Si35:

The date by which the balance needed to be paid should have been made clear to you. If the date was clear and it was not paid in time, then by the t&c's, Welcome cottages can cancel and apply any changes noted. You will have to pay the full amount they have asked for, if this is covered by the t&c's.

Have you spoken to them, to say that you would like to book another cottage and use the money already paid towards this, explaining there was a mistake by you with the other booking.

If they are not being reasonable, ask them for the complaints process. You may be able to complain to ABTA as I see that they are members of this association.

You really need to examine all your documentation in detail to make sure it is clear about your responsibilities. If is not clear, then you may be able to challenge.

Huckster

My wife booked a weekend break for the end of september 2009 with Welcome Cottages in February 2009.

Having paid a deposit of £25 and taken out a £14 insurance policy a balance of £156 was left to be paid 6/8 weeks before the date of the break.

Being 7 months away at some stage she has forgotten the date for the balance to be paid. Thinking this to be the 17th August 2009 ( 6 weeks before break ), we were a bit miffed to recieve a letter from Welcome on the 18th August stating that under their T&C's our holiday had been cancelled and that they require full payment of the deposit balance ( £87.47 ).

Not actually wanting to cancel the break, my wife went onto their website where they have a "balance payment" section where you can pay off your holiday. When entering our booking number we were greeted with a message saying that "The booking ref/name is incorrect, please try again" trying again did not work, so we phoned them up to do it over the phone. We were then told that our holiday and been cancelled for non payment and that the deposit was requested, Welcome refused to take payment.

Further more, on checking their booking calender on the site, the period and cottage we would have been staying in had been rebooked.

We recieved a further letter from Welcome on the 1st of sept indicating that if we do not pay up within 14 days they will issue a claim against us.

Any advice? we never wanted to cancel the holiday, all it is, is a misunderstanding of payment dates. Yes we do have some responsibility for not checking, i was thinking of making an offer to Welcome via letter to pay half the balance, but dont really want to as the cancellation is not of our doing !! !