1800hotels.ie have gone bust

Scarlett253

Nigel_S, as to your suggestion of a claim against 1800hotels, it might be a simple form to fill out, but the chances of recovering any money will be very slim, if going down that route. This is because you will rank together with all the other unsecured creditors pretty much at the bottom of the statutory order of priority of payment (only followed by the shareholders). So you will probably end up with nothing.

Scarlett253

Scarlett253 wrote: »

So if you had for instance booked a hotel with 1800hotels, and the hotel went bust, you would not have a claim against the credit card company.

Actually, I was wrong on that. I just read the case studies on the Financial Ombudsman website that apt provided (see above), and it says that in a case where a flight was booked via a travel agent and the flight company goes out of business the credit card company was held to be liable. So they should definitely be liable where the travel agent goes out of business because the travel agent is providing the services.

essexpalin

Guess we will just have to see as credit company said we had a slim chance of recovery and basically said we are wasting our time. Charge back, will have to ask about that if all else fails, i guess its not as easy as it sounds.

Interestingly and others should be aware of this, our booking hadnt been cancelled but when i informed them 1800 had gone bust they checked the payment method put in place by 1800, yep it failed. They then confirmed to me they would cancel the room unless i put it in on own card. They said if i had just turned up my room would have been there but I would have had to pay in full on departure when the payment would have shown failed. We have not had an email from 1800 stating problems of bankrupcy as some others have had.

Many people must be affected and wont yet know they are!

I tell you what this has got me thinking on who and how i book in future. Travel insurance is a joke as normal. I will have to hunt down the few policys that cover such issues but you can bet these have the nice little get out clauses too....

isplumm

essexpalin wrote: »

Guess we will just have to see as credit company said we had a slim chance of recovery and basically said we are wasting our time. Charge back, will have to ask about that if all else fails, i guess its not as easy as it sounds.

Interestingly and others should be aware of this, our booking hadnt been cancelled but when i informed them 1800 had gone bust they checked the payment method put in place by 1800, yep it failed. They then confirmed to me they would cancel the room unless i put it in on own card. They said if i had just turned up my room would have been there but I would have had to pay in full on departure when the payment would have shown failed. We have not had an email from 1800 stating problems of bankrupcy as some others have had.

Many people must be affected and wont yet know they are!

I tell you what this has got me thinking on who and how i book in future. Travel insurance is a joke as normal. I will have to hunt down the few policys that cover such issues but you can bet these have the nice little get out clauses too....

Well I have no idea about s75 (but do believe that they are liable - see poster above yours), but as we paid by debit card, am claiming back via dispute ... cc should also be covered by this - see my link at the beginning of this thread.

Mark

MaryKin

I contacted my bank - Nationwide - and was told I would have to provide evidence of trying to get redress from the company as well as evidence of not having the hotel booking. Seems therefore that until the whole bankruptcy case is completed there is no chance of applying under section 75.

isplumm

MaryKin wrote: »

I contacted my bank - Nationwide - and was told I would have to provide evidence of trying to get redress from the company as well as evidence of not having the hotel booking. Seems therefore that until the whole bankruptcy case is completed there is no chance of applying under section 75.

Hi,

I am not sure that I would agree with them .... not sure how you can get re-dress - the company has gone bankrupt - I have a screen shot to prove it - you will not get anything back under the bankrupty - so don't see how Nationwide can wriggle out of it?

Mark

essexpalin

isplumm wrote: »

Hi,

I am not sure that I would agree with them .... not sure how you can get re-dress - the company has gone bankrupt - I have a screen shot to prove it - you will not get anything back under the bankrupty - so don't see how Nationwide can wriggle out of it?

Mark

This is the kind of thing that always seems to happen, the same with travel insurance. You are told to do this do that and when you do make a claim all this small print is dug out and things suddenly prove much harder than you are led to believe. The old recommendation of book on your credit card and you covered suddenly doesnt seem to wash.

And back to the charge back thing, Im told this can only be done within a very short time after completing the initial payment (maybe 60 days?). This is assuming the card company will allow you to do it anyhow.

I think im going to have to seek professional advice somehow as unless you know the rules inside out you dont know if the card companies are just giving you bull? Ive tried getting hold of the CAB but they are always busy on the phone. Tried the governement helpline which is setup for such matters and they couldnt help, I seemed to know more about section 75 from the MSE site than them, another public sector dept that seems to be a waste of money (but thats a subject for another day.....).

budgie123_2

I made a claim thru our cc company after our hotel that was booked through 1800 hotels was cancelled. We had originally paid £200 for the room but because it had been cancelled, we had to pay the hotel £400 directly as their rate was higher than 1800 hotels.

Anyway, I sent off all the information to the cc company and got a letter this morning asking for proof that we have been in contact with the administrator and copies of the administrators response. We have not been in any contact with them as we were not aware that we had to do this.

According to the link above, to the financial ombudsman, it says we can "choose" to either claim from the company (1800 hotels), "or" the cc company (Mint) under section 75.

Can someone help me as to what is the best thing to do now?

We have had to pay £600 for a room that was originally £200, through no fault of our own and we just want it it sorted as soon as possible. Do we pursue it with Mint, or do we try and go through the administrator? Is there a time limit within which we have to have all this completed? The original transaction was back in April and we are now worried that they are going to tell us that we are too late or something?

Many thanks.

essexpalin

Just got my paperwork through to claim despite ringing over a week ago, cc companies are shockers. If they want something off you or you sign up to something new they manage to get the paper work through next day, you ask them for something its a slow process, maybe im just being cynical.....

However I can see this being hard work under section 75 given what cc company has said, they are not going to make it easy at all. I guess if this doesnt work then the financial ombudsman is the only route to go down? Can hardly take them to court? The fact chapter 11 is invloved also apparently makes life harder as they arent technically bankrupt apparently?

essexpalin

Just to say got money back pretty easily from Egg and Nationwide. Turnaround was under two weeks. Quite impressed given their intial respose, persistance pays!

PS Not seen the money yet but the letter I have states I will very shortly.