Completely messed up!

[Idio7]

DH and I booked a holiday for this year with £1pp deposit. They had an offer on for 2027 with the same £1pp deposit but an additional deposit due this month. We booked it.

We've had a few unexpected things to pay out for that have eaten into our savings (dog surgery, car issue etc).
So I contacted our TA to cancel the holiday for 2027 before the remaining balance is due. But they've said we have to pay it, even if we want to cancel. (After 2 hours in a call queue)

We're already short a bit for the balance of our holiday for this year but had a plan to make a bit more cash over the next few months (overtime, selling stuff).

I can't believe I didn't spot the T&C's about the deposit. I'm gutted that I've tied us in to these 2 holidays and we're going to have 2 years of saving to get back our buffer. I feel sick and so annoyed with myself.

Deposit is due in 3 days, balance is April 2027.

If you most definitely do not have the
money to pay, what’s the worst can happen? Will they take you to court?

Don’t cancel it. Just don’t pay the balance when it becomes due and they will cancel the holiday their end after two weeks. Because they cancelled it and not you, the remaining balance won’t apply.

PP’s are weirdly confident about your position without seeing the T&Cs.

If it’s a credit agreement, not paying could impact your credit rating. Presumably they have your payment details from the deposit, they may try to take the money from that. If they don’t succeed, they may try and take you to small claims court and get a CCJ against you.

It’s very normal that a deposit is a payment plan and it ties you into future payments, it’s not a cancellation policy.

I would check the contract very carefully before doing that

As a travel agent the tour operator you have booked with hold the travel agency to the full
deposit
No travel agency will pay out the money you owe
Best option would be to pay the full deposit then cancel
Please don’t listen to @Moen @Northernladdette

It doesn't work like that 😬

I have seen on holiday help websites that some people have ended up with threat of ccj’s if full deposit is not paid before cancellation so I would check your T and Cs

That’s very unusual. Usually the t&c of booking a holiday are that you lose your deposit if you cancel, right up until a few weeks before you travel, but not the full balance

It does sometimes. I booked a cottage recently and like a fool forgot to pay the second (of 3) instalments
Holiday company auto cancelled my booking.

I got it sorted but they simply put the cottage back on their site as available and informed me it was cancelled

Yeah you surely didn’t thing something like a £1 deposit would come with no implications? Then everyone would book on a whim/after a drink and then change their minds !

@Dunnocantthinkofone
a Travel Agency and Tour Operator will not just cancel a booking and be out of pocket

Paying in instalments is not the same as paying a deposit though.

Well that was my experience 🤷‍♀️

I paid a £20 low deposit, rest of which was then due a few weeks later. Which I missed, and they cancelled it

Change your bank card your used or keep below what they would charge. This isn’t legal advise but I’ve done that for other things and it’s worked

Please roundly ignore this post

There is some bonkers advice on here that could end up with you getting a CCJ!

Really none of us can accurately comment on your situation unless you post a link to the T&Cs. It is becoming more common that these £1 deals commit you to paying the full balance even if you cancel unfortunately. Is it transferrable to a cheaper holiday?

This happened to me, guessing it’s T U I.
I was given the chance to change it to the year after for longer time to pay deposit, might be worth a try but guessing 2028 holidays arnt out yet

I did this with TUI less than two months ago.

I had booked a holiday for over my child’s prom dates without realising. When I went to change the dates, it was over £200 in admin fees. I was told if I cancelled, the full deposit would apply. When I asked what would happen if I just didn’t pay the remaining deposit amount, I was told the holiday would be cancelled and I would lose what I had already paid (significantly less than the admin fees to change dates), so that’s what I did. Email confirming cancellation with zero outstanding balance came about two weeks after the remaining deposit was due.

I don’t know if it’s the same with other operators, but I would imagine so.

I would speak to them again and see what your options are.
E.g.
Can you delay to another year to give you longer to pay
Change the holiday to a much cheaper one (appreciate nothing might be affordable right now but see what they have)
Can you change the names and try and sell the holiday to other people (would it be somewhere parents or friends might be interested in)
How much do you actually stand to lose, have they said you have to pay the full payment on the whole holiday, or is it just that there's a normal sized deposit (e.g a few hundred pounds) you need to pay for certain in the ts and Cs?

Doesn’t it?

Image will be up shortly I imagine.

But OP hasn’t said she booked with TUI

No she hasn’t, and I did say in a previous post that it might not apply to all travel operators, although I imagine if TUI do this it could be common practice?

It’s worth the OP asking what will happen if she doesn’t pay the balance.