A FAMILY claim their caravan holiday was ruined after a company suddenly left them “high and dry”.
Luke booked a week away at Bunham-on-sea Haven Holiday Park in Somerset to celebrate his wife Michelle’s 38th birthday with their two-year-old daughter.
The week cost them £400 but Luke, from Lichfield, says his family has been left out of pocket and having to borrow money from Michelle’s parents.
Luke was left fuming after Haven allegedly didn’t find his family accommodation after a power cut forced the company to evict them last Thursday.
He’s now slammed Haven saying the company should have found them accommodation and paid for it to cover the rest of the holiday.
The care home maintenance worker, 38, said: “They left us really high and dry with it, which we think is really unacceptable.
“Who was booking the accommodation just went unsaid, but for me it’s so obvious.
“They know the local area. For me, that’s my expectation. I’m here, you’re looking after me.
“We have managed to continue our holiday after a lot of stress and carnage.”
Haven have offered the family a full £400, but it will take 28 days to process and the family have had to ask Michelle’s parents for £400 cash to cover a similar park nearby, but only for four nights.
He said his family asking for money was “not a pleasant thing to be on that side of things when you have it covered.”
On Wednesday they get a text while at the ‘Animal Adventure Farm’ saying that their caravan had lost power.
It was part of a wider outage at the site which supposedly left “hundreds” without electricity.
Luke and his family, who normally live on a narrowboat, said they were prepared for the power loss with lots of powerbanks.
He said: “I didn’t think it was going to end the holiday. I thought it was going to be a bump in the road and we would get over it.
“At the time we thought it was not ideal.”
IF a dream trip turns into the holiday from hell, make a stand and fight back for your cash.
Make sure you avoid getting ripped off if you don’t quite get the break you booked.
Lucy Alderson explains what your rights are when things go wrong.
PACKAGE PROTECTIONS
If your dream holiday turns into a total flop, you can hit back.
Under Package Travel Regulations, customers can seek compensation if a tour company does not deliver what has been advertised, if booked in the UK.
Cheryl Palmer, a lawyer with legal services firm Irwin Mitchell, said: “Package holidays provide a raft of protections for travellers.”
For example, if you are injured or get ill and it’s the fault of the hotel, or if the room isn’t as advertised, you can seek a payout.
Which? travel editor Rory Boland added: “You may be able to claim compensation — both for loss of value for the trip and loss of enjoyment.
“And if you incurred any extra costs as a result of the problem, you can claim for these, too.”
BOOK-IT-YOURSELF BREAKS
When booking travel and accommodation separately, you still have rights.
If you bought the trip through a UK company, you can try to claim your money back under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 if it has not provided what was promised, such as a clean room.
But if you booked your hotel directly and it is abroad, you will be dealing with the laws of that country.
Always use a credit card so there is the option of claiming under Section 75 of the act if anything goes wrong.
HOW TO COMPLAIN
Raise issues immediately with the hotel or tour operator.
They might try to put things right on the spot.
If they don’t, collect evidence, including clear photos and videos.
If you become ill or have an accident and believe the hotel or company is at fault, find out if anyone else is affected and get their contact details.
Also, make a note of any extra expenses you might have racked up.
Then send a letter of complaint spelling out why you are upset about your holiday and state how it was different to the advert.
If it is a package holiday, send this letter to the tour operator.
If your complaint is deemed justified, the company should then make an offer of compensation.
If you are not satisfied, take the complaint to travel industry trade association ABTA, or AITO — the specialist travel association — if you’re a package holiday customer.
For bookings directly with the hotel, complain to them.
If that fails, make a Section 75 claim against your credit card provider.
They became “concerned” when they were told the power wasn’t coming back on and by Thursday afternoon they had been told to leave the caravan park.
Luke said it seemed “bizarre” to him that they hadn’t been told to leave instantly if the company knew what the power problem was.
But he said things got worse when they couldn’t find accommodation nearby.
He said dwindling phone batteries and full-up and expensive accommodation with Glastonbury nearby made the mission difficult.
He was told his family was put on an “emergency list” and he told the company that “we have no money, we have nowhere to go, we need your help.”
A spokesperson for Haven said: “Last week a power outage affected some areas of our Burnham-on-Sea Holiday park.
“Due to the number of guests on park, there was limited availability of alternative accommodation, which was prioritised for those guests with accessibility and travel challenges.
“We apologise that on this occasion, we were not able to provide a different caravan, however, a full refund was provided.”
