Thomas Cook Atol Protected question

RS2OOO

First of all, I'm devastated for all the staff who worked for this once great company and to all those who will be at a loss because of their demise.

My question is insignificant in the grand scheme, but significant for me.

I paid for a Thomas Cook Atol protected holiday using e-vouchers which were purchased through a work scheme provided by a third party. My proof of purchase / transaction details / receipt etc were held on that third party website, but the third party supplier of these vouchers has since closed down, and having managed to get in touch with them they confirmed my account has been deleted.

I have a holiday booking confirmation/receipt from Thomas Cook confirming the £6800 holiday has been paid in full.

However from what I can find on the web, the CAA will require proof of holiday purchase such as bank/credit card statements etc, but I cannot provide proof of purchase of the vouchers as my statement just shows an amount being paid to a third party company.

Does anyone know if I'll be eligible for a refund based solely on the Thomas Cook booking confirmation / receipt?

Thanks

Westin

Perhaps if you can gather proof of the failure the voucher supplier and submit that with your claim, together with an explanation of your circumstances, the CAA may accept your claim. Hopefully they will have access to TC records that show a payment on your holiday account was made using vouchers. Good luck. Hope that you get it sorted.

RS2OOO

Thanks for your reply.

The funny thing is, despite paying in e-vouchers using the voucher code and pin, the Thomas Cook receipt says:

Paid Today:
Mastercard Debit Card - Travel

This may look odd to CAA when I submit the claim as they may ask for a Debit Card Statement, which obviously doesn't exist.

As for failure of the voucher supplier - All I can do is get a written declaration from my employer but that doesn't prove the transaction took place. However, I do still have the automated email "acknowledgement" of the voucher order, albeit an email anyone could type / forge.

Since my original post I've found a copy of an Atol Claim form which, assuming will be a similar form for TC claimants, actually looks quite straight forward:

https://www.caa.co.uk/uploadedFiles/CAA/Content/ATOL_Failures/Claim_Forms/The%20Holiday%20Place%20PLC%20-%20Claim%20Guidance%20And%20Claim%20Form.pdf

I'm fortunate that having just come off nights at the time of the news and therefore being awake, I used CC to buy the same holiday again elsewhere, and it came to £500 more (£7300), which between 6 of us was acceptable.

The exact same holiday from the same place (TUI) is now being quoted at £14315.16 inclusive of £1400 online discount, which I personally think is disgusting.


EDIT: Forgot to add in relation to your point, the CAA are saying they have not been provided access to records from TC.

Westin

Have you checked on the Companies House website with a view to printing off confirmation that the voucher company is no longer trading? There might also be other evidence you can find via an online Google search of the company no longer operating. I think the more backup documentation you can provide the better the claim chance being successful.

Trina90

RS2OOO wrote: »

The funny thing is, despite paying in e-vouchers using the voucher code and pin, the Thomas Cook receipt says:

Paid Today:
Mastercard Debit Card - Travel

This may look odd to CAA when I submit the claim as they may ask for a Debit Card Statement, which obviously doesn't exist.

It says this on mine as well - I also paid with vouchers via my employer's benefit scheme. What about those that have been gifted a gift card or voucher? Does the person who gifted it have to supply their bank statement? :think:

stephb34

The e voucher is processed as mastercard debit. I have also paid for mine the same way and will be claiming it back via the caa with my receipt from TC for payment and if needed the credit card statement that shows my purchase with firesaversrewards, i think they will realise thats where i got my voucher from if i put in a covering note explaining.

RS2OOO

I knew there were others in the same boat as me and have seen the questions being asked on another thread, but none had been answered, so I'm glad if this thread helps us all.

I have checked Companies house and the voucher company is still trading, but under a different name. These are the people I contacted who told me all individuals (employees) accounts under the previous company name have been deleted.

As mentioned and linked to above, having now seen what the Atol claim form looks like it isn't quite as intrusive as info on the web makes out. i.e in my mind the receipt for payment from Thomas Cook should in itself be adequate for the claim. A brief explanation that it was paid for using vouchers should hopefully be enough. I guess CAA want proof of transaction more so where the holiday was paid using CC as that is potentially another claim avenue under some circumstances.

Now in the process of balance transferring the value of the new holiday to an interest free CC which I can then maintain under minimum payments until the CAA refund. I think you can appreciate the brief fear I had after quickly re-booking the holiday on CC (before the subsequent price explosion), and then realising a refund on the TC booking may be tricky in view of the voucher situation.

Another lesson learned for those of us who save their entire annual leave quota for holidays at the end of the calendar year.... in this scenario where your holiday gets cancelled you end up with all your annual leave entitlement to use up at the worst possible time of year! Maybe I'll switch to January holidays in future.