A STRATHEARN woman could have wept when she discovered the firm she had booked her holiday through had gone bust.
Jackie Mowat, from Comrie, was disgusted to discover Travel company Sun4U had collapsed two days before she was due to go to Ibiza.
The community centre manager was looking forward to the well-deserved holiday after a spate of bad luck, which included her daughter being involved in a car accident, but she is now out of pocket to the tune of £1430 for her accomodation and taxi transfers.
Whats worse is that a few days before she was due to go, and unaware of the difficulties the company were in, Jackie phoned them to ask if she could upgrade the hotel after reading some bad reviews about her original choice.
The company happily took an extra £162 for the upgrade, said Jackie giving no indication that it was in any difficulties. I cant believe that they took the extra money.
Jackie only found out about the bankruptcy when she phoned her colleague to remind him that she would be off. He jokingly said I hope its not with one of those companies thats gone bust. I dont watch the news so didnt know what he was talking about but I was devastated when I found out it was the company I had booked through.
We got the accomodation vouchers through on the morning of August 11 and the company announced they were going into liquidation that night.
Undeterred Jackie thought she might be able to at least salvage her flights as she had booked them separately through a different company. She phoned both hotels directly to see if they still had bookings for her.
The original choice had no record of a booking ever having been made and the one she had upgraded to said they had had an enquiry but were fully booked. Unable to find other suitable accomodation to tie in with her flight times Jackie has also had to forfeit what she paid for these as well .
She added: Trying to get through to ATOL (the financial protection scheme for holidaymakers) is a nightmare. One minute youre going on holiday and the next youre not and you cant get through to anyone to find out whats happening
And Jackie is still waiting to hear if she can recoup the accomodation money through her credit card but has been told there is a clause that any claims should be made within six months of the transaction: the holiday was booked in January.
I feel cheated, added Jackie, especially since they took the extra money from us as they were folding.
However, she counts herself lucky that she found out before she left and wasnt amongst the 1200 unfortunate holidaymakers who were left stranded abroad when the company ceased trading.
