Thomas Cook flights through agent

siobhanrachel

My mum’s friend booked a holiday in June 2019 to Turkey for October 2019. A few weeks before we were due to fly, Thomas Cook went bust. A lot of the information online offers help on what to do if you booked through Thomas Cook - but we didn’t. 

Our holiday was booked through a travel company called Holiday Shoppy. We had return flights with Thomas Cook and then a hotel that was in no way affiliated with Thomas Cook. This was all booked as a package through Holiday Shoppy. Their website is terrible and they don’t look super legit (to be honest I would have never booked with them in the first place but I wasn’t involved in the booking process).
We recieved an ATOL certificate that states our holiday is ‘package (multi contract)’. The bottom of the ATOL certificate says the issuer is ‘Holiday Shoppy’ but higher up it says ‘Who is protecting your trip? Cheap Cost Holidays ATOL number: 10947’. Having done a bit of research, this ATOL number is legit so we definitely were ATOL protected. I don’t even know if this is relevant because it wasn’t this ATOL holder who went bust.

We have recieved correspondence regarding this holiday from email addresses associated to Holiday Shoppy and also Refresh Holidays (bit weird). They never emailed us when Thomas Cook went bust and it took several chase up emails to get them to reply. When they did reply, they offered us alternative flights for an extra £100+ per person. We obviously couldn’t afford this and asked for a refund. We then recieved this email:
“ We still dint received the cancellation email from you, In order check with the supplier regarding the refund you need to send an email asking to cancel the holiday as there flight price are too high. Kindly send us the email as soon as possible so that we can contact our supplier try to cancel accommodations and transfers without any charges.”
We didn’t reply asking to cancel the holiday as we knew something about it seemed shifty.
Ever since then (September) we have been endlessly trying to chase up a refund. I started speaking to them on the phone first but we just went round in circles. The bottom line of their argument was: we can refund you for the flights as they are Thomas Cook but we will not refund the hotel or the transfers. Can they do this?? The Citizens Advice online said I should only correspond with Holiday Shoppy via email to leave a paper trail. They also said I should give them 14 days to let me know what they are going to do in regards to this refund but it has been months with still no reply. 

I am so frustrated and upset and tired of going on this wild goose chase to get my money back. Please help.

I’ve tried to give as much info in this post to help people give an accurate response but if I need to say anything more then let me know.

Westin

If @Alan_Bowen is monitoring the threads today I feel sure he can give full and correct guidance as ATOL related matters are right up his street. 

My take is that you had an ATOL protected holiday and given that one element (TC flights on one sector) failed, the ATOL holder is responsible for replacing that element of the package without further cost, or if they can’t or don’t wish to, give you a full refund of the total cost of the package.

In this instance it seems Cheap Cost Holidays would be the responsible party.

Alan_Bowen

Well here I am and here is my take on the issue. This was an ATOL protected holiday and the company is responsible for refunding you in full. The company is based in Wembley, has an ATOL licence for 10000 passengers a year, so not a small company at all but its accounts claim there is only one employee! Companies House records suggest the owner died just over a year ago and someone else took over, someone I suspect is not really aware of the ATOL Regulations. You should, therefore, send a letter, to be addressed to Hamzah Shaikh advising that you are entitled to a full refund of all the money paid for the holiday and if you do not receive it within 14 days you will make a formal complaint to the CAA. I fear there are a number of agents who had no idea the risks they were taking on when selling package holidays and assumed they could pass the buck to others but since Thomas Cook failed, they may have discovered that being a tour operator, in law, is not such an easy game to play. Good luck

leylandsunaddict

You are definitely entitled to a full refund. If the agent issues the Atol they become the principal (tour operator) and as such they are liable to refund in full if any part of the package fails financially, single or multi contract. The better agents will have done this immediately Thomas Cook failed. 

siobhanrachel

Holiday Shoppy are claiming that they did not sell us a package holiday because they do not run their own flight company or hotel company and so could not have possibly sold us a package. They claim only TUI etc. can sell package holidays.
I spoke to them on the phone and even got him to read out the part on our ATOL certificate where it says ‘What is protected? Package holiday’ and he STILL said it was not a package holiday and so they did not have to comply with the 1992 regulations.
I have put negative reviews on Trustpilot and because I won’t take them off they are refusing to talk to me further or offer me any assistance. 

I have sent emails a month ago and they have confirmed receipt over the phone but have not replied. I have sent recorded delivery letters and I can just tell they won’t reply. Please please can somebody help me with next steps.

Westin

I think you have found someone at Holiday Shoppy who doesn’t know his bottom from his elbow.

The name of the ATOL holder will be printed on the certificate. If Cheap Cost Holidays as you suggested before, that is where the claim lays.  If your ATOL certificate says you have a package you should be covered.

The legislation you need to remind them about is the Package and Linked Travel Regulations 2018. 
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2018/9780111168479/contents

The seller of the combined flight + hotel package has an obligation to abide by this regulation. 

siobhanrachel

Every time I try to contact Holiday Shoppy or Cheap Cost Holidays I keep getting told to call Refresh Holidays so that is who I have been dealing with.

They have just called again to ‘appeal to me on a humanity level’ to take down my negative review. Their reasoning is the man who organises refunds is being deeply affected by my review and can’t do his job because of it and so they can’t process any refunds. 

Is there any way for a group of us holidaymakers to take them to court together? 

Westin

I would forget grand ideas of ‘class actions’ and organising group actions. Just focus on your issue.  

Refresh Holidays is just a trading name of Cheap Cost Holidays. They really should not be trying to palm you off.

Please read the suggestion and wise words from the poster Alan_Bowen a few posts above.

If you Google the trading address (779 Harrow Rd, Wembley HA0 2LW) and look at Google Maps you would probably run a mile before booking with this outfit. 

Alan_Bowen

Yes, I didn't like to admit that I know that address too well, drove past it at least three times last week, on the way to the local council dump, sorry recycling centre. They are not members of ABTA so there is no own else to complain to apart from the CAA. Write to them at Fifth Floor, 11 Westferry Circus London E14 4HD explain the issue and send a photocopy of your ATOL Certificate and ask them to enforce the rules against the licence holder. There is no point beating your head against a brick wall in Wembley as they are either completely ignorant of the rules or hoping you will go away