£903 charge to cancel 18 hours after phone booking!

[UNHAPPYTRAVELLER]

I saw an Xmas Caribbean cruise on Cunard’s QM2, using Virgin for U.S.A. hotels & flights. This was advertised by Fasttrack Holidays in The Daily Mail on 18 August 07. At the time of booking, I specifically asked at the time of booking what my liability was, however I was misled into believing that I would only lose my deposit if I cancelled near to the date of sailing. I booked by phone and paid £750 deposit. However, had I been correctly advised that I would immediately loose all my deposit, plus a further £153, I would not have made the booking.

Later that day I went online to see further details and discovered hidden costs not given at the time of booking, plus some scathing reviews, therefore the next morning (18 hours after booking) I tried to cancel my booking (by fax & e-mail, followed up by letter).

Fasttrack confirmation details state that Virgin Holidays are the Principal for this contract and Virgin terms state “your monies will be returned in full�. Trading Standards agree.

Despite the above Fasttrack refused to cancel my booking and, unless I paid a further £153 to make up their calculated total cost of cancellation (£903), they WOULD NOT CANCEL my booking. They also tried to blackmail me by stating that if I did not pay the additional £153 my costs would increase as the cruise date approached, potentially costing the whole value of the holiday at £ 9,707.

Only after I have issued a 14-day letter threatening action through the County Court, have they waived the Fasttrack and Virgin cancellation fees of £153 & £360 respectively. However they are now attempting to use Cunard’s UK terms (the US terms differ & say “full refund�!) to insist I pay their cancellation charge of £357. Apart from an acknowledgement of my letter, I have received no response from Virgin and nothing at all from Cunard.

I am now forced to take Fasttrack, Virgin & Cunard to the County Court so that a judge can identify whose, if any, of terms apply to my booking, or indeed any such telephone bookings, of which there must be thousands.

I consider this to be a carefully constructed method of selling, designed specifically to muddy waters by relying upon many different terms& conditions to manipulate the law & to confuse and obstruct members of the public, unless they are prepared to take court action.

Luckily, I am an experienced traveller and can look after myself in Court –what about the little people who can’t take this on?