Thank you so much for the input and advice. Always good to have an objective opinion. It has not reached deadlock as yet but in my last correspondance with the deceptive manager, she clearly stated she had responded to ABTA and intimated that her position has not changed so i am assuming arbitration is the next step, which i am hesitant to do as i do not believe they will give me a fair hearing. As BankFodder stated, i just have to see whether its worth the claim because of monetary terms (though i am still up for the prinicple thing). I will have a long hard think about it. The main thing is that it probably will not be resolved by the time of the holiday and once it has passed, i may not be as invested but once i have a bee in my bonnet, i like to come to a satisfactory conclusion. Thanks again for the input.

The airline is Thomas Cook

The particulars of my claim would be breach of contract as their t&cs state "Our responsibilities are limited to making the booking in accordance with your instructions." and i did not instruct her to book accomodation after she agreed a refund. Plus, the deposit did not cover the full cost of the flights so when she agreed the refund it must have been for the entire booking. There has been a successful case in court where the person thought they were booking a package holiday and successfully sued (even though the operators said it was not a package) ......"TITSHALL vs QWERTY TRAVEL LTD (2011) EWCA Civ 1569" My booking has come with an ATOL certificate. This is an attachment on the website stating that my money is protected by the ATOL scheme.

Yes they do have terms and conditions on their website. It should be noted that they claim to not provide a package holiday so i cant claim under the Package Travel Regulations clause for change of accomodation. (Even though they sold the flight plus hotel for 1 price so anybody would assume it was a package but i found out it does state in the T and Cs that we are booking with 2 suppliers).

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately as long as it is in their terms and conditions, that is enough to tell the customer that it is not a package holiday. Also if you go through with the arbitration process with ABTA, the decision is legally binding and you are not allowed to take the case any further so court would be out of the question after arbitration, hence my question. Just trying to ascertain objective opinions but wasnt sure whether ABTA might be biased or not. Thanks again

Hi Yes they do have terms and conditions on their website. It should be noted that they claim to not provide a package holiday so i cant claim under the Package Travel Regulations clause for change of accomodation. (Even though they sold the flight plus hotel for 1 price so anybody would assume it was a package but i found out it does state in the T and Cs that we are booking with 2 suppliers). I also paid the deposit online but i had a conversation with the manager re: cancellation on the phone. I have paid £10 under the data protection act in the hopes that the conversation is recorded as i was told it is but when i complained to the company, the manager i am complaining about is the one dealing with my complaint!! So i have no confidence in her actually sending me the recorded phone call re: the booking she made.

Hi all Apologies for the long post. I am in the process of a complaint ith Abta about a holiday i have yet to take but i believe there has been a breach of contract and i want a full refund or flights changed. When you read the complaint it may seem like a small issue but the deceptive behaviour and outright lies are what make me want to cancel with this company. I booked a holiday to go to Turkey on 25th May. I paid the deposit online but received an email a few days later stating that the rooms are not available but they have a different room for £313.07 extra of which Loveholidays would pay half. I said that would be fine but the next day (Sunday) i received another email stating that even those rooms are not available. So i spent the day looking with other companies and found the holiday available with another company for a cheaper price on different dates which were preferential (during half term). My family discussed it and arranged the dates with their work. When i called Loveholidays, i explained that i am phoning to cancel as i have found the holiday cheaper elsewhere with different dates. She agreed as they were unable to find availability and said it would take 3-5 days to get our money back. As i knew it would take at least 3 working days to get the deposit back, i told the manager (Hannah) i had found the holiday cheaper elsewhere with better dates and asked if she could match the new price and dates rather than waiting for a refund. She said she will find out and call me back. She calls me back in the afternoon stating that she has once again found the rooms (the 2nd option) for the original date and that i will still have to pay the extra money. I explained that i did not want and would like to cancel it as the other company was still cheaper and the dates more suitable. She said i would have to pay £400 admin fees for the flights if i wanted to change them but i could not get a full refund as the flights are non-refundable. She had booked the hotel without my consent as i asked if she could match the new price and dates i had found. NONE of this was mentioned in the call earlier that day. I told her to make me an offer so i can choose whether to stay or cancel. At no point did she tell me that if she found room availability i would have to take it. Basically, the choice was taken away from me. If she had stated that in the morning i would definitely have cancelled and she should have mentioned this. Within a few hours i lost the ability to cancel this booking. I never asked her to book the rooms for me. I asked for her to give me options if she could match it but she has not. It is strange how they finally found room availability when i explained i had found the holiday cheaper elsewhere and i am extremely angry that she has done this. It is very conniving. I do not want to be held over a barrel and i did not ask her to book the rooms. I asked her what would be available for me if i decided to stay. While she has agreed to write off the extra money to be paid for the rooms, she has also given me no choice but to stay with Loveholidays. So my question is, should i bother pursuing it through the small claims court as i already know they have replied to Abta and disagree with me so we will be at deadlock. It may seem like a high price to pay for a principle but the lying incompetent manager should not be allowed to do this to people as a sneaky tactic of holding onto customers. Any help appreciated and sorry again for the long post.