Part Refund Offered from Flight Centre - should I accept ?

ronl50

We flew out to Australia on Feb 28th due to return on April 8th on a trip booked entirely through Flight Centre, flights, hotels, accommodation, tours, car hire all included. On the 20th March following the UK government announcement the travel agent advised and we agreed to return to the UK due to COVID 19 restrictions. At the time flight centre were unable to tell me when, if or how much of my reaming two & half weeks trip costs would be refunded but did supply me with an estimate for insurance purposes of just under £6,000.  In the event when I spoke to my insurance company I was told that I wasn't covered for COVID, well you can imagine how surprised (not) I was to hear that !
Since then I have been pushing Flight Centre for the money and finally they have offered me just half of the value they estimated. They say that the can only refund what they have been refunded by the various suppliers involved.  Are they correct in what they say or should I continue to push ?

[Deleted User]

Hard hard to say?  Nobody knows what you paid for what and which bits were cancelled.  Sounds like a figure was plucked out of thin air to help you log an insurance claim (you would probably have had to prove this if you had been covered) .  What do your sums say?   Work it all out and go back with the final figures.   You may just have to reach a compromise if hotels were still open etc.  

ronl50

The figures were worked out by a member of the team I had booked through and I agreed all the various elements before they came back with the costs. What’s more the company are not arguing with the costing other than the elements that they themselves have not received compensation from their suppliers. I guess what I am asking is do the company I contracted with, Flight Centre have a legal obligation to cover all my lost cost in full ?
Thanks for the response Tedber 

Nebulous2

I had a similar story, from New Zealand, and was covered by insurance. What does your policy say about curtailment? 

Mine says I am covered for curtailment if FCO advise against 'all but essential travel.'

[Deleted User]

Ok.  Well from my understanding the agents have provided what they agreed to and have also refunded the elements that refunded them so I would agree with previous and say it is now up to your insurance to cover your out of pocket expenses- if you are covered for FCO advice.  I know you said they don’t cover for COVID but if the hotels or transport were closed to you it could be different. 

You could try contacting the relevant elements to confirm if they were Indeed open or not or if they are willing to offer you a gesture of goodwill?  

Bottom line is I don’t think the travel agents are legally bound to repay money they don’t have refunded especially if the venues were still open at the time.   Had you been prevented from traveling in first place, it would be different.  Fingers crossed your insurance step up. 

ronl50

Thanks Teber & Nebulous for your comments, Originally I included curtailment on my insurance policy but when I tried to claim I was directed to small print that indicated it didn't cover FCO advice, for that I would have had to have included a well hidden second curtailment part of the policy. Guess I've gone as far as I can with this