Desperate travel companies

Nebulous2

Increasingly desperate measures by travel companies in their efforts to bend the law.

"Travel agents resort to hardline tactics to get out of a refund | Consumer rights | The Guardian" https://amp.theguardian.com/money/2020/jul/05/travel-agents-resort-to-hardline-tactics-to-get-out-of-a-refund

Browntoa

Or read as "desperate measures to survive" 

We will have no travel industry left at this rate. 

I don't condone what they are doing but some people need to understand that the results of their actions may have an undesired result

blindman

Browntoa said:

Or read as "desperate measures to survive" 

We will have no travel industry left at this rate. 

I don't condone what they are doing but some people need to understand that the results of their actions may have an undesired result

Really?
This pandemic has shown what scumbags 90% of the travel industry are.
Why is it ,that if a customer pays £££££ for a trip-which is then cancelled by the TA -the TA resorts to underhand tactics to not refund the £££££ ?
Obviously the TA has SPENT this money-which to me is why this "industry" needs to get rid of all these scumbags. 
I sincerely hope they all fail.
No, I have no axe to grind, I book all my 30 years of trips independently.
I have recovered all my Covid curtailed trip to Australia 

diggingdude

It is very hard to feel any sympathy for the travel industry.  Very often significant life events happen but the travel agency still expect paying or take 50% etc but when it is them struggling they expect customers to foot the bill yet again

waamo

I can see a few smaller operators going bust but some of the worst offenders for refunds aren't in great danger. Yes I'm looking at you Ryanair. 

macman

blindman said:

Browntoa said:

Or read as "desperate measures to survive" 

We will have no travel industry left at this rate. 

I don't condone what they are doing but some people need to understand that the results of their actions may have an undesired result

Really?
This pandemic has shown what scumbags 90% of the travel industry are.
Why is it ,that if a customer pays £££££ for a trip-which is then cancelled by the TA -the TA resorts to underhand tactics to not refund the £££££ ?
Obviously the TA has SPENT this money-which to me is why this "industry" needs to get rid of all these scumbags. 
I sincerely hope they all fail.
No, I have no axe to grind, I book all my 30 years of trips independently.
I have recovered all my Covid curtailed trip to Australia 

The agents don't cancel any trips-that is done by the airlines and accom providers. The agents have paid the providers, but can't then quickly retrieve the cash when the provider cancels. When the customer demands their refund in 14 days, as they are entitled to, they can only refund out of their available cashflow. Once that runs out, they have to cease trading, as many will do. 
Hence the desperate tactics many are resorting to to slow down the outflow of refunds. 
It's not in anyone's interests for them to fail, as the customer will then be reliant on an ATOL bond, S75 or insurance claim to recover their losses. A bank can't do a chargeback against an insolvent company.

Butts

macman said:

blindman said:

Browntoa said:

Or read as "desperate measures to survive" 

We will have no travel industry left at this rate. 

I don't condone what they are doing but some people need to understand that the results of their actions may have an undesired result

Really?
This pandemic has shown what scumbags 90% of the travel industry are.
Why is it ,that if a customer pays £££££ for a trip-which is then cancelled by the TA -the TA resorts to underhand tactics to not refund the £££££ ?
Obviously the TA has SPENT this money-which to me is why this "industry" needs to get rid of all these scumbags. 
I sincerely hope they all fail.
No, I have no axe to grind, I book all my 30 years of trips independently.
I have recovered all my Covid curtailed trip to Australia 

The agents don't cancel any trips-that is done by the airlines and accom providers. The agents have paid the providers, but can't then quickly retrieve the cash when the provider cancels. When the customer demands their refund in 14 days, as they are entitled to, they can only refund out of their available cashflow. Once that runs out, they have to cease trading, as many will do. 
Hence the desperate tactics many are resorting to to slow down the outflow of refunds. 
It's not in anyone's interests for them to fail, as the customer will then be reliant on an ATOL bond, S75 or insurance claim to recover their losses. A bank can't do a chargeback against an insolvent company.

Well earlier this year, and luckily just before the current pandemic, Flybe Failed.
I had my money back on a chargeback within three weeks on both Debit and Credit Card purchases.

macman

Good result: but with a credit card you were covered under S75 anyway, because it's the bank that bears the loss, not the provider.

blindman

The agents don't cancel any trips-that is done by the airlines and accom providers. The agents have paid the providers,
We have seen countless stories and TV scenes that proves this is not true. When a TA goes bust their customers are hounded by the accommodation providers to pay AGAIN as the accommodation provider has not been paid.
Similar stories with airlines, Customers turn up to find they do not have a flight. 

When the customer demands their refund in 14 days, as they are entitled to, they can only refund out of their available cashflow. Once that runs out, they have to cease trading, as many will do. 

An honest business model, subject to these refund T&C's would have sufficient cash in reserve from ALL the moneis paid by the customer.
Hence the desperate tactics many are resorting to to slow down the outflow of refunds. 
It's not in anyone's interests for them to fail, as the customer will then be reliant on an ATOL bond, S75 or insurance claim to recover their losses. A bank can't do a chargeback against an insolvent company.

It's in the interest of those who have been robbed of their money.
Hopefully when the dust settles there will be fewer of these scumbags around.

parcival

I used to work for a travel agent (it was 15 years ago so things may have changed) and they never paid the hotels or the airlines until well after the customer had travelled.
However I firmly believe in the free market so the best and strongest will survive and the others will go to the wall. However it will be a case of supply and demand so if the demand exists maybe new operators will enter the market.

Browntoa

blindman said:

Browntoa said:

Or read as "desperate measures to survive" 

We will have no travel industry left at this rate. 

I don't condone what they are doing but some people need to understand that the results of their actions may have an undesired result

Really?
This pandemic has shown what scumbags 90% of the travel industry are.
Why is it ,that if a customer pays £££££ for a trip-which is then cancelled by the TA -the TA resorts to underhand tactics to not refund the £££££ ?
Obviously the TA has SPENT this money-which to me is why this "industry" needs to get rid of all these scumbags. 
I sincerely hope they all fail.
No, I have no axe to grind, I book all my 30 years of trips independently.
I have recovered all my Covid curtailed trip to Australia 

I know someone who runs a small specialist agency

They pay for flights and accommodation straight away not once the passenger has travelled as hinted at . 

They initially refunded customer money from company reserves but that money has now gone so they have to wait for airlines and hotels to refund before passing it on . They are not "scumbags" and are highly regarded both inside and outside of the industry and retain very good customer feedback.

The money is "spent " as it's been passed on to other companies.