Section 75 claim refused for Covid-cancelled holiday due to "Force Majeure"

HMum169

Please can someone help me.? We were meant to go to DisneyWorld for 2 weeks from 6/4/2020. Flights, hire car, DisneyWorld tickets and accomodation were booked through an ABTA registered travel agent and paid for by credit card. On 16/3/2020, USA banned UK from entering the country due to coronavirus and DisneyWorld closed. So our holiday could not go ahead.  I spoke to the travel agent who assured me that a refund would be processed as soon as they had received refunds from the suppliers themselves (I'd duly returned the tickets).  Appreciating they were inundated, I only followed-up each month for an update and was essentially told the same thing each time and let it ride longer than I normally would.  I ended up submitting a Section 75 claim on 24th August 2020 (I felt I'd been strung along enough). 
I have today been told by Tesco Bank (credit card I paid on) that it is not a section 75 claim (yes, it has taken that long - another issue!), because the holiday was cancelled due to the travel restrictions imposed by the US Government and so constitutes a Force Majeure and they reckon that the contract I had with the travel agent allowed the travel agent to waiver any liability where the contractual obligations are affected by Force Majeure and therefore there is no breach of contract and so Tesco have no liability. 
Is that right? If it is, is it right for the whole thing (the US travel restrictions may have meant the flights were cancelled, but it did not lead DisneyWorld to close and so the £2.5K on tickets might be retrievable and what about accommodation/hire car)?
Do I have any comeback on the contract? The "contract" sent to me doesn't mention Force Majeure at all - It does say under a section entitled 'Key rights under Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements regulations 2018': "If before the start of the package the trader responsible for the package cancels the package, travellers are entitled to a refund and compensation where appropriate" (I'm not actually after compensation, just the refund).  On scrutiny, I have found a web address mentioned once in the whole document in a section detailing ATOL Licence numbers, etc - It is via that web address that a clause regarding Force Majeure can be seen.   There is no reference to Force Majeure in the entire document itself and there is no suggestion of any exceptions in the section on my Key Rights, nor does the contract urge me to consult the web address for full details - The web address is merely mentioned at the bottom of an innocuous page as somewhere you could go for more information (alongside the caa and the government legislation web addresses). I feel an idiot now, but I just didn't believe that I needed to access these web addresses for more information as the conditions set out over the document were entirely understandable and there was nothing to suggest that they were not complete.  Do other travel agencies have such clauses and are they being invoked for cancelled holidays due to the pandemic?
Tesco therefore said that they could only consider this as a chargeback, which, as I'd submitted the claim on 24th August 2020, it had exceeded the 120 days chargeback period and so I get nothing back. I'm fuming - I only left it that long because the travel company strung me along and the media was telling people to hold off and be patient as they were inundated with claims.
Please can someone tell me if there is anything I can do.  I did have travel insurance at the time, but will there be a time limit for making claims (I did mention when I ceased the travel insurance at renewal that I was trying to get reimbursed for the cancelled holiday, but I can't seem to find that email). Any advice on options I have to get what is a substantial amount of money back, would be most gratefully received!
Thanks for your time

Aylesbury_Duck

Speak to your insurer or check your policy.  If you're in time, make a claim.  If not, at least you know that route's closed off.

unholyangel

What did they mean it's not a section 75 claim?

If Tesco refuse to process it as a section 75 claim then ask for a letter of deadlock (a letter giving their final response) and complain to the financial ombudsman.

Whoever you have spoke to does not understand force majeure clauses. One, you can't use that term in consumer contracts as it's legal jargon, so breaches the plain and intelligible language requirement in consumer contracts. Two, force majeure just means they won't be liable for damages caused by circumstances outwith their control. It doesn't mean they can keep money for services not provided. 

Also, if a party seek to rely on a term then they're the ones who need to prove it applies and in order for it to apply, you need to have been made aware of it before you were bound by the contract. You can't be bound by hidden terms/terms you never had the opportunity to become acquainted with.

HMum169

Unexpected twist (for the better!)
I managed to get through to the travel agent today (I'd stopped actively chasing the travel agent after I made the section 75 claim as I didn't think it was appropriate once the claim was made as it might have looked like I was trying to get it back twice) and they've said they've received refunds from the suppliers and so my refund would be returned to my credit card, they just needed me to put in writing that once refunded, I would not apply for a chargeback (which I couldn't anyway).  RESULT!  I was convinced I was going to have to go through legal/ombudsman hoops etc. and only tried the travel agent again on the offchance!  Although, it would have saved me an awful lot of mither and time if the travel agent had just responded to my last email to them (3/8/2020) asking them to process the refund asap and advise me as soon as they were in a position to refund me! Lesson learned - always worth going back to basics!
Thanks for reading and offering help/advice!