Just been on a cruise holiday paid my full balance before

Does the payment specifically show up as being taken by the ship, rather than the travel agent? I also wanted to make you aware that this is not always an instant service, due to various legal engagements I could have and I may not be able to reply immediately. However, rest assured that I am dealing with your query and will get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks.

So when you contacted the ship, have they explained what the debit was for?

Ok thanks. First of all, I am sorry to hear about the issues brought up by this. It must be a frustrating situation to be going through. It looks like you are completely stuck in the middle between 2-3 different parties.

I appreciate that it is something you want resolved ASAP but you need to establish what has happened first and who has the money, before you can determine which way to go and who to pursue.

Start with the bank, to see whether the money has definitely left your account and not just stuck in cyberspace in their systems and has been transferred to the recipient. Once they have confirmed that, you can use that information to approach the ship to challenge them and state that the money has been confirmed as being transferred to them and they are the ones who now owe you.

The travel agent may help you in negotiations and to try and put pressure on the ship but they won’t be legally liable for this as it was not them who took the money.

If it transpires that the ship has it and they are unwilling to return it, you can eventually consider taking legal action to try and recover it.

If money is owed by one party to another, the debtor can potentially be taken to court to try and force them to pay up. However, as legal action should only be used as a last resort, there are certain steps that should be taken initially to try and resolve this matter informally and without the need to involve the courts. It is therefore recommended that the following steps are taken in order to try and resolve this:

1. Reminder letter – if no informal reminders have been sent yet, one should be sent first to allow the other party to voluntarily settle this matter.

2. Letter before action – if informal reminders have been sent but have been ignored, the other party must be sent a formal ‘letter before action’ asking them to resolve this amicably within a specified period of time – 14 days is reasonable. They should be advised that if they fail to make contact to resolve this matter, formal legal proceedings will be commenced to pursue them for the money that is owed. This letter serves as a ‘final warning’ and gives the other side the opportunity to resolve this without the need for legal action. There are numerous templates available online for such letters and a simple search will bring up a list of useful results.

3. If the letter before action is also ignored, formal legal proceedings can be initiated. A claim can be commenced online by going to https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome. There will be a fee payable, which depends on the amount that is claimed. The debtor will eventually get a copy of the claim and they will have a limited time to answer it. They could accept it and pay what is owed, they could accept it only in part and defend the rest, or they could outright reject it. They could also completely ignore it, in which case judgment will eventually be entered automatically against them. Also, it is worth noting that the simple act of submitting a claim could show the debtor that this is being taken seriously and prompt them to consider negotiating a potential solution to stop the claim progressing further, such as offering full or partial repayment.

Hopefully, I have answered your query in a way that is simple and easy to understand. If anything remains unclear, I will be more than happy to clarify it for you. In the meantime, thank you once again for using our services.