To cancel holiday and not pay?

[worstnotholiday]

I've got a holiday booked in October. Only booked on 3/3 and paid £120 deposit for four of us. Two adults two children. £230 to be paid every month thereafter. However my circumstances have changed overnight. My husband has left. I have no money. No hope of paying this. Will be waiting the next few weeks to get my uc claim set up and living out of what's in the cupboards till then.

I've just tried to cancel it online and have found that the company want £780 to cancel it?! My insurance apparently want £100 per person for a cancellation claim. I just do not have it. The payment will bounce next week and I'll never be able to pay them either the £400 or the £780 they expect (the whole remaining balance is only £900! If I had £780 I'd be able to find the extra!)

Wtf can I do? Dh will not help me. He's done this in the most cruel way possible and I have no chance of getting a penny out of him. Indeed, I have little chance of even having a roof over mine and the childrens heads come October let alone a fucking holiday. Aibu to think that this is a con? This "debt" will ruin my credit rating. The insurance was rather pointless too. I'm so defeated.

@Squeezita

Ok, here are the relevant bits that I could see:

Payment on booking

You are required to make full payment at the time of booking in the following circumstances:

a. when you make a flight only booking (for all airlines unless otherwise stated); and

b. when you make any booking within 28 days of your departure date; and

c. when you book for Travel Arrangements with a non-refundable hotel.

For all other bookings, you are required to pay a non-refundable deposit at the time of booking.

1. Failure to make payment

Where you are paying by instalments, you have a legal obligation to pay us each instalment on the payment due date specified at the time of booking and in your booking confirmation. Should we be unable to collect an instalment from you on the date on which it is due, we will contact you to enable you to make payment. Should we be unable to contact you or to collect payment within a reasonable timeframe, we reserve the right to cancel the booking made on your behalf and you will forfeit all monies paid by you for such booking. In addition, if for any reason we do not receive payment, we may be required to notify the other Supplier/Principals who may take the decision to cancel your booking and charge the cancellation fees set out in their terms and conditions. In these circumstances you will be liable to lose all monies previously paid.

………………………

So I couldn’t see anything about the customer being liable for the full cancellation fees even if you have only paid the deposit.

This is the position I would take.

@Squeezita has it.

I don't know why people are still discussing what to do. This explains it.

You need to cancel the authority to take payment from your card - if the holiday company won't stop payments, contact the card company to do it.

The holiday company will keep hassling you for payment, but you don't need to pay. Then they'll cancel the booking.

What an absolute disgusting piece of shit he is! I’m so sorry you’re going through this OP.

You say you don’t have family. Do you have any friends who can help you? If you were my friend I’d do my best to help you through xx

Yes but we may be required to notify the other Supplier/Principals who may take the decision to cancel your booking and charge the cancellation fees set out in their terms and conditions

OP doesn’t know the suppliers terms and conditions, she’s explained this!

I’m sorry this is an awful situation.

You sound like a smart women doing everything you can in a difficult situation. There are lots of links and options on the money saving expert pages here - www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan/#reduce

You’ve probably thought of most of this already, but it might help.

OP you need a lawyer now.

The holiday- see what you can do to cancel - but there are bigger problems

CMS claim straight away. It will be assessed on his previous year's return or P45 so you need to get a claim in before his new figures kick in. CMS will get their info from HMRC.

I think speed is important as he has clearly been planning if he has not been paying mortgage and saving instead, those are a marital asset.

As others have said, gather what info you can and get an appointment straight away.

I believe the courts take a dim view of people hiding their assets so it should come back to bite him. But first - legal advice pronto.

@BluebellsGreenbells

Yes but we may be required to notify the other Supplier/Principals who may take the decision to cancel your booking and charge the cancellation fees set out in their terms and conditions

OP doesn’t know the suppliers terms and conditions, she’s explained this!

But her contract is for a package with the supplier whose terms and conditions she has quoted, presumably.

Under UK law, I don't believe you can randomly refer to 'and whatever other terms and conditions'. She would need to have these included up front.

You've had some brilliant advice from others. I would just like to add that whatever you do don't listen to your husband, he's trying is best to convince you that you won't get anything and he's going to wear you down and you'll be left with nothing. Ignore the asshole

Very minor things:

Keep the basic TV licence but cancel any extra packages.

If you don't already all belong to the local library, sign up for free access to books and DVDs.

Change all your passwords and PINs in case he knows them, and check your cards are all in your possession. Cancel anything you can't find.

Is there a food bank in your area?

Start looking for work with more hours.

WRT the holiday the distance selling regulations may come in handy.
It might also be worth contacting one of the newspaper people who do consumer issues, they can often put pressure on. EG www.dailymail.co.uk/money/experts/index.html www.telegraph.co.uk/money/ask-a-money-expert/
www.theguardian.com/money/series/finance

But her contract is for a package with the supplier whose terms and conditions she has quoted, presumably

But their terms and conditions are applying the terms and conditions of other suppliers - so they may decide to apply 10% cancellation fee but the airline may quote more - but I agree they need to be transparent and included in paperwork sent to OP.

Definitely contact your local citizens advice bureaux. They’ll be able to go through your finances with you and maximise your income (there may be benefits you can get on top of UC) and minimise your bills. I read recently that on average they are able to help people find an extra £4000 per year which is amazing. They’ll also be able to advise on the holiday contract and what your options are. Good luck op. Your OH was a dick and you deserve better!

@Hadalifeonce

I once, inadvertently, set up a regular payment on my card. The bank were unable to stop it as it was against my card.

I phoned the next day and told them I had lost my card, they put a stop on my old card and issued a new one, which meant the payment could go ahead.

They can still force it through even if the card is cancelled/lost if it's a pre-arranged recurring payment. Most of the time they don't bother though as it is a bit of a pain to do and involves them calling their bank etc

If you can change the name
On the booking could
You try selling it discounted to friends or family. Or even a local fb page. Even if you lost a bit of the full price it’s better than being in debt for £700. Worth a try.

Get onto the school and let them know that you undergoing sudden financial hardship - get some help with fsm forms and see if there’s any way that the school can cover your WiFi as part of pupil premium.

Step change charity are excellent to help advocate and organise best ways of dealing with debt.

This is important. If you have withdrawn the money from your account, then please contact the bank and cancel the direct debits, if they bounce you will get a load of charges

I have been in your situation. It is hard, but it is survivable. If you want any tips on things you can do to save money pm me, or if you want I can post them here.

What a dreadful situation Op, I am sorry. You definitely need to get some good family legal advice.

For the holiday, contact your card provider and stop the company from taking any more money. The worst the holiday company could try to do is take you to small claims for the cancellation balance. I seriously doubt the court would entertain it as the holiday company would have to prove the 'loss' your booking caused them. Since they've got 6 months to resell that holiday and the fact you booked it only 10 days ago, they won't bother trying. It's not worth it to them.

As for the pre-nup, I could be entirely wrong but my understanding is that they have very little legal standing in the UK. A judge in divorce proceedings MAY take it into account but only providing you had received proper INDEPENDENT legal advice prior to signing it. Could he use a pre-nup to avoid his responsibilities to his children? Probably not.

I do hope you manage to give him a good kicking, financially and any other way you please.

OP can ask for a social tariff. You need to prove that you're on Universal Credit but after that it runs for a year.

If you are in receipt of UC or legacy benefits then you are eligible for high speed broadband at a fixed rate of £15 a month with some suppliers.

bt.com/broadband/home-essentials

virginmedia.com/help/essential-bb

It's not well advertised but other companies offer it too.

BT is, afaik, the most generous packages with the highest speeds.

There are six providers - BT, Community Fibre, G.Network, Hyperoptic, KCOM and Virgin Media O2 - that currently offer so-called "social tariffs" to eligible customers on benefits, but the regulator has called on them to do a better job of letting customers know about the lower prices, as well as urging them to make the sign up process as easy as possible.

Ofcom has also called on EE, Plusnet, Shell, Sky, TalkTalk and Vodafone to offer discounted tariffs for those on low incomes - though TalkTalk does offer a separate tariff for jobseekers on universal credit.

Martin Lewis mentioned this on his show the other day.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/02/broadband-affordable-tariffs-social-tariff/?

If you have to lay£780 anyway why not just pay it all and go? Get an advance from UC or call them and explain that this months payment will be late and see how they can help you. Sounds like you could do with a holiday tbh

www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2019/04/holiday-firms-warned-over-unfair-cancellation-rules/

Sending you a hug. Isn't there any family or friends nearby to give you moral or financial help. Lots of advice on here, just so very upsetting when these men leave their wives and dcs deliberately destitute.

I signed a pre up for instance to protect him from losing other properties and wealth

A prenup in UK law is not automatically legally binding but will be upheld by a court so long as it meets the qualifying criteria, which have been set by the Supreme Court and further reviewed by the Law Commission

He's waiting patiently until I'm forced from the house, and then he'll swoop in and pay the debt ONCE I've agreed to sign it over
Sell it.

@worstnotholiday go and watch some of this divorce lawyers videos, she covers so many topics & has lots of useful info.
vm.tiktok.com/ZMLPdRRCY/
You could apply to sell it so you at least have deposit money for rent/a new home.
What a shit he is

@Bringsexyback

So what I didn’t know back in the day is that financial abuse is domestic violence and therefore you will be entitled to legal aid especially only earning what you earn, now start documenting everything and anything that he says around leaving you impoverished if you can get him to put it in an email or a text that would be even better ready for when you get to court because and here’s the cruncher, The court will examine his lifestyle versus what he claims to be earning so if he’s on minimum wage and driving round in an Audi TT the court is going to assume that he earns above a certain income level to be able to afford it and award you accordingly.

She could qualify under dv, but is over the threshold for her income as £733 a month is the max income.

So much good advice already.

Shit hot lawyer and all communication goes through them.
Ignore everything the ex says about settlements/agreements

@worstnotholiday please ask for this thread to be moved to the legal section. There are some really helpful solicitors in their that could point you in the right direction.

I’m so sorry that your husband is such an arse