Won a holiday-company now gone bust

jbissy

:(I had won a holiday to Turkey earlier this year & we were booked to travel mid October. The holiday company has now ceased trading so all future holidays are cancelled. If I'd paid I would be entitled to claim through CAA but I'm not sure if this is possible when it's a competition win. Does anyone know how it works or is it just hard luck? I've a number to phone on Tuesday but I'm dreading telling the kids, they'll be so upset so it'll be great to know where I stand in advance of that.
Julie

Crystal_Green

I don't think you have any redress in this situation.

Sadly I think a few comps are run as acts of desperation when a business is in trouble.

jbissy

I fear that will be the case Crystal_Green, it was due to be our only holiday this year so pretty fed up:( I keep telling myself I was incredibly lucky to win it in the 1st place but it doesn't really help.

emmaandbunni

it depends on if you won a holiday from the actual company that has gone bust or if you won a holiday and the money was paid to a different company (if that made sense)
i.e i won a holiday with a charity that paid centre parks direct so my contract was with centre parks and not the charity. in which case you deal with them.
however if you won from a holiday provider they are unlikely to honour but always worth a try, technically you won it and they should still provide it however if they have no money they may not be able to.

mjm3346

From the ATOL guide they can get involved with "prizes"

Where the ATOL protected booking has been offered to a consumer as a
prize or as an incentive payment for an employee, the ATT may make a
payment where the person or employer provides proof of the method of
payment (as set out in the ATOL Claim Form) made for the ATOL protected
booking on behalf of the consumer. In these circumstances, a claim must
also be supported by evidence of the prize winner‟s notification or that the
employee qualified for the incentive.
3. In circumstances where a consumer has won an ATOL protected booking in a
newspaper, the newspaper has bought the ATOL protected booking from the
failed ATOL holder but the newspaper paid the failed ATOL holder by means
of granting the failed ATOL holder advertising space in their newspaper,
subject to proof from the newspaper of correspondence and accounting
records to substantiate this transaction, the ATT may make a payment to that
consumer equivalent to the cost of this ATOL protected booking.

Doesn't look good if the company did not consider it a licensable booking (which would have been cheaper for them) but don't know how it works if it was the agent themselves.

When will the ATT NOT make a payment to a consumer?
2.15. The ATT will not make a payment to a consumer if the consumer made a booking with a failed ATOL holder but that ATOL holder did not consider it a licensable booking. This may be demonstrated by the fact that the consumer did not receive an ATOL Certificate, or the ATOL holder did not report it as a licensable booking to the CAA, or the ATOL holder did not consider the ATOL Protection Contribution payable.

emiai

I won a prize from a company that went into liquidation, It went on for a while, but in the end i didn't get the prize

I hope you have more luck x

LaSynergie

I'm so sorry. That is really sad. I hope you manage to get somewhere with ATOL.

jbissy

Thanks for all your responses & help. I've got the ATOL certificate for our booking, it was sent with our confirmation so it was lodged with ATOL & I think that means it was a licensable booking. Hopefully that will make a difference but I guess I'll find out when the lines reopen tomorrow. Wish me luck. I'm kind of expecting bad news so I'll not be too disappointed.

jbissy

Oh & emiai, sorry to hear that. Winning is hard enough without that happening x

redstararnie76

wishing you good luck, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

leanfun30

i do hope you ATOL Certificate means you still get the holiday.

All the best with this.