Message from ABTA A disgrace.

bagand96

westv said:

Within 14 days of what?

It won't be within 14 days of anything at the moment.

happyandcontented

The other problem is we would have been happy to accept a voucher but a change of dates is now classed as a new booking by insurers and they have now excluded Covid 19 from their cancellation policy for new bookings.
The insurance industry has kicked the travel industry in the teeth with that caveat.

westv

bagand96 said:

westv said:

Within 14 days of what?

It won't be within 14 days of anything at the moment.

So current ABTA regulations are correctly being ignored by tour operators??

Ziggyplus

14 days from notice of cancellation or request for refund if later.
Another thought. ABTA and some contributors on this forum seem keen on forcing, by law, individual citizens to make interest free loans to travel companies however large, for 3, 6, or 12 months - who knows how long this disruption will last.  Surely a more equitable solution for all concerned is for the Government to fund upfront all  claims for cash refunds under the existing Regulations. The cash amounts to be secured against the assets/equity of the companies. If any go bust the Government is already the lender of last resort through ATOL.  Or are we to expect some change there also to the detriment of Joe Public?

Ziggyplus

They are NOT ABTA Regulations. They are EC law incorporated into UK law by the Package Travel Regulations.  ABTA cannot unilaterally ignore the Regulations and should not be encouraging their members to do so. 

bagand96

westv said:

So current ABTA regulations are correctly being ignored by tour operators??

The point I was making was that, even if people do get their tour operator or travel agent to refund them, they are unlikely to get their refund within 14 days.  This is due to the difficulty in contacting them in the first place, and then if you get them to agree a refund, the time it will take to process them all.  The regulations were not conceived with this situation in mind - the entire travel industry closing down for 2-3 months (and maybe longer).

savermseman

happyandcontented said:

The other problem is we would have been happy to accept a voucher but a change of dates is now classed as a new booking by insurers and they have now excluded Covid 19 from their cancellation policy for new bookings.
The insurance industry has kicked the travel industry in the teeth with that caveat.

Great point. Just another reason for NOT accepting a voucher or change of holiday date.. stick it out. Insist on refund or maybe even consider small claims court.. No matter how much stress this puts on the travel industry, nobody seems to be caring what stress this puts on some households.  even when they keep using the new in word " unprecedented" , I don't think it will hold water in a court.. what a horrible thought of having to take such harsh action in these sad times, but if we don't stick up for ourselves, we will just end up with no food on our family tables, and a fist full of worthless vouchers.

SmashedAvacado

askisavermseman said:

 stick it out. Insist on refund or maybe even consider small claims court.. No matter how much stress this puts on the travel industry, nobody seems to be caring what stress this puts on some households.  even when they keep using the new in word " unprecedented" , I don't think it will hold water in a court.. what a horrible thought of having to take such harsh action in these sad times, but if we don't stick up for ourselves, we will just end up with no food on our family tables, and a fist full of worthless vouchers.

I really think you are looking at this all wrong. You haven't lost money, you have lost a holiday. They are agreeing to give you one at a time when travelling will be allowed. These companies don't have the funds to repay you and masses of people demanding things that they can't reasonably expect to be given is just making it more difficult for them to operate. Take the deferral - you will get what you paid for and you will have helped some other faceless family that you will never meet keep bread on the table. The stress on your household is a deferral of your holiday. 

savermseman

SmashedAvacado said:

askisavermseman said:

 stick it out. Insist on refund or maybe even consider small claims court.. No matter how much stress this puts on the travel industry, nobody seems to be caring what stress this puts on some households.  even when they keep using the new in word " unprecedented" , I don't think it will hold water in a court.. what a horrible thought of having to take such harsh action in these sad times, but if we don't stick up for ourselves, we will just end up with no food on our family tables, and a fist full of worthless vouchers.

I really think you are looking at this all wrong. You haven't lost money, you have lost a holiday. They are agreeing to give you one at a time when travelling will be allowed. These companies don't have the funds to repay you and masses of people demanding things that they can't reasonably expect to be given is just making it more difficult for them to operate. Take the deferral - you will get what you paid for and you will have helped some other faceless family that you will never meet keep bread on the table. The stress on your household is a deferral of your holiday. 

I think your looking at it all wrong, I've lost the holiday I required, when I required it. That's fair enough, due to circumstances I won't bore you with, we can't take another holiday now for at least 3 years. That's fair enough too, so therefore, I would like a cash refund, no excuses, no ifs , buts, or why's, just my cash, not the airlines airlines cashback, and prefer not to hear that the poor airlines can't pay back us multi million pound customers back as per t and Cs.  I'm sure if I had a company people would ask the same from me, but I'm sure if I mentioned the word unprecedented, everyone would  say sure Mr airline, you keep the money .

basscadette

I was shocked to see Martin Lewis' article today arguing that getting a refund is a moral and ethical issue. Anyone else had problems getting companies to see the morality and ethics of their policy when the consumer is on the wrong end of the terms and conditions?