Travel Agency - chargeback

RatherCynical

Hello MSE

To summarize what happened:

I paid for some tickets online for a friend
I received a Travel Itinerary but no e-tickets so we assumed it was not authorised
I tried phoning Travel Trolley but for whatever reason it remained on a dial-tone without getting through
I found charges on my bank statement confirming that it was indeed authorised as a payment
I phoned the bank to query what action I should take and they advised about requesting a chargeback
A chargeback was requested and I was given the money temporarily
The seller has disputed the chargeback and appears to be winning the case until I can demonstrate to the bank with a third-party assessor to confirm my findings

I spoke to a friend about this, and he's said that travel agencies have a tendency to take these matters to Court if I remained firm on disputing the matter, and I don't think I have sufficient evidence that puts me in a clear-cut winning position in Court.

The question is: should I proceed with the chargeback dispute and fight for the funds back? I don't know whether they'll take these things to court, but my friend's experiences was that he received a County Court Judgement and messed up his credit history badly from something similar.

Has TravelTrolley got a history of taking claims to Court?

BorisThomson

It's not unusual for you not to receive e tickets instantly, how long did you wait and when were you travelling? Do you have evidence of your attempts to call them, did you try any other methods such as email? The website has a contact form, email, telephone number and WhatsApp contact.

Did you then buy tickets elsewhere?

On the information given, I expect the bank will refuse your chargeback request.

RatherCynical

We waited for a week for the e-tickets to no avail, and this is all the way back from June. The evidence of the attempts to call them is the hardest part to evidence of my case, since my phone no longer has those logs and contacting the network provider has not helped since they require a Court Order before they are willing to divulge that kind of information.

I should have emailed them but I thought the phone-call attempts would suffice. The bank initially gave some funds back but upon dispute it appears the funds have been debited from my account again.

George_Michael

RatherCynical wrote: »

I paid for some tickets online for a friend
I received a Travel Itinerary but no e-tickets so we assumed it was not authorised

As you received a travel itinerary, why would you then assume that the travel itself hadn't been authorised?

What was the intended date of travel as Travel Trolley state the following on their website:

Travel Documents Checking and Despatch

Travel documents will be sent by email. It is your responsibility to check that all travel documents issued are correct. Any inaccuracies must be notified to us immediately. If you do not contact us immediately we cannot accept any liability and any changes may incur additional cost as applicable. The address for sending all documentation will be that given at the time of booking unless requested otherwise. Travel documents will not be sent until we receive the full payment in the cleared funds. Documents will normally be sent 7 days before departure.

BorisThomson

RatherCynical wrote: »

We waited for a week for the e-tickets to no avail, and this is all the way back from June. The evidence of the attempts to call them is the hardest part to evidence of my case, since my phone no longer has those logs and contacting the network provider has not helped since they require a Court Order before they are willing to divulge that kind of information.

I should have emailed them but I thought the phone-call attempts would suffice. The bank initially gave some funds back but upon dispute it appears the funds have been debited from my account again.

You're going to struggle because even if you couldn't call you did have alternative methods of contact.

Did you book tickets elsewhere, and when were/ are you due to travel?

Do you mean a dial tone or a ringing tone? A dial tone is what happens before you dial out, you then get a ringing tone.

dj1471

Travel Trolley do not issue tickets immediately, it used to take them 24 hours but most recently I've had them in around an hour.

Did you check your spam folder and what did the airline say when you contacted them to confirm the booking?

You haven't mentioned whether you rebooked or chose not to travel. To be honest it sounds like you made a non-refundable booking and are now trying it on to get your money back - that's how TT and your bank will be viewing it, unless you can demonstrate otherwise.