Stuck between travel agent and insurance company for refund on April 2020 US Masters golf trip

ResultsMayVary

I had booked a bucket list trip to the US Masters golf in Augusta for April 2020 through Your Golf Travel. 5 day trip including flights, accommodation, car hire, hotels. Two days of playing golf and two days of going to the Masters. Around £6700 total cost. Due to fly April 8th 2020. This was obviously not possible due to FCO advice regarding travel to US, the tournament itself didn't go ahead, the golf clubs we were playing at were closed etc and it is now going ahead in mid November with no spectators allowed.

Everything was booked through Your Golf Travel, an ABTA member.

I also took out top rated insurance through Insure and Go costing £80 for the 5 days, which included £10k cancellation with no excess.

Once it was clear that the trip could not take place, YGT offered the options of moving the booking to November when the tournament was rescheduled (now withdrawn as no spectators allowed), moving booking to Masters 2021 or having vouchers to the value of the booking. I arranged my work schedule to accommodate this April 2020 trip specifically and as a result wanted a cash refund. This was refused under a quoted clause for "unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances". I was advised by YGT to claim on insurance and they provided me with a cancellation email but agreed to hold my voucher £6700 offer if this claim was not successful.

After many months of back and forth with the insurers asking for various information and having to wait 30 working days for a response each time, my claim has been refused on the grounds that "your agent offered vouchers".

Can anyone advise where I stand with my request for a refund with my travel agent, Your Golf Travel and also if I should be aiming my correspondence at them or my insurance company. 

Many thanks in advance for your thoughts.

bagand96

You say you booked everything together, which is good news because you have a package.  Who cancelled the trip?  This might seem a small detail, but is important.  Did YGT inform you the holiday wasn't going ahead?  If they did, then they cancelled your holiday, and you are entitled to a full refund.

Is your voucher just a simple voucher with YGT, or is it a proper ABTA backed Refund Credit Note (RCN)?

EDIT:  It appears from the YGT website that they are issuing ABTA RCNs.  This is a financially protected voucher, should show an expiry date, at which point you can have a cash refund.  In short, ABTA came up with the scheme because travel agents didn't have enough cash to refund all their customers immediately.  More information on this page, towards the bottom https://www.abta.com/news/coronavirus-outbreak  You should note, that even ABTA say you are entitled to a cash refund before the voucher expires, so you should go back to YGT and ask for that.

ResultsMayVary

Thanks bagand96, very helpful. I'm speaking to YGT today so I'll double check that with them. The regional manager I've been dealing with there has personally been very helpful but all the push has been towards rebooking the trip for a later - as yet unconfirmed - Masters and they are, as yet, unmovable about a refund.

What channel would I use to pursue a refund from YGT? They seem very sure about this "unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances" clause.

bagand96

ResultsMayVary said:

Thanks bagand96, very helpful. I'm speaking to YGT today so I'll double check that with them. The regional manager I've been dealing with there has personally been very helpful but all the push has been towards rebooking the trip for a later - as yet unconfirmed - Masters and they are, as yet, unmovable about a refund.

What channel would I use to pursue a refund from YGT? They seem very sure about this "unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances" clause.

You could start by telling them that ABTA are saying you are entitled to a cash refund (again, assuming your voucher is an actual ABTA backed RCN)

ResultsMayVary

Absolutely - that's what I've asked via email today and quoted the relevant links. Cheers.

ResultsMayVary

UPDATE - great news, they have changed their policy and are giving full refunds. Seems to mainly down to no spectators being allowed into the rescheduled November tournament but the process to refund has at least started. Thanks again bagand96 for your help. 

bagand96

ResultsMayVary said:

UPDATE - great news, they have changed their policy and are giving full refunds. Seems to mainly down to no spectators being allowed into the rescheduled November tournament but the process to refund has at least started. Thanks again bagand96 for your help. 

Good news. Most companies are getting there eventually.

Bocaeagle

Can you advise if you have had your refund yet. We are in the same boat with mo ey being held since January last year by YGT.

parcival

What type of holiday was it - I assume no flights but did it include hotel plus tee times plus transfers which would make it a package.