Goldtrail Holidays

jennieharris

If LowCostHolidays can give a full refund without admin charges, why are Bookable Holidays saying they are going to deduct an admin charge from their full refund? Does anybody know what this admin charge is meant to cover?

Frankie4

Me and my boyfriend have just returned home from Rhodes early this morning. We had booked our flights and accommodation through them, and hadn't realised they had then booked us with Goldtrail. We thought Bookable was the operator. After hearing about the collapse of Goldtrail while on holiday, we received a text from Bookable themselves saying that our flights were protected and not to worry, 'please carry on as normal and arrive at the airport as you were scheduled to do so, Enjoy your holiday'. We were due to depart on Thurs morning at 2.35 from Rhodes to Glasgow, just to be absolutely sure everything was OK, we rang Bookable on Tues afternoon, to which we were told, your flights are going ahead, go to the airport as you would have done. However, when we arrived at the airport, we found the airline Bookable had booked us with, would not take us home as Goldtrail had not paid them the air fares. We were then told we would be put on a flight 6 hours later to Manchester with no guarantee of any transfer whatsoever to get us home to Glasgow. All this, after being told, everything is fine your flights are protected and are going ahead as normal. We ended up having to pay 240euros extra for a flight we already had seats on and had paid for. Extremely angry and will be going through every channel to seek the money back for their sheer lies. DON'T BOOK WITH BOOKABLE!! Just glad to be home and really feel for the people who are stranded abroad being made to pay twice.

Ash_Ra

I queried with Purple Holidays whether they would refund the entire cost of the holiday, they said that they wouldn't cover the card charges (4%) - are they allowed to do this?

Ironic really as I only paid by credit card to receive section75 protection, which I don't seem to be allowed to claim.

r18rws

Ash_Ra wrote: »

I queried with Purple Holidays whether they would refund the entire cost of the holiday, they said that they wouldn't cover the card charges (4%) - are they allowed to do this?

Ironic really as I only paid by credit card to receive section75 protection, which I don't seem to be allowed to claim.

I woudl say yes. Its a charge for usign your credit card and not part of the failure of Goldtrail.

r18rws

Thought i posted this earlier but must have failed.

Be sure that your 'agent' supplied you with a Confirmation invoice for Goldtrail. This should also not say ATOL to ATOL sale, and shoudl have an APC charge of £2.50 per person. This is your insurance effectively. Its what you pay to be safe with the CAA picking up the bill if your operator goes bump.

You should also have receipts that show your money was taken on behalf of Goldtrail and quoting their ATOL number.

If you dont have this, then you ought to be in touch with your 'agent' as you will need them.

bagand96

All this, after being told, everything is fine your flights are protected and are going ahead as normal. We ended up having to pay 240euros extra for a flight we already had seats on and had paid for. Extremely angry and will be going through every channel to seek the money back for their sheer lies. DON'T BOOK WITH BOOKABLE!! Just glad to be home and really feel for the people who are stranded abroad being made to pay twice

You were protected, unfortunately you have payed out €240 for no reason.

Bookable booked your flights through Goldtrail, who used seats on charter flights and were ATOL protected. This ATOL protection meant the CAA would would arrange for you to fly home after the failure of Goldtrail. Bookable were correct to advise you to turn up at the airport as planned. It may well be the case that your original airline would not have carried for you, but the CAA/ATOL would have arranged for you to fly (by the sounds of it to Manchester) and onward travel would have been provided.

As stated here on the ATOL site http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/2036/flight%20details%20Rhodes%2022%20July.pdf your flight VIK8018 was replaced with a Monarch flight to Manchester, with onward travel arranged.

It was not the responsibility of Bookable to get you home, it was the responsibility of the Civil Aviation Authority via their ATOL scheme. It would appear you got the impression from Bookable this would be your original flight? That was not the case unfortunately, but if you chose not to use the arrangements made for you I do not think you have any come back unfortunately.

Saint_Chris

lowcostholidays wrote: »

Hi Saint_Chris,

If you send me your reference number by direct message I will check if your accommodation was booked through Gold Trail and advise what you should do next.

lowcostholidays.com

Hi and thanks for your reply.

But i'm sorry i don't want to send anyone my booking refrence number, as i don't know you, but if you are willing to pm me your direct phone number, then i would be more than happy to give you a ring.

thanks

al21

r18rws wrote: »

Potentially good news for customers who have booked a Goldtrail element or package, who have not yet departed.

If you have booked via a travel agent, probably recently or to depart some time after the end of August, there is a chance of refund without claiming it all from the CAA ATOL scheme.

The administrators for Goldtrail announced that if the travel agent is still holding the money, then it may be refunded to the customers.

SO if you have booked through a travel agent, contact them and ask if they have paid the money to Goldtrail, as if they have not, they ought to be able to refund you this.

Now the difficult bit - its being queried as this is by no means normal practice, and if they have paid the money over to Goldtrail, you will still need to claim via CAA. This may be the full amount, or it may just be the deposit (with the balance from the agent refunded if not paid over to GT).

Although be warned, some agents are totally unaware of this and may argue its incorrect, just refer them to the Goldtrail website where the administrators message is displayed.

Is this on the Goldtrail website, will you post a link please?

Thanks
What we

CG77

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

Yes, this is very good news for last minute bookings, say within 7 days of the failure. I have never seen administrators do this before because legally if a holiday has been confirmed the money is due to the administrators but they have said so on the goldtrail website, so ask the agent for your money back

Thanks very much for this info. We have today spoken to Hays who have inferred (but would not admit straight out!) that our money has not been paid to Goldtrail, but they refuse to return it to us and say we have to submit a claim to CAA. I have referred them to the Goldtrail administrators' website and still they refuse to accept it. I worry that I'll make a claim, send it to Hays to fill in their part, they then don't send the form on, CAA can't tell me if they've received the claim or not (I've asked them and they have no facility to check if they have received a claim form) and hey presto, Hays have £900 of our money and we're left waiting for a claim to be processed, while unbeknown to us no claim has even been made! :eek:

Any ideas??

CG. x

CG77

al21 wrote: »

Is this on the Goldtrail website, will you post a link please?

Thanks
What we

http://begbiestraynor.insolvencypoint.com/goldtrail/page/information-for-travel-agents

Hope you get further than we did with it! :eek:

CG. x