Compensation vouchers ‘stolen’

[Fruitflylady]

DS went on holiday this summer with a large group of friends. They were caught up in the delays and TUI issued their group a £1900 voucher in compensation.
He's just found out that the boy who booked the holiday on their behalf, and received the compensation vouchers, has blown the lot on an all-inclusive holiday for himself and two friends, one of whom wasn’t even on the original holiday.
He and all the rest of his group are very angry about this (I’m fuming on his behalf), but essentially is there anything they can do about this to retrieve the cost of their vouchers that were spent without their knowledge or consent?

Small Claims Court maybe?

Nothing the holiday provider can do but as the compensation belongs to the passenger(s), not necessarily the person who booked and/or paid, he could send a letter before action for the value of the compensation and if he isn't reimbursed he could take the friend to small claims court.

Yeah, I agree, I wasn’t thinking there was any point contacting TUI. Once they’ve issued the voucher I presume they have no control over how it’s spent.
I know nothing about small claims courts…would it be expensive? I can’t imagine it would be worth doing for my DS’s share, but might be nice as a way to emphasise to the spendthrift ‘friend’ the seriousness of it all.

Compensation goes to the lead name on the booking, same as if it had been cash. Unfortunately his friend is a knob, but nothing you can do. Same as friend would have been liable for any shortages if the others didn't pay their share of the original holiday.

I wouldn't even bother trying to take him to the Small Claims Court. Especially because if your DS doesn't win, he could end up paying the other sides legal costs in some situations.

I would try and get DS to put this down to experience. His DFriend had shown that he's anything but.

How old are they? Could the rest of the group band together and try and shame the boy into reimbursing them

If it was flight delay compensation then you receive that as cash not a voucher.

Get them to shame him on tiktok. This would go viral and might make them a bit of money back. Give him one last chance first of course.

Joy of friends. Guess this one isn't one anyone. You can't do a lot.

small claims? not sure if they would look at it or not

No, he just asks him for his part to be transfered to his bank account. If he refuses tell him ds will start small claims.

OP I wrote this on another thread today. I have used small claims court before

It is RIDICULOUSLY easy. £35 to claim up to £300 and if you win the other side pays your costs. You literally just fill out some forms online. It'll take 20 minutes at most

And having had a quick check on money saving expert, it is definitely the passenger not the lead booker who is eligible for the compensation so he has a good case

Small claims is easy and only costs a tiny amount to start a claim. But you have to give the person a chance to do the right thing first, and threaten small claims first, by email or text, then you can claim the boy had had the opportunity to put it right.

Thanks everyone, some useful advice and different perspectives.
I don’t think there’s a hope of this boy doing the right thing any more, so all the friends involved will have to decide next steps and whether it’s worth splitting up a friendship group for. Although this boy has already shown he’s not a true friend of theirs.

OP, suggest small claims. How much is owed to each person? could you approach the parents? what is the age of them?

It seems as though he's the one that's broken the friendship group. Look on it ad a natural consequence and encourage DS to spend time with his real friends this Christmas.

Yes, the friendship has clearly gone down the pan. No reason to think about saving that.

Just wanted to add that my DFriend at a similar age which broke up our friendship group and made me feel isolated. A few years in all of the friendship group had spilt with her being the one on her own. She seems to have failed to make any real friends in the decades since.

I didn't badmouth her but if people asked why we no longer saw one another a gave them a brief, factual response and then changed the subject.

@TinyMouseTheatre thanks, I think the rest of the group are slowly banding together against the voucher thief, and I’m very much encouraging them to stand firm against him.
@rararararararar they are all 18/19 years old so not much to be gained in approaching the parents. I have heard through the grapevine that the mum of the boy in question feels he was justified in what he did, since he was the one who booked the holiday in the first place. She and her DS seem to believe the holiday wouldn’t have happened in the first place without him (he seems to have a very low opinion of his friends capabilities!) and seem to be ignoring how the compensation vouchers are intended to work.