200 more in 2021.

@uberbeeboo we will lose £400 now. Dont mind losing the deposit it's just I dont want vouchers. This was the last year before our lo starts school so wouldn't be able to afford next year anyway.