Zoom Airlines is in administration: How to get your money back 29 August 2008 at 12:47PM in Overseas holidays & travel planning 191 replies 40.1K views

ROCC*

Please be gentle this is my first thread - know I am probably in the wrong place but feel the need to vent.

Was due to return on 2nd Sept with Zoom from Toronto to Manchester. We booked by Barclays Connect Debit Card and it took 4 lengthy calls to the UK to get the correct forms sent to us in order to possibly claim our money back. What I am very angry about is the fact that Canadian Affair (Air Transat) have charged me $600 for 3 people one way supplement (I was stranded!), a late booking fee of $30 and $36.30 Credit Card Charge (amongst other things). I was unaware of this when I booked over the telephone as I was not given the cost breakdown! Anybody in similar situation?

:eek:

Zooming_2

I paid for a Zoom ticket with a Visa credit card from Spain, so do I have to look up the Spanish equivalent of Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act?

Or is this Act valid due to the British origin of the company? Maybe there's some EU equivalent?

Thank you for your help

stevebaggy

I have been following the Zoom 'saga', as i booked to go to St. Petersberg, Florida in July '09. Booked using my Nationwide credit card, so i should be ok for a full refund.
My question is regarding the extra cost i have had to pay to book with Virgin to get me to Florida at the same time (July '09-3 days difference).
After reading the comments posted about claiming extra costs incurred, I wonder if i have a valid claim (almost £500 extra with Virgin, which was the reason i went with Zoom in the first place).
I would have been going to St. Petersburg with Zoom and then had a 2 hour drive to Orlando, which i didn't think was too bad a deal to save £500, but now i am flying direct to Orlando with Virgin. Will this have an effect on the chances of getting compensation or not.

It cost me an extra £62 to pay by credit card than debit card when booking the Zoom flight, which at the time i was reluctant to pay, but i'm so glad i did.

Any help or advice would be welcome.

Just a little footnote:
I was watching Working Lunch last week and on there the lady presenter said that under the CCA 1975, if you just pay the deposit for your holiday, or any goods for that matter, with your credit card, then paid the remainder off by other means e.g. cash, cheque, debit card, then the credit card still covered you for all the total cost and not just the deposit.

Really enjoy reading the forums and keep up the good work.

SimbaSimon

stevebaggy wrote: »

I have been following the Zoom 'saga', as i booked to go to St. Petersberg, Florida in July '09. Booked using my Nationwide credit card, so i should be ok for a full refund.
My question is regarding the extra cost i have had to pay to book with Virgin to get me to Florida at the same time (July '09-3 days difference).
After reading the comments posted about claiming extra costs incurred, I wonder if i have a valid claim (almost £500 extra with Virgin, which was the reason i went with Zoom in the first place).
I would have been going to St. Petersburg with Zoom and then had a 2 hour drive to Orlando, which i didn't think was too bad a deal to save £500, but now i am flying direct to Orlando with Virgin. Will this have an effect on the chances of getting compensation or not.

It cost me an extra £62 to pay by credit card than debit card when booking the Zoom flight, which at the time i was reluctant to pay, but i'm so glad i did.

Any help or advice would be welcome.

Just a little footnote:
I was watching Working Lunch last week and on there the lady presenter said that under the CCA 1975, if you just pay the deposit for your holiday, or any goods for that matter, with your credit card, then paid the remainder off by other means e.g. cash, cheque, debit card, then the credit card still covered you for all the total cost and not just the deposit.

Really enjoy reading the forums and keep up the good work.

I'm not certain, but i'm pretty sure you'll still be able to get the difference back. If you have a look at some of the letters already posted you just need to copy it and change it slightly. I presume Virgin or the other big carriers don't fly to St Petersburg in which case Orlando would be your closest alternative.

jenette

I booked my family flights for summer 09 on Zoom Airlines using my Debenhams Mastercard at a cost of over £2000 I telephoned the customer services helpline on 28th August and have still received no response.I had already paid the balance of my card when Zoom went bust.
I have telephoned several more times and the agents who appear to be in India do not understand my problem and cannot give me an alternative telephone number.I am desperate to claim my money back.Can anybody help please???

SimbaSimon

jenette wrote: »

I booked my family flights for summer 09 on Zoom Airlines using my Debenhams Mastercard at a cost of over £2000 I telephoned the customer services helpline on 28th August and have still received no response.I had already paid the balance of my card when Zoom went bust.
I have telephoned several more times and the agents who appear to be in India do not understand my problem and cannot give me an alternative telephone number.I am desperate to claim my money back.Can anybody help please???

Try some keywords with the Indian phoneline. Say you need to make a claim as they've gone bust, they'll usually just send some forms out for you to fill in and return the the claims department will do the rest.

My bank also went to India but managed to get it through to him eventually and received the forms the next week. If your still struggling ask to speak to a supervisor.

huertasnuevas

Abbey need proof that Zoom is in administration and I have to produce evidence. Has anyone done this yet, and if so, how? As far as I know Zoom's creditors haven't yet appointed a liquidator.

MSE_Natasha wrote: »

Transatlantic airline Zoom has gone into administration, meaning many could have lost money on tickets purchased for flights later this year or next.

Instead of trying to get cashback through the administration process, which isn't likely to yield much, we developed other techniques during the Farepak crisis.

What is 'administration'?

This means insolvency practitioners have been called in to run each company and get what cash they can for the creditors via selling or utilising the assets. In theory, a business can be kept running as a ‘going concern’ but this is unlikely.

Most likely the insolvency practitioners will simply collect in the assets and try to sell what they can, and then distribute whatever cash remains to creditors. When the money is distributed there’s a priority of who gets any cash, which usually works a bit like this:

• The Insolvency Practitioners (if they didn’t get paid they wouldn’t do the job in the first place)
• Any secured creditors (if they’ve borrowed money that's secured on property/assets)
• Any employees (redundancy pay)
• Everyone else ranked equally (this includes customers, the Inland Revenue etc. and all will be ranked pro-rata)

What does this means in practice?

It means, to be within any chance of getting money back you’ll have to apply to the administrator for it, not Zoom. Any money left after paying the secured creditors and employees will then be split between everyone else that has submitted a claim.

Unfortunately there's only a small chance you’ll get any money back by doing this. If you do it won't be very much and it will take some time to be resolved.

As Zoom has only just filed for insolvancy, details of how to contact the administrator aren't available yet but don't worry; there are more options to get your money back.

Travel insurance often won't help

Unfortunately most travel insurance policies WON'T cover this situation, unless of course you specifically requested it and the provider agreed to include it; but this is a rarity. Yet, it is worth giving your policy provider a call to double check exactly where you stand with it.

Did you book through a tour operator?

If you purchased flights as part of a package with a travel agent that is ATOL protected (this is a financial protection scheme tour operators can sign up to), contact them asap to organise alternative travel arangements. Use the ATOL search facility to check if your tour operator's ATOL protected.

You've a better chance trying the following

As it was quite a well-known aviation company and most ticket purchases were direct via the web, a much better way is to rely on the plastic you paid with.

Were your flights over £100 & did you pay for any or all of it on a credit card?

Thankfully the majority of people, if not all, would have paid over £100 for their flight tickets, and if the cost was charged to a credit card, either wholly or partly, the credit card company is equally liable under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

This means that whatever rights you'd have with a retailer/company, you have with the credit card company also. So here, you have a claim for breach of contract as it's a non-supply of service.

This is a legal protection that credit card companies have no choice about, as when you spend on a credit card, you're effectively entering into an arrangement to borrow (even if you pay off in full) so you get these rights.

How to get your money back

Call up the credit card company and tell it you want to make a claim and specifically state you're doing this under "section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act", though be aware the call centre operative mightn't have a clue what you're talking about.

While hopefully it will be smooth process, as the credit card company should already be aware of the insolvency, there is a chance it'll say you have to contact the company first or claim from it. This is not true.

The law states it is jointly responsible, there is no 'first point of call', you are choosing to claim from it and that is an acceptable decision. If it wants to try and claim from the company in administration, then that's its business.

Be firm but polite and request a claim form. Again, on the claim form state it is a claim under "section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act".

Did you pay on a Visa Debit or Credit Card?

If you paid on a Visa credit card for something over £100, then use section 75 above as that is legal protection and is a legal right.

Yet if you paid on a Visa debit card for any amount, or in the unlikely event you paid for flights under £100 on a credit card, then you have a reasonable chance to get your cash back via the Visa Debit Chargeback system.

Unlike with credit cards, Chargeback isn't a legal protection, but a protection from Visa's own rules. It's effectively Visa's own refunds system. It's designed so that if you pay for something and that order/service hasn't been adequately completed or is never received, or the order is illegitimate in some way, your bank can do a chargeback from the bank that collected the payment.

The crucial part of this is that the chargeback means you're asking for a refund from Zoom's payment processing bank rather than Zoom itself, which is great news, as Zoom has no cash, but its bank does!

Importantly, your bank must request a chargeback within 120 days of you realising the contract won't be completed (not from the date of the transaction), but don't even think of leaving it that long; get the wheels in motion straight away.

How do you do a chargeback?

Quite simply call up your bank, with all the details of the payments made to Zoom (check your statements, if you don't have them, ask the bank for details, but this will slow things down) and ask it to "start the Chargeback procedure" to get you your money back on the basis of "non-delivery of the goods".

At this point it's quite possible the person you're talking to will never have heard of Chargeback. Yet don't let that put you off; this is a legitimate system, and you need to (politely) stand your ground. If the bank says no, write an official letter of complaint and note that you'll be writing to complain to Visa.

Luckily, the more people who try to do a Chargeback, the more likely it is the banks will know the process and proceed.

What about other debit cards?

Banks and building societies are not legally obliged to help but sometimes they do; this happened almost across the board with the Farepak problems.

If you paid via another type of debit card, you could have a go at asking for something similar to Chargeback, but the rules are different and nowhere near as strong. Please click reply to report this if you have any success, so others can benefit.

Are you stranded?

Unfortunately many people will have already travelled out to their destination but have no means organised of getting home.

Firstly, ensure you read the Cheap Flights guide to find the least costly alternative, then compare the price to Virgin Atlantic and British Airways as they're both offering discounted one-way fares to anyone stranded; aslong as there's proof of a Zoom travel booking/ticket.

Virgin Atlantic

Go to Virgin's aiprort ticket desk or call its contact centre for flights between £199 & £249 including taxes & charges fro departures from London Heathrow and Gatwick to either Miami, Chicago, Orlando or LA, depending on the routes available.

Or tickets are available in New York, Boston, Washington, Miami, Chicago, Orlando and LA, back to either Heathrow or Gatwick for between $299 & $399 (again, incl. all taxes & charges). You'll have to act fast to get any tickets as the seats are likely to be grabbed pronto and there are of course a limited number. These journeys must take place before 30 September too.

British Airways

BA's offering half price travel on selected one-way flights for stranded passengers between North America, Bermuda & the UK. Again, you must have proof of being a Zoom customer. If you're in the UK, call 0844 493 0787 or 1 800 247 9297 if you're in the US.

It's also selling discounted fares (though not half price) to those with Zoom tickets scheduled to fly over the coming months.

Claiming back the extra you're forking out

The Financial Ombudsman Service has said there's a slim chance of getting a refund of the extra you're paying on top, under section 75, if you're stranded and have to pay more than your original fare to get back.

However, this will only be applied on a case by case basis and will depend on your circumstances. The best thing to do is keep a record of all your transactions and travel plans and present your case once you've returned.

Lessons to be learned from Farepak & Wrapit

This site, and especially the forum was one of those at the centre of the campaign to get people's money back in Oct '06's Farepak crisis, and only several weeks ago with Wrapit.

Many of the above techniques are tried and tested because of Farepak and Wrapit. If you have time it's worth reading through some of the Farepak discussion to see some of the success stories of Farepack victims and how to coordinate your complaint.

Please report back your experiences below to help others in the same situation.

How to keep updated on the Zoom situation

Any futher info, changes or successes about FlyZoom money back will go in the free weekly MoneySaving e-mail.

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SimbaSimon

Abbey need proof that Zoom is in administration and I have to produce evidence. Has anyone done this yet, and if so, how? As far as I know Zoom's creditors haven't yet appointed a liquidator.

Did you get an email from zoom? I used that with my claim. It starts out as below:

"Zoom Airlines sincerely regrets to advise its customers that it has suspended operations with effect from 18:00 UTC on Thursday 28 August.

All flights scheduled to depart from have been cancelled and Zoom's aircraft have been grounded.

Both Zoom Airlines Inc and Zoom Airlines Ltd, the Canadian and UK airlines, will be filing for insolvency proceedings in their home countries today.

For customers who have future travel plans involving a Zoom flight for which reservations and payment have been made, you should refer to your credit or debit card company to apply for a refund. We have set out details of other airlines who operate the same or similar routes to those flown with Zoom in the hope that this may assist you in making alternative travel plans to replace the flights that you had booked with Zoom. "

huertasnuevas

What evidence did you produce as evidence that Zoom has gone into liquidation?

creps wrote: »

Hi there,
I recently faced the same predicament as I was left stranded in China when my flight back to the UK with Oasis Hong Kong was cancelled after the airline went into liquidation...
I was forced to by return tickets with another airline at an extra cost of £750 without receiving any compensation from Oasis.
When i got back home, I turned to the MSE forums in search of help and while all the posts and information were extreemley valuable, I was kinda hoping to find a template i could use to claim money back from my credit card. Unfortunately i was unable to find any so I wrote the following brief letter to my credit card instead. While this might not be the most elegantly written letter, it received no pushback and it got me a positive reponse within 3 days and full refund of incurred additional expenses within a couple of weeks. Hopefully it'll be of use to anyone else wishing to claim...

Acct: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Attn: Dispute Department
To whom it may concern,

On 09/02/08 I purchased two return flights from London to Hong Kong with the flight operator Oasis Hong Kong. The flights were paid with my xxx credit card, with transaction number xxxxxxxxxxx and reference xxxxxx. My partner and I made the first leg of the journey from London to Hong Kong on the 8th of April 2008. Our return flights to London were booked for the 24th of April 2008, however upon arrival to Hong Kong we were informed that on that same day (the 9th of April 2008) the airline had gone into liquidation and as a result all future flights had been cancelled. (see appendices A, B and C for proof that the Airline went into liquidation. See also appendix F for the original time schedule for the return flights) - :exclamati Note that I included copies of these documents as evidence to support my claim.

As a result of this I had to purchase alternative one-way flights to return to London incurring in additional expenses. These flights were purchased from XXXX Airlines on the x of April 2008 at a price of £xxx each for a total of £xxx (See appendices D and E for proof of purchase of these tickets.)

Under the Consumer Credit Act of 1974, I would like to claim compensation from (insert bank or credit card issuer) on the basis of unfulfilled contract, for the amount of £xxx(insert total), previously described. I would appreciate a prompt resolution to this matter and credit of the outstanding monies to my credit card account.
If you require further information, don’t hesitate to contact me.


So that's it, note that i used a mastercard to pay for my flights however Visa and other credit card issuers operate under the consumer credit act.
Good luck with your claim!

sarah1980

Try 020 81810000. Debenhams MC is owned by GE Capital, so if all else fails try them.

Also, even though you have paid off the balance it shouldn't make a difference. The chargeback comes under the CCA.