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!

So when I go to cancel it says loss of deposit £400 but we only paid an initial fee of £100. We've paid £1,200 to date and then £1,365 due to pay next week but I'm getting increasingly concerned that if we do pay it, it'll be months waiting for a refund as we're not due to fly until mid July or there will be legislation in place by then that means we have to accept a voucher.
Really torn on whether we just lose the £400 or pay and wait it out.

I would like to cancel my July holiday but I can't see where on my TUI account I can do this online, any ideas? Otherwise I'll have to try the phones! thanks

@Turnedouttoes that's how mine looks too - deposit £500 even though we've so far paid £250.
It's taking up far too much of my brain power atm!

@TheMerryWidow1 do you have the app? Under manage my booking if you scroll down there should be the option to cancel and then it tells you how much it’ll cost and how much will be refunded

thanks Turnedouttoes, I'll get the app.

@Turnedouttoes personally I would do nothing. Don’t cancel but don’t make another payment. Wait and see what TUI do.

@Rollergirl11 that's not actually something I'd considered, worth a try and see what happens. If they demand the money we can pay it then

@Turnedouttoes yep exactly. And you may even find that they don’t. I was meant to pay on Tuesday and haven’t done and I’ve heard nothing from them!

We’re in exactly the same boat , due to go to Florida 24/08 and have paid £375 deposit which I was happy to lose to cancel but again this is a low deposit so full deposit is due 8th May so another £375 with the final payment 01/06.
I rang they won’t let us move the holiday without a charge and the girl said the legal team will chase if we don’t pay the 2nd part of the deposit.
There’s no way I’m paying anymore and then risking vouchers when they eventually cancel. Totally cost is £2700. I’m just going to sit tight and if we lose the original £375 so be it.

I'm not sure how they will be able to administer legal letters to everyone who doesn't pay part 2 of their deposit.
I've decided that's what I'm going to do. Like @Rollergirl11 I'll sit tight and see what happens.

@holidayheadache I cancelled our Tui holiday (booked for July) last week or the week before - we had only paid £350 towards it so far, and the total deposit / cancellation fee is £400, so we owe them £50. They’ve sent me an email saying I owe them £50 - it’s a generic email, not at all threatening, which I shall be ignoring for the time being.

Perfectly aware that I agreed to their T&Cs when I booked the holiday, and I will pay the measly £50 if I have to, but since the buggers aren’t currently allowing us to rebook holidays that are due to take place after June, even though it’s blatantly obvious that we won’t be flying off to Greek islands for fun this summer, I prefer to hang on to the cash for now —and— —spend— —it— —on— —loo— —roll—. I had a look at holidays for 2021 but they are all horrifically expensive right now (understandably). We have spent at least £15k with Tui (Thomson/First Choice previously) since 2008, but I won’t use them again after this.

Update from TUI. Now only offering a refund credit that you can exchange for a cash refund 12 months after your holiday date.

Seriously, don’t give them any more money!!

Totally agree @Rollergirl11

Just seen this. Unbelievable!
@MrsSpenserGregson could you cancel without paying the toilet roll £50?

Yes @holidayheadache I was able to cancel online without paying the rest. I then had an email which was auto-generated and totally generic, listing the total cost of the holiday, the amount we'd already paid, the deposit/cancellation fee, and the difference that we still owed. No chasing for payment or anything (yet).

I understand that Rollergirl has been having problems with the Tui website this week - I used the full website, not the app, if that's any help.

I had same with a BA holiday , ended up paying the balance on deadline day using a credit card for added protection and sure enough it was cancelled a couple of days later and refunded A week later

I'm not due to pay until next Friday so I think I'll hang on and see what happens.
The TUI Facebook groups are not filling me with confidence!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52328756
Britons warned against making summer holiday plans

People are having the exact same problem with getting their money back on UK holidays as well so I wonder if the gov are saying not to make summer holiday plans in the U.K. and abroad or just abroad.

Easy to say when most people will have booked their summer holidays last year before all of this happened.

@holidayheadache
I know those twitter posts are worrying.
My husband says we should pay and see what happens.

I doubt we will go this year, so I'm guessing nxt year the prices will be sky high 😭

@Racheyg will you pay the full amount knowing that you’ll only get a refund credit back from Tui?

Re the vouchers/cash rumours. ‘Y understanding is that TUI are issuing credits for their holidays to 14/5 at the moment, and giving a 20% bonus on that credit if you book another package holiday with them. If you don’t want the credit it want cash instead you have to wait for the credit to be issued then call them to have them process a proper refund.

@Rollergirl11 yes we will. We always travel with TUI so we will use the voucher eventually.

We are paying through PayPal credit for security. So I guess if anything was to happen we would be secure.

An update from me:
We paid low deposit.
Balance of deposit was due last Sunday.
I didn't do anything, didn't get a chaser email.
Logged into Tui the next day and it is still counting down to the holiday in August.
It just says the full balance is due mid May.
I don't want to pay anything more, just worried about them chasing me for cancellation fee.