A mum was refused a holiday refund for her nephew despite him being told he has one year left to live.
Ali Worrall booked a 10-day all inclusive holiday with Love Holidays to Calella in Spain for herself, her two children, niece, best friend, nephew, his partner, and their child in August 2022. But after Ali's 26-year-old nephew Lewis, had a PET scan he was told he had terminal cancer and only one year left to live.
The 39-year-old mum from Huyton got in touch with Love Holidays on March 4, 2023, to arrange a refund for her nephew Lewis, his partner, and their child. The refund for this holiday, which cost £4,159.58, was initially refused - but after being contacted by The ECHO Love Holidays said it recognised the initial quote was "not acceptable" and is working with the family to rectify this.
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Ali told The ECHO: "In November Lewis had a lung, part of his chest wall and two ribs removed and five or six weeks after that he was taken for a PET scan after they found a stray lymph node. On March 3 they said the lymph node was the size of a tennis ball and because the cancer had come back it was terminal.
"He's starting chemo and he won't be well enough to go on the flight, never mind go on holiday. I got in touch with them [Love Holidays] to ask about taking them off the holiday and they advised me to 'do a no show then try to claim from travel insurance'. I don't think that's right."
Ali then tried to see how much it would cost to change the names on the flight, in case they could find three other people to go with them.
She continued: "I tried to get in touch with the people we're flying with and they said it would cost £1590 just to change three names because of the difference in price between when we bought the tickets and now."
As Ali requested a change to the number of passengers on the booking rather than a full cancellation, Love Holidays’ hotel supplier re-quoted the booking based on live availability which came to an additional £72.53. In the case of customer illness or bereavement, Love Holidays is required to provide suppliers with proof of medical documentation to secure refunds on the customer’s behalf.
Ali said the whole situation with Love Holidays has been "stressful" for the family as she feels like they're "in limbo".
She said: "It's more like a breakdown because he only has a year left to live and we're trying to make sure him and his partner can get married before he dies. He's also just found out his partner is pregnant so any of that leftover money would be going towards their wedding or the children.
"We keep hitting walls and we're just in limbo."
A spokesperson for Love Holidays said: “We’re very sorry to hear of Ms Worrall’s nephew’s diagnosis and appreciate this is an incredibly distressing time for the whole family. We recognise the initial quote supplied was not acceptable and are reviewing our processes to ensure this doesn’t happen again. We’re working hard to secure a reduction in price from both the hotel and airline on Ms Worrall’s behalf, and will remain in touch with her until this is resolved.”
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