Waiting for airline to refund travel agent???

baloo

The story is familiar...... I booked a package thru a travel agent but my EasyJet flights got cancelled from East Mids. The alternatives I was offerred were unacceptable so the travel agent agreed a full refund. However, I have been told that the TA has to wait for EasyJet to refund them before they can refund me. I was also told by a rather glib sales guy that this could take "anything from 5 days to 5 YEARS!!".
My question is why do I have to wait for the travel agents refund to come thru? If I buy something from a shop that either doesn't turn up or is faulty I get my refund from that shop there and then - I don't have to wait for the manufacturer to refund the shop before the shop refunds me!
So basically, what are my consumer rights?

baloo

Anyone????

dmg24

When did they agree to the refund?

baloo

The refund was agreed about 3 weeks ago. But they are telling me that they can't / won't give me any money until they get the refund from Easyjet. My arguement is that I bought my holiday with the travel agent, not Easyjet.

Diamond_Olly

but the travel agent pays Easyjet who have to refund the agent. With scheduled airlines, it can take up to 12 weeks to get money back from them. Never had a refund from Easyjet, so not sure how long they take.

Alan_Bowen

Unfortunately you didn't buy a package holiday, otherwise the agent would have been responsible from the start for everything. What you bought were two unlinked parts of a holiday. Easyjet announced plans to close the operation at East Midlands months ago but said they had to continue taking bookings through the 90 consultation period with staff. In reality no travel agent should have tried to sell these flights for the last three months, so if they did, tell them it is their fault for booking something that was widely known in the trade not to be operating. My undertstanding is that easyjet refund by credit card, since that is the way they accept payment in the first place relatively quickly. Give them a deadline and report them to ABTA, if they are a member, if they don't respond. It has a code of conduct which outlines refunds and time scales.

baloo

Thanks for your advice re ABTA.
Just to clarify - my whole holiday (short break) was done solely through the travel agent i.e flights and accommodation. So when you say "give them a deadline" I presume you mean the travel agent as I have had no dealings with Easyjet.
I think rather than ringing and speaking to yet another person, I would be better to write to the TA, outlining their code of conduct and mentioning the fact that they had sold me an Easyjet flight whilst in the 90 consultation period. I don't know if it'll do any good - but it may make me feel better!!

Inactive

Your Travel Agent has no excuse, this was featured on BBC Watchdog months ago, a pop up page appeared on easyjet warning potential customers that flights may well not go ahead.