Lost job leads to lost holiday with First Choice

Jun 5 2011 Mr Justice, Sunday Sun

A FAMILY claim they have lost out after a holiday company cancelled their trip.

Gary and Janice Baker had booked a holiday with First Choice to Florida.

They paid £870 deposit with an additional £2500 to pay at a later date.

So far, so good, but Gary lost his job as a wheel clamper and was in discussion about transferring the deposit to a cheaper holiday when First Choice took the decision to cancel the booking themselves.

It meant the family, of Washington, Tyne and Wear, lost their deposit.

Gary said: “I was under the impression we could transfer the deposit to another holiday.

“I am really annoyed they did this because we were still talking about the options open to us.

“I had a phone call to go to the office but could not get there in time.

“When we arrived the following morning we were told the holiday was cancelled.”

Gary had already booked flights to Disneyland Paris separately and hoped to transfer the deposit to cover accommodation.

However, he was told he had to transfer to another holiday in the First Choice/Thomson Holidays brochures – and they don’t do Disney!

And there was further disappointment when he was told his insurance did not cover him because he was self-employed.

A spokesman for First Choice admitted there had been a misunderstanding.

He said: “We would like to apologise for the misunderstanding over our terms and conditions regarding the change in holiday destination after Mr Baker was made redundant.

“Our policy clearly states that First Choice’s redundancy protection scheme is not applicable to anybody who is self-employed. As Mr Baker is self-employed he was not entitled to a refund.

“In this case, it was agreed that Mr and Mrs Baker could transfer the deposit for their Florida holiday to another Thomson or First Choice package holiday and this would incur admin fees of £35.

“Despite what had been agreed, Mr Baker booked flights independently to Paris using an alternative airline and wanted to transfer his deposit to a EuroDisney resort, which was not part of the First Choice or Thomson programme.

“First Choice or Thomson do not operate to EuroDisney and the deposit could only be transferred to another Thomson or First Choice package holiday.

“The decision was made to cancel the holiday to avoid paying cancellation fees.

“Had another Thomson or First Choice holiday been booked by the time of cancellation, the deposit could have been transferred to avoid losing it completely.”