A WIDOWER has branded one of the UK’s biggest holiday firms “disgusting” after they charged a £400 cancellation fee following his wife’s death.
Devastated Nigel Cook paid a £600 deposit for a holiday with TUI but his “baby girl” died of a stroke a month before they were due to fly.
Nigel, 48, from Beddau, near Cardiff, was offered a £200 refund and claims a TUI employee told him he was “lucky to get anything at all”.
Branding the firm “w*****s”, Nigel said their handling of the matter had made the death of his wife, Wendy, who was 59, a “thousand times worse”.
The couple booked their holiday to Antalya, Turkey, in January, and were due to fly out on September 1.
But Wendy, who had been in good health, suffered a stroke in March, followed by a second stroke in May. After three months in hospital she died on August 1.
When Nigel cancelled the holiday, TUI sent him a confirmation letter which detailed a £400 cancellation fee. He has refused TUI’s offer to return the remaining £200 of his deposit.
He posted on Facebook: “Fair play to Tui the holiday company. They felt It necessary to take £400 of me for the holiday I had to cancel because I lost my baby girl Wendy.
“How sick are these big companies? What a bunch of w*****s.”
He said today: “I’ve never felt so angry in all my life and I can’t feel like that because I feel I’ve already lost enough.
“When I contacted them I was told to provide proof of death, so I gave them her death certificate.
“I was told if I had taken out insurance at the time I would have got a full refund, but like everyone else does, I was planning on taking that out a month or so before we were due to fly out.
“I was told by TUI employees that I was lucky to get any money back at all.”
He added: “It’s absolutely disgusting. With the loss of my wife I’m already 1000 times worse off. I’ve lost my best friend in the whole world.”
On social media, Kathryn Edwards said: “Wtf disgusting hun.”
Anthony Morris commented: “No compassion, just company policy.”
Lynda Steinz said: “Absolutely disgusting Nigel!”
And Dicky Thorne said: “Scum. Sub-human scum.”
A spokesman for TUI said: “We’re sorry to hear of Mr Cook’s experience and his family’s situation.
“We would ask the customer to contact us directly so that we can look to resolve the situation.”
