G Adventures - Getting a refund rather than travel credit

Poynton53

Hello Everyone,

Unfortunately I left my job at the start of March to depart for what was supposed to be a 'once in a lifetime' trip through South East Asia with a reputable travel company called G adventures. Unfortunately, through no fault of their own, COVID-19 meant that the trip was cast into doubt. However, after quitting my job of 5 years and having no communication from the tour operator regarding a change in itinerary I decided to continue with the plans and travel to Bangkok on the 12th March. It was one when we were sat in our 'welcome' meeting we were told by our poor tour guide that due to the borders being closed and tourists not being permitted into Vietnam, the majority of out tour was cancelled and after 10 days (out of 42!) We would have to catch a flight back to the UK... and we had to arrange that ourselves!

Thankfully, I managed to catch a flight back (Very fortunate as 6 on the tour were stuck there for 10 days afterwards due to their flight being cancelled!). As you can imagine it was a very stressful week and so to be back in the UK I felt extremely fortunate. However,  the day after I returned I contacted G adventures to arrange a refund for the remainder of the tour I did not receive. They have since only come back with a policy that states for all suspended tours they are providing a 110% refund. I have emailed them back on multiple occasions explaining I left my job to go on the trip, I am currently unemployed with no short term possibility of getting employment and therefore the money would be very handy keeping afloat at a time which is uncertain for everybody. Whilst I appreciate the offer of the credit it just isn't viable for me to accept that method of compensation at the current time.

I contacted my insurance company, fit2travel, whom I took out a Silver insurance package with who said "I regret to inform you the details surrounding your trip simply do not fall in the accepted criteria". Hence, I cannot get a refund back from them. Martin has said on a few occasions that the thing to do is to create a chargeback through the debit card I paid on to the company to get my money back. However, when I rang them up (First Direct) this morning they explained in order to facilitate the chargeback I would need to refuse the offer of the credit point blank and that due to the tour being cancelled for 'government advise reasons' there wasn't a guarantee the claim would be accepted. Therefore leaving me with a possibility of losing my money having already declined the travel credit in the first place. The tour operator is part of ABTA and so I have raised a file with them but I assume they won't be able to help me with much more than has already been stated. 

Please could I enquire as to what are my rights within this case? Should I pursue the chargeback route or am I left with no option but to play this safe, take the credit, just for the sake of coming out of this with nothing. I appreciate Martin has said on many occasions people must do what is possible to keep these companies afloat and take credit where possible. But, I went on my tour, I quit my job to go and there is no guarantee I could say to a new employer that I need that amount of time off again in the future to re-organise the travelling. In my situation I just don't see that as a viable option. 

Thank you in advance for any help given. 

Dan

Life__Goes__On

RE insurance,  are you 100% they are right to reject your claim?  

Poynton53

Hi Life_Goes_On

They detailed in their email the list of reasons for which they would be willing to accept a claim for as they put it 'coming home early' but none of which were even close to applying to my situation. So, according to their conditions, they aren't able to offer compensation. In the travel policy they state they won't offer compensation for 'the fear of an epidemic, pandemic or infection' and also 'the cancellation of your tour by a tour operator'. I therefore assume this means the insurance company have the right to say no. 

Life__Goes__On

It seems strange to me that that their reply  states they won't offer compensation for 'the fear of an epidemic, pandemic or infection'
You didn't cut short your trip because of the fear of a pandemic,  it was cut short because of an actual pandemic,
You should look closely as what your  "epidemic, pandemic or infection" coverage is.

Poynton53

The 'fear of an, epidemic, pandemic or infection' was taken from the policy wording which I have attached (bottom section), I have also attached the correspondence from the insurance company (with the important information taken out)

It feels as if companies are doing everything in their power to go against their pre existing terms and conditions and taking any small route out of paying compensation in the form of a refund they can. Its leaving consumers with a difficult choice of talking the credit despite being unsure whether they can use it/won't help their current financial situation OR fighting them through chargeback/court which could leave you with nothing! Do we have rights here or is this just an exceptional circumstance where our rights are not clear?

lisyloo

‘Coming home early’ is called curtailment if that helps (i mean you might have it defined in your policy as curtailment). You need to raise a formal complaint. Make sure you go though their proper procedure so it gets to the correct dept. Do you have credit or debit card company that can get involved? Start your complaint ASAP as there is a clock ticking to go to the ombudsman,

Poynton53

lisyloo said:

‘Coming home early’ is called curtailment if that helps (i mean you might have it defined in your policy as curtailment). You need to raise a formal complaint. Make sure you go though their proper procedure so it gets to the correct dept. Do you have credit or debit card company that can get involved? Start your complaint ASAP as there is a clock ticking to go to the ombudsman,

Thanks for your reply Lisyloo!

When you say raise a complaint which company/body should I take a complaint up with? G Adventures/ABTA/my insurance company. 

Also, I have got in touch with my bank regarding a chargeback but they explained to facilitate this I would need to, in writing, decline G Adventures offer of travel credit. They went on to explain that they couldn't guarantee that the claim would be successful due to it being a government related issue and therefore, if rejected I could end up losing all monies and without an offer of credit which would, obviously, be a lose-lose scenario....