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.

I wouldn’t pay it and stop stressing so much about it.

They will pass you to debt collectors. The whole debt collection thing is mostly a scam. They will pass you to one company, who will pursue you relentlessly for a while and then they’ll give up and sell your case to another company. Don’t engage with them because it doesn’t work and it ruins your day. However, do write to them by post and keep all the evidence for your own peace of mind. They will threaten you with a CCJ but I don’t think they’re authorised to issue these. At first this sort of thing is really scary but you become immune after a while.

From my own experience, I’d say that it is very unlikely to affect your credit rating. You know, when I was 13k in debt I had an ‘excellent’ credit rating….now it’s paid off and I have savings, it has dropped to ‘good’. Having no credit is the one thing that appears to have affected it. Credit ratings are to show companies how much money they are likely to make from you.

It really annoys me that the threat to our credit ratings lets these companies get away with whatever they like. You’re already very stressed and vulnerable. Stay strong and don’t let people take advantage xx

I’ve no advice but a big hug. What a total and utter shit and his parents sound like they’re complicit as well. I’d go to CAB and see what they can do. Have you got a spreadsheet with all bills on it? That why you can track what you could cut. I can’t believe he’d put his children through it.

And oh my goodness, I’ve just read your other post. I’m so sorry - what an absolute bastard. It’s also amazing how these men and their parents could do that to their own children and grandchildren.

Do you have any local food hubs? It’s where the supermarkets deliver their one day out of date food….my local one is all M&S and Waitrose.

Don’t pay it.
They’ll eventually transfer it to a collection agency I’d imagine. Then you can even just make a token £1 a month payment

Have you tried calling the travel company -or your insurance company -
and explaining your situation to an actual person (preferably a manager) who might be able to show you some compassion?

Re the holiday; in my experience Twitter works the best. I’ve had a few times where I’ve got nowhere by emailing or calling a company, but once I tweeted them things happened. It’s all public and no company wants to look bad in public.

I'm so very very sorry OP. What an absolutely shit he is. No solutions with the holiday but please know that lots of women have also been in a similar boat and after a turbulent time trying to sort things, they have ended up thriving. It might just take a while to get there and get through the tough bits now. There is happiness and security ahead, whatever this man tries to do to you or convince you of.

Do what you can to keep yourselves all safe right now with essential bills and housing - definitely look at a lodger even if just for the short term. I'm sure everyone reading this thread is rooting for you at such a horrible time. If you can reach out to your local community, there are networks in place thanks to covid where lots of people will step up and help in unexpected ways so don't be ashamed to ask.

@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.

I'd be going with this option as well!

@toomuchlaundry

He is an absolute shit, but can’t believe his parents are supporting him. I would be so embarrassed if DS behaved like that and I would be supporting my DIL

The kind of parents they are create the kind of man he is. It's no surprise.

Something similar happened to a friend of mine a few years ago - his family had arranged to go away with another family, they'd booked everything in their name & paid deposits, then the other family just decided they weren't going.

I sent an email to the chief exec of the company for him, explaining the situation and the financial hardship it would cause to pay the cancellation fee on behalf of this family. They were really good about it, and cancelled their places for free.

If you want to cancel this break, email them, phone them, until you reach someone who understands. You WILL be okay, trust me. There are good people out there.

And document everything your husband does. Get it all down in writing. You'll feel better for it and it might be useful at a later date.

The holiday t&Cs say 'may' be liable for up too 100% and that will increase closure to departure. You've got 6 months to departure so highly unlikely you would be charged 100% that's just unethical if anything. Give them a call, this early on it will likely only be the deposit lost. Then echoing what others have said, get an amazing lawyer and make him regret the day he decided to screw you over!!

Don't leave it. Get on to the travel company right away and speak to them, make sure you cancel it. You may need to put it in writing to them. I would've thought within the first 28 or 30 days you'll only be liable for the deposit. If you speak to the right person (not just the employee who answers he phone, but their manager, at least), they will have discretion to waive the balance. IME it's only in the final eight weeks before the holiday that you're liable for the balance.

IME if you only can get a simple piece of information from him (or his files) is getting his national insurance number. Without he cannot lie or under report his income when it comes to child maintenance.

He’s a despicable shit and you and your children are much better off without his toxic presence in your lives.

I hope you’ve read the comments from people who know about these things and have advised on what to do.

Make a list, then first thing tomorrow (or as soon as you possibly can) action each point. Starting with the one that scares you most. That way the worst is dealt with and you can move on.

@worstnotholiday

What an absolute bastard he is!!!

I presume neither him nor his parents want to see your children again?

Bastard!!!

You may not believe it now, but you WILL get through this. You'll have your lovely kids & will make a good life for you & them.

The important thing, right now, is self belief that you WILL get through it!! I totally understand why you feel so defeated, but TRY to get above that & believe in your ability to get through it!!

One Bite At A Time!!

Do the kids go to a fee paying school?

How are they doing today??

Big hugs- you CAN do this!!

Could you advertise the holiday on social media and then transfer the booking to someone else to make the future payments then you'd have only lost the initial deposit?

Just a thought to keep you going in the future. I used work in a school with tax credits to top me up. When the car died after Easter I didn’t have £600 to fix it to continue working.
I applied for Uni as a single parent. Come September the rent and council tax were covered by benefits as a mature student.. I had a student loan to live in on (more than £3 a term so 1k month) plus a bursary I didn’t have to pay back. The course was only 16 hours a week and school holidays off.so less childcare to find.
It’s worth thinking about.I have a better paying job as a result.

You’ve got rid off this poor excuse for a man. Life will absolutely be better after this initial blip.

I just want to add that I really hope his cruel, nasty, smug plans come crashing down on him in court for hiding his assets, lying to mortgage lender and financially abusing you.

Seeing as he seems intent on gloating at how he's screwed you over (presumably in order to beat you into giving up), is it worth recording phone conversations and keeping records of all discussions because he's clearly so pleased with what a nasty piece of work he's been that hopefully he can be hoist by his own petard?

@Squeezita has nailed the solution to the holiday problem OP, so just make sure they can't take an automatic payment from your card - go into the bank if necessary to make sure!
As to the rest - plenty of good advice on here but the best one is to get legal advice asap. I'm so so sorry, what an arsehole 😢

Thank you all. I'm far calmer at this end of the day. Direct debits largely cancelled and have sent an email to the mortgage company to say I didn't agree the payment holiday and to beg to spread the balance further. I'll call onthebeach tomorrow and tax credits and edf for warm home discount t and council for discount.

To the op that asked was it out of the blue? Yes and no. His parents have been begging him to leave me for years. They have a decent heiress type lined up that makes a better match than me. Hence the pre nup- for which they insisted I take "legal advice" and have ties pretty tightly. They are wealthy and know how make sure legal shit sticks. The tension between me and them has been brewing for years. And the last 12 months it's been improving between me and dh. He's been Bette, taking my side, not scruntinising spending or behaviour, like he was in the early years. I now know it's becaise he was getting his ducks in a row. There is 0 paperwork here. His passwords for email etc all changed in advance. The safe is empty. His driving license already changed to another address. He's been planning with his parents for at least 6-12 months to pull this all off so effectively. It's like a complete blackout for me overnight. Yesterday morning I made him breakfast and he kissed me cheek and said thank you. He hugged me from behind whilst I did the dishes. We bought that bloody beef having decided he fancied a roast dinner today. Then when the girls were in bed he brought down a bag and said that's it. He's free. Don't even try to argue. He expects me out asap and if I dig in my heels he'll crush me. He's already made sure I'm on the back foot and I'd do best to just keep myself above water and not bother fighting. Then over the course of the next few hours as I scrambled to sort bills into my account and what not- it all became clear. All online communication so I hadn't seen it. Months and months worth. The gas at least MUST have sent letters that he must have squirrelled away.

I don't have family. Nor friends. I can't see how to increase my hours / get another job when I know I have no childcare. I'm lucky to have a school time friendly job. He won't look after them. Nor will his parents. Do childminders take 12 year olds?!

Re the tv we don't have sky but Ive cancelled the Amazon prime, cancelled the Disney and the Now movies. Kept Netflix. Tomorrow will be a battle but I'm just going to go out with the kids today. I was up half the night, I've done as much admin as my strung out brain can handle. Thank you again everyone. You've been a blessing

How long have you been married? That pre nup might be nul and void, especially since you’ve had kids. see a solicitor!

Just refreshed & read a couple more of your posts.

You & the girls ARE better off without them, but right now it's all very shit!!

However, don't play into his hands. There is help available and it's not all inevitable!!

I'd suggest posting with a different title in legal, there are a lot of lawyers & people experienced in this type of situation!! Who may not respond to this title.

Don't believe the cunt & don't give in!!

Get legal help through here.

Be strong!!

What about a lodger to help pay the mortgage?

You won’t find a private rental for that much less than your mortgage payment.

Does a 12 year old need childcare?

Not sure if you are qualified but the suggestion of a pp of becoming a mature student and retraining is a good one. You’ll get a lot of financial support being a single parent from the uni and could find a more lucrative career.

The people you have described are absolutely the lowest of the low. This is certainly one of the most disgusting abhorrent posts I have read on here.

Also I hope the pre nup can be challenged