Our general terms & conditions
1. Booking
With sending the booking form you are making an offer to enter into a contract with us. You may use our electronic form, post it or fax it to us. By sending you the booking confirmation we are accepting your offer and therefore there is a binding contract between us.
2. Payment/'Fair Price'
With acceptance we send you a written confirmation including the first invoice covering the deposit (50% of the 'Fair Price'). We call our quotes Fair Prices because they represent the effort we put into organizing your cycling holiday in Germany or Austria.
After your holiday we send you the final invoice for the remaining amount. In doing so we allow you to pay up to 20% more or less, depending on how satisfied you are with our service.
In the case of both the deposit and the final payment please pay within a week. You may pay by bank transfer or by sending us a cheque.
3. Cancellation/rebooking
a) You may cancel your booking at any time before the beginning of your cycling holiday in Germany or Austria. Please tell us as soon as possible. If you cancel more than 42 days before the start of the tour we deduct an administration charge of £30 (€35) of the Fair Price and if you cancel less than 42 days before the start we deduct 50% of the Fair Price. If applicable, the remaining deposit will be returned.
b) As we are faced with similar efforts, this also applies to rebooking (i.e. switching to another Mercurio cycling holiday).
c) If you cancel but either you or we find a suitable person as a replacement, we make only an administration charge of £30 (€35). By 'suitable' we mean someone of the same gender and with the same accommodation requirements and attitude to smoking.
d) If you leave a Mercurio cycling holiday once it has started you will be entitled to a refund of any amount we save as a result of your leaving.
e) If within two weeks of receiving the booking confirmation you are unable to book return tickets between your country and an airport near the cycle route, you are entitled to cancel your booking. Any deposit will be returned.
f) Mercurio Bike Travel reserves the right not to accept nor allow to continue as a participant any person whose physical condition, health or actions impede the operation of a tour or affect the welfare, rights or enjoyment of other participants. In the unlikely event that such a person is required to leave a tour it will be treated as leaving a tour early. (See para. 3d.)
4. Health requirements
We describe our holidays as 'active' holidays because we cycle between 15 and 45 miles a day. You are responsible for being suitably fit and healthy. Nevertheless we ask you to inform us in advance of any physical conditions or disabilities that could endanger you or other participants.
5. Insurance
We advise you to take out comprehensive health insurance, including sufficient coverage for repatriation and additional hospital and medical expenses. Thus we strongly recommend that you review your health and personal insurance to meet the needs of you and your family in case of any loss of property, accident or injury during the trip.
6. Itinerary
The extent of our services is described in every online tour description, which you can also print out. The itinerary can be adapted on your request or as local conditions demand (e.g. weather, changed opening hours, changed ferry schedules). We shall inform you in advance in such an event.
Furthermore we shall not be liable for any drawbacks as the result of unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control such as strikes, war, civil or political unrest, border closure, quarantine restrictions, government actions or what is usually known as 'force majeure'.
7. Financial protection
In accordance with German and British law the deposits of all passengers booking with us are fully protected in the event of the insolvency of Mercurio Bike Travel. You receive the relevant certificate along with your first invoice.
8. Cycle hire
The equipment supplied, including all accessories, is provided on a hire basis. The hirer undertakes not to misuse the equipment and to return it with all accessories. The hirer agrees to use the lock provided and to lock the bicycle to an immoveable object every time the hirer is not with the bicycle. Our guides will help you to keep the equipment in a safe place.
9. Final clause
If any one of these terms and conditions should be or become ineffective it shall not affect the validity of the other terms and conditions nor the contract as a whole.
Zwickau, Germany; 25 June 2014