XL - no luck getting refund from ATOL, Coop Agent or Tesco Credit Card

withabix

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

By now I would give Tesco one final chance to settle with you or take it to the financial ombudsman.

....who will decide against you because the refund will eventually be made by CAA/ATOL.


Did the payment go to Apollo/Coop Travel or XL?

If it was the former, ask Tesco Finance if they will do a chargeback for you, as your contract would have been with Apollo, not XL.

crowlands

My sister-in-law who lost hre flights when Zoom went belly-up had no trouble getting a refund from her credit card company (Barclaycard) who paid out within 4 weeks. She even had a refund for a connecting BA flight which of course she was not able to use from BA - minus the tax, and a refund for an overnight stay in a hotel in Gatwick too!!!!! It seems that a lot of people are passing the book/buck?? here. Credit Card companies do no pass over the funds to the company straight away and I was always led to believe that they could/would refund in this instance. Cheers.

lonestar1

withabix wrote: »

....who will decide against you because the refund will eventually be made by CAA/ATOL.

You do know what 'They are jointly and severally liable' means don't you ?

It Doesn;t matter if they are covered elsewhere the OP is qute within their rights to claim a refund fromthe credit card provider all the OP needs to do is demonstrate they did not get their holiday if they can do that the credit card provider should pay out

It can then if it wishs to do so claim the cash back from the CAA thats a matter between the CAA and the card company

withabix

lonestar1 wrote: »

You do know what 'They are jointly and severally liable' means don't you ?

It Doesn;t matter if they are covered elsewhere the OP is qute within their rights to claim a refund fromthe credit card provider all the OP needs to do is demonstrate they did not get their holiday if they can do that the credit card provider should pay out

It can then if it wishs to do so claim the cash back from the CAA thats a matter between the CAA and the card company

Yes, BUT the funds are available to be claimed from CAA/ATOL, so there is no reason to go to the ombudsman, who will probably say the same.

flyaway

If the travel agent is going under then I thought you could claim back from your credit card. That's what my credit card company told me, that they would only pay out if the ATOL claim failed or the travel agent went under.

I do think we might all have a case of unreasonable time taken for refund from ATOL. How long are we supposed to wait?

The Ombudsman told me that they would try and get my credit card to pay up and ask them to claim from ATOL as it is taking so long.

flyaway

AJKsaver did you ring ATOL on the numbers I pm you? Even if you haven't got a claim number it might be worth trying.

simongregson

The best avenue is to pursue the claim via tesco, you will get your money back under section 75 of the consumer credit act. Whether there is another refund process in place is irrelevant, as the credit card company is jointly and severally liable. Tesco will just charge the money back to the travel agent if they are still in business anyway, so they won't be out of pocket.


Write to tesco using the template letter recommended earlier. They will refund the money, you will not need to provide further evidence as it is clear that you purchased the holiday and it is a matter of public knowledge that XL were unable to meet their obligations.

ajksaver

flyaway wrote: »

AJKsaver did you ring ATOL on the numbers I pm you? Even if you haven't got a claim number it might be worth trying.

Hi - thanks for the numbers I will try them when I get back in the office next week. I will also try Apollo customer services again and try not to get fobbed off onto the recorded message.

ajksaver

flyaway wrote: »

If the travel agent is going under then I thought you could claim back from your credit card. That's what my credit card company told me, that they would only pay out if the ATOL claim failed or the travel agent went under.

I do think we might all have a case of unreasonable time taken for refund from ATOL. How long are we supposed to wait?

The Ombudsman told me that they would try and get my credit card to pay up and ask them to claim from ATOL as it is taking so long.

Before we start a mad panic I have done some reasearch and do not beleive that Coop Travel are going into administration - just closing down some/all of their Apollo subsiduary operations.

I am confused over the legal precidence of the credit card company compares to the ATOL bond obligations. On the ATOL form it asked us if we had any other insurance against the failure of an airline for which we said no as we didn't consider the credit card to be insurance. I wish there was some definitive legal guidance or a test case for this problem.

withabix

ajksaver wrote: »

On the ATOL form it asked us if we had any other insurance against the failure of an airline for which we said no as we didn't consider the credit card to be insurance.

This specifically refers to travel insurance, as some (very few) policies cover failure of tour operator.

The logical precedence in terms of order of liability would be:

Travel agent (if payment was taken BY them, not the tour operator)
Travel insurance
ATOL/CAA
Administrator (if you had not paid by credit card)
Credit card company

As for 'joint and several' liability, I cannot see a situation where a court or ombudsman would force a credit card company to refund you under Section 75 of the CCA unless the ATOL/CAA fund somehow ran out of money or refused your refund for some reason.

As I asked previously, was the money taken by the travel agent or the tour operator? If it is the former, have you asked Tesco Finance to do a chargeback against the travel agent? If so, what did they say?