Bank Transfer refund

tali

I paid by bank transfer for airline tickets from a travel agent which i had not as yet confirmed or booked.I cancelled and for refund the travel agent told me to email my bank details ( i thought he would have had them anyway?) , heard nothing for a week.Phoned and they said it takes about 2 to 4 weeks to refund money back to my account. I then phoned and they told me 23 rd July at latest
I then emailed them and they replied
"On 24 Jul 2013, at 12:12,
Dear Sir
we have received your email for the refund and we are still chasing up with your funds but we assure you that it will be transferred back to you as soon as possible and will keep you posted regarding the updates"
Seems a very long time , or is this standard procedure as i guess they have to monthly audit ? -anyone clarify? (i have looked at their conditions but there is nothing about time frames for refunds)
It is 8 weeks now at time of writing and have contacted Atol by email and they told me to contact ABTA (the agent is a member), which i have but they have not auto acknowledged my email of Friday

earthstorm

why pay a travel agent for something you have not booked and worse by bank transfer.

Anyway a retailer has 30 days to issue any refund, but its harder to get refunds for bank transfers

unholyangel

earthstorm wrote: »

why pay a travel agent for something you have not booked and worse by bank transfer.

Anyway a retailer has 30 days to issue any refund, but its harder to get refunds for bank transfers

Hmmm dont think there is any stipulation about 30 days in this case - just a reasonable time.

DSRs do state 30 days maximum but that regulation doesnt apply to this type of contract/purchase.

earthstorm

unholyangel wrote: »

Hmmm dont think there is any stipulation about 30 days in this case - just a reasonable time.

DSRs do state 30 days maximum but that regulation doesnt apply to this type of contract/purchase.

Banks/CC/DC providers etc. all use this now for refunds that are not cash, but usually refunds get processed within a few days.

Bank Transfers are funny as normally these are non refundable

tali

earthstorm wrote: »

why pay a travel agent for something you have not booked and worse by bank transfer.

Anyway a retailer has 30 days to issue any refund, but its harder to get refunds for bank transfers

What happened was the transfer was asked for to hold the tickets as destination is busy at this time of year .Agent did warn me that prices may go up and left it me me to decided whether to confirm tickets.(he did not put pressure on me in any way)
The Tickets did go up more than i could afford and hence the cancellation and refund request

earthstorm

tali wrote: »

What happened was the transfer was asked for to hold the tickets as destination is busy at this time of year .Agent did warn me that prices may go up and left it me me to decided whether to confirm tickets.(he did not put pressure on me in any way)
The Tickets did go up more than i could afford and hence the cancellation and refund request

They cant hold tickets as you have never booked anywhere to produce tickets. I find it strange than a genuine travel agent would ask for money transfer as these are like western union payment and hard if not impossible to cancel or get refunded.

shaun_from_Africa

Travel agents do have agreement with some airlines that allow bookings to be made and held for a certain period and if not confirmed within the period, the reservation will lapse and the money will be refunded.
When they do this, it is just the seat that is being reserved and the price isn't guaranteed until the ticket has actually been issued and if the price increases before the tickets issued, the passenger will be asked whether they want to pay the extra or allow the held seat to be cancelled. This is why you will sometimes see the wording "must be ticketed within xx hours" on reservations.

This sort of arrangement is fairly common with travel agents who specialise is business related tickets.

unholyangel

earthstorm wrote: »

Banks/CC/DC providers etc. all use this now for refunds that are not cash, but usually refunds get processed within a few days.

Bank Transfers are funny as normally these are non refundable

What do you mean normally they're non refundable? Bank transfers are pretty much the same as paying by cash. Once it clears, its gone.

As for CC/DC, I wasnt counting them as OP didnt pay by that method so not really applicable.

earthstorm

unholyangel wrote: »

What do you mean normally they're non refundable? Bank transfers are pretty much the same as paying by cash. Once it clears, its gone.

Yes in banks eyes and a majority of traders, you will get some traders that will be happy to refund

unholyangel

earthstorm wrote: »

Yes in banks eyes and a majority of traders, you will get some traders that will be happy to refund

But thats not what you were saying in your first post. You said a retailer has to refund within 30 days. That may be true for credit or debit cards - where there may be protection from CCA or visa/mastercards own policy, but for bank transfers....you have no layer of protection if things go wrong.