What to do if you've been affected by the XL collapse

Vicarondo_2

Not good news guys! I have just spoken to someone at ATOL who then advised me that a company called CEGA are dealing with my claim. She then gave me a phone number to call. I have just got of the phone to someone at CEGA who have told me she will now put my claim through to the assesors who will then verify my claim and hopefully get it paid. I was told it could take..................wait for it............... up to 3 months due to the 60,000 claims they are dealing with. She told me if I hadnt heard anything in 6 weeks time to call them back.

Am I ever going to get my money back! Its been 10 weeks already, they told us only 12....now i'm potentially looking at another 12 weeks!!

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

flyaway

Vicarondo wrote: »

Not good news guys! I have just spoken to someone at ATOL who then advised me that a company called CEGA are dealing with my claim. She then gave me a phone number to call. I have just got of the phone to someone at CEGA who have told me she will now put my claim through to the assesors who will then verify my claim and hopefully get it paid. I was told it could take..................wait for it............... up to 3 months due to the 60,000 claims they are dealing with. She told me if I hadnt heard anything in 6 weeks time to call them back.

Am I ever going to get my money back! Its been 10 weeks already, they told us only 12....now i'm potentially looking at another 12 weeks!!

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

I can't believe it! They really are taking the p...s! I don't know what our next step is. Should we be talking to our local MPs or perhaps Martin can help. Does anyone know if he can be contacted? I'm going to email Watchdog in the meantime.

flyaway

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

As other posters have mentioned, some travel agents were very slow in actually sending claims in to the CAA and those who make claims directly are much further up in the queue. For some agents, who sold Freedom Flight tickets but did not pass on the invoice to the customer, and there are thousands of those, mainly from 2 major travel agents whose names have appeared regularly on these pages, the CAA at first planned not to pay and the decision to settle the claims and then sue the agent to get the money back was only taken in December. Those who booked with Travel City should have refunds by the end of the month, but for those of you still waiting, at least you will get a refund, there are many thousands who booked direct with XL.com and get no protection from ATOL at all.

People who booked direct with XL on credit card were able to get a refund under the Consumer Credit Act. And in the majority of cases (reading through this thread and others) they seem to have done so.

flyaway

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

As other posters have mentioned, some travel agents were very slow in actually sending claims in to the CAA and those who make claims directly are much further up in the queue. For some agents, who sold Freedom Flight tickets but did not pass on the invoice to the customer, and there are thousands of those, mainly from 2 major travel agents whose names have appeared regularly on these pages, the CAA at first planned not to pay and the decision to settle the claims and then sue the agent to get the money back was only taken in December. Those who booked with Travel City should have refunds by the end of the month, but for those of you still waiting, at least you will get a refund, there are many thousands who booked direct with XL.com and get no protection from ATOL at all.

People who booked direct with XL on credit card were able to get a refund under the Consumer Credit Act. And in the majority of cases (reading through this thread and others) they seem to have done so.

I booked through a retail agent for ATOL holders and submitted the claim myself with the Travel agent filling in their part. The Atol number was for Travel City.

Now they tell me they want additional information, when at the time they said they did not require it i.e. credit card statments which I don't really want to send them because of id fraud etc. and the track record of govt depts losing data. They said at the time that I didn't need to as I had the ATOL receipt saying I had paid in full plus invoice saying paid in full plus credit card slips from Travel agent.

I'm afraid they don't know what they're doing.

If I had booked the flight separately by credit card and the accommodation separately by credit card, I would have been able to get a refund from the credit card company by now and would have had my holiday.

Former_MSE_Lawrence

Update note 09 Jan 2009

The situation is very frustrating, ATOL and the CAA seem overlogged with complaints, and frankly there doesn’t seem to be too much that can be done to speed things up, it is a situation we’re monitoring though.

With many claimants still waiting for payouts 13 weeks after XL went into administration, we asked ATOL 'why the hold-up?'

In response, a CAA Spokesperson said:

"Following XL's collapse the CAA is facing an unprecedented number of claims under the ATOL scheme - 80,000 rather than the usual 2,000 per company failure. Also many of these claims have yet to be sent into the CAA.

"However, progress is being made. Also, many travel agents have allowed customers booked with XL to go on a different holiday and reassign their ATOL claim to the travel agent. So the customer has not missed out on their holiday and the travel agent will now wait for the ATOL claim.

"Given the complexity of some of the claims and the sheer number it is not possible at the moment to give a date when the majority of claims will be processed."

While many MoneySavers have asked us to try and help, or put pressure on, in this case, it's unlikely this would make any difference, we’re monitoring it, and have been vocal so that they know we’re monitoring it publically, but sadly it seems if your claim's in processing, there's little to do but wait at this time.

Please do keep us updated by posting, whether your news is good or bad. Thanks

UKNorthEast

MSE_Lawrence wrote: »

Update note 09 Jan 2009

The situation is very frustrating, ATOL and the CAA seem overlogged with complaints, and frankly there doesn’t seem to be too much that can be done to speed things up, it is a situation we’re monitoring though.

With many claimants still waiting for payouts 13 weeks after XL went into administration, we asked ATOL 'why the hold-up?'

In response, a CAA Spokesperson said:

"Following XL's collapse the CAA is facing an unprecedented number of claims under the ATOL scheme - 80,000 rather than the usual 2,000 per company failure. Also many of these claims have yet to be sent into the CAA.

"However, progress is being made. Also, many travel agents have allowed customers booked with XL to go on a different holiday and reassign their ATOL claim to the travel agent. So the customer has not missed out on their holiday and the travel agent will now wait for the ATOL claim.

"Given the complexity of some of the claims and the sheer number it is not possible at the moment to give a date when the majority of claims will be processed."

While many MoneySavers have asked us to try and help, or put pressure on, in this case, it's unlikely this would make any difference, we’re monitoring it, and have been vocal so that they know we’re monitoring it publically, but sadly it seems if your claim's in processing, there's little to do but wait at this time.

Please do keep us updated by posting, whether your news is good or bad. Thanks

Sounds like they are passing the buck a bit to me!

I submitted my own CAA claim form in October and im still to recieve my refund - all they seem to mention is the travel agents!

Plus, if many of the claims havent been sent, shouldnt they have sorted the ones that were?!?

Vicarondo_2

I Spoke to someone yesterday at a company called CEGA(who are dealing with my claim) and they told me all my paperwork was ready all in order, and they were just waiting for authorisation from their head office to pay claims involving On the Beach Travel (my travel agent). Surely if all the paperwork is in order, they should pay it to get it out of the way and to put people oput of their misery! How stupid is that. I'm going to call again on Friday and every 3 days after that!


:mad: :mad:

sunshine6650

Vicarondo wrote: »

I booked through On the beach travel who in turn booked my flights through Freedom Flights and I havent had my refund yet. Hopefully its my turn soon. The guy from CAA who phoned me a few weeks back did say I was high up the list so hopefully my payday is dawning!!!

I also booked through On The Beach, sent paper work the day they crashed, havent had a letter yet, going to email them tonight on the address on the answerphone when you call them!!!


gggggggggrrrrrrrrrr!!

Vicarondo_2

sunshine6650 wrote: »

I also booked through On The Beach, sent paper work the day they crashed, havent had a letter yet, going to email them tonight on the address on the answerphone when you call them!!!


gggggggggrrrrrrrrrr!!

What, you havent even received your claim number? Where your flights booked through Freedom? I have a number for the company CEGA who are dealing with Freedom Flight claims, maybe you should ring them and see what they say to you. Do you want me to give you the number?

Jess77

bowlesbargain wrote: »

I have just had a letter from CAA. They are asking me for the original ATOL confirmatation invoice. I booked direct with Travelcity via the internet. I have only E Mails to prove I was booked. I have sent a copy of the E Mails and a copy of my bank statement showing the money going out. Has anyone else who booked via the web site had the same problem.

Hi
I have received the exactly the same letter as you dated 12 Dec 08 asking for the original ATOL confimation invoice. I also booked direct with Travel City direct via the internet. I sent copies of all the emails from Travel City Direct with my original claim but have forwarded them AGAIN to the CAA email address, i have not heard anything back from them yet, but have chased them via email again today. We were due to fly the day after XL went bust (13 Sept 08) & put our claim in that day so it has taken over 3 months so far! Im hoping we will get our money back soon!