Furious mum slams lowcostholidays for taking her money HOURS before announcing liquidation
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A MUM-OF-TWO has slammed lowcostholidays for taking nearly £400 in a holiday instalment HOURS before announcing they had gone bust.
The mum paid the remaining £369 for an Ibiza holiday with her partner and sons on Friday morning.
She had already paid an £800 deposit on their October holiday and was appalled to find out her accommodation had been cancelled hours after forking out more cash.
She told The Sun Online: "Apparently they were taking bookings right up until four o'clock, knowing it was going to happen but continuing to take people's money and bookings."
The mum-of-two says Ryanair confirmed their flights have been booked - but the hotel says there is not room for the family to stay on the dates their holiday is booked and she still does not know for certain whether her booking was ever made.
She explained: "We've got no accommodation, no all-inclusive deal, I've got to get two passports, transfers and travel insurance.
"I'm pretty sure I've lost it as on the website it advises you to double check flights, but says they should be secure, and says accommodation should be arranged."
Shockingly she says she heard the company had gone bust through a travel agent friend hours before it was officially announced.
She said: "My partner went on their website and was waiting for news to come up for an hour, during which time they were still taking people's bookings.
"They would have known for a few days prior they were going into administration yet they've continued to take people's money."
She says she is lucky friends have offered to help the family pay for their break and said she couldn't believe such a big, popular company was not ATOL protected.
She added: "It's meant to be our first holiday together as a family and my little one is turning four when we're supposed to be out there.
"I've gone from being on a really good high to one a really bad low - I was sobbing my heart out on Friday for two hours.
"We are going to really struggle financially and are going to have to restrict ourselves while out there - something we did not want to be worrying about.
"I'm really disgusted with lowcostholidays, and I've still not received any form of email stating this has happened or an apology."
The woman, from Edinburgh found out her hotel in Fuerteventura had not been paid for after lowcostholidays went bust when she was at the airport ready to depart.
Another couple saved for months to go on a two-week holiday this summer and a trip to Florida in September.
Ten minutes before the pair took off for the Canary Islands, she found out through Facebook the company had gone bust and their £1,100 hotel booking was up in the air.
She told The Sun Online: “I got on the plane in floods of tears and called our parents to phone up the hotel and see if it was booked.
“It seemed like the hotel hadn’t been paid for at all and my parents and my boyfriend’s parents had to put money in our accounts to pay for it when we arrived.”
She said the pair desperately tried to get hold of the hotel to explain what had happened after landing in the Canary Islands in the hope they would not have to fork out another £1,000 – but struggled with a language barrier.
After eventually arriving at the hotel the 21-year-old was told the company doesn’t pay for bookings upfront and was made to fork out the thousand pounds again.
In another blow to the young couple, they also discovered a £600 hotel they had paid for through lowcostholidays.com in Florida was not booked.
The devastated holidaymaker said the young couple is now struggling to enjoy the break they have been looking forward to for months as they are worried about how they will pay back their parents.
She says she has still not received a call or an email from the company to explain what happened and has no idea whether her Florida booking will be valid, or whether she will get her money back.
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Even worse, the couple forked out for holiday insurance on top of their trip – which doesn’t cover the travel company going bust.
Thousands of Brits are still waiting to hear if they will be stranded abroad after the company went into administration on Friday.
Tourists across the globe are battling with hotels demanding thousands in cash owed for bookings, while around 27,000 furious customers remain stranded overseas.
Another 110,000 bookings - which could be over 300,000 customers - lost planned holiday bookings or are being forced to fork out the cash again.
The company has blamed its demise on the fall of the pound, Brexit and a decrease in bookings to destinations such as Turkey, Egypt and Orlando.
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