How long have ABTA given companies to refund?

Redredrobin

How did she pay ? My parents should have been in Spain with Tui , they have been unable to contact them for a refund however after talking to their bank today the bank has refunded their money and will get it back from Tui .

Its all very well if people want to rebook but a lot of people like my parents are older and a lot can happen in a year . 

cfw1994

Good point....she paid with her debit card (student, no credit card).
I guess sitting doing nothing is the only option for now.

Redredrobin

cfw1994 said:

Good point....she paid with her debit card (student, no credit card).
I guess sitting doing nothing is the only option for now.

Is it a visa debit card ? It has the same protection as a credit card .

Alan_Bowen

The date suggested is ridiculous, ABTA said any date must be reasonable and September 2021 is not in my view reasonable. If they are not prepared to refund before then, and I presume you have that in writing then ask the bank who issued the card to authorise a chargeback. Some do it almost instantly, some take a little longe

cfw1994

Alan_Bowen said:

The date suggested is ridiculous, ABTA said any date must be reasonable and September 2021 is not in my view reasonable. If they are not prepared to refund before then, and I presume you have that in writing then ask the bank who issued the card to authorise a chargeback. Some do it almost instantly, some take a little longe

Thanks for the positive suggestions, I will help her investigate!
Cheers

BillTrac

I have to assume that whatever ABTA say that the travel agents will do what they want.

Due to go on holiday May 23rd. Jet2 called me a while back and refunded all my monies without any issues at a all.

Yet on another holiday which I had cancelled on me, due to travel late April, I'm getting the complete runaround.

I contact the travel agents to get my refund, which I'm legally entitled to within 14 days from cancellation. First, they try the hard sell of delaying my holiday and expecting an immediate response on the phone there and then. Nope, refund wanted. Offered Credit Voucher. Nope, refund wanted. Then after I chased again and again, they offer 55% refund and the rest on credit voucher. Think maybe I'll meet them partway so agree (probably a mistake but I'd rather get some money back now). Receive the Credit Voucher by email within minutes. Chase the refund a while later and get told that they need to get people who working from home back into the office to sort refunds due to GDPR and that they are looking at a minimum of 28 days!!   How can you aim for a minimum?? I've sent the details to CMA and ABTA but not holding out much hope.

I know these are very, very abnormal times but when companies blatantly delay. and lie it really defeats the object in checking companies are correctly regulated before booking.

Ganga

BillTrac said:

I have to assume that whatever ABTA say that the travel agents will do what they want.

Due to go on holiday May 23rd. Jet2 called me a while back and refunded all my monies without any issues at a all.

Yet on another holiday which I had cancelled on me, due to travel late April, I'm getting the complete runaround.

I contact the travel agents to get my refund, which I'm legally entitled to within 14 days from cancellation. First, they try the hard sell of delaying my holiday and expecting an immediate response on the phone there and then. Nope, refund wanted. Offered Credit Voucher. Nope, refund wanted. Then after I chased again and again, they offer 55% refund and the rest on credit voucher. Think maybe I'll meet them partway so agree (probably a mistake but I'd rather get some money back now). Receive the Credit Voucher by email within minutes. Chase the refund a while later and get told that they need to get people who working from home back into the office to sort refunds due to GDPR and that they are looking at a minimum of 28 days!!   How can you aim for a minimum?? I've sent the details to CMA and ABTA but not holding out much hope.

I know these are very, very abnormal times but when companies blatantly delay. and lie it really defeats the object in checking companies are correctly regulated before booking.

But surely if the call centres are closed and they have to wait till staff are physically back at their desks/computers then getting payments back to customers will take time ,is anyone working at ABTA at this moment?

Scotlinc

By advising their members to ignore the legal 14 days for refunds and encouraging the companies to give vouchers, coupons etc. I think ABTA may well be guilty of  'Incitement to commit an offence'. A case against ABTA would surely put an end to all this madness. Perhaps the CMA, MSE or Consumers Association would like to consider this. 

cfw1994

Scotlinc said:

By advising their members to ignore the legal 14 days for refunds and encouraging the companies to give vouchers, coupons etc. I think ABTA may well be guilty of  'Incitement to commit an offence'. A case against ABTA would surely put an end to all this madness. Perhaps the CMA, MSE or Consumers Association would like to consider this. 

Am interesting idea, but given how Governments across the world are taking extraordinary steps to manage the pandemic, I somehow doubt it will fly right now.
I do, however, feel ABTA have been remiss, perhaps corporately negligent, in appearing to give an almost limitless time for companies to offer compensation.  

Maybe ABTA itself might go bust, but to me it feels like a 12 month maximum from the date holidays were booked or perhaps paid for would be more “reasonable”.