Lowcostholidays collapses – your rights as 140,000 hit by travel chaos

sueh2858

Oh yes, don't worry I will! I'm tempted to ring or email hotel again, but if I've got an email, then surely that's good enough

gully2703

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

I think people are getting far too ahead of themselves if you think any bank is going to pay the full cost of the holiday when you only have to pay for the accommodation, you cannot have two bites of the cherry. The reality is no one is going to be refunded for weeks and some may be very disappointed indeed.

Banks have no real arguments against section 75 claims against credit cards but they do have defences against chargebacks on the basis that if you booked a package holiday ( as opposed to accommodation only) then by law there has to be financial protection in place. There was, it is just that it is completely inadequate and some may only get the £8 or so being predicted by the government in Palma. At this stage I think everyone should make claims to whomever they can but at the end of the day, you cannot get back more than your outlay.

Interestingly the local Director General for Consumer Affairs in Palma is quoted as saying that hotels cannot charge customers again, they can only claim in the insolvency of Low Cost. That makes legal sense as Low Cost claimed to be an agent of the hotel and by law, if you pay an agent, it is deemed payment to the Principal, but I don't know many (or indeed any) are taking a blind bit of notice of the law, having not been paid for months and months.

Commenting on just the second paragraph of this post, banks do have real arguments against section 75 claims. An informal analysis on the FoS decision database indicates that the majority of relevant decisions made in the last 2 years went against consumers.

The strongest argument made by banks and financial institutions was that there was no valid debtor-creditor-supplier agreement. Whether such an agreement exists in the multitude of present circumstances is yet to be determined. The FoS will not look deep enough into any dispute unless this agreement exists, and neither will the courts.

I should add that the way LCH organised the booking process will not help us. It seems that bookings went through various companies, only then to be processed by others. This will be evident on the bottom of booking vouchers. Unless those companies named can be considered 'associates', a Section 75 claim, in my humble opinion, can potentially be refused by the financial institutions.

I am not trying to dampen any hopes, but I am attempting to put perspective into matters. I have stated my views in previous posts and I will be pursuing them as far as I can, having potentially lost money myself.

Perhaps Martin's legal team could comment further?

Alan_Bowen

I think the banks are beginning to wake up to the potential size of this failure and are looking for ways of limiting claims. In the past some banks, the US ones such as MBNA for example, have been very keen to find a way out. I do not want to be the bringer of bad news but I think those who bought what Low Cost claimed to be a package and paid by debit card should be aware that banks are probably going to deny a lot of the claims.

Don't spend more if you can't afford to and perhaps contact your MP (if they are not on holiday of course) and tell them exactly what has happened to you as there is new law, which can still be amended, which is intended to encourage tour companies to choose any EU country's financial protection scheme and force the UK to allow it to trade here without an ATOL licence. We are all beginning to see exactly what that means!

makemerich12

I heard people who paid via Visa debit could of been told today about the claim , Word was Visa was making a decision today guess not

sharp910sh

I contacted Natwest bank, i was told a decision by visa will be made tomorrow. I do not have much hope.

sassysar

I had a refund from Tesco credit card this morning .
I emailed once and rang twice .
It was yesterday's phone call that triggered the refund. "They" have 45 days to contest it but I am told that won't happen "under the circumstances ".I assume that is lowcosts bank ? I know it has been done on chargeback not section 72 but still not entirely sure who is paying me back .

spookylukey

sassysar wrote: »

I had a refund from Tesco credit card this morning .
I emailed once and rang twice .
It was yesterday's phone call that triggered the refund. "They" have 45 days to contest it but I am told that won't happen "under the circumstances ".I assume that is lowcosts bank ? I know it has been done on chargeback not section 72 but still not entirely sure who is paying me back .

Thjat's a good result, was your booking for flights & hotel or just a hotel?

hairbrain05

Just wanted to update the community also.

I have a refund to my account today also from Tesco credit card. We claimed for accommodation and transfers. The payments don't quite add up to both so I've yet to contact them and confirm - however - it is the majority of the £1200 we had to shell out for our holiday on Friday.

As above i had a text to say the retailer has 45 days to challenge it, however the payment has been made to my credit card.

alixandra001

Hi,
Does anyone have any updates on what HSBC are doing with the Chargeback requests? The main article indicates that people have had some success. I don't seem to be getting any sense out of them. I went into my branch last Monday and as predicted they didn't know what I was talking about. I then spoke to someone on the phone who said the disputes team was too busy to take calls and they would register the issue and someone would contact me within 48 hours for further details.
I have since phoned 3 times and been told they will ring me back.
I went back into the branch today. First of all I was told by the manager to contact citizens advice! I did not accept this and eventually she looked at my account and said something is being investigated but she did not know what. Helpful....

alixandra001

Hi,
Does anyone have any updates on what HSBC are doing with the Chargeback requests? The main article indicates that people have had some success. I don't seem to be getting any sense out of them. I went into my branch last Monday and as predicted they didn't know what I was talking about. I then spoke to someone on the phone who said the disputes team was too busy to take calls and they would register the issue and someone would contact me within 48 hours for further details.
I have since phoned 3 times and been told they will ring me back.
I went back into the branch today. First of all I was told by the manager to contact citizens advice! I did not accept this and eventually she looked at my account and said something is being investigated but she did not know what. Helpful....