Holiday Refunds !!

[Hostahousey]

I recently had a one day coach break cancelled by a leading coach company due to the Pandemic. I was informed by the company that a voucher would be sent to me to claim a similar break after the Pandemic. I have emailed the said company 3 times requesting a refund as this break was a one off  birthday celebration , and I wouldn't be using them again. Their reply on each occasion was '' this is an agreed  government direction '' and a voucher would be sent ( which I have not received ) ….I wondered if anyone else was in the same position?

[alexp999]

Did you pay for it on credit card?

[TomsFocus]

Martin Lewis mentioned this in his last show.  He was saying that you are legally entitled to a refund from holiday companies, but enforcing that is the current issue.

He did also say that it's better to take vouchers if you can, to help companies stay afloat in the current situation.  Could you maybe have a belated birthday celebration once this is over instead?

[Hostahousey]

1 hour ago, alexp999 said:

Did you pay for it on credit card?

No debit card..don't like credit cards

[alexp999]

Just now, Hostahousey said:

No debit card..don't like credit cards

You may be able to pursue a chargeback with the bank if you have trouble getting a voucher or refund, but it's not as good as Section 75 protection with a credit card.

I literally only use my debit cards with the card readers for online banking, I don't remember the pin most of the time. 😅

[Hostahousey]

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

Martin Lewis mentioned this in his last show.  He was saying that you are legally entitled to a refund from holiday companies, but enforcing that is the current issue.

He did also say that it's better to take vouchers if you can, to help companies stay afloat in the current situation.  Could you maybe have a belated birthday celebration once this is over instead?

No could,nt take it latter due to medical problems.Which I did explain to the company

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Yeah, this is a bit of an issue which would benefit from some more clarification.

It's fine Martin Lewis saying "you're entitled to a refund, but it would help the industry if you take a voucher". A lot of people will now be in a position where an expensive holiday is something they can no longer afford and could use the money. Also, it's one thing being entitled to the refund, quite another to attempt to extract it from a travel firm who may not have the cash anyway.

 

 

[iantt]

I'm hoping my holiday canceled before I have to pay the balance remaining. Or I have to either pay the balance and wait till nearer the hol then they may cancel with full refund hopefully or I just go and cancel holiday and lose deposit. 

Will wait until the last few days before paying the balance then decide. 

[Stoney871]

Well I was due to go to Cyprus in May but highly doubtful it will go ahead.
Still not been cancelled by the travel company but no planes are flying so nothing I can be blamed for.
They better refund or I'm out £1500.
Travel insurance companies seem to be refusing to pay out now.

Sent from my SM-G965F

[Eric Bloodaxe]

3 hours ago, iantt said:

I'm hoping my holiday canceled before I have to pay the balance remaining. Or I have to either pay the balance and wait till nearer the hol then they may cancel with full refund hopefully or I just go and cancel holiday and lose deposit. 

Will wait until the last few days before paying the balance then decide. 

Yeah, we're pretty much in the same position with something we've booked - very annoying!😠

[Hostahousey]

Had an email from National Holidays sending a voucher ( which I said I didn't want ) but also stating that it might be able to refund monies instead of taking another holiday. In July.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

We've already had several things cancelled now due to Government Covid-19 restrictions. Refunds are being refused despite it being a legal requirement under the Package Travel Regulations. There is a petition running on the issue:

https://www.change.org/p/boris-johnson-give-customers-their-cash-refunds-on-coronavirus-cancelled-holidays

which anyone affected (and I'm sure most people will be in some way) may like to sign.

 

[iantt]

3 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

We've already had several things cancelled now due to Government Covid-19 restrictions. Refunds are being refused despite it being a legal requirement under the Package Travel Regulations. There is a petition running on the issue:

https://www.change.org/p/boris-johnson-give-customers-their-cash-refunds-on-coronavirus-cancelled-holidays

which anyone affected (and I'm sure most people will be in some way) may like to sign.

 

Well , if they are now refusing refunds, I'm definitely canceling my hol and say goodbye to the deposit. Luckily it was only £60 each. So going to lose £180. Better that than they keeping the £2600 final amount then get me to rebook at a later date. 

[sussamb]

They have to refund if they cancel although they'll try a voucher route first, but then they are in as much trouble as some others.  You're also covered if firms go bust provided you booked a package holiday under the ATOL/ABTA scheme so I wouldn't give up your deposit.

 

https://www.abta.com/news/abta-provides-further-industry-and-customer-guidance-refunds

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Problem is it you're in a similar position to Ian (and me), you're faced with the choice of losing the deposit, or making the final payment for a holiday which may yet be cancelled due to coronavirus restrictions.  By then you're in the territory of having to reschedule for another date which you may not want (you might have booked a holiday for a special occasion for instance) or waiting for an extended period to get your cash back under a "refund credit note". In the meantime the holiday industry is getting through it's cash flow difficulty using our cash.

The other thing they're trying on at the moment is getting you to attempt a claim on your travel insurance, travel insurers are just referring you back to the holiday operator to claim the refund you're legally entitled to. As if people didn't have enough financial worries at the moment!

 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

3 hours ago, iantt said:

Well , if they are now refusing refunds, I'm definitely canceling my hol and say goodbye to the deposit.

I'd recommend discussing it with your travel company before coming to a decision, Ian. Apparently there are some operators who are offering refunds - unfortunately not the ones I've booked with!😠

[iantt]

Well, I couldn't get through to jet2. So we came to the decision to cancel the hol, as realistically no one is going to be going on hol by July. And wasn't going to risk jet2 having my final balance payment off me on Friday  then drag out giving it me back . 

So i managed to cancel the holiday online without trying to contact jet2.

So now sit and wait over the summer and see what happens. 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Apparently there's now about £7 billion tied up in cancelled holidays,flights etc. The issue has had a lot of TV and press coverage in the last few days calling for government action, so perhaps something might happen.

[Hostahousey]

Anyone had a refund? Ive tried and tried to contact ,but cant get anywhere .Even my bank (on line ) just cant get anywhere , just the stupid CHAT talking to a machine. really peees me off . 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

1 hour ago, Hostahousey said:

Anyone had a refund?

We've had a bit of success since I last posted here. Unfortunately we'd booked more breaks/holidays than usual this year because of special aniversaries, birthdays, etc. Got a refund on some train tickets (without much bother)  and a holiday (after 8 weeks of trying and letters, emails, phone calls etc during which they tried to fob us off with credit notes.

We're still being given the runaround on several other things though, and are waiting to see what happens on something that is scheduled later in the year (for which we've paid a deposit) but we're pretty sure will be cancelled, so will be trying to recover the deposit. Quite a few firms will acknowledge that legally you are due a refund, but say they just can't afford to do it because of their financial position. 

 

[Hostahousey]

I'm still hitting a brick wall cant get through to anyone , Bank ,travel company . I have forwarded emails but just getting a load of woffal back that does not lead anywhere. Anyone had any luck.

[Hostahousey]

Anyone had one ?

[Eric Bloodaxe]

6 hours ago, Hostahousey said:

Anyone had one ?

 

On 6/15/2020 at 11:06 AM, Eric Bloodaxe said:

We've had a bit of success since I last posted here. Unfortunately we'd booked more breaks/holidays than usual this year because of special aniversaries, birthdays, etc. Got a refund on some train tickets (without much bother)  and a holiday (after 8 weeks of trying and letters, emails, phone calls etc during which they tried to fob us off with credit notes.

We're still being given the runaround on several other things though, and are waiting to see what happens on something that is scheduled later in the year (for which we've paid a deposit) but we're pretty sure will be cancelled, so will be trying to recover the deposit. Quite a few firms will acknowledge that legally you are due a refund, but say they just can't afford to do it because of their financial position. 

 

 

Resolved a couple more. On one the firm we'd booked through have now gone bust, so we've lost the (fairly small) deposit but at least had avoided paying any more.

The biggie was a cruise we'd booked. I'll name the firm involved - Fred Olsen - because I was impressed with the way they dealt with it. Firstly, they delayed the final payment from it's due date until just before it was clear the cruise was off. Then, we were promptly offered a full refund of our deposit, or the option to put it towards another cruise in up to two years time. If we still don't feel confident after 2 years it will be refunded with interest.