Message from ABTA A disgrace.

MaebyJade

Fairypop said:

Please note that ABTA have now changed the goalposts again. The July date has gone and now it’s any date in line with a Company’s financial protection arrangements - none of which the consumer will be party to. It’s madness. 

That is absolutely bonkers. Imagine being a consumer that has accepted a credit refund under the assumption that you will get a cash refund by the end of July and now it's a TBC date. The constant moving of goal posts and yet they are surprised people aren't being accommodating. 

Pollycat

Fairypop said:

Please note that ABTA have now changed the goalposts again. The July date has gone and now it’s any date in line with a Company’s financial protection arrangements - none of which the consumer will be party to. It’s madness. 

Where have you read about this ^^^^?

SevenOfNine

Pollycat said:

Fairypop said:

Please note that ABTA have now changed the goalposts again. The July date has gone and now it’s any date in line with a Company’s financial protection arrangements - none of which the consumer will be party to. It’s madness. 

Where have you read about this ^^^^?

Here https://www.abta.com/news/coronavirus-outbreak . Though to be asolutely 'fair' (not that ABTA would recognise that word), those who accepted the words 31July you WILL be able to claim a refund, presumably missed the fact that ABTA said "INITIALLY" before the date of 31 July! Now it's removed that goalpost.

soolin

Pollycat said:

Fairypop said:

Please note that ABTA have now changed the goalposts again. The July date has gone and now it’s any date in line with a Company’s financial protection arrangements - none of which the consumer will be party to. It’s madness. 

Where have you read about this ^^^^?

I also would like to know where this was seen . The ABTA site doesn’t appear to have been updated since the 9th and I can see nothing at all about time frames other than the old ‘within a month’ suggestion. I would prefer if people have seen announcements that they post a link otherwise we might be working on the ‘what someone said to a mate online that they read on Facebook’ sort of thing, which is not helpful. 

https://www.abta.com/news/coronavirus-outbreak

“ Currently, there is no hard and fast rule. If your travel company is able to provide a cash refund, please be patient. They are dealing with a huge number of customers, and with offices closed and staff working from home, it’s a real challenge. ABTA will keep an eye on the situation and encourage ABTA Members to do all they can, but it’s not unreasonable at the moment to expect the process to take upwards of a month.”

SevenOfNine

soolin said:

Pollycat said:

Fairypop said:

Please note that ABTA have now changed the goalposts again. The July date has gone and now it’s any date in line with a Company’s financial protection arrangements - none of which the consumer will be party to. It’s madness. 

Where have you read about this ^^^^?

I also would like to know where this was seen . The ABTA site doesn’t appear to have been updated since the 9th and I can see nothing at all about time frames other than the old ‘within a month’ suggestion. I would prefer if people have seen announcements that they post a link otherwise we might be working on the ‘what someone said to a mate online that they read on Facebook’ sort of thing, which is not helpful. 

https://www.abta.com/news/coronavirus-outbreak

“ Currently, there is no hard and fast rule. If your travel company is able to provide a cash refund, please be patient. They are dealing with a huge number of customers, and with offices closed and staff working from home, it’s a real challenge. ABTA will keep an eye on the situation and encourage ABTA Members to do all they can, but it’s not unreasonable at the moment to expect the process to take upwards of a month.”

If you have a way of providing links to announcements that have been AMENDED, then please feel free to share it!

The "within a month" you have quoted was, & still is in the Q&A/s (& TBH I thought was relatively fair, even though not the 14 days in the T&C's but these are extraordinary circumstances).  You are correct, the site was updated with the info Fairypop referred to on (according to the ABTA site) 9 April. The previous one with "this protection will last initially until 31 July 2020, at which point, if you have not used the Refund Credit Note to book another holiday, you will be entitled to a cash refund", was previous to that, dated 2 April.  

Being 'old school' (justifiably it may seem), I have a printed copy of the 2 April announcement & have copied the text in " " EXACTLY, so not what someone said to a mate online that they read on Facebook sort of thing.  Personally, I'm not necessarily convinced that the amended text has been there since the ABTA chosen date of 9 Apr, but no evidence of such as I don't look at ABTA every day.

The current document also contains a small 'tweak' the the 'Travel Update' section, you can read what it is now but, frankly, I can't be asked to type what it was before!  Suffice to say they've clarified that there is no legal definition of the word "imminent travel" - in short don't contact your travel company unless you're travelling in the next few days.

Interestingly, ABTA have also removed the "we won't investigate complaints against our member regarding coronavirus", so presumably anyone who wants to complain now.....can!

MaebyJade

Under "ABTA's call on the Government" this is the first bullet point of the condition of credit refunds. I do recall it saying 31 July, which there is no mention of now.

"The Refund Credit Note will have an expiry date, which is the date to which your money is protected, and is based on your travel company’s financial protection arrangements. You are entitled to re-book or have a cash refund by then (if your original booking was for a package holiday)."

mattyprice4004

While I understand how frustrating it is (and I am in the same position) I completely understand why travel companies, particularly these online travel agents we all despise, but use anyway to save a tenner here and there, don't have the funds to just give back to everyone. 

Airlines often require payment up front (due to so many of these smaller firms going under, and also because of the way airlines hedge funding for fuel etc), and some are quoting up to 6 months to refund, and some won't refund full stop.
The agents simply can't afford to take that on the chin - compare that to a theatre, where the acts won't be paid, nothing is paid 'ahead' and the business is closed so staffing / other business costs are minimal. 

They are completely different animals. I'll be taking my voucher, knowing it is guarantee backed should the company go under. If pricing for the replacement holiday is twice as much then that's a battle I'll have to have - but for now, I'll wait and see. 

No use us all taking a refund, then having no holiday companies left to spend it with. 

MaebyJade

mattyprice4004 said:

While I understand how frustrating it is (and I am in the same position) I completely understand why travel companies, particularly these online travel agents we all despise, but use anyway to save a tenner here and there, don't have the funds to just give back to everyone. 

Airlines often require payment up front (due to so many of these smaller firms going under, and also because of the way airlines hedge funding for fuel etc), and some are quoting up to 6 months to refund, and some won't refund full stop.
The agents simply can't afford to take that on the chin - compare that to a theatre, where the acts won't be paid, nothing is paid 'ahead' and the business is closed so staffing / other business costs are minimal. 

They are completely different animals. I'll be taking my voucher, knowing it is guarantee backed should the company go under. If pricing for the replacement holiday is twice as much then that's a battle I'll have to have - but for now, I'll wait and see. 

No use us all taking a refund, then having no holiday companies left to spend it with. 

Can't disagree with anything you've said there. My issue is the travel companies have created a rod for their own back and aren't playing fair. Take for example, my travel provider sent several email asking customers to log into their online accounts and cancel their upcoming holiday. I didn't but I've read about several people who did and now they travel provider are using T&Cs to say because it was the them (customer) who cancelled they are not due a anything back. They can't in one instance apply T&Cs to full effect and in other choose to ignore them.

This coupled with the constant moving of goal posts and not being open to compromise, they have lost the consumers trust and for most that translates as 'give me my money back'.

Butts

MaebyJade said:

mattyprice4004 said:

While I understand how frustrating it is (and I am in the same position) I completely understand why travel companies, particularly these online travel agents we all despise, but use anyway to save a tenner here and there, don't have the funds to just give back to everyone. 

Airlines often require payment up front (due to so many of these smaller firms going under, and also because of the way airlines hedge funding for fuel etc), and some are quoting up to 6 months to refund, and some won't refund full stop.
The agents simply can't afford to take that on the chin - compare that to a theatre, where the acts won't be paid, nothing is paid 'ahead' and the business is closed so staffing / other business costs are minimal. 

They are completely different animals. I'll be taking my voucher, knowing it is guarantee backed should the company go under. If pricing for the replacement holiday is twice as much then that's a battle I'll have to have - but for now, I'll wait and see. 

No use us all taking a refund, then having no holiday companies left to spend it with. 

Can't disagree with anything you've said there. My issue is the travel companies have created a rod for their own back and aren't playing fair. Take for example, my travel provider sent several email asking customers to log into their online accounts and cancel their upcoming holiday. I didn't but I've read about several people who did and now they travel provider are using T&Cs to say because it was the them (customer) who cancelled they are not due a anything back. They can't in one instance apply T&Cs to full effect and in other choose to ignore them.

This coupled with the constant moving of goal posts and not being open to compromise, they have lost the consumers trust and for most that translates as 'give me my money back'.

Or if you have only paid a small deposit 'don't give them anymore' and let them whistle for any dubious cancellation fees !!

Pollycat

MaebyJade said:

mattyprice4004 said:

While I understand how frustrating it is (and I am in the same position) I completely understand why travel companies, particularly these online travel agents we all despise, but use anyway to save a tenner here and there, don't have the funds to just give back to everyone. 

Airlines often require payment up front (due to so many of these smaller firms going under, and also because of the way airlines hedge funding for fuel etc), and some are quoting up to 6 months to refund, and some won't refund full stop.
The agents simply can't afford to take that on the chin - compare that to a theatre, where the acts won't be paid, nothing is paid 'ahead' and the business is closed so staffing / other business costs are minimal. 

They are completely different animals. I'll be taking my voucher, knowing it is guarantee backed should the company go under. If pricing for the replacement holiday is twice as much then that's a battle I'll have to have - but for now, I'll wait and see. 

No use us all taking a refund, then having no holiday companies left to spend it with. 

Can't disagree with anything you've said there. My issue is the travel companies have created a rod for their own back and aren't playing fair. Take for example, my travel provider sent several email asking customers to log into their online accounts and cancel their upcoming holiday. I didn't but I've read about several people who did and now they travel provider are using T&Cs to say because it was the them (customer) who cancelled they are not due a anything back. They can't in one instance apply T&Cs to full effect and in other choose to ignore them.

This coupled with the constant moving of goal posts and not being open to compromise, they have lost the consumers trust and for most that translates as 'give me my money back'.

That's shocking.

That travel provider should be named and shamed.