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EVERY week, Tony Hetherington replies to readers' letters, adding comments, advice and the results of his enquiries.
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If you think you are a victim of financial mismanagement, or want advice before investing, write to Tony Hetherington, Financial Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS.
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Mrs P.B. writes: I read your recent report on Travel Quest of Exmouth, Devon. We were also offered a free holiday by this company in return for attending a sales promotion and paying £116.
After phoning it many times, we finally received a letter at lunchtime on a Wednesday telling us that our acceptance had to reach Travel Quest by 3pm on the Friday or the offer would be void.
The holiday was for four people. Each had to sign the acceptance and arrange copies of travel insurance, so time was scarce. I rang Travel Quest and said it was impossible to be sure it would all arrive in time. It was unsympathetic, so on the Friday we drove the 180 miles from Birmingham to Exmouth, handed Travel Quest the completed forms and asked for a timed receipt, which shows 2.44pm.
We were elated that we had made the deadline and would have our holiday. But next morning we received a letter from Travel Quest saying it was overbooked and the offer was withdrawn. I assume that it had hoped we could not meet the deadline so it would not have to provide the holiday.
TRAVEL Quest is a disgrace. It is almost beyond belief that your holiday was available just before 3pm on the Friday, but was somehow found to be overbooked in time for Travel Quest to write to you and catch the post that same afternoon.
I agree with you that the real aim was to make it impossible for you to have your holiday - and Travel Quest has attracted hundreds of complaints for doing exactly this.
People throughout the country have received letters saying they have been awarded a free holiday if they attend a timeshare presentation. And when they turn up, what they get is a voucher from Travel Quest that involves paying an administration fee and then accepting whatever holiday they are offered.
I am sure many people simply give up, and that Travel Quest was shocked when you turned up on its doorstep with your paperwork.
I bet someone had a laugh, imagining your face when you opened the cancellation letter next morning.
But as Travel Quest has been quick to tell me, its voucher rules let it do this. Travel Quest plays with its own dice, and they are loaded against you.
The company, which is not connected to travel firms with similar names elsewhere, has been well known as an ally of timeshare promoters for years.
It is run by Lisa De-Ville Bradshaw, a 35-year-old Australian with a luxury lifestyle built on 'administration fees' paid by thousands of would-be holidaymakers. She and her company are all too well-known to consumer watchdogs. Devon Trading Standards Office told me: 'It has become an increasing problem over the past few months.
'We and the Office of Fair Trading are considering whether this company uses unfair contract terms, and the other weapon in our armoury is Stop Now orders. Both are legal processes involving the civil courts.'
Just to complicate things, Travel Quest shares its Exmouth offices with a sister company called Travel Quest Direct, which is a member of the Association of British Travel Agents.
Not long ago I wrote that ABTA would live to regret letting Travel Quest Direct through its doors, and I was right. A spokesman told me: 'We are very concerned about the lack of transparency between the two Travel Quest companies based in the same office.
'Clearly this has given rise to a fair amount of confusion among members of the public, who feel they have protection from ABTA when in fact they are dealing with a non-ABTA member.'
ABTA has asked its member, Travel Quest Direct, to sort this out - but I think a simpler solution would be to kick it out.
While the OFT and Trading Standards officials are deciding whether Travel Quest's contracts are loaded against the public - which they are - you and anyone else who is treated as badly should add your weight to the complaints by contacting your own local Trading Standards Office.
But the real solution is for us all to treat holiday offers like this with suspicion. And in the case of Travel Quest, ditch them as soon as they arrive.
Charge for cash is correct
F.E. writes: I bought £500 worth of euros from travel company Going Places and paid with my Goldfish credit card in what I understood to be a normal purchase. But when I received my statement I found that the card company regards this as a cash transaction, so I am paying twice - once to Goldfish and again to Going Places.
EVERY card company charges a fee and/or interest for cash advances, whatever the currency.
You probably already know that if you walk into a bank and get cash on your card, this is treated as an instant loan with instant charges. Buying currency is the same.
The logic behind this is partly that card firms earn commission from the retailer if you use a card to buy goods. They do not earn commission if you draw cash, so they charge you.
Time Life slaps extra charge on dud videos
E.R.A. writes: I placed an order with Time Life for videos of the TV series M.A.S.H. and paid with my NatWest MasterCard. But when the tapes arrived they proved to be of extremely poor quality. While ordering, I was asked if I wanted any future titles and I said no, but to my anger, when my card statement arrived I found an extra £15.48 credited to Time Life.
I phoned the Time Life refund line constantly for three days without reply.
Then I contacted NatWest and was told it had received hundreds of similar complaints and would send me a fraud form so at least the £15.48 could be cancelled.
I ASKED Time Life, part of the giant AOL Time Warner media empire, to explain why it was impossible to get an answer from its refund line, and why NatWest should have received so many complaints.
But Time Life has not responded to requests for comments or an explanation.
This company clearly has serious problems, and anyone ordering goods from it should check their card statement carefully.
If other readers have also received faulty videos or been overcharged, I shall give Time Life a fresh chance to comment in the coming weeks.
