Love Holidays refusing to refund me despite CMA action

gem9936

I would love to hear from people who are either in the same position as me, have been able to get a refund from Love Holidays, or can advise what steps I can take next.
I booked a package holiday to Cuba due to depart in April 2020. 2 days after paying the balance I received an email from Love Holidays saying it was cancelled due to Coronavirus. They offered a credit note which I refused stating to them I wanted a cash refund. 

In May I managed to get back our hotel money but was told I couldn’t get the money back for the flights until the airline (Air Europa) had refunded them. The amount I am due is £1233.36.

When I read on the news, Money Saving Expert, and on the Government website about the Competition and Markets Authority intervening and giving Love Holidays deadline dates to refund customers I thought my prayers have finally been answered... I was wrong.
I contacted Love Holidays this morning to get confirmation that I would get my refund by the deadline date of 28th February but was told by one of their Agent’s that I don’t qualify for the CMA refund because the airline are refusing to issue a cash refund and only offering a credit voucher.

I’m dumbfounded by this. I told her to look at the Government website and quoted to her exactly what it says but she is adamant I am not entitled to it. How can I not qualify for this?? It’s black and white on the government website. 

The Package Travel Regulations states they are legally bound to refund customers for package holidays cancelled due to coronavirus regardless of whether or not the agent has received money back from the airline.

Any help and advise would be greatly appreciated here.

bagand96

gem9936 said:

The Package Travel Regulations states they are legally bound to refund customers for package holidays cancelled due to coronavirus regardless of whether or not the agent has received money back from the airline.

The PTR's state no such thing (doesn't mean you're not due a refund - but the regulations don't say that)

How did you pay? If you paid any of the deposit/balance on a Credit Card, then get in touch with your bank and state you wish to start a Section 75 claim against the transaction.  Section 75 makes the bank jointly liable for the transaction with LH.


if you didn't pay via credit card then it will be Small Claims Court.  Send a "Letter Before Action" to LoveHolidays.  State the facts that LH sold you a package holiday, they subsequently cancelled it and therefore you are entitled to a refund as per PTR's.  Remind them of your rights under PTR's (which LH even list on their own website Your Package Rights | loveholidays.com)

Give them a timescale to resolve the matter (14 days) and state that if they fail to do that you will seek to recover your losses with court action.

gem9936

Thanks for responding to me.

We paid via debit card and when I contacted the bank they said they couldn’t help us as it had been over 120 days since the holiday was cancelled. Had I known that was possible I would have done that straight away rather than believing Love Holidays when they said I would definitely be refunded.

Regarding my quote about that Package Travel Regulations, they are the exact words on the Government website.

 Thanks again for responding and looks like I’ll need to go down the small claims route.

Thrugelmir

As Love Holidays have until the 28th February 2021 to refund you.  Wait and see what happens. A customer call centre operative working from home is unlikely to be the best source of information. 

eskbanker

gem9936 said:

Regarding my quote about that Package Travel Regulations, they are the exact words on the Government website.

If you're going down the legal route then you should quote the published regulations and their actual wording, rather than an interpretative precis on a CMA page.

The clauses you need are from Regulation 13 (Termination of the package travel contract by the organiser):

(2) Paragraph (3) applies where

[...]

(b) the organiser is prevented from performing the contract because of unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances and notifies the traveller of the termination of the contract without undue delay before the start of the package.

(3) The organiser—

(a) may terminate the package travel contract and provide the traveller with a full refund of any payments made for the package;

(b) is not liable for additional compensation.

and Regulation 14 (Refunds in the event of termination):

(3) Any [...] refund required pursuant to [...] a termination under regulation 13(3) must be made to the traveller without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days after the package travel contract is terminated.

CKhalvashi

The CMA guidance has not been tested in court, however I believe LH have given an undertaking to the government that they will sort this matter out.

Eskbanker is completely correct, and the legislation may need to be pointed out to LH.

As you do not have Section 75 protection, your next recourse will a Letter Before Action, with the intention to take this to the courts, however this realistically will take in excess of a year from start to finish due to unprecedented backlogs caused by Covid.