Travel Trolley

Matt1601

Hi,
I was wandering if anyone could help 
I booked flight to Cape Town 2 months ago to fly NYE,
due to the ongoing pandemic and the outbreak of the new strain in SA my Flights were cancelled, I called travel trolley immediately to request a full refund but they fobbed me off with a credit note,
after speaking with VA they confirmed I would be entitled to a full refund, 
but Travel Trolley are having none of it,
22 calls later 12 hours of airtime and  numerous emails still they refuse to give me a refund...!! Despite holding a conference call with VA & Travel Trolley,
this company is the worst company I have ever dealt with abs now I have no idea how I am going to get my money back !!

Has anyone else experienced problems with this company also know as Southalls Travel..?

Matt

jonesMUFCforever

1. Why did you not book direct with Virgin?
2. What terms of refund did you agree to with Travel Trolley?
3. You purchased flights in the middle of a pandemic so IMO travel insurance will not cover you.
4. How did you pay?
5. Was this a package or flight only?
6. You have spoken to them on numerous occasions as per your post - any of these as a Formal Complaint?
7. If you paid by debit or credit card attempt a chargeback (but Travel trolley might challenge this if their terms state they can give you a voucher.)?

Westin

You are entitled to a refund if the airline cancelled the flight but I think you have to have some understanding of the current situation and some patience.  

Travel Trolley won’t be able to refund to until they receive the refund from Virgin Atlantic.  

Virgin haven’t been very good at processing refunds up until recently.  It sounds like at the moment you can have a credit it is just that a cash refund will unfortunately take a little longer to be made. I don’t seem TT being the bad guys here.

FYI - my Virgin Atlantic refund took just over 90 days but that was earlier in the year when they were struggling to process refunds.

Matt1601

jonesMUFCforever said: 
thanks for your comments 
big game tonight 🔴⚪️

1. Why did you not book direct with Virgin? £200 cheaper with travel trolley 
2. What terms of refund did you agree to with Travel Trolley? No terms agreed only a credit note 
3. You purchased flights in the middle of a pandemic so IMO travel insurance will not cover you. I purchased the flight 3 months when we thought there was an end insight clearly there isn’t 😩
4. How did you pay?
credit card 
5. Was this a package or flight only?
flights Only 
6. You have spoken to them on numerous occasions as per your post - any of these as a Formal Complaint?
yes I have sent a written complaint to them as well no reply 
7. If you paid by debit or credit card attempt a chargeback (but Travel trolley might challenge this if their terms state they can give you a voucher.)?
I have contacted by credit card company they are going to look into it but this could take months 
will have to wait to see what happens next 

Regards 

jonesMUFCforever

Reply
1 If an offer seemed too good------well you know the rest?
2.The terms I referred to would have been the ones you electronically signed when you pressed - order or submit. These terms would state what would happen in an event like this.
3 Your crystal ball needs a good seeing to!
4 Paid by credit card could be your best chance - ask them to apply for a chargeback on the transaction to see where it leads to.
5 Flight only - so legally you are entitled to a full refund but please refer to point 2 - this is very important.
6 Complaint - if they do not respond  satisfactorily to your complaint after 8 weeks - take it to the retail ombudsman.
7 Refer to point 4.

Good luck.

mattyprice4004

There's usually a reason it's £200 cheaper - you get zero service when things go wrong.

Ultimately you'll have to push your credit card company for a refund if they don't play ball - but I hope a valuable lesson in why booking direct is usually better was learned!

jonesMUFCforever

mattyprice4004 said:

There's usually a reason it's £200 cheaper - you get zero service when things go wrong.

Ultimately you'll have to push your credit card company for a refund if they don't play ball - but I hope a valuable lesson in why booking direct is usually better was learned!

I agree with you 100% but what I would like to know is how can they afford to undercut Virgin by £200 when flights commissions are wafer thin>?

Alan_Bowen

The commission is generally zero but based on the volume of sales, some agents are offered much lower fares which they can then sell at whatever price they like. They still make a profit and get rid of seats that airlines know they wouldn't sell at full fares on their own websites