Is travel agent allowed to make deductions from refund

prl100

Hi guys

Just a quick one. I had a holiday booked during the lockdown period which had to be cancelled. I am cutting a long story very short, but I am just now in conversation with the online travel agent who is refunding me for the trip. But they are making deductions from the total amount paid for transaction fees and also the ATOL fee. So my refund falls short of the amount I originally paid. 

Does anyone know the legalities of this? It doesn’t seem right to me. 

The ATOL fee itself is only £5, so I wouldn’t have been bothered by this alone. But as for transaction fees - this feels like paying for delivery for something which I haven’t had. 

bagand96

It depends what their terms and conditions state. Agents can charge administration fees (after all, they will have had to undertake some work to get your refunds from the suppliers and pass them on to you). So that’s what you’re paying for. But those fees would need to be details in the T&Cs at the time of booking, and be reasonable. 

prl100

Thanks for your response. So after reading through their terms - they say that if the customer cancels the booking they will not be refunded the admin charges. It makes no mention of what happen if the travel agent cancels, and there is no mention of ATOL fees being non refundable either, so looks to me that they can't enforce this rule then if never mentioned until now. Would you agree?

mattyprice4004

Just out of interest, is the refund going back to the same card you used to book? 
If changing refund details, the agent won't get their card payment fees back - which would then be charged to the customer. 

prl100

Yes it was supposed to be going back to the cards that I booked with (separate cards as paid over separate instalments), but have hit a stumbling block with them at the moment over this issue so nothing is happening right now while we debate this matter.

I would have expected that my original transactions just be reversed/refunded. Many other things I have booked have been refunded during this time and that is how it has happened with those, I have not been left out of pocket with anyone else.