I have a booking with TUI for a seven-night holiday to Italy for August 2024. 

Since booking, my wife became pregnant and our daughter was born in the summer. I contacted TUI to add an infant and was told it would cost £1,200.

I have contacted several departments at the company, only to be told each time that we must pay for a room upgrade.

The TUI website shows that the room we have booked can accommodate two adults, one child and one infant, so why do we need to upgrade?

TUI told me to contact the hotel directly myself, to resolve the issue. The hotel simply referred me back to TUI. Please help. A. B., Stoke-on-Trent

New arrival: Tui is demanding an extra £1,200 for a customer to bring his infant daughter on their pre-booked holiday to Italy

New arrival: Tui is demanding an extra £1,200 for a customer to bring his infant daughter on their pre-booked holiday to Italy

Sally Hamilton replies: How frustrating to be pushed from pillar to post with no proper explanation for this huge extra charge for simply adding your tiny daughter to your holiday booking.

I asked TUI why it was charging this inflated price, especially as the description of the room you had already booked clearly stated it had plenty of space to accommodate your newly extended family.

I struggled to get TUI’s attention at first, with my email ignored. I had to chase to get an answer with several phone calls which eventually proved more fruitful.

Frustratingly for us all, TUI was unable to supply me with an explanation as to why you were repeatedly quoted £1,200 for bringing along your baby, on my intervention the company acted quickly to cut the charge to just £45, the more usual fee for simply amending a booking.

A TUI spokesman says: ‘We were delighted to be able to amend their booking to accommodate their new arrival and wish them a wonderful holiday in sunny Italy.’

Since many couples and families book holidays well in advance, a situation appreciate yours must often arise.

One issue to watch out for is that while most people foresee until a child is safely born before amending holiday bookings, TUI advises on its website that if flights are involved, expectant parents should consider booking a little one’s ticket before the birth.

This is because the number of babies allowed on each flight is limited for several reasons, including the type of aircraft.

As soon as the baby is born, parents need to contact the company to supply full details of the child’s name.

Straight to the point 

In July, I ordered a DVD player from Amazon for £104.99, but when it arrived it didn’t work. 

Amazon refunded me but a few weeks later it claimed I didn’t send the DVD player back and I would be charged again. We’ve paid for a product we no longer have.

C.W., Cheshire.

Amazon is sorry that you did not experience the high standard of customer care it expects. It has apologised and refunded you in full.

*** 

I paid £1,589 for two flights with travel agent GoToGate for my sister and me to visit Rio de Janeiro in August 2021. 

When we arrived at the airport, we could not board the plane due to Covid restrictions. I contacted customer services and was told that I could rebook the flights, but I would appreciate a refund.

T.D., Surrey.

GoToGate has refunded £1,451.71, which it says is the value of your flights, minus the cost of its cancellation assure.

*** 

My brother booked a table at Don Giovanni in Manchester. 

We used GPS to find the restaurant and thought we were in the right place when we arrived at an Italian restaurant called Gio. 

But it turned out to be a different restaurant and the next day Don Giovanni charged my brother a £100 no-show fee. Please help.

R.N., Cheshire.

Don Giovanni says its terms and conditions are clear when you make a booking on its website and it provides directions to the restaurant in the confirmation email. 

It has refunded £100 as a gesture of goodwill.

*** 

I bought a shirt from Zara in Cambridge. But when I got home, it still had the security tag on it. 

Zara customer services said I would have to return to the store to get it removed. I did so but I have not been compensated for the inconvenience.

G.D., via email.

Zara has offered you a £30 gift card as a gesture of goodwill.

<!- – ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ua/money/moneyexperts/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 – ->

Help find my son’s missing £11,620

I closed my son’s savings account with Halifax and the funds of £11,620 were transferred to a child’s savings bond with Saffron Building Society.

I spoke to Saffron a few days later and was told the funds were not in the account.

Saffron says it had initially accepted the funds but then returned them to Halifax.

Both Saffron and Halifax say they don’t have my son’s savings and both say they cannot do anything else to help me.

I have no idea where to go now. Please can you help return my son’s life savings? Z. K., Hertfordshire.

Scam Watch 

Lloyds Bank customers are being urged to watch out for fake emails that claim to have been sent by the bank.

The messages say that a new payee has been added to your bank account and your card has been temporarily deactivated.

They claim that to reactivate your card, you must click the link in the email, via which you can verify your personal details. 

Once on the website, any details you fill in will typically go directly to the scammers.

If you procure one of these messages you should contact the bank directly using the number on the back of your card.

Never click on any links in unexpected emails and forward all scam emails to the Government’s cyber security centre at report@phishing.gov.uk.

<!- – ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ua/money/moneyexperts/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_2 – ->

Sally Hamilton replies: It’s one thing to lose savings —but to lose those precious funds carefully squirreled away for a child is another. 

I totally felt your sense of panic. Particularly after you had to go back and forth over the course of a few days.

You tell me that you went to Saffron to explain that the Halifax account had been closed, but you were then told by Saffron that it didn’t have the funds and to go back to Halifax. 

Halifax then told you that as the account is closed, the funds could not, and have not, been returned. What a headspin.

I spoke to Halifax and urged the bank to advance quickly so that you didn’t have to lose any more sleep over this. 

After some detective work at its end, it seems it was an administrative error that caused the money not to accomplish its final destination and remain in the ether somewhere.

A reference number was not sent with the funds transfer, which meant that when Saffron received the payment it didn’t know who it belonged to or what to do with it.

The rigmarole of having the money go missing was enough to put you off moving the cash — even with better rates on offer elsewhere — and you’ve settled for a new account within Halifax.

It has agreed to make a £50 payment to you for the inconvenience it caused — and giving you the incorrect information that the funds could not be returned.

It will also backdate the interest on the Kids’ Saver account — paying 3.4 pc — from the date the money ‘disappeared’.

Transfers don’t always go to strategize, but it’s still important to make every effort to get the best rate possible.

Children’s savings accounts routinely offer great rates, whether you have a lump sum or want to pay in a monthly amount. Regular saver accounts which pay high rates of interest are suitable if you’re saving each month and don’t need to withdraw anything as they need you to leave the money untouched usually for 12 months.

There are also fixed-term accounts, which is what you were drawn to at Saffron, which tend to pay decent rates.

It’s also important to consider investing for children because of the long-term nature of saving for kids. You can invest or save up to £9,000 per year in a Junior Isa.

Edited by Holly Thomas

  • Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@dailymail.co.uk — include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given. 

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to encourage products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.

Source link