We paid £2k for a cruise – but were left high and dry

THOMSON Travel arbitrarily cancelled our £2,000 cruise, which we’d booked for May this year.

This was done via two voicemails on my partner’s mobile phone, which she says she never received and would not have known how to retrieve if she had.

We have been trying to get this resolved for many months without success.

R. P., Middlesex. I was aghast when I read your letter. How could any travel company randomly cancel someone’s holiday? The answer, I’m afraid, is that they didn’t — because you had not booked it in the first place.

while the answer is simple, this is a complex case, which has taken much unravelling, but we have finally got to the bottom of it.

You and your partner booked a cruise with five other people, which was to be taken in October 2015.

Due to one member of the party being taken seriously ill, you were, sadly, forced to cancel your trip, losing the deposits of the five others in the process.

However, you and your partner asked about having your holiday delayed, rather than cancelled.

You visited Thomson Travel and inquired about using your deposit towards a cruise which you and your partner would take in May 2016. You were sent a quotation for the new holiday showing a cost of £2,298.

and this is where the confusion started. You seemed to think you had booked this holiday. However, at the top of the letter, which was sent to you on February 2, it clearly says ‘inquiry quotation’. The first paragraph says: ‘This is not confirmation of your booking.’

Thomson Travel heard no more from you, and the cruise operator was chasing the money so they tried to phone you.

a lady answered your home phone and explained you were on holiday. They left a message with her and also got your partner’s mobile number. when this was not answered, they took the only action they could and left a message.

They heard nothing more until you walked into the travel agent’s to ask about your holiday and were met with blank stares. as far as they were concerned, there was no holiday because you never booked.

a representative from your local Thomson Travel agent will contact you to see if there is anything they can do to ameliorate the situation. WHEN we completed the sale of our home in London on September 7, 2015, we headed off to our new house in Windsor with our removals firm.

We arrived at 2pm, the arranged time for completion, only to find that the funds for the purchase could not be located by Saga Conveyancing. As a result, we were unable to take possession of the new home and the removal firm had to keep our belongings overnight, which incurred additional costs of £2,000.

The next morning, September 8, the funds appeared.

We have written numerous times to Saga, and to the conveyancers on both sides, and no one will accept any responsibility for this error. As pensioners, we cannot afford this extra expense.

S. M., Windsor. Much as I sympathise with your plight, I don’t agree with your method of tackling this problem.

You wrote to me laying the blame squarely with saga when you knew full well it lay elsewhere.

saga’s legal partner, cogent Law, had not received funds from your purchaser’s solicitor by 1pm on the day you were due to move.

cogent contacted the other solicitors to chivvy them along. The purchaser’s solicitor finally said the money had been sent just before 5pm, but it still had not arrived.

The seller of your new house told the estate agent not to hand over the keys without the payment being made. The money finally arrived at 6.50am on september 8.

under the contract terms, you claimed and received £227 from the buyers of your house in compensation for the delay. In turn, you had to pay £135 to the owners of the house you purchased.

You are also claiming £1,772.98 to cover costs you incurred as a result of the delays.

But the purchasers of your London home refuse to pay.

You have been advised that you could pursue them through the small claims court. But saga has warned that, if contested, the legal cost of mounting the case is unlikely to be fully recoverable.

You may be able to pursue it if you have legal expenses cover on your home insurance. saga has offered £100 as a goodwill gesture.

a saga spokesman says: ‘It is irksome when you are not paid on time, but when that money is for a house purchase, the consequences can be both upsetting and more serious as, understandably, there are not many people who are comfortable handing over the keys to a house when they have not yet been paid.’ MY DAUGHTER left her job several weeks ago and gave the correct notice period.

However, her employer is now withholding her P45 and she is paying emergency tax in her new job. Are companies allowed to do this?

H. J., Aberdaron, Wales. Employers are legally obliged to return employees’ p45 forms when they leave — it provides your new employer with your tax code so you pay the correct tax.

Your daughter should contact HMRC to chase her old employer. call 0300 200 3300. If this doesn’t work, her new employer should ask her to fill in a form called a starters checklist so it can work out what tax code to use.