There's a programme on BBC at the moment called Rip of Britain dealing with various types of holiday complaints. Recently they've investigated the "One room left" scenario to do with booking sites.

However, this common occurrence hasn't, to my knowledge, been looked into. Perhaps, due to amount of complaints it should be.

You can send your story Here

Feel free to link to this thread so it can be established just how long this has been happening.

Booked Florida hotel total cost £140 …Booked Florida hotel total cost £140 next day wanted to change to better hotel loveholidays charge £75 per person admin to upgrade hotel £150 for a £140 booking plus difference in hotel price, decided to cancel site says £25 to cancel because I opted for deposit they charge £14.95 for this on top of the £25, they will not speak on the phone about cancellations and take the money from your credit card without permission. fees are hidden in the website
They state the rooms are flexible amendments, but will not answer emails. AVOID

We have booked to go to Fuerteventura on the 31st of March 2018 for 7 days as this is during the school holiday period. Both husband and myself sat and went through our calendars before booking. We paid the deposit and I wrote it on the calendar and put it on my phone. We looked at the bank statement and noticed that a payment had come out for Love Holidays but we had not received anything from them. Completely down to us as the emails had gone into my husbands junk mail and he hadn't checked it. When we looked at the paperwork, it stated that we weren't going on the 31st March 2018 but the 30th March 2019!!!!! I would hold my hands up if I know I have made a mistake BUT I know we didn't and I believe there has been an error in their system. For a start, you have to put in the dates at the top of the search page and we specified the 31st as we were collating our holiday with the calendar. Second, we would not have selected the 30th March 2019 as this is OUTSIDE of school holiday dates and there is no way my childs school would allow him time off. I have contacted Love Holidays twice and they are , to be polite, Useless. They tried to lay the blame with us and said they would check their XML WEB FEED but so far, nothing! According to The Consumer Protection Regulations, you have the right to cancel within 90 days but because a payment has come out of our bank, Love Holidays are saying that there is nothing they can really do. So frustrating when you speak to them of the phone......like a bunch of monkeys!

Reading the comments on here, it would seem that date changing is quite common. So now we have no option but to lose money. We can cancel for next year, which we will have to do as it is the OUTSIDE school holiday period or we can pay to change the flights. I have contacted the airline to see if we can change but there is nothing they can do as it was booked through an agency. I have tried to ring ABTA but unfortunately they close at 4pm. I am now going to go through Trading Standards. My little boy is so upset to say the least and I am so ANGRY. How can companies do this to people? So either way we are out of pocket and we lose our holiday!

It's atrocious! I honestly don't know how this company has not been investigated & folks warned about this reoccurring problem.

Out of interest which airline is it?

We were meant to be flying with Thomas Cook! 😩

Flo34

DId you pay by credit or debit card. I had the same issues with them last easter Holidays dates changing. I managed to get a full refund as I paid by credit card.
Please let me know how you get on.

LOV369475U -Ward

Here is the information requested. I do hope that you can help with the problem that we have had.

Regards

I canceled my holiday due to my partner becoming unwell due to this love holidays are trying to charge me the full price of the holiday package and more ive spoken to the company and are not willing to help they have now made my bank over drawed and has had no pomision from my self to keep taking money that isn't in my bank to take

your insurance will cover it. I had to cancel due to illness last summer and the insurance came through quickly.

I ddidn't get insurance as was going to pay at airport for one is there any other way round this ? Thanks

I'm sorry to hear about your partners health problems but I'm afraid that you are stuck with paying for this holiday - it sounds as if when you booked, you gave Love Holidays the authority to take the balance from your account as it became due. I can't see why your bank would be giving them this money if you haven't authorised it - you must have given the TA/TO your bank account details at some point for them to be able to know which account to ask the bank to pay them from. Did you set up a Direct Debit at some point? If you didn't give them the authority to take this money then you need to take that up with your bank. And this might seem harsh but if you haven't got the credit in your account to cover this payment how were you proposing to pay for this holiday if your partner had been well enough to go on the holiday?

This is why it is important to take out insurance the moment you book a holiday - it's so that you are covered for this sort of eventuality. When you think about it is a false economy to leave it until the last minute because had all gone well you'd have been paying for cancellation cover that you already knew you didn't need by the time you got to the airport.

When our sercumstances were fine i could of payed for the holiday and u don't just plan to become unwell specially if u end up being diagnosed with mental health u obviously don't understand how quick it can hit u along with depression and anxiety all at once i only wanted some advice not to be questioned on how i was going to pay for the holiday and for your info i spoke with the company and they spoke to me like dirt and i did not authorise them to keep taking payments i contacted my bank and got a new card and details and was told they no longer could accses my money but was told the second time they had taken money out again they managed to use old details don't make senseto me

I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you what you wanted to hear and that I've upset you as a result Kayleigh and I do understand from personal experience just how suddenly and unexpectedly any health condition both physical and mental can hit. That is the very reason why everybody should take out holiday insurance immediately they book a holiday because having entered into a contract with a supplier you will become liable for paying any outstanding money in line with the T&Cs. Holidays are one of the things where you do need to plan for the possibility of becoming ill not just on the holiday but also between booking and the departure date.

If you never authorised them to take money from your account then your best hope is to pursue this via your bank and hope that your bank will do some sort of cashback. However, it is extremely unlikely that the TA will just write off what you owe them - changing your bank details won't get rid of any obligation on your part to pay them any money they are due.

I agree with SMa regarding holiday insurance. However, I believe even if you had taken out insurance in your case it wouldn't have helped as mental health issues are no longer covered under a normal policy.

The cover was withdrawn a few years ago due to travellers being anxious about flying etc, having panic attacks for example & having to cancel their holidays last minute. It's very unfortunate, as, as you rightly mention Kayleigh, mental health problems can occur without warning.

One option would have been to sell your holiday to friends & them pay for name changes, or, ask Love Holidays if you could move the holiday to a later date, when, hopefully your partner would be well enough to travel. This would incur an amendment fee but better than loosing the whole amount.

Glynis
never knew that mental health wasn't covered.
I have been looking through the T&Cs of Love Holidays but of course, don't know who the service provider is. Kayleigh, who were you booked with for accomodation/flights? You need to look at their T&Cs. I was also going to suggest you try for a change of date and swallow the amendment fees.

Glynis, I've not come across that - I've just checked the details for my current annual worldwide policy with Staysure and it does not mention previously undiagnosed mental health illnesses/conditions being excluded from their standard policy. The only references made are in line with the requirements and conditions re disclosing existing conditions. As I read it, if Kayleigh's partner had never previously experienced mental health problems then they would have been covered. One of the reasons why I've stuck with Staysure for a number of years is because they have never increased my premium when I've declared my SAD, or any of my pre-existing conditions for that matter, on the grounds that they are well controlled by medication and I've never had in-patient treatment for any of them.

Maybe I've got muddled up with 1st time anxiety/mental health problems & pre existing. I've tried to surf & find what I originally read & am drawing a blank as all links lead to a minefield of long winded, complicated insurance policy jargon 😱.

Wasn't there someone recently on TV who said they never bother with travel insurance as they always find a way to wriggle out of paying? 😉 Reading through some of the policies I understand what they mean!

We took out our insurance cover last year when we booked this year's holiday. Since then hubby has had his medication altered, I've been to the docs with sinus pain. After reading all the bumph, I'm going to have to get a full list of visits, any meds altered & phone up the insurance the day before we travel just to ensure they don't come back with "Ah but you never told us your cholesterol tablets were reduced. Sorry you can't claim for your broken ankle" 😉😉

I haven't been asked for the strength of my medication, just what it's for. If you have a new medical condition then you would phone and check for instance when I had a detached retina. Once it was fixed my likelihood of it happening again was the same as anyone else but it had to be declared. My insurance didn't rise.
The main insurance problems arise through not realising that you should take out your insurance once you'e booked and not wait till just before you go. Insurance doesn't just cover for when you are actually on your holiday.

Glynis, I only checked the standard T&Cs in the policy booklet from Staysure for that very reason! It did occur to me that there might be a bonus in sticking with the same company in that you build up a track record with them? I must admit that there has been a strong element of inertia in my case because it has been so much easier when it comes to renewing to just have to answer one simple question re the health screening about anything that has changed since last time compared to going through the whole rigmarole again. And the very quick straightforward way that they dealt with my claim for the fractured wrist on my last holiday means that I'm tempted to stick with them on the grounds of their service too.

And, Fiona, I've never understood why people don't get insurance as soon as possible. I would have thought that there is enough info out there to show what can happen if you don't.

SM