Refunds from On The Beach

Alykb

I booked a flight inclusive holiday with On The Beach (Flight with Vueling & hotel). Had paid an initial deposit and then a further deposit (total of £1500.00, 8 ladies on a hen weekend) and was issued with an ATOL cert.
Due to the Covid 19 situation was informed by OTB that holiday was cancelled so they have sent new paperwork stating this and the new paperwork says this sale is not protected by the ATOL scheme. Can they do this.Have tried to ring, automated message and then cut off, e-mailed them no response.

Westin

When was the holiday?  Inside the current FCO travel advisories?

Alykb

Oh sorry should have said, we were due to fly out on 13th April. Even after the FOC advised against travel OTB  still wanted another £50, I thought no point in arguing so paid the £50 as they would have taken it using the card that I booked the trip with anyway. I know in the scheme of things my booking is not a priority but never the less, so frustrating.

Westin

"Even after the FOC advised against travel OTB  still wanted another £50, I thought no point in arguing so paid the £50 "
   > Not sure what that (£50) would be unless you asked them to amend your holiday in some way.
   > If the trip was cancelled and a refund taken, perhaps the £50 was a service/admin fee?  Are you sure this was not covered off with an explaination?

"Due to the Covid 19 situation was informed by OTB that holiday was cancelled so they have sent new paperwork stating this and the new paperwork says this sale is not protected by the ATOL scheme"
   > So if I understand this correctly, your holiday on 13 March was cancelled by OTB.  The new "paperwork" is that just confirming the cancellation or have you booked a new holiday with different travel dates? What does the paperwork tell you - is it about a refund/credit?  
   > Not sure at this stage what the reference is to "this sale is not protected by the ATOL scheme".  Have you rescheduled your trip?

Alykb

No I have not cancelled anything, on their website when I went into my booking there was  a generic message that stated due to travel restrictions imposed as a result of Covid 19 your holiday has been cancelled and we will be in touch when we have more info. When I went into my bookings (view paperwork) the new paperwork was there stating holiday is cancelled. I have not cancelled re-booked or rescheduled anything. Chance would be a fine thing, they do not allow you to contact them in any way. They propose you  to go onto manage your booking and contact them through e-mail. not possible you are given drop down options  with generic responses.
I did try e-mailing them  twice through their feedback e-mail address but as expected have not had a reply

Westin

OK, becoming clearer but what about the £50 charge?  If you have not spoken to anyone then how and when was this charge made?  Something must have triggered it, or some notification as to what it was for.   Could it be that they said they would be refunding you for the holiday - minus £50?

Where was this reference to "the new paperwork says this sale is not protected by the ATOL scheme"?

If you booked a package or flight+hotel at the same time, a refund should be forthcoming.  Hopefully as a cash refund but many operators are suggesting a credit voucher for now.  On The Beach would however be unlikely to process a refund (although technically they should) before they get repaid by Vueling.

Alykb

Not sure what the £50 charge was for, I did e-mail and ask them what it was for but you guessed it, no reply,
The charge was added in to the Payment Schedule of the My Booking section, I had just gone in to check for updates and there it was with a note saying this would be automatically taken on the date below.  .I guess I will just have to sit and wait like everyone else in the same situation and see what OTB come up with. As the trip was for 8 of us a cash refund from the airline would be great  so that everyone gets their money back as I cant see us all being able to travel together anytime soon but I am not holding out much hope. As I mentioned it was a hen trip for my sister who is supposed to be getting marries in Cyprus at the end of August and there are 40 of us booked to go but as they say that is another story. Thanks for the chat.

Westin

You may wish to look at the options being given by your airline.   I am not sure if Vueling are offering refunds or trying to get people to accept credit or travel waivers.
https://www.vueling.com/en/latest-travel-information/

For now I would agree that I think you will have to wait on a reply from OTB.

Alykb

Just thought I would give a little update, Finally managed to get to speak to someone at OTB who confirmed that they were waiting for the airline to reimburse them before a refund could be made. I brought up the issue  of a credit rather that cash but she was pretty adamant that I would be receiving my refund in cash. She also told me that I would be receiving a £60 refund against the cost of the accommodation which I assume must of been the extra £50.00 that I paid more recently. I asked her a possible timescale but she was unable to help, at least being able to talk to someone at the other end of the phone is a small step in the right direction.

markcon97

Hi I have a similar scenario and just don't know where i stand. I booked a flight plus hotel with on the beach to Turkey on the 28th May 20. I booked this in January 20 and Paid the initial payment of £55 the following February i paid the next instalment of £355. the next instalment was due on the 22nd March with the Balance of 2k + due in April. Then the pandemic hit. On the 20th March OTB emailed to offer to cancel the holiday but would charge 30% of the flights plus £55 and then £25 per person admin fee, faced with the possibility of paying over £2300 into company for a booking that was unlikely to go ahead and the potential wait to get any refunds or anything should the company not survive the economic downturn, we cancelled. OTB then sent me another statement showing the whole amount i had paid to date would be the charge for cancelling (strange). I have since contacted OTB to ask if they would be willing to provide a voucher of sort sorts for the amount towards a holiday next year.. Response was No, you cancelled, have a nice day!

So my questions are 
1. if i had pad the monies and then needed to claim back through my insurance would the paying of the money when the holiday was unlikely to happen be seen as  fault by myself, effectually making any insurance claim void?

2. I have annual insurance taken out before the 16th March for the 4 people on the trip but also insurance with my bank account for the 2 adults. The insurance for the 4 of us are stating that we should seek redress through OTB but they are refusing.

3 We paid the amount on a credit card, would this be covered to claim back?

Seems to be that OTB saw an opportunity to play upon peoples fears and reduce the risk of full refunds by offering those that had only made part payment a cancellation where they could still skim off some money and not refund the full amount, sneaky !

bnblinds

I can’t seem to find any way of contacting OTB. Does anyone know how to do this? My manage my booking area has a send and receive messages which doesn’t allow you to send an email. I have over £3000 to pay for my holiday which is due in a week. It flys from Gatwick so I know the flight is cancelled. I’ve looked up the hotel and it’s closed until June. We fly in May. Therefore it’s a cancelled holiday. Why are OTB contacting me asking for the final payment?