Goldtrail Holidays

sandiuk

Today I have finally received my "claim form" (not an ATOL form incidentally) from Bookable with a covering letter stating:

"At thos stage it is difficult to give you a firm time scale to which you will receive your refund, however the team will be working on getting your refund back to you as soon as possible. The only comparison that i can give you is the claims made when another operator cease trading in 2008, the XL Leisure Group where a refund delay of between 8 - 12 months was encountered."

It also states that a £40 per person (I booked for 4) admin charge will be given as a credit against a future booking with them.
Given that I was travelling on the Sunday morning when Goldtrail went bust the Friday evening before, I has to rebook with another company and fork out for a second holiday to replace it (we all work so had to go when we had holiday booked).

They have me over a barrel as, if I claim directly with ATOL, they still are required to complete sections of my claim form. I read somewhere that the CAA have learned a lot from the XL collapse and that it shouldn't take as long to process refunds. Will my refund come from Bookable (in which case will they keep it in their bank for a few months) or directly from ATOL? I'd be very worried if it's the first!

I'm just so cross that i can't use the section 75 of the credit card act as I didn't book directly with Goldtrail so it's not covered.

bagand96

It also states that a £40 per person (I booked for 4) admin charge will be given as a credit against a future booking with them.
Given that I was travelling on the Sunday morning when Goldtrail went bust the Friday evening before, I has to rebook with another company and fork out for a second holiday to replace it (we all work so had to go when we had holiday booked).

They have me over a barrel as, if I claim directly with ATOL, they still are required to complete sections of my claim form. I read somewhere that the CAA have learned a lot from the XL collapse and that it shouldn't take as long to process refunds. Will my refund come from Bookable (in which case will they keep it in their bank for a few months) or directly from ATOL? I'd be very worried if it's the first!

Ok, firstly the timescale shouldn't be anything like the XL collapse. The CAA have stated this themselves, the problem with XL was the shear scale of the company, Goldtrail were nowhere near as big, so less people affected, hopefully will all be quicker.

Secondly. The admin fee. Get on to Bookable ASAP to find out what this £40 fee is. If it is in relation to the ATOL claim I do not think they should be charging it.

Did you have to cancel hotels as well? It may be that the admin fee is related to that. However if it is solely related to the ATOL claim that is an outrage and they have no right to charge it.

I would also call ATOL and ask their position on agents charging admin fees out of YOUR money. ATOLs helpline is 0844 856 2585.

Depending on what Bookable and ATOL say it may also be worth contacting ABTA to see their thoughts on one of their members acting in this way. (Bookable are ABTA members).

sandiuk

I've just read the fine print on the Bookable claim form !!!!

The declaration that they want signing contains this:
"In consideration of and to the extent of any refund of the losses claimed above, I hereby assign to Bookable Holdiays Ltd any claim arising from that booking which I or any member of my party covered by this claim may have against the failed tour operator, the travel agent of my credit card issuer."

Unless I'm mistaken, this is a deed of assignment! So they can legally claim my money back and then refund me if and when they choose (or not) - assuming they dont go bust in the meantime in which case I would be up the creek without a canoe never mind the paddle! Take care folks!

I've also double checked my invoice and credit card statement. The whole "package" of flights (Goldtrail), accommodation (different company) and transfers (third company) was listed as the one amount on both without any separate listings or payments. I think I might be entitled to make a claim using section 75 in this case? I'll keep researching and let you know what/if the outcome is...

mossyinnotts

Goldtrail/bookable

I have also received my claim form from bookable, and mine IS an ATOL form, it has taken 3 weeks for Bookable to post a pre completed form which I downloaded from the CAA in 2 minutes. A form which Bookable will not process, unless you assign your money from ATOL (for no admin fee), to them, for which, they will charge £40 per person to forward, that's £160 in our case. Why per person anyway? Costs to them are surely not related to the amount of people travelling.

It's upsetting enough to lose our holiday without this totally mercenary company spying an opportunity to profit further. I can see ABTA being on the end of a legal challenge here, and it is bringing itself and the whole of the travel industry into disrepute by allowing cowboys like this to operate within their association.

bagand96

Has anyone who is affected by this Bookable admin fee actually contacted ATOL, and ABTA to see their stance on it? I have seen a lot of people commenting on it here but no advice from ATOl themselves, or ABTA?

grantk76

I got my claim form from Bookable Holidays today at long last.

As per other posts £40 admin levy to process however this would be given as credit if another holiday was booked with Bookable. How obvious is it that this is a ploy to make a bit of cash from what is a really bad set of circumstances.

I see some posts saying that the fee may be for cancellations of hotels etc but in my instance I booked as a package, invoice states this and Consumer Direct informed me that I am entitled to a full refund as a critical part of the package failed which meant there was in effect no holiday. Any cancellation costs are the responsibilty of the Travel Agent who in this case were Bookable.

I have e mailed one of the directors again and told him what Consumer Direct had informed me, I await his response. I'm not holding my breath but I will be contacting ABTA and ATOL next week regarding this if I do not recieve confirmation that these levys will not be charged.

Lets not let this mob get away with this, it is a disgrace that a company are prepared to profit from their customers misfortune.

sandiuk

bagand96 wrote: »

Has anyone who is affected by this Bookable admin fee actually contacted ATOL, and ABTA to see their stance on it? I have seen a lot of people commenting on it here but no advice from ATOl themselves, or ABTA?

I shall be making phone calls on Monday to ATOL, Cr Cd Co and perhaps ABTA (only received the form Friday when I got home from work) and will let you know what they say....

leedavies

Hello, I just wanted to give my set of circumstances to see if anybody can help me. I was due to travel the day after the news broke out of the goldtrail collapse. My holiday was booked through bookable who had arranged my flight through goldtrail. I phoned immediately to get a claim form ( which came friday ), they are now trying to charge me £80 ( £40 per person ). I am completely outraged that they are trying to make me pay this as it is in no way shape or form something I could have helped. Should I phone ATOL? I also have credit card protection and I had cancellation cover on my travel insurance, What shall I do next?? Any help would be greatly appreciated

belfastcleo

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

Oh i am soo delighted to read this. I booked my holiday with bookable at 1pm on Friday 16th july for a holiday on monday 19th july. I have asked bookable travel a couple of times if they had actually paid my holiday as i could not see how they would have processed the payment within the 3 hours of the company going bankrupt. they insisted they pay instantly!! and that i had to go through this claims process. now i know different. I had just sent another email today asking them to confirm in writing that my payment has actually gone to goldtrail and is not sitting in their bank a/c. I went to my bank on Sat 17th july to try and cancel the payment but they said it had been authorised and they could not stop it. I asked Bookable to cancel the payment request but they insisted they had already paid goldtrail and they finally drew the payment down on Tuesday 20th july - 4 days after the company declared bankrupt. maybe there is some hope i get my money back and without having to pay the £40pp admin fee totalling £160!
Happy days...i hope!

peachyprice

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

The administrators have also realised their mistake about telling agents who had not paid Goldtrail to simply give the money back to customers and have changed the advice on the website for travel agents. Some agents acted quickly and have already refunded, if your agent didn't act quickly enough it is now too late and you will have to make a claim in the usual way

Seems you may be too late for that now Belfastcleo