Message from ABTA A disgrace.

SevenOfNine

blindman said:

SevenOfNine said:

What lesson?
Do not give over control and a huge amount of money to a third party who is not concerned about your well being in the slightest and who is mostly likely overcharging you for a job you could do better your self.


It hasn't been determined that we will not get our money back, it's more likely a question of 'when' &/or where from. 

 Personally we can afford to wait.

 Personally we've got plenty of money & a whole lot more equity in our home, 

We have £4,400 invested in this holiday & a further £1200-£1400 on one in September (can't recall exact amount offhand), so about £6k tops.  Of course I'd like to get it back, but frankly I'm not actually losing sleep over it, in fact it's quite an interesting process to follow,

This won't affect our standard of living nor make a massive dent in our finances
 
it'll all come out in the wash eventually, & if it doesn't, well 'whatever'.

You should try not to let it bother you quite so much if people seem to have money to waste,

 which is why I'm not bothered about p! ssing it up the wall.

I get it-You have loads of dosh to burn-Strange that you're on a Money saving web-site though.

Not half as strange as you participating in a forum entitled : "Message from ABTA a disgrace"!  Nor as strange as being so bothered what others do with their own money & time, That's just weird, perhaps you need a holiday to book - that should keep you busy for several weeks. 

Trevor3153

Another point, we booked our Canadian holiday back in November as soon as we booked we took out a yearly travel insurance policy, which because of medical problems had a premium. So unless we went before November this year, which is very doubtful, we would need to get another insurance policy which, could involve another expensive policy, which we hadn't budgeted for. Unfortunately the current policy doesn't cover us for a pandemic.

43722

blindman said:

43722 said:

Blindman;
People entered into an agreement, exchanging a service for a sum of money. In most cases this transaction is based on legally-backed refunds. If the service does not materialise as promised, why do you say people are "bleating" about not getting a refund?

Because they are now learning the lesson about not giving up control and money to a third party who does not care, who are backed by Head Office (ABTA) who are happy to let them flout the law.
I believe there are a few Travel agents out there who are paying back monies owed.
Let hope everyone remembers who they are if they want to book future holidays and not DIY, as it is not for everyone.

I do not disagree with you in relation to your comments about the reprehensible behaviour of some Travel Agents. I disagree when you appear to be blaming the people who have behaved perfectly properly, and are entitled to a refund according to the law.

zagfles

SevenOfNine said:

blindman said:

SevenOfNine said:

What lesson?
Do not give over control and a huge amount of money to a third party who is not concerned about your well being in the slightest and who is mostly likely overcharging you for a job you could do better your self.


It hasn't been determined that we will not get our money back, it's more likely a question of 'when' &/or where from. 

 Personally we can afford to wait.

 Personally we've got plenty of money & a whole lot more equity in our home, 

We have £4,400 invested in this holiday & a further £1200-£1400 on one in September (can't recall exact amount offhand), so about £6k tops.  Of course I'd like to get it back, but frankly I'm not actually losing sleep over it, in fact it's quite an interesting process to follow,

This won't affect our standard of living nor make a massive dent in our finances
 
it'll all come out in the wash eventually, & if it doesn't, well 'whatever'.

You should try not to let it bother you quite so much if people seem to have money to waste,

 which is why I'm not bothered about p! ssing it up the wall.

I get it-You have loads of dosh to burn-Strange that you're on a Money saving web-site though.

Not half as strange as you participating in a forum entitled : "Message from ABTA a disgrace"!  Nor as strange as being so bothered what others do with their own money & time, That's just weird, perhaps you need a holiday to book - that should keep you busy for several weeks. 

All this from some innocuous (I thought) comment that all this might cause some people to think more about the way they book their holiday and how much they commit upfront.

If I'd said it will cause everyone to I could understand rants from the "loadsamoney, CBA putting any effort into my holiday" brigade who are set in their ways and will carry on shoving shedloads to travel agents and tour operators regardless... Once they and ABTA have all gone bust through customers demanding their legal right of a refund, I think I'll help fill the gap in the market and set up as a tour operator, it's too good an opportunity to miss ;-)

happyandcontented

I used a TA this year for the first time for very,very many years, solely because for the holiday I wanted it was actually £500 cheaper to do so than going direct to the hotel which is our usual MO. I had checked out the DIY option and also contacted the hotel asking for a price match and it couldn't beat the TA, so I went with the TA. What would you have done?

zagfles

happyandcontented said:

I used a TA this year for the first time for very,very many years, solely because for the holiday I wanted it was actually £500 cheaper to do so than going direct to the hotel which is our usual MO. I had checked out the DIY option and also contacted the hotel asking for a price match and it couldn't beat the TA, so I went with the TA. What would you have done?

Me? Probably the same, why? I book packages too, went on 2 last year. Booked late (2/3 weeks before). This isn't a black and white thing, I'm just saying the trend now might be that some people become less willing to pay (or committing to pay) large amounts up front for a holiday. Not that I wouldn't ever. Not that everyone else wouldn't. Just that some people might be less inclined to. 

blindman

SevenOfNine said:

Not half as strange as you participating in a forum entitled : "Message from ABTA a disgrace"!  Nor as strange as being so bothered what others do with their own money & time, 

It's a MONEY SAVING site and my advice to SAVE money is NOT to use ABTA or their agents.
I am trying to help others SAVE MONEY, by giving and showing alternatives to booking through an agent and trying to educate people that 95% of Travel agents do NOT care about their customers and take money for doing almost nothing. 

blindman

happyandcontented said:

I used a TA this year for the first time for very,very many years, solely because for the holiday I wanted it was actually £500 cheaper to do so than going direct to the hotel which is our usual MO. I had checked out the DIY option and also contacted the hotel asking for a price match and it couldn't beat the TA, so I went with the TA. What would you have done?

Same as Zagfles, I'd have booked it. At least you compared the DIY option and hopefully are aware of the pitfalls of booking through a Travel Agent.
I booked my Africa holiday through an agent after a lot of research and comparison with DIY.

SevenOfNine

blindman said:

happyandcontented said:

I used a TA this year for the first time for very,very many years, solely because for the holiday I wanted it was actually £500 cheaper to do so than going direct to the hotel which is our usual MO. I had checked out the DIY option and also contacted the hotel asking for a price match and it couldn't beat the TA, so I went with the TA. What would you have done?

Same as Zagfles, I'd have booked it. At least you compared the DIY option and hopefully are aware of the pitfalls of booking through a Travel Agent.
I booked my Africa holiday through an agent after a lot of research and comparison with DIY.

I booked our first to Africa with Kuoni & our second with Hayes & Jarvis. My time saved not bothering to do "a lot of research& comparison with DiY"...... or more than 5 minutes picking which tour operator.  Not reliant on ATOL/ABTA cover nor ignorant of possible pitfalls with insurance for DiY. 

But I suppose if one has rather a lot of time on their hands, perhaps trawling about researching is fun or fills the hours in the day?  Each to their own, a concept you can't seem to grasp, only your way seems right & it is.....for YOU.

Pollycat

blindman said:

SevenOfNine said:

Not half as strange as you participating in a forum entitled : "Message from ABTA a disgrace"!  Nor as strange as being so bothered what others do with their own money & time, 

It's a MONEY SAVING site and my advice to SAVE money is NOT to use ABTA or their agents.
I am trying to help others SAVE MONEY, by giving and showing alternatives to booking through an agent and trying to educate people that 95% of Travel agents do NOT care about their customers and take money for doing almost nothing. 

But people don't have to take your advice.

And shouldn't be 'shouted at' if they don't.

We do both - book packages and DIY.

Some of the accommodation we've stayed in by booking a very cheap package has been so nice that we've opted to go back and pay what some people may consider an inflated price.

But this is accommodation that usually has a small number of rooms and is tied to a particular TO - usually TUI or Olympic Holidays - and the only way to stay there is to book a package. I'm talking generally about Greek self catering accommodation.

The place we have booked for mid June only has 14 rooms and just 2 (3 at a push) of the type we would prefer to stay in.

It is not advertised on any booking sites.

So as it's our money, we make the choice.