HELP!! 19 yr old son still trying to claim £5k back from STA - ABTA ATOL Allianze Insurance no help

Guira

Hello
Please excuse the long message, but we are unsure where to go to next.

How are you?  I was wondering if you might be interested in my son's personal experience of trying to get his money back from the travel industry during these trying times?

My son is 19 years old and deferred his place at University to go travelling for the year.  He had a job at Wickes and saved solidly for 6 months before handing in his notice to go on his travels.  A 3 month tour was booked with STA Travel, commencing on 9 March due to return 28 May.  As well as paying for the tour, my son was advised to take out the premier insurance package via STA with Allianze.

Before travelling my son contacted STA to check that the tour was still going ahead given the COVID situation globally.  He was told that the tour was still going ahead.

My son left on Monday 9th March, by Friday 13th March the tour was cancelled.  As the tour was in Phnom Penh, a number of the tourists took the decision to arrange a flight home (as advised).  My son had paid for a flexi flight but could not get hold of the STA office as the phones were switched off so had to make the decision to purchase a return flight.  He arrived back home on Sunday 14th March.

Less than a week's holiday (consisting mainly of travelling from one place to another) had cost my son in excess of £4,500, not including the cost of visas to countries not visited and equipment bought specifically for the trip.

STA were contacted week commencing 15/03 to ask how he should go about making a claim for compensation.  They only offered a travel credit note which my son would not be able to take up as he was starting University in September of this year (we believe that legally he should have been offered a refund but he was not).  The Insurance Company were also contacted but all they said was that the policy was null and void as there was a global pandemic ..... the policy started on 09/03 and the WHO declared a global pandemic on 11/03.

My son had to then wait 28 days before he could make a claim through ABTA, as both STA and the Insurance company were registered with them.  A number of emails were sent to ABTA all always stating that he did not intend to take a credit note, all always asking when, who and how much would be repaid.  None of the questions were ever answered satisfactorily until in August he received a message stating that the travel company would be making a refund and that they would be in touch, but that it might take some time due to the current circumstances.  Whilst my son was obviously sympathetic to the fact that the global situation was affecting many companies economically, his claim had been made 5 months ago.

STA did get in touch on 14th August stating that a refund of £3,200 could be claimed.  As you can appreciate my son felt that the 5 days experience with the company was not worth in excess of £1,500.  STA asked for receipts to be sent stating items that should be added to the claim.  Whilst preparing this, STA went into administration on Fri 21st August.

My son then received an email from ABTA stating that due to the fact that STA were now in administration they would no longer be involved and that the claim would now need to be made via ATOL and would need to provide an ATOL certification number.  No number was provided from STA.  My son has contacted ATOL to see where he stands and what he now needs to do. Having spoken to ATOL today they have stated that the claim should be processed through ABTA.  We have now submitted another claim to ABTA.  Any help that you are able to provide would be really really appreciated

As we say, we appreciate that none of this is anyone's fault, but as my son says "people have still profited from the £5,000 he paid for a holiday that he didn't receive." My son paid for the holiday via 2 installments as he does not have a credit card

Kind Regards

epm-84

If he bought equipment for the trip separately and has that equipment then there's nothing he can do about that, other than sell the equipment on somewhere like eBay if he no longer needs it.

Decide which of these applies to your son: https://www.abta.com/news/sta-travel-limited-ceases-trading-advice-customers

I doubt anyone has profited by £5,000.  STA went out of business because their income was less than their outgoings. 

Guira

Hi
Many thanks for your reply and the link. Unfortunately ABTA are saying that it's not them (as STA have ceased trading)  ATOL are saying it's not them its ABTA, and the insurance company have said it's not them!! Just before STA went into administration my son had received an email stating that they would refund, but we wanted items such as return flight and cost of Visas to countries not visited included. They asked to see receipts and proof of purchase when they went into administration and of course my son has heard no more!!  

sheramber

Did your son get an ATOL certificate?  
See if this is any help  https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/08/sta-travel-ceases-trading---what-you-need-to-know/

Voyager2002

Guira said:

 My son paid for the holiday via 2 installments as he does not have a credit card

Kind Regards

How did he make these payments?

Etch

Voyager2002 said:
How did he make these payments?

This question has already been asked and answered here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77577654/#Comment_77577654

[Deleted User]

The link provided by Sheramber is about as much info as anyone can give.  Sad for your son.   Good luck.

epm-84

Guira said:

Unfortunately ABTA are saying that it's not them (as STA have ceased trading)  ATOL are saying it's not them its ABTA, and the insurance company have said it's not them!! Just before STA went into administration my son had received an email stating that they would refund, but we wanted items such as return flight and cost of Visas to countries not visited included. 

So it seems it wasn't booked as a flight inclusive package and no ATOL certificate was issued so contacting ATOL is a waste of time.

Are you asking ABTA to refund the flights?  If you are that might be the problem.  As explained in the link I provided ABTA will only take responsibility for a package not including flights, ATOL will only take responsibility for a package including flights where an ATOL certificate have been issued.  You need to make it very clear to ABTA that you are seeking a refund for a package which did not include flights and you are not asking them to refund the flights.  

You need to check the exact wording of the insurance policy purchased, not all policies cover the supplier going out-of-business and remember even if you are insured the insurer will expect you to try and get refunds for every non-recoverable cost before you contact them.

The problem with pro-rata refunds for something that is part cancelled is it might not relate to the trip length e.g. if you booked a 7 day land only tour for £700 and the last day was cancelled then it doesn't automatically mean the value of what you got was £600.  The cost of overnight accommodation can vary from night to night and how many inclusions are provided on each day can vary.  If you got all the inclusions and just missed some free time and one night's accommodation it might be the refund applicable is less than £40 but then the counter-argument is that if you didn't get to see everything you wanted to then it's going to cost a lot more than £40 to return and do the things you missed.

Guira

Hello
Thank you so much all for the information and the links  I need to look further into this
The holiday started on Monday 9th March and was due to end 28th May. The tour was cancelled on Friday 13th March and return flight taken on Saturday 14th March, landing in the UK Sunday 15th March. Most of the 7 days were spent travelling.
The insurance company stated that the insurance was null and void as a pandemic was declared 2 days after leaving.
STA agreed to pay a refund the week before going into administration, just not sure where to go from here. 

CKhalvashi

Guira said:

Hello
Thank you so much all for the information and the links  I need to look further into this
The holiday started on Monday 9th March and was due to end 28th May. The tour was cancelled on Friday 13th March and return flight taken on Saturday 14th March, landing in the UK Sunday 15th March. Most of the 7 days were spent travelling.
The insurance company stated that the insurance was null and void as a pandemic was declared 2 days after leaving.
STA agreed to pay a refund the week before going into administration, just not sure where to go from here. 

I'm not sure a pandemic officially being declared 2 days after leaving should invalidate a policy. I ended up being stranded abroad (booked on 8 March, departed on the 12th, borders closed on the 14th, return on 19 was cancelled).

My insurer had no issue with paying for the replacement flight to get back to the UK, nor an issue paying for the accommodation costs in a third country due to an overnight stopover.

Do you have a copy of the insurance documentation? That would be a starting point to see if there is a claim for curtailment there. If there is, a formal complaint to the insurer may be necessary to get an adequate response, as I don't believe the FOS would look too kindly to an insurance policy being voided due to what was in effect an unforeseen event at the time, as that is what insurance is for.