Flight booking vendor withholding refund/attempting to charge admin fee

Mash_94

Hello forumites, quite a long question for you,

I booked flights, through a Skyscanner-listed vendor, to Singapore in Nov 19. Come Mar 20 and the COVID-19 lockdown, this was no longer possible. The first correspondence I had with the vendor I booked with was in May 20; They emailed me, starting with 'Kindly be informed that the flights are been (sic) cancelled'. They then informed me that they'd be taking a £75 admin fee per person and, later in the email, requested that I replied back stating 'I agree to go ahead with the cancellation of flights as mentioned in the email'.

I noted that, in their T&Cs, there was only an admin fee tied in with a cancellation of the flights - leading me to believe they were forcing me to state that I wanted to cancel to validate their fees. I attempted a chargeback through Amex but, two months on, this fee was re-instated. The supporting documentation from the vendor to Amex states that they're claiming 'force majeure' as their right to hold on to this admin fee, although I'm not sure how extensively that can be applied when it's a little grey in their own Terms and Conditions.

So my questions here are as follows;

What are my rights to claim an 100% refund from them? Should I be going through Travel Insurance instead?
Can they legally claim the admin fee? Should I allow them to?
Where do I go from here?

Thanks.

bagand96

Third party agents are entitled to charge fees for the services they provide. Getting and processing your refund will involve a certain amount of work on their behalf. Whether £75 per person is fair or reasonable or not is open to debate. And without seeing the T&C's no one here can give their opinion on whether the £75 is correct as per the wording or not. 

I also imagine the agent might be based abroad?

[Deleted User]

Do you have the majority of your flight monies back minus the admin fee?  If the fee only was returned to them (whoever they are) then I think they must be within their rights to charge an admin fee?    If they are refusing your request for a full refund then you can try your insurance.  If no joy with insurance you can try taking it further but as you say it is very much a grey area.   Such an unprecedented situation with everyone suffering in various ways.    I don't think anybody would know the outcome if you go the legal route.   People have threatened to do it but as far as I know nobody has returned to say how successful or not they were or if they bothered carrying through with it.

Caz3121

had you booked direct with the airline you would have been entitled to a full refund from them. Most third parties charge fees for the work they do on your behalf - they need to deal with the airline to retrieve the refund and process it to you. - they have the same amount of work to do whether it is you or the airline that cancels the flight and they tend not to work for free.
Don't assume that because a third party pays to advertise on skyscanner, that they are endorsed and 'good'  Whilst the flight cancellation was not your fault, it is not theirs either.

Mash_94

bagand96 said:

Third party agents are entitled to charge fees for the services they provide. Getting and processing your refund will involve a certain amount of work on their behalf. Whether £75 per person is fair or reasonable or not is open to debate. And without seeing the T&C's no one here can give their opinion on whether the £75 is correct as per the wording or not. 

I also imagine the agent might be based abroad?

Agent is UK-based. I did and would not query their right to an admin fee, it's certainly nothing I'd begrudge an honest company. However, when I replied that I didn't wish to state that I'd like to cancel my own flights (because why would I make that statement when I didn't wish to cancel?) they wouldn't release the refund until I had.

Mash_94

Tedber said:

Do you have the majority of your flight monies back minus the admin fee?  If the fee only was returned to them (whoever they are) then I think they must be within their rights to charge an admin fee?    If they are refusing your request for a full refund then you can try your insurance.  If no joy with insurance you can try taking it further but as you say it is very much a grey area.   Such an unprecedented situation with everyone suffering in various ways.    I don't think anybody would know the outcome if you go the legal route.   People have threatened to do it but as far as I know nobody has returned to say how successful or not they were or if they bothered carrying through with it.

I have had nothing back thus far, as they won't release it to me. To be honest, I haven't checked what they received from the airline but I am assuming the airline fully reimbursed them. Reluctant to go to small claims as the debate is really over the £150 admin fee, rather than the remainder. May try to recover the admin fee via insurance though.

mattyprice4004

Was it a proper travel agency, or one of these tin-pot companies set up in a shed in Luton? 

Mash_94

Caz3121 said:

had you booked direct with the airline you would have been entitled to a full refund from them. Most third parties charge fees for the work they do on your behalf - they need to deal with the airline to retrieve the refund and process it to you. - they have the same amount of work to do whether it is you or the airline that cancels the flight and they tend not to work for free.
Don't assume that because a third party pays to advertise on skyscanner, that they are endorsed and 'good'  Whilst the flight cancellation was not your fault, it is not theirs either.

Hi! Completely understand that, my issue is not the morality of whether they should or should not be paid to book flights for me, I agree that they should be entitled to a fee. My concern lies with the fact that they're asking me to state (verbatim) a phrase which eludes to me cancelling the flight myself, prior to releasing my refund. I hope I'm not missing something obvious but it would seem from this that they're only able to recover this admin fee if it is me who initiates a cancellation. 

You're right, and this is a lesson in checking the vendor I'm buying through on Skyscanner!

Mash_94

mattyprice4004 said:

Was it a proper travel agency, or one of these tin-pot companies set up in a shed in Luton? 

I'd love to be able to tell you that it wasn't the latter...

comeandgo

I think you are reading too much into their cancellation statement.  Their statement makes reference to their original e mail where they state the cancellation.  I would have no problem accepting their method.