Thomas Cook - what you need to know - MSE News

angela2011

bradders1983 wrote: »

Well the ATOL number 1179 is one of the companies that went under...

https://thomascook.caa.co.uk/refunds/


As for if the holiday is valid or not, well only you can tell us what is on the original confirmation. If any flights have MT flight numbers then these are gone. As for not hearing anything about DD refunds, they said this would take 14 days and we are only on day 9.

Thanks for this. Sounds as if my initial thoughts are correct.

Yeah the flight are MT numbers so are gone.

bioboybill

I wonder if anybody is in a similar situation to us and could provide some advice:

A group of 13 of us booked TC flights to Tenerife through a couple of different online agents. About half went through Opodo and half through Gotogate. We all booked our accomodation separately through Booking.com. The majority of us booked our seats and luggage direct with Thomas Cook, as the agents said they couldn't. We understand we have no Atol protection.

On the day of collapse we all managed to get various replacement flights for ourselves at inflated prices and scattered to different airports. The majority of us paid through credit cards and had insurance, so we assumed we would all be able to get our money back, but so far most of us are getting nowhere. The only ones who have been told they will be refunded were a couple who paid by debit card.

Opodo and Gotogate have sent out emails saying that as intermediaries it's nothing to do with them.

I phoned my insurance (I have Travel insurance through a Nationwide Flexplus account), and they said their insurance for these situations was through International passenger Protection, and they gave me their number. I phoned and there was an automated message saying that if you had ATOL protection they couldn't help you. If you paid by credit card you had to try that avenue first before coming back to them.

I phoned Sainsbury's Credit card and was on the phone for a total of 40 minutes waiting to get through and then explaining the case. The man said he didn't know if I would get money back, but said they would send paperwork out to me.

Last Thursday I decided that after waiting 10 days without paperwork I would phone again to check on progress. The person I spoke to couldn't possibly have been more awkward! I was asked the usual security questions like my card number, expiry and date of birth. I explained why I was phoning and at that point the woman said she would have to ask me some further security questions using a credit search!

I was surprised at this, but expected perhaps a further 2 or 3 questions. In fact I was asked at least a further 10 questions with 5 multiple choice answers for each! Some of the questions were fair enough. For instance, what are the first 2 letters of somebody's name who lives with you. But then the questions got harder. For instance what is the credit limit on your account? What balance have you left to spend on the account? How many years and months since you opened the account? I told the woman that most people wouldn't be able to answer those questions off the top of their head, so I would have to log in to my account and check. She then asked me several other questions regarding other bank accounts I have (I have 7). For instance she asked what date and month I opened one of my accounts. I asked her which one and she wouldn't say. I commented that how can she expect anybody with several accounts to know the dates at which they opened them all. I said, "Don't you agree that some of these questions are ridiculous"? She simply said that her personal opinions don't come into it. If I couldn't answer all her questions we couldn't go further. I pointed out that I had never been asked all these questions before and basically she wasn't interested. It was like talking to a brick wall.

Eventually we finished and after all that she said she didn't know what was happening with my case as there were no notes. She said she would contact disputes if I would hold. After a few minutes she came back to say that disputes were aware of my case and they will decide the case within the 56 day limit. I pointed out that it would be difficult if they don't send me the paperwork. All she said was, "don't worry we will decide within 56 days". It is now 15 days and no sign of any paperwork.

Looking at the information given on here it looks to me as if we are going to get screwed over re S75, as we booked through an agent. We might get somewhere with chargeback regarding the seats and luggage as we were direct with TC, but I understand with credit card that only applies to transactions under £100 (with debit card no such limit). Our seats were a total of £100 exactly and luggage £100 exactly.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Westin

Bioboybill - Section 75 covers for purchases OVER £100, rather than under £100, so that might be a bit of good news for you.

You might wish to read about S75 here -
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases/?_ga=2.133053130.551882642.1570446800-1059820991.1557318334

The issue that you will face, and others have reported this, is the dubious supply chain. Both Opodo and GoToGate are overseas entities, both with less that stella reputations. They are really glorified cheap ticket floggers and any issues they will not want to know. Their business model simply does not build in any customer service as everything is very price driven and sold on cheapness.

Opodo is based in Spain and GoToGate in Sweden.

If your credit cards have been charged by Thomas Cook Airlines then I would think your claim (over £100) would be fine. If the card charges came from Opodo or GoToGate, or another intermediary, you may find more of an uphill battle as both companies continue to trade.

Good luck.

N4t4lie

bioboybill wrote: »

I wonder if anybody is in a similar situation to us and could provide some advice:

A group of 13 of us booked TC flights to Tenerife through a couple of different online agents. About half went through Opodo and half through Gotogate. We all booked our accomodation separately through Booking.com. The majority of us booked our seats and luggage direct with Thomas Cook, as the agents said they couldn't. We understand we have no Atol protection.

On the day of collapse we all managed to get various replacement flights for ourselves at inflated prices and scattered to different airports. The majority of us paid through credit cards and had insurance, so we assumed we would all be able to get our money back, but so far most of us are getting nowhere. The only ones who have been told they will be refunded were a couple who paid by debit card.

Opodo and Gotogate have sent out emails saying that as intermediaries it's nothing to do with them.

...

Looking at the information given on here it looks to me as if we are going to get screwed over re S75, as we booked through an agent. We might get somewhere with chargeback regarding the seats and luggage as we were direct with TC, but I understand with credit card that only applies to transactions under £100 (with debit card no such limit). Our seats were a total of £100 exactly and luggage £100 exactly.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

TAD63 is having a similar issue, you might want to DM them and see how they are getting on.

I think your card provider is confused between Section 75 and Chargeback and the intermediary link. In this case your contract is with Opodo or Gotogate so S75 cannot be used, but Opodo ad Gotogate can no longer supply the goods you purchased from them so you are able to use Chargeback to obtain a refund.

If your card provider is not listening to you raise the issue as a complaint. Complaints have to be looked into by a set process so your case is more likely to end up with someone who knows how Chargeback works. If they still refuse to pay you can then go the the Financial Ombudsmen.

Read the article on Chargeback on the main website and don't be afraid to quote from it.

Be aware though that the Chargeback is likely to be challenged by the intermediary as it will come out of their funding. They are then creditors of Thomas Cook and are unlikely to get any money back, this is why they are not keen on refunding you themselves. I think it is time flight only intermediaries were required to have insurance against the airline failing as they do seem sell you a flight and wash their hands if something goes wrong. After listening to how intermediaries are treating customers I for one am never booking a flight only through one again.

Any extras paid direct to Thomas Cook on a card should be a simple Chargeback.

Hope that helps, stick with it, you unfortunately are in a grey area so it may take a little time and patience to get your money back.

Let us know how you get on either way as if you can't get a refund then people need to know they have absolutely no protection from these flight resellers in the event of insolvency.

Twotone2

Hi I'm kind of in a similar situation to Bioboybill above although I paid TC direct by M&S credit card.

I am currently claiming a S75 for the total cost of the invoice which was £466.96 this included flights X 4 (two adult returns) and extras such as seats and meals & extra baggage allowance and a bottle of champagne @ £25 (birthday celebration).

The flights were £289 and the extras £177 but I've read that each 'transaction' has to be over £100 in order to claim on a S75 so does anyone know if I've lost the entire invoice cost of £466.96 or will that total be classed as one transaction?

I'm still waiting on M&S bank acknowledging our claim which I submitted by post the day after the collapse of TC so that should be 14 days tomorrow or ten working days however they said that they would be in touch within 14 days.

Thanks

Tony

BTW does anyone know if you can claim for consequential loss? I've seen it mentioned a few times here but there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer yet or at least I've not seen it.

We've had to book alternative flights from Glasgow via Gatwick>Feurteventure and back and actually those flights have turned out cheaper but obviously we're being considerably inconvenienced by this however flying direct to Feurteventura from Glasgow is now prohibitively expensive at almost four time the price for the flights that we paid TC for back in January so that was an absolutely no go for us but I'm just wondering if the CC companies will pay for the extra costs of flights for people who have paid the exorbitant costs of the fights now.

Personally I don't see how the CC companies can be expected to pay those additional costs but does anyone know what the legal situation is regarding the consequential loss relative to TC situation?

N4t4lie

Twotone2 wrote: »

Hi I'm kind of in a similar situation to Bioboybill above although I paid TC direct by M&S credit card.

I am currently claiming a S75 for the total cost of the invoice which was £466.96 this included flights X 4 (two adult returns) and extras such as seats and meals & extra baggage allowance and a bottle of champagne @ £25 (birthday celebration).

The flights were £289 and the extras £177 but I've read that each 'transaction' has to be over £100 in order to claim on a S75 so does anyone know if I've lost the entire invoice cost of £466.96 or will that total be classed as one transaction?

I'm still waiting on M&S bank acknowledging our claim which I submitted by post the day after the collapse of TC so that should be 14 days tomorrow or ten working days however they said that they would be in touch within 14 days.

Thanks

Tony

At worst M&S will process it as a Chargeback for the full amount and you will receive a refund. I would assume that if it was processed under S75 that you would also get a full refund as these are consequential losses.

N4t4lie

Twotone2 wrote: »

BTW does anyone know if you can claim for consequential loss? I've seen it mentioned a few times here but there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer yet or at least I've not seen it.

We've had to book alternative flights from Glasgow via Gatwick>Feurteventure and back and actually those flights have turned out cheaper but obviously we're being considerably inconvenienced by this however flying direct to Feurteventura from Glasgow is now prohibitively expensive at almost four time the price for the flights that we paid TC for back in January so that was an absolutely no go for us but I'm just wondering if the CC companies will pay for the extra costs of flights for people who have paid the exorbitant costs of the fights now.

Personally I don't see how the CC companies can be expected to pay those additional costs but does anyone know what the legal situation is regarding the consequential loss relative to TC situation?

It is debatable that anyone who paid for a more expensive flight could use S75 to claim the difference, but I would be intrigued to hear of anyone that has managed it. I am aware that people who lost hotel bookings when other companies went under and had to pay more to rebook the room did successfully get the difference in cost so it could be an interesting test case to take to the Ombudsmen. But you have to bear in mind that example was from when Lowcotholidays went under and there was no ATOL cover available.

bobblebob

I got an email from Gold Medal saying my flights may still be available as Thomas Cook used them to book them. Obviously the hotel wont be so can i still claim under ATOL? Id rather cancel everything and start again


Also they say if i want to cancel the flight then i need to inform them, however if i do that will this have issues with my ATOL claim seeing as i was the one who cancelled the flight?

Twotone2

N4t4lie wrote: »

At worst M&S will process it as a Chargeback for the full amount and you will receive a refund. I would assume that if it was processed under S75 that you would also get a full refund as these are consequential losses.

Hi N4t4lie, thanks for this, just checked with M&S bank and we've received a full refund for the entire amount claimed for.

Tony

N4t4lie

bobblebob wrote: »

I got an email from Gold Medal saying my flights may still be available as Thomas Cook used them to book them. Obviously the hotel wont be so can i still claim under ATOL? Id rather cancel everything and start again


Also they say if i want to cancel the flight then i need to inform them, however if i do that will this have issues with my ATOL claim seeing as i was the one who cancelled the flight?

https://www.goldmedal.co.uk/media/374959/GM-guide-for-agents-and-passengers-UPDATE-26-SEP.pdf

I would contact them first and then take it from there you may still have a holiday if Gold Medal were paid in full by TC before they went under.

You will find even though you booked through Thomas Cook your ATOL will say Gold Medal Travel so you need to contact them first. I am glad to see they have finally got email address to contact customers, the update has been on their website for weeks and they had no way to contact customers.