Thompson court need poc help - **settled out of court **

[Muffintop]

Hya my thread honeymoon from hell has now been fired up again exhausting all my avenues to get thompson to admit liability. Im now ready to go to court with it but dont know what to put in the poc can someone help me pse

[Guest Old_andrew2018]

Bump

[Muffintop]

thanks, its hard to get advice on holiday claims. I subbed to which holiday who offer free legal advise, they have advised me to do a poc in laymans terms outlining the facts and ring them back up to see how it reads... anyone else got any ideas for my poc

[Muffintop]

n1 filed in county court today!

[Thailand]

Can we see what you put in your poc?

 

Might give us more of an insight into your experience.

 

Well done too, takes guts to take it all the way.

[Muffintop]

thankyou for watchin as know this isnt a busy thread, it has taken a long time to get to here 7 months... decided not to take up ABTA on their abitration service and just went straight for the jugular. I am scared for sure but I either win or loose and its under 5k so costs should be minimised... I feel iv a genuine case so sent it off today

 

 

 

Amount of claim limited to 5k.

• On 2008, I booked my honeymoon with Thomson (named now on as Defendant) via the Cruise ship on the Mediterranean Renaissance trip shown on page 73 of Thomson brochure, for the period 2008. Holiday Ref No This was booked via the telephone with a Thompson representative. The holiday brochure the holiday was booked from Thomson Lifestyle Cruise brochure Edition, I exhibit as
  

2. I gave the defendant my requirements, that it was our honeymoon and we were looking for a restful holiday with peace and quiet. I also explained that I had a disability which meant I needed to be able to sleep. The defendant advised me that this would be more likely to be achieved by going for one of Thomson’s Luxury Deluxe Cabins on the higher decks, shown on page 169 of their brochure.

3. Although this was more than we had budgeted it was this conversation that encouraged us to pay £for our honeymoon. At no time did the defendant tell me that we would be subjected to daily life shows to midnight each night, nor that our room was placed above the live entertainment lounge. This was also not mentioned in the holiday brochure’s terms and conditions. The description of the Deluxe cabins within the brochure and internet does not have any notes to state they may be subjected to excessive noise. Exhibit of cabin descriptions

4. We were allocated our room number upon arrival at the cruise ship Tomson on That evening there was live entertainment which was in the ‘Can Can Lounge’ which was directly below our cabin situated on the deck below. The noise was excessive with poor recording equipment which meant it was distorted. Our floor shook with the vibration and the entertainment did not finish until 23.30 to midnight every night, this made it impossible to try to sleep prior to Midnight. The same happened on

5. On the 3nd night aboard the ship 2008 we rang reception during the live entertainment and make a complaint regarding the noise. We were advised that live entertainment took place every night in the main show lounge the ‘Can Can Lounge’ I explained that this was ruining our holiday as we were subjected to compulsory entertainment and I was unable to sleep every night and was forced to catch up on sleep the next morning and missing out on breakfast in the main dining lounge as wells as activities and excursions organised as a result. In short it was spoiling our value/enjoyment and holiday.

6. 08 I received a letter from the front office Manager aboard the ship acknowledging my complaint and asking us to meet with her to formalise our complaint with her in writing. Her letter of apology exhibited as /23 evidences that the shows end from 23.20 to 00.45 hours each night. A formal complaint form was completed with Ms Form number Exhibit 4. stated that we could not be moved to a different room, despite me pointing out that this was our honeymoon and this was an especially expensive cabin which we had been sold by the defendant wrongfully. advised me that the issue would have to be taken up with the defendant on return to the UK.

7. Each day of the cruise a internal publication called ‘Cruise News’ was printed and delivered to customers in their cabins. I evidence Cabin News for Friday 2008 at Sea live entertainment in the ’ Viva Las Vegas live entertainment show from 23.00 hours to Midnight.

live entertainment from 22.00 hours – Midnight with the Moulin Rouge live show.

2008 in Mahon, entertainment from 22.00 to Midnight with the New York, New York live entertainment show.

8. On 20th August after feeling that our Honeymoon had been ruined I wrote to Thompson Head Office at TUI Travel House, Crawley Business Quarter, Fleming Way, Crawley, West Sussex. RH10 9QL outlining my complaint. A reply was received on 2008 stating that my complaint would be investigated.

9. On 17th September I received a letter from the defendant stating they have no control over such matters. On 2008 I wrote again having contacted trading standards for advice. My letter highlighted the loss of enjoyment and stating I would like to resolve the issue prior to any legal action taken by myself.On 20th November 2008 I received a letter from the defendant stating that my comments have been noted and taken on board but they were not willing to offer any refund.I received a letter from defendant on 17th December 2008 suggesting I liaise with ABTA.

 

10. I made an official complaint to ABTA, who responded to my complaint on their ABTA ref CAD/341798. I took up ABTA’S offer of Pre Arbitration Notice to negotiate with the defendant o and this was sent via recorded delivery to ABTA giving the defendant 14 days to contact me prior to further action being taken. I have to date received no contact or acknowledgement from the defendant.

 

11. To summarise my claim. I have good reason to believe that this product was misold to me by the defendant and the product and contract was misleading. They have not satisfied their duties under their criteria in Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations Sec 4 and mislead the sale of this product. They have breached The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992. Sec 14/15 . Liability of the other party to the contract for proper performance of their obligations under contract.

 

12. We are seeking compensation of £ the cost of the holiday due to loss of value and enjoyment as well as breach of the above regulations. I have tried all avenues to negotiate a resolve with the defendant.

Edited March 1, 2009 by Muffintop
privacy reasons

[Muffintop]

Had a letter today offering me 150.00... unbelievable after 7 months.. already filed in court now so write back

 

I acknowledge receipt of your letter dated February 2009 in which you confirm receipt of my Pre-Arbitration Notice dated 26.1.09 which you were given 14 days to respond to. This means that I will not be taking up your Arbitration offer.

In your letter you have offered me the sum of £150.00 (one hundred and fifty pounds) in full and final settlement. As you letter is not marked ‘Without Prejudice’ or that this is an offer of ‘Goodwill’ and nor have I received any previous offers, I assume from this that you have accepted liability.

As I have now lodged my claim in xxxxx County Court for the total sum of £xxx which includes my court fees. I should like to give you a final offer in which to resolve sensibly my complaint out of court. As liability does not appear from your letter to be an issue I am prepared to accept £xxx for FULL AND FINAL SETTLEMENT if received within the next 21 days hereof. In default of acceptance by you within that period the offer is withdrawn and I shall continue with proceedings for the full amount of the claim.

I await your response.

[mooreda]

What was the total cost of your holiday and the sum you are looking at in compensation? Have ABTA not helped at all?

[Muffintop]

Hya, nice to have someone check me out, as you can see a very lonley thread in comparison with the bank cca threads..

Yes ABTA were helpful in their pre arbitration scheme and I think it shows the dj if you take it to court that you did everything to negotiate. but if you take up the full arbitration you only get one chance and if you dont win you cant then go to take it to court. I decided that I had to make a decision, I havent had a reply from the court yet but they have cashed my cheque.. I also sent a letter to thompson asking if they want to settle out of court... no reply again. they are almost impossible to negotiate with. I also had a huge amount of info and help from holiday travel watch, a free service someone on here told me about and also I joined holiday which as they give you free legal advise they helped me with the poc..

[ems15298]

Hi Muffintop,

 

Don't know whether you have been into court yet with this or not, but basically when a holiday package is sold, if there is anything which will effect your stay (like excess noise, building works, no kids facilities etc) ,this shold pop up on the agent screen-it is known as an "errata" and MUST MUST MUST be read in full to the person who is booking that holiday. I worked in travel for a few years both selling and fixing up any problems so know that it is a requirement-this will also show on the invoice that you recieve so that you can refer back to it if you need to so take copies with you. I know that in the case of cruise ships, just like large hotels, that a specific room/cabin cannot be guaranteed, but in light of that fact that this was your honeymoon I would have thought that some kind of message should have been sent to the allocations team or agent in advance and certainly also as you told them that you needed rest due to a disability!! Really not sure if this will help you or not, but I would have thought that the area that the cabins were in might have given the res agent a clue as to how noisy it would be. Generally cruise agents are very good and know their products inside out so I would have thought that they might have had an inkling really!

 

Good luck and keep us posted!

[Thailand]

Ohooohh, ems...stick around.

[Thailand]

Muffintop, I've just stumbled upon some case law that sounds uncanily like your case. I can't find it online, but if you can lay your hands on Currie v Magical Travel Group (holidays) Ltd 2001 you might enjoy reading it.

 

Basically

 

* Requested quiet room

* T&C's could not guarentee but would endeavour

* Got a noisy room next to restaurant and kitchen

* Couldn't relocate

 

Judge said could not be descibed as quiet no matter how subjective the term was (what did your T&C's say).

 

They got refund of cost of holiday, flights home and £450 for loss of enjoyment (think that's the same as Jarvis v Suntours)

[Muffintop]

Hey guys thanks for staying and checking me out.

I realised when my defense came back from Thomson that I had done my Poc online and half of it was missing!!! aghhh their defence in my view was rubbish (can post up if your interested and still subbed)

I immediately did an amended claim to the court and paid the fee (just prior to bank hol wkend) but still not heard anything and chased it up last week, will chase again on thursday this week. I also was sent an allocation questionnaire which I have submitted. (i was asked if I would go through the mediation process and declined as Iv tried to mediate for the last year) I will try to check out the case law as above but think I will only find it online too but will let you know.

 

keep with me plzzzzz

[Muffintop]

Hya guys with me still??

I had to do an amended poc as i messed it up by doing online and then printing off and realised when the defense came back that half of it was missing aghhhhh that cost me 40 quid to put right and all this time for the dj to finally accept that i could send the amendements. i have also done an aq and taken to court. i was offered a mediation service by the dj and declined. thomson have more than enough time for mediation.

 

If you would like to see their defense or you might be able to help me with it then i can post up but I thought it was absolutely rubbish even to my untrained eye..

 

I could not find the case law above that you quoted so if you have any other places i can find it would be grateful. keep you updated.

 

even though the claim is joint as it was my husband and i that had a ruined honeymoon, do we both have to attend court to give evidene? or can i attend alone? i am under the assumption that i can attend alone and put my case forward.

[Thailand]

Well you didn't find the latter because it was actually Jarvis v Swan Tours Ltd (1973) 1 ALL ER 71. Sorry, but the link is here:

 

Jarvis -v- Swans Tours Ltd, Court of Appeal, 1972, lawindexpro

 

I had a quick skim, but I'm no good at this sort of thing, and not sure it's relevant, but have a read.

 

Trying to find the other which I think definately is.

 

Do post up their defence, might as well.

[Thailand]

I can't find anything on line. I'm looking for Currie v Magic Travel Group (Holidays) Ltd [2001] CLY 446.

 

From a book (someone please let me know if I need to remove this)

 

Most tour operators specify in their booking conditions that 'special requests' are not guaranteed. See Moore v Thompson Holidays (1998). In Currie v Magic Travel a couple booked a holiday at a hotel in Spain described as being in the 'platinum' category in the brochure. They specifically requested a quiet room. The brochure indicated that such requests were not guaranteed but that Magic Travel would use its best endeavours to satisfy them.

 

They were given a room above the kitchen and adjacent to the restaurant. they were told that there wasn't another room available in the hotel. The court held that the room allocation could not be described as quiet, no matter how subjective the term was. Magic Travel had not only failed to make all endeavour to provide a quiet room but their contractual arrangements with the hotel meant they could not do so.

 

Currie won as above.

 

As I said, I'm no good at this, but that sounds familiar with your case. Have a look at the misrepresentation act and the 1992 regs to see if there is anything in there also ( I having re-read your post, but didn't you pay extra for this noise!)

[Muffintop]

the defendant admits the claimant booked a cruise holiday onboard the thomson destiny via its call centre located in newcastle.the holiday was chosen from the thomson cruises brochure and was entered into subject to al relevant warranties, representations, terms and conditions contained therin.

 

the defendant is unable to admit or deny the claimant asked for a quiet and peaceful holiday or that the claimant advised the defendants representative she suffered from a disability requiring sleep. the defendant would state, however, that any advise given in relation to noise onboard the cruise shop would have come from personal experiences and advise contained within the brochure. advise in relation to noise experienced onboard can be found in the brochure within the booking information section , sub section 'your cruise' and states as follows:

 

There is always a degree of background noise on a ship which amy be exaggerated during manoeuving or adverse weather conditions. cabins in the centre part of the ship and on higher decks tend to be less affected by background noise.

 

excuse me but doenst this statement incriminate them.. we were on a higher deck and there were no adverse weather conds infact the noise was nothing to do with the manoeuving of the ship is was due to entertainments

in light of this the defendant denies any claim of misrepresentation as a result of any advice given by its representative to book a cabin on a higher deck.

 

the defendant would also state a cruise shop is a moving vessel therefore will experience noise in its general day to day operation. thefore it would be unreasonable to expect a cruise holiday without some form of noise being experienced.

 

Again what the hell has this statement got to do with my complaint

The defendant offers within its brochure deck plans of all its cruise ships. this confirms the location of cabins and amenities onboard incuding the location of bars, restaurants and entertainment loungers. the deck plan confirms the claimants cabin is located on the deck beneath the gym and sauna. on the same deck as blakes bar and above the can can lounge. this information was availabletothe claimant before entering into a contract wit the defendant or at any time before travelling on the holiday.

 

yes maybe, but i asked for a lower cabin initially a cheaper cabin on lower decks and when i explained my needs was talked into the higher cabin as it would be quietier.

the defendant is unaware of any other passenger complaints made during the claimants holiday in relation to excessive noise from the entertainments facilities having checked all 20 other cabins ocuied int he same area as the claimants cabin. the claimant is therefore put to strict proof of the excessive noise experienced.

 

just because no one else made a formal complaint does not mean that there was not excessive noise.. we made a complaint and this was noted, have they written to all other occupiers of the other 20 cabins and asked them if there was any excessive noise.

the defendant avers that it administered the claimants booking entirely within the obligations placed upon it by the terms and conditions towhich the booking is subject. it would appear the claim has arisen as a result ofthe claimants expectations rather than any form of misrepresentation of breach of contract.

 

the defendant denies that it is liable to the claimants expectations rather than any form of misrepresentaiton or breach of contract.

 

 

 

**************************************************

 

Comments pse

[Guest Old_andrew2018]

Any update

[Muffintop]

Finally After Ringing The Court For A Date. Got An Aq From The Judge. Again Asking Me If I Will Go For Mediation.... No I Wont. So Taking It Into Court Next Friday With Fee And The Ball Rolling Again Stay With Me

[bigkacker]

How did you get on with your claim?

 

Did you win?

[dorsetmokey]

Finally After Ringing The Court For A Date. Got An Aq From The Judge. Again Asking Me If I Will Go For Mediation.... No I Wont. So Taking It Into Court Next Friday With Fee And The Ball Rolling Again Stay With Me

 

 

 

I have a similar problem with Mark Warner.. to cut a long story short a holiday from hell and now a travel solicitor involved . MW reneging on a previous offer of theirs to settle for £500 now only offering 250 plus a useless voucher.

If I take this all the way to court can I refuse mediation based on their unreasonable behaviour so far? Obviously I will want to increase the settlement beyond £500 for the stress time and inconvenience caused in compiling court papers etc. Any ideas? Many thanks

[Muffintop]

sent another letter to legal team for thompson asking if they wanted to settle out of court.

 

They wont have it and have quoted some case law. and threatened that they will apply for costs.

 

They say that I didnt tell them at the time that it was my honeymoon (despite the fact i booked a honeymoon package) and also i did not tell them i had a disability and wanted peace and quiet.

 

i need to know how to set out my own costs can anyone tell me how to do this and how to ask for it?

[Muffintop]

My letter from thomson says

we have considered the contents of your letter but cannot agree that your position is entirely reasonabhle, we must advise therefore that we will not be increasing the offer previously made by our customer services dept.

 

under the principles of contract law, the courst will only allow the recovery of losses which were, or ought to have been in the contemplation of the parties at the time of the contract was entgered into. unless this can be established then no aware will be made as the losses will beconsidered to be too remote. in this regard your attendion is drawn once again tot hecase of kemp v intasun 1987 and thecase of hadley v baxendale 1854.

 

given that you did not disclose your condition at the time of entering into the contract and that we wid not possewss specific knowledgte of the same, we are of the opinion that the court will accewpt this position and that no aware will be made.

 

we are also willing in the even that you discontinue your claim, to refund your court issue and allocation fee. in the ejven howebver that you continue with your claim we reserve the right to seek a contribnution to our costs in the event your action is unsuccessful or the aware made is less than theoffer previously made.

[Muffintop]

i need some help to lay out costs can anyone help-

[ALFIE1978]

any news?