Go to Gate

Ralph_the_Cat

Last February (2020) I booked my family return flights to Melbourne with Virgin Atlantic via Gotogate. I used a credit card for the booking. The flights were scheduled for December 2020 so we’re cancelled due to COVID. I received confirmation of cancellation during November 2020. 

I then claimed a refund for just over £3k. G2G said they would charge me £30 and referred to their T&Cs. 

Today, I contacted Virgin Atlantic. VA confirmed over the phone that they have refunded the payment to Gotogate. I phoned Gotogate about this and was blanked by the operator who denied that Gotogate received a refund and that VA must have made a mistake. I have no confidence in Gotogate and fear they have no intention of refunding my money.

I tried to be right about this, understanding that travel companies are facing a difficult time. But the operator was rude, obstructive and would not take any action to try to sort it out. They won’t even contact VA again to confirm what is happening. They say I just have to wait. I have waited. 
 Has anyone else had a a similar experience with Gotogate? If you did, how did it end up for you?

CKhalvashi

You will have to wait for Gotogate to refund you. I doubt a call centre agent can see into the bank accounts of the company.

You likely will get your money back eventually, however for future reference, advice for a long time has been to book directly with the airline, as you will have increased rights in this case.

Butts

If it was cancelled in November (the flights) you should have been refunded within 7 Days legally.
Did you pay by Debit Card ?
If so whack in a chargeback before the 120 Day window closes.
Doh...just noticed you paid by Credit Card  and using a third party prevents a Section 75 - sorry.

How much cheaper was it booking with GTG rather than direct - I assume you explored the options open to you at the time of booking.

Westin

They seem to have quite a lot of information now on their website regarding travel disruption and cancellations due to Coronavirus, including refunds.
https://www.gotogate.com/covid19
Note the section on email updates on 1st and 15th of each month.  Perhaps the next update will be a positive one.

Voyager2002

Butts said:

Doh...just noticed you paid by Credit Card  and using a third party prevents a Section 75 - sorry.

It might be worth pursuing Section 75, since the complaint is against Gotogate rather than the airline. There is no third party between them.

eskbanker

Voyager2002 said:

Butts said:

Doh...just noticed you paid by Credit Card  and using a third party prevents a Section 75 - sorry.

It might be worth pursuing Section 75, since the complaint is against Gotogate rather than the airline. There is no third party between them.

I don't believe it works like that - s75 comes into play for a breach of contract (or misrepresentation) and if the contract is with a party other than the actual supplier then that breaks the chain, regardless of which party is felt to be in breach, i.e. when claiming against the card company, the customer doesn't get to nominate which merchant is involved.

Having said that, there's nothing preventing a chargeback claim via the credit card provider....

Alan_Bowen

If you can get Virgin to confirm in writing the date they refunded the agent and it is more than 14 days ago, I would certainly argue that Go to Gate is indeed in breach of contract with you. As you have discovered booking with a cheap agent, found no doubt through a search engine as you would never find them otherwise based in Sweden, is rarely a good idea, there is no one to complain to and no financial protection, but under IATA Resolution 824 they are legally obliged to carry out the instructions of the airline which are clearly to pass the funds back to you immediately they are received. I suspect they are using refunds as working capital at present to prevent the whole business collapsing, right now the bigger they are, the greater the possibility of failure, so act quickly. If the bank refund you, they can claim it back from the agent whilst they are still trading