Struggling to get my money back

Theprincess

HI All,

Hoping someone could help with a bit of advice! Sorry for the long post

In April this year I spent several hours with a STA travel agent to arrange my holiday to Australia. We found a great tour that covered everything I wanted to do and within my budget. The tour was run by Contiki, but could be booked via STA as the agent. After a lot of research I went ahead and booked the tour for September ( £1700)

4 weeks before I was due to fly out to Oz, I received an email from STA advising that due to 'Operational issues' Contiki had decided to cancel the tour. They advise an option of either a full refund or assistance in booking an alternative tour. Because my dates were not flexible, and there were no similar tours in my time span, I decided to take the refund and travel around Oz without a group.

After countless emails and phone calls chasing for my money, my departure day arrived and I still had not received my refund. Its rather stressful going on holiday being £1,700 out of pocket. On the day that I was due to fly out, I went in store to STA and kicked up a massive fuss about the money and was once again promised that the refund was on its way

A week later ( during my holiday) I received a refund of £1,200 from STA. I also received an email stating that Contiki had refunded minus £500 cancellation fee, even though they were the ones to cancel the tour. My STA travel agent was straight on the phone to correct the error as a full refund was expected.

Contiki confirmed that they had made an error and that they would be transferring the remaining £500 back to STA.

This was 6 weeks ago and I have still not received my final £500. I am an incredibly persistent person and have been once again chasing STA on a regular basis for the rest of the money.

Now, the problem really is that STA cant refund the money until they receive it back from Contiki - and for some reason Contiki are in no hurry to make the payment. I am fed up with chasing and receiving the same response every time and I really could do with my £500 back!

I'm really at a loss as to what I can do other than phone every other day to chase. I have made a formal complaint to STA but it appears not o have made any difference... :mad:

Any suggestions?

bris

How did you pay, if by credit card you can start a S75 claim, even if only a small part of it was paid that way.

unholyangel

Was your contract with STA or contiki? If you're unsure, checking the terms and condtions should tell you (a lot of the time the travel agent merely acts as a third party and your contract is with the tour operator/service provider).

If your contract is with STA then they should be refunding you - irrespective of whether they have received the refund from contiki or not.