TUI refuses £6,300 refund after family’s ‘nightmare’ Spain holiday | UK | News
A family who booked an all-inclusive holiday to Spain said they were devastated after TUI initially refused to allow them to transfer the trip or get a refund when their 18-year-old daughter was diagnosed with a heart condition shortly before departure.
The holiday was planned to celebrate the fact that both of the family’s 18-year-old children were at university.
But the trip was thrown into doubt after the teenager was diagnosed with prolonged QT syndrome, a heart rhythm disorder that requires further medical investigation.
Don’t write TelegramThe family said they quickly realized they wouldn’t be able to get travel insurance while doctors were still assessing the situation.
They said: “We were supposed to set out on June 17, but we couldn’t go due to reasons beyond our control.
“Despite numerous communications with TUI the company has refused our request to reschedule our holiday or even allow us to sell it, meaning we are now facing a loss of £6,320.
“This is devastating for us and deeply disappointing for our children, who have never had the opportunity to spend many holidays abroad before.”
The family said they contacted TUI immediately after the diagnosis and received a “No Travel” certificate from a medical professional.
Despite this, they claimed that the travel company rejected their request to postpone the holiday because the situation was still under investigation.
According to the family, TUI said on May 20 that it could not confirm the transfer because the disease could not be diagnosed.
They argued that this created an impossible situation.
Describing the experience as both “stressful” and “discouraging”, officials said they feared the company’s approach might encourage some travelers to vacation without insurance or withhold important medical information when applying for insurance.
After the newspaper intervened on behalf of the family, TUI reversed its stance and agreed to refund the cost of the holiday.
A TUI spokesman said: “We appreciate that this is a worrying time for the family, given the circumstances surrounding their daughter’s health.
“We are pleased to confirm that the issue has now been resolved directly with the customer.”
