Who is responsible for a refund - travel agent or TuI

illymill

We booked our summer cruise via a travel agent.  The cruise was with TUI.  The cruise is cancelled.  The agent has said that TUI are taking around 120 days to refund the money and once they have it they will give us the money back.  Unless we want to book a new cruise via the agent for next summer in which case they can do that even if it is not with TUI.  We want the money back. Does the agent have to pay us?  Our contract is with the agent and they are saying that they will not give money to us until TUI refunds them.  This seems unreasonable.  It is a large (massive) agency.  We do not wish to wait 120 days as this means we cannot afford to pay for anyother holiday this summer.  Any advice please?

bagand96

Your contract is with your agent and it is them that should refund you.  And the law says within 14 days.  It should not be your problem what their arrangements with TUI are. 

However, the big but in all of this is that the situation is unprecedented. Due to the colossal amount of refunds to be processed, all companies are taking a long time to process refunds. It’s a case of sheer numbers. The problem for agents is, they’ve passed the money on to the provider (TUI) already so don’t have it. They more than likely don’t have the cash flow in their business to refund everyone before getting the money back from the providers. They could wind up insolvent if they did that. 

I know that doesn’t help you, and might not be what you want to hear.  

Alan_Bowen

In fact, the contract is with TUI, a travel agent is just that, an 'agent' of the company you are in contract with. So estate agents act for the seller of the house but you buy it from the owner, not the agent.
TUI played silly buggers for months refusing refunds and causing agents real hardship. They eventually saw the error of their way last month and I think even issued an apology to agents and customers. You will get a refund but as TUI are working in date order, if your cruise was later in the summer, you may be waiting a little longer

macman

Your contract is with the agent, not TUI, and it is them who have to refund you. They have 14 days from date of request. 
If they fail to refund in that timeframe, which they will, then do a chargeback if you don't want to wait 120 days or longer.