General Terms & Conditions




 

 


of slowMosel - travel event services

In addition to the statutory provisions of the Travel Contracts Law (§§ 65a ff BGB German Civil Code) the following General Terms and Conditions will apply between you as a traveller and us as a travel organizer.

1 Conclusion of Travel Contract

1.1 On the basis of the description of our services and prices as mentioned on our homepage and print media you, with your booking (Registration), provide us with a binding travel contract. The registration can be made in writing, orally or electronically (online / by e-mail). The travel agreement will be concluded with our acceptance which does not require any particular form. You will receive a written confirmation, provided your travel application does not reach us less than 7 working days prior to the start of the travel.

1.2 If you register another passenger you are responsible for that person’s contractual obligations, in particular the payment of the travel price, as well as for your own obli-gations

1.3 If our acceptance or the contents of the travel confirmation deviate from your registration this represents a fresh offer on our part which binds us for 10 calendar days. The travel contract will be concluded on that basis if you declare your accep-tance. This can also be done by a payment.

1.4 Please notify us immediately if you have not received from us the travel docu-ments within 5 days after your application. In that case the travel documents will be send to you, receipt of payment provided, without further delay. In case you do not notify us and you are unable to travel due to lack of travel documents, we must treat this as cancellation on your part.






2 Payments

2.1 Our prices are valid and applicable to the agreed departure point in the Trier region and do not include VAT because as small enterprise we are exempt from sales tax.

2.2 All payments concerning the travel price are insured against insolvency as per § 651k BGB German Civil Code. That ensures that in case of our bankruptcy or insolvency the travel price paid by you will be reimbursed, if we are unable to provide travel ser-vices and necessary expenses with regard to a contractually agreed return journey will incur. In such cases, you have a direct claim against the insurance company named in the security certificate. The relevant insurance certificate will be send to you together with the travel confirmation and invoice. Payments should only be made after receipt of the security certificate unless the travel price does not exceed € 75.

2.3 If the conditions under Clause 2.1 are met payment of a deposit on the travel price has to be paid. The deposit, rounded to full Euro sums, amounts to 20 % of the total travel price, at least € 75 per registered participant. Premiums for a travel insurance, taken out by us on your behalf, as well as tickets for sport or cultural events, specially theatre, opera and musical tickets including any pre-sale or booking system fees are due latest at contract conclusion. These cannot be refunded if not made use of or in the event of cancellation (see clause 5.3.5).

2.4 Under the provisions of clause 2.1 the remaining amount is due 30 days before start of travel provided the journey can be carried out as set out in the confirmation but at the time of issue and delivery of travel documents at the latest. The total travel price must be paid prior to the despatch of travel documents.

2.5 In case outside service providers demand a payment on account to secure their services we are as an exception entitled to demand these on account payments from you prior to handing over of the security note. Furthermore, payment conditions for special and/or action travels can change provided we have mentioned such excep-tional arrangement in our travel announcement.

2.6 The payment procedure make it necessary that you always mention your travel registration number, date of travel and name of the persons who booked the trip. If the travel price is not fully paid in accordance with the agreed payment terms, prior to the begin of travel, we are entitled in accordance with § 323 BGB (German Civil Code) to back out from the contract and to demand compensation (§ 325 BGB (German Civil Code)) as per clause 5.3., provided that at this time a considerable fault on our part has become evident which would entitle you to terminate the contract.

2. 7 Cancellation, processing and transfer costs are due and payable within 14 days of receipt of invoice.

2.8 If payment is not received by the agreed date and we have to remind you, we are – not withstanding clause 2.5 – entitled to levy a collection expenses flat fee of 10 EUR per reminder plus statutory interest pursuant to §§ 286, 288 BGB (German Civil Code).




3 Services and Prices

3.1 The scope of our contractual services results from our service specification and the general indications stipulated in our advertising material or travel descriptions as well as the details of our travel confirmation. If you do not book directly with us but through third parties, these are not allowed to make agreements, provide information or make representations to alter the agreed content of the contract beyond which we pledged contractual services or inconsistent with our terms of reference. Location and hotel brochures, which are not published by us, are not binding for us and our obligations.

3.2 Additional agreements, such as special needs of the traveller, must be included in our confirmation.

3.3 To the extent that we offer services outside of our general offer, we shall, in our travel confirmation, expressively point out that such third party services are not within our responsibility and that we act merely as agents.

3.4 If we, for justified, considerable and unforeseen reasons, have at any time to amend details of our prospectus material or brochures, we shall, of course, notify you prior to booking.

3.5 If, after commencement of travel, for reasons outside our control certain services are not made use of, we shall not accept claims for part reimbursement of the travel price. As far as individual services cannot be made use of, we can strive for reim-bursement of expenses saved. This does not apply if a refund is contrary to legal or regulatory provisions. We may charge you, without further proof, a flat rate of 20 % reimbursed by the service provider. You are at liberty to prove lower costs.

3.6 Included in the tour price are the costs of transport personnel, fuel and all driven kilometres including sales tax. Possible costs for parking, road fees or accommodation costs are additional and are immediately payable against receipt.

3.7 The travel time counts from the agreed date of the passenger reception. If the passenger wishes to extend the originally planned time, the difference is to be paid in cash directly to the driver. As far as it is at all possible and in consideration of further orders or bookings to extend the time of travel, the costs will be charged as follows:
• Half day and picnic trips: per hour or part thereof 25 % of the total price (excluding third party services).
• Day trips: per hour or part thereof 10 % of the total price (excluding third party services).

4 Service and Price Changes

4.1 We expressly reserve the right to change the agreed content of the contract for any lawful purposes. Changes or deviations from the agreed contend of the contract that become necessary after the contract’s conclusion and are brought forward by us in good faith will be permitted unless they are substantially and adversely affect the overall form of the tour.

4.2 In the event of a price increase by more than 5% of the price as well as a signifi-cant modification of an essential service, you can withdraw from the contract or, as a permissible travel cancellation by us, you can demand to participate in an equivalent tour, if we are able to offer such tour from our side without additional cost to you. You are required to register such rights not later that 5 days after receipt of the notice of change. The written form is recommended for this.

4.3 Fair-weather clause: Picnic trips with the old-timer VW beetle car will only take place in fine weather, i.e. not on rainy days. In that case a modern car with climate control will be used while the picnic will be moved into a local winery’s cosy room.

5 Cancellation and Rebooking by Traveller

5.1 You may withdraw at any time before the trip’s start. The cancellation must be de-clared to slowMosel under the address mentioned in these General Conditions. In your own interest and to avoid misunderstandings, we strongly recommend that you declare the cancellation in writing. Decisive for the cancellation is the receipt of your notice of cancellation by us. Your cancellation will become valid as soon as you will have received from us a written confirmation.

5.2 If you cancel the travel agreement, do not start the travel at all or not on the agreed date, we can claim compensation for expenses and travel arrangements made. In calculating the compensation saved expenses and possible other uses of the service will be taken into consideration.

5.3 We are entitled to a lump sum to the compensation claim taking into account the proximity of the date of travel to the contractual agreed travel beginning in a percent-age of the tour price according to the following percentages of the tour price per per-son. You will be at liberty to prove to us that no or much less damage has occurred as stipulated in the cancellation fees outlined below. The compensation fee is calculated from the date of receipt of cancellation notice, rounded up to the full Euro, while the cancellation fees will amount to a minimum of 75 Euro per passenger.
• up to 42nd day prior to departure 20 %
• from 41st to 30th day before departure 30 %
• from 49th to 22nd day before departure 35 %
• from 21st to 15th day before departure 40 %
• from 14th to 7th day before departure 55 %
• from 6th to 3rd day before departure 65 %
• from 2nd day before departure or failure to travel 90 %

Tickets or other third party services already booked are always calculated at 100 % unless a resale is possible until the start of the event.

We reserve the right in particular, with concrete proof of a higher loss, to claim an amount in excess of the afore mentioned lump sum cancellation costs.

5.4 After conclusion of the contract there is no entitlement to carry out re-booking requests such as change of travel date, destination, point of departure or mode of transportation. Should we accept, however, your wish to change the arrangements previously agreed upon, we are entitled to a service charge in addition to resulting extra costs.

5.5 Your right to nominate a replacement traveller who enters your place with the same rights and obligations under the travel contract will not be affected. We may object to the admission of such replacement traveller if he or she will not be able to cope with the journey’s conditions or if legal regulations or administrative orders do not allow the participation. The costs associated with the occurrence of a replacement traveller will have to be borne jointly and severally by the originally registered traveller as well as his or her replacement. Without further proof we are entitled to the minimum costs of a lump sum of 25 Euro per replaced traveller.

5.6 Sofern bei Sonder- und Aktionsreisen im Einzelfall abweichende Stornierungs- und Umbuchungsbedingungen ausdrücklich vereinbart sind, gehen diese vor.

6 Cancellation by slowMosel

6.1 Until 30 days prior to departure, if we are unable to achieve the published mini-mum number of participants, we are entitled to withdraw from the contract and cancel the trip.

6.2 We will inform you immediately of an allowable cancellation as defined in the above provisions and if necessary will reimburse any payments on the tour costs already paid by you.

7 Termination and Force Majeure

7.1 We can terminate the travel contract without observing a notice period, if you or your registered tour participant for whom you are responsible (s. clause 1.2), and who despite a notice of caution disturbs the travel procedures or behaves in a manner con-trary to the travel contract. In the case of such termination by us we maintain our claim on the travel price. Possible excess costs for the journey home will have to be borne by the troublemaker himself. We will count in your favour, however, any unspent moneys as well as those advantages of another usage, including possible reimbursements by third party services.

7.2 If the journey, caused by force majeure, unforeseeable at the time of contract con-clusion, is considerably impeded, endangered or restricted, both parties can terminate the contract in accordance with the provisions for force majeure as outlined in § 651j BGB (German Civil Code). Legal consequences will be in accordance with law.

7.3 In the case of termination before commencement of the journey we will reimburse the paid travel price, however, we will deduct as compensation an appropriate amount for used or still to be used services.

8 Guarantee

8.1 In case we fail to deliver the contractually agreed service, you can , within reason-able time, request action to improve matters provided the expenditure involved remains reasonable. We are entitled to correct the situation by providing a substitute service at the same or higher level. You can only remedy matters yourself if you grant us reasonable time to rectify the matter. No time is necessary if rectification is not pos-sible or rejected by us or an immediate rectification is necessary because of a special interest on your part.

8.2 You can, after completion of the journey and for a period of a non-contractually agreed service, demand a reduction of the travel price. The latter is to be reduced in relation to the value of the journey at time of sale in fault-free conditions and the actual value.

8.3 If a journey, as a result of a defect service, is considerably impeded and we fail to come up with a rectification within a reasonable time, you can, within the legal provi-sions, pronounce a termination of the contract. We recommend the written form. There is no need for setting a time limit if rectification is impossible or rejected or if the termination of the contract is justified because of s special interest on your part. Nevertheless, you owe us that part of travel price, services of which have been used.

8.4 You may, without prejudice to the reduction or termination, demand compensation for breach of contract, unless the lack of travel is based on circumstances for which we are not responsible.

8.5 If the journey is not performed according to contract, you have only the legal guar-antee rights of remedies, reduction of the price, termination of the contract and dam-ages if you do not fail to report to us a lack which occurred during the journey without delay. The travel management will receive the complaint. Should it be impossible to get in touch with travel management, please, contact slowMosel or directly the service provider.

8.6 Claims for travel services not conforming to the contract have to be presented within one month after the contractual end of the journey. After the deadline, you can make valid claims only if you were prevented of meeting the deadline through fault of your own.

8.7 In the case of disruption to services, you are obliged under statutory provisions to do everything to mitigate the damage and to the alleviation of the problem and thereby limit the any resulting damage as much as possible.

8.8 We assume no liability for any loss of valuables or money. Our tour guide is not authorized to accept claims.

9 Liability and Limitation

9.1 Our liability for the services agreed upon is governed by the legal regulations and includes the conscientious trip preparations. the careful selection and monitoring of service providers and the accuracy of the prospectus, unless we have declared an amendment to the information in accordance with clause 3.4. We are liable for the proper performance of the contracted travel services, but not for information in brochures which are not published by us.

9.2 Our contractual liability for damages other than physical damages is limited to three times the tour price, provided that the damage was not caused deliberately or through gross negligence by us or is based only on the service provider’s responsibility, who was selected by us. Limiting liability or liability excluding legal regulations which are based on international conventions and on which a service provider selected by us relies, also apply in our favour.

9.3 Our liability in tort for damages that are not based on intend or gross negligence is limited to three times the tour price. The maximum liability applies per passenger and journey. Eventual additional claims under the Montreal Convention in connection with the luggage remain unaffected.

9.4 We are not liable for service disruptions, injuries or property damage in connection with services that are mediated as external services (such as sport events, theatre performances, exhibitions) if such services are clearly referred to in our service description or confirmation stating the arranging service provider as third-party services that, for you, they are not recognizable as part of our contractual services.

9.5 Your claims arising from injury to life, limb or health, or from an intentional or grossly negligent breach of duty by us or our agents shall expire in two years. All other claims under §§ 651c to 651f BGB (German Civil Code) expire in one year. The limita-tion period begins on the date the journey should have ended as per contract. Pending talks between us about the claim or the circumstances giving rise to the claim will sus-pend the limitation period until you or we refuse to continue negotiations. The limita-tion period shall expire no earlier than three months after the suspension.

10 Contract Obligations and Notes

10.1 Unless otherwise provided by contract you are responsible to reach the departure point not included in our package. If you do not know the departure point or this has not been clearly defined by us, you have to contact us in due time and ask for clari-fication.

10.2 In order to ensure the planned course of the trip, you must arrive punctually on the announced departure time. If you do not arrive on time and miss your trip. Any arising additional costs will be borne by you.

10.3 We are planning the trip carefully and endeavour to keep to this. However, unforeseen events can cause delays. In particular, delays cannot be excluded as indi-vidual cases due to temporary road congestion.

11 Travel Insurance

11.1 Travel insurance is not included in the price. We strongly recommend taking out such insurance when booking the trip. The premium is due with payment of the travel price (see clause 2.2). A later conclusion will become effective upon payment of the premium. A later conclusion is only possible within8 days after the date of the travel confirmation, in any case prior to commencement of the journey.

11.2 There is also the option to take out insurance to cover repatriation costs in case of accident or illness. For your safety we recommend total overall protection including luggage, accident, liability and travel health insurance.

11.3 For trips with the Volkswagen Beetle we expressively point out that the vehicle is an Old Timer of over 50 years and that it is not equipped with today’s standard comfort and safety systems. For instance, the car does not have seat belts, headrests, or side impact protection.

12 Assignment Ban

An assignment of any claims on the part of the traveller on the occasion of the journey to a third party, for whatever reason, are excluded insofar as the conditions under Clause 1.2 are not met. Also excluded is the legal assertion in his own name.

13 General Provisions

13.1 The personal details that you have furnished us with in your capacity as client, will be noted and stored for the proper planning of the booked travel services in accordance with legal provisions concerning data protection. We will not disclose such information without your consent to third parties who are not involved in the process and implementation of the contractual services.

13.2 SlowMosel would like to inform you in writing and/or by e-mail about the latest offers and assumes your consent, unless it is obvious that you do not wish such infor-mation and that you do not want to make use of the opportunity to object to any use of your data. If you do not wish to receive information from us, please, let us know under the address mentioned at the end of text.

13.3 Transfer of data to state agencies and authorities takes place only within the framework of valid legislation.

13.4 With the release of new promotional materials and brochures all our previous publications lose their validity.

13.5 If any of these terms and conditions are to become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions shall not be affected.

13.6 Smoking and the consumption of own meals is not permitted in our vehicles.

14 Court of jurisdiction is Trier

The Terms and Conditions of this contract and the entire legal realtionship between us as tour operators and and travel customers are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The above are the terms and condions of the tour operator:

slowMosel
Cusanusstrasse 27
54294 Trier, Germany

Owner: Tillmann Otto

as of: January 2013

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