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Thomson refuses to honour bargain holiday bookings
Thomson has cancelled some cut-price holiday bookings, blaming a system error for displaying them too cheaply.
The operator’s actions came to light after one customer complained about the decision to cancel their family holiday to Florida.
Kristopher Meredith, his partner Paul Hales and four family members snapped up the 15-day package when they were quoted a total price of just less than £1,400 – just over £200 per person – by a Thomson travel agent in Manchester.
They put down a deposit of £750, but Thomson cancelled the booking two days later and offered a refund.
In an email to the client, the operator said: "Unfortunately, it is part of our terms and conditions in regards to errors in pricing, however, if you wish to cancel the holiday we are able to waiver the cancellation charges and offer you a free cancellation."
Mr Meredith told the Manchester Evening News: "In the shop we said: ‘Are you sure?’ and the lady said: ‘That’s the price’.
He added: "We have been offered a refund but that’s not what we want. We booked the holiday and they should honour it."
A spokesperson for Thomson apologised.
"While we always offer exceptional value for money, unfortunately a rare system error last weekend resulted in a small number of holidays being sold at prices that were simply too good to be true.
"As a result and in line with our terms and conditions, affected customers – including Mr Meredith’s party – have been contacted to have the incorrectly priced booking cancelled and the money paid returned," the spokesperson said.
The incident has caused a flurry of activity on Facebook, with several agents taking to the Travel Gossip page to say the agent booking the holiday should have queried the price before taking the clients’ deposit.
Others said Thomson should have honoured the booking, with one post pointing out terms and conditions for customers who make a cancellation are much more rigid then when an operator cancels a booking.
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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