Thomas Cook - what you need to know - MSE News

bradders1983

livingstonc wrote: »

Hi all,

Hope someone can give some advice as not sure if there is anything I can claim but here goes?

Booked package holiday which included Thomas Cook flights. Departed no problem.

However, returning on 25th September 2019 to Glasgow Airport as we should be. Checked CAA and advised same time and date for departure. Result.

However, arrived at airport, waited in Glasgow Airport Queue, someone was going along the line and when we provided ours, was advised we will be going to Manchester Airport and then a Coach to Glasgow Airport.

No explanation provided when asked why (I suspect it was the replacement aircraft did not have the same number of seats as the Thomas Cook one would have had). So about 25 of us had to go and checkin for Manchester Flight.

We were supposed to arrive at Glasgow Airport at 0120 hours on Thursday morning.

We arrived at Glasgow Airport at 0910 hours on Thursday Morning

Is there anything I can do here? Make complaint to CAA (as nothing on their website about being on Manchester flight), speak to package provider as ATOL covered.

Anything appreciated in response.

Cheers

Colin

Claim? Claim for what and from who? You got home for free on the same day you were meant to as part of the biggest ever peacetime repatriation which must be taking a monumental effort to sort and you want to get some compo and/or an apology because you ended up a couple of hundred miles away from Glasgow?

Let me get my tiny violin out.

bradders1983

As an aside, the moaning I have seen about all this is ridiculous. People moaning on Twitter that they had to go to Manchester instead of Glasgow, that they had to wait a few extra hours in the airport, that the bus driver "had to take a break". And then the bloke above trying to wangle some compo. Just be grateful that you got home without having to outlay anything extra to do so !!!!!!. Any sympathy is nil.

TAD63

I booked 6 Thomas Cook flights on Skyscanner in February, we are due to go on holiday 2 weeks today. I paid by debit card. On news of their insolvency I contacted my bank who initially seemed positive about using the chargeback scheme. However it turns out i booked the flights through Gotogate therefore i have no protection. Card protection ( including credit cards) do not protect you when you are booked through 3rd parties. Had Gotogate gone bust i would have been protected, but since i paid Gotogate then TC went bust I am not protected.
Gottogate are wiping their hands clean . My banks says i should send a letter of complaint to Gotogate, They said that most people are getting refunds and that i just need to find the right avenue. I am not holding out much hope as Gotogate have been atrocious, they are simply sending generic emails to clients telling them to contact Thomas Cook. i would never, ever book with them again. I have had to spend £ 3700 on new flights as the prices are so high. Does anyone know where I stand with this and/or is there a template for a strong complaints letter i could use on this forum ?

Caz3121

If you read section 1.1 of the gotogate terms you will see that they are just an intermediary. They used the money you paid to get a ticket from the airline. They will only refund what comes back from the airline (less their fees)
Does your travel insurance cover scheduled airline failure?

TAD63

Unfortunately not, the travel insurance I have is one of the products you get when you pay a monthly fee to your bank, it must be pretty basic. One of the people in the party may be able to claim on their insurance, but that will only be one flight and I need to prove I have exhausted all other avenues first.
I am really struggling to understand how Gotogate can be saying my contract is with Thomas cook and they are merely an intermediary, yet I cannot claim on chargeback as i paid Gotogate. it seems a compete cop out. Can Gotogate claim chargeback on my behalf? It is such a lot of money. the original flights were £2600. I have now paid £ 6300 for 6 flights to Turkey.

Westin

I do feel for your situation but some cold hard facts to follow -

Whether GotoGate's business stance is right or wrong, you are now finding out one of the pit falls of buying an unprotected purchase from an overseas seller and from an online ticket intermediary who have less than great reputation - also that S75 does not cover purchases made via secondary parties who are still trading.

GotoGate will likely have earned next to zero on your ticket transaction, hoping instead to make a small amount from any additional items you purchase from them or from a small booking fee or any amendment or add-on service fees. Like many of this online ticket sellers (they are not a travel agent) they work on wafer thin margins, cut back office costs to the bone and have limited staff for any type of customer service element. That's how the Cheap price is delivered.

They will know that they is little chance of getting any money back from Thomas Cook and will likely not be willing to spend any time with you on what they see is a fruitless endeavour. They also won't want to carry a loss, monetarily or even in time.

I doubt GoToGate will be interested in great customer service, or excelling service delivery in this situation. Bottom line will be that they don't need to offer this. Their customer base is built on price and people searching and booking on Cheap and Cheap alone. Customer retention will not factor. Customers have no loyalty to them as they book just on Cheap and there will be a steady queue of new customers booking on Cheap lining up to replace you.

More stings (sorry)...

- Had your holiday been booked as a package you would have had ATOL cover and would have been able to claim a refund.
- Had you booked via a UK travel organiser combined holiday elements together you would have had protection and cover for failure. Many agents are rebooking flights now for their customers.
- Had you booked direct with TC and used a credit card you may of had a claim under S75.
- Had you taken out travel insurance with SAFI you may of been able to get your money back.

As you chose this method of booking with an overseas, third party, with no financial protection I sadly think you may have issues with your claim. Whether successful or not I fear it will be frustrating. I do however hope that your persistence with GoToGate does work out for you and that you get your refund. Good Luck.

TAD63

Westin wrote: »

I do feel for your situation but some cold hard facts to follow -

Whether GotoGate's business stance is right or wrong, you are now finding out one of the pit falls of buying an unprotected purchase from an overseas seller and from an online ticket intermediary who have less than great reputation - also that S75 does not cover purchases made via secondary parties who are still trading.

GotoGate will likely have earned next to zero on your ticket transaction, hoping instead to make a small amount from any additional items you purchase from them or from a small booking fee or any amendment or add-on service fees. Like many of this online ticket sellers (they are not a travel agent) they work on wafer thin margins, cut back office costs to the bone and have limited staff for any type of customer service element. That's how the Cheap price is delivered.

They will know that they is little chance of getting any money back from Thomas Cook and will likely not be willing to spend any time with you on what they see is a fruitless endeavour. They also won't want to carry a loss, monetarily or even in time.

I doubt GoToGate will be interested in great customer service, or excelling service delivery in this situation. Bottom line will be that they don't need to offer this. Their customer base is built on price and people searching and booking on Cheap and Cheap alone. Customer retention will not factor. Customers have no loyalty to them as they book just on Cheap and there will be a steady queue of new customers booking on Cheap lining up to replace you.

More stings (sorry)...

- Had your holiday been booked as a package you would have had ATOL cover and would have been able to claim a refund.
- Had you booked via a UK travel organiser combined holiday elements together you would have had protection and cover for failure. Many agents are rebooking flights now for their customers.
- Had you booked direct with TC and used a credit card you may of had a claim under S75.
- Had you taken out travel insurance with SAFI you may of been able to get your money back.

As you chose this method of booking with an overseas, third party, with no financial protection I sadly think you may have issues with your claim. Whether successful or not I fear it will be frustrating. I do however hope that your persistence with GoToGate does work out for you and that you get your refund. Good Luck.

Thank you ( if that is the right term :-)) for this information.

When I purchased these flights I was not specifically looking for 'cheap', I didnt even realise Gototgate WERE cheap, all flights to Turkey from Glasgow are expensive and the flights with Gotogate were only a couple of pounds cheaper than the other providers. This makes it all the more galling as it would have been easy for me to go direct to Thomas Cooks website. I chose Gotogate simply because they were the top deal and I had used them before with no problems. It was very clear the flights were with Thomas Cook whom I recognised as a reputable airline, and I felt Skyscanner a reputable search engine.
I booked the hotel direct as it is a hotel I have been to many times.

I knew i would not be ATOL protected as I wasn't buying a package but what i wasnt aware of were the rules around card protection in 3rd party purchases. As it happens I would not even have been able claim on my card if I had used a credit card , even though there is more protection with a credit card, which is the only small comfort I have , as just about everything that could have gone wrong has.

It has been an expensive learning experience but at least i still have a job, unlike the Thomas Cook staff . And i have managed to pass on my experience to friends as many of them were unaware of the 3rd party card protection rules.

If anyone has suggestions on how I could tackle a complaint with Gotogate it would be greatly appreciated, even though the chances are it will be in vain.

cadmad

Here's my situation which I'm hoping someone better experienced in this area might be able to offer some advice on:

I've booked a package holiday to Kusadasi for May 2020. Ramada golf resort hotel, transfers and Thomas Cook flights - All through Loveholidays.com

Loveholidays are currently going through all affected customers and re-arranging flights where possible. If they can't they'll issue a refund.

Due to demand, they won't be consulting with customers offering options of flights, rather just booking onto as close as possible flight to the original (within 12 hours either way I think I read) from any airport within the same region as the original.

If the new flights aren't suitable, customers are then subject to their standard T&Cs should they wish to cancel. (And this is the point of concern!)

Their standard T&Cs state if the customer wishes to cancel the booking, the customer will be subject to a £75 cancellation fee, and even then, the flights and transfers are non-refundable and the hotel is dependent upon which option was selected at time of booking. Surely this can't be right? That means i'd only get my hotel fees back and be charged a £75 fee for the pleasure?

Whilst an horrific situation for all those immediately affected, this seems unnecessarily harsh on those who are due to travel in the future and very worrying at the same time.

So my thoughts are i'm going to be presented with the following 3 options:

Option A) They can't arrange a new flight and issue full refund.

Option They arrange a new flight which is suitable.

Option C) They arrange a new flight which isn't suitable and i'm not entitled to any form of refund.

Please tell me i'm off the mark here?

Ganga

cadmad wrote: »

Here's my situation which I'm hoping someone better experienced in this area might be able to offer some advice on:

I've booked a package holiday to Kusadasi for May 2020. Ramada golf resort hotel, transfers and Thomas Cook flights - All through Loveholidays.com

Loveholidays are currently going through all affected customers and re-arranging flights where possible. If they can't they'll issue a refund.

Due to demand, they won't be consulting with customers offering options of flights, rather just booking onto as close as possible flight to the original (within 12 hours either way I think I read) from any airport within the same region as the original.

If the new flights aren't suitable, customers are then subject to their standard T&Cs should they wish to cancel. (And this is the point of concern!)

Their standard T&Cs state if the customer wishes to cancel the booking, the customer will be subject to a £75 cancellation fee, and even then, the flights and transfers are non-refundable and the hotel is dependent upon which option was selected at time of booking. Surely this can't be right? That means i'd only get my hotel fees back and be charged a £75 fee for the pleasure?

Whilst an horrific situation for all those immediately affected, this seems unnecessarily harsh on those who are due to travel in the future and very worrying at the same time.

So my thoughts are i'm going to be presented with the following 3 options:

Option A) They can't arrange a new flight and issue full refund.

Option They arrange a new flight which is suitable.

Option C) They arrange a new flight which isn't suitable and i'm not entitled to any form of refund.

Please tell me i'm off the mark here?

Well if you get option B you will be ok.they have 8 months to sort out flights so there is a good chance all will be well.:)

N4t4lie

TAD63 wrote: »

I booked 6 Thomas Cook flights on Skyscanner in February, we are due to go on holiday 2 weeks today. I paid by debit card. On news of their insolvency I contacted my bank who initially seemed positive about using the chargeback scheme. However it turns out i booked the flights through Gotogate therefore i have no protection. Card protection ( including credit cards) do not protect you when you are booked through 3rd parties. Had Gotogate gone bust i would have been protected, but since i paid Gotogate then TC went bust I am not protected.
Gottogate are wiping their hands clean . My banks says i should send a letter of complaint to Gotogate, They said that most people are getting refunds and that i just need to find the right avenue. I am not holding out much hope as Gotogate have been atrocious, they are simply sending generic emails to clients telling them to contact Thomas Cook. i would never, ever book with them again. I have had to spend £ 3700 on new flights as the prices are so high. Does anyone know where I stand with this and/or is there a template for a strong complaints letter i could use on this forum ?

Sorry to join this a bit late, but I think you do have protection in this case. See the main article on Chargeback on the main MSE web page, this is the bit you can use to reclaim your money:

"Non-delivery – the goods you've paid for were not received as promised and the company refuses to refund you."

In this case it doesn't matter who the contract is with they cannot fulfil your order, therefore you are entitled to a refund. The intermediary link is only on claims made under Section 75 and as this is a debit card you paid on you don't get S75 cover anyway.

So the steps to take are to get Gotogate to confirm in writing they are not giving you a refund, then make a chargeback claim with you card provider. If they give you the same line, ask them to investigate it as a complaint about the advice you have been given, make sure it is registered as a complaint as they have to then use the specific complaints process to investigate and provide you with a formal reply. If they still insist you are not entitled to a chargeback then get the reply in writing and then take your case to The Financial Ombudsman. Make sure you mention that you need this formal complaint to take them to The Ombudsmen to contest it, it normally wakes them up an makes sure it goes to a level that knows chargeback well.

I find when you ask for anything these days the first person you speak to seems to fob you off to get you to go away, read up on Chargeback and know your rights and don't take no for an answer. Best of luck, let us know if it works.