Credit Note

nikeshprajapati

Hello all, 

Firstly, apologies if this is a question that has already been asked. 

I booked a holiday for May 2020 -  at the time was unaware of the legality behind how money could be returned back to me, so accepted a credit note with the hope to use the money in the future towards another holiday. This is no longer a possibility - therefore wanted to know what the laws/rules are on asking for that credit note to be returned back into my account as cash? 

I validity of the Credit note is until June 2021. 

Any help would be very much appreciated. 

Westin

The answer will depend on who has issued the credit note and what the terms for its use are.

If it is a Refund Credit Note issued by a reputable UK tour operator then  some information here - https://www.abta.com/news/coronavirus-outbreak

Can you tell us if it is a credit note or refund credit note?  Who issued it?  Any terms attached regarding use or a refund from it?  Was the credit issued because a holiday could not be provided by the supplier (e.g. tour operator cancelled your holiday) or given because you either decided you no longer wished to travel on the original date or were prevented from doing so by other means?

nikeshprajapati

Westin said:

The answer will depend on who has issued the credit note and what the terms for its use are.

If it is a Refund Credit Note issued by a reputable UK tour operator then  some information here - https://www.abta.com/news/coronavirus-outbreak

Can you tell us if it is a credit note or refund credit note?  Who issued it?  Any terms attached regarding use or a refund from it?  Was the credit issued because a holiday could not be provided by the supplier (e.g. tour operator cancelled your holiday) or given because you either decided you no longer wished to travel on the original date or were prevented from doing so by other means?

Hi Westin, 
Thanks for your response. In all honesty, the only thing I have received from them is an email to say Credit Note with the details of how much its worth. I did a search on the ABTA website and the company name did not come up. 

The email says - Credit note - therefore cant imagine it is a refund credit note. 
It has been issued by Travelopedia LTD. 
The only terms I can see are the fact that it says Credit note Validity – 1 June 2021
It was issued because everything got cancelled by tour operators. We did not cancel anything.  

Have you had any experience with this company? 

Westin

Travelopedia/Flight Office are not ABTA or AITO members.  I think this is more of what years ago would be terms a bucket shop flight seller. I suspect most of their back office is overseas based.

You mention a holiday but was this a flight only rather than a traditional package arrangement?  If flight only the credit could be held by Travelopedia or in some form of suspended funds by the airline.  Some airlines only offered credits and to this day seem not to be paying any refunds even on cancelled flights (Thai, Oman Air and ex Canada services on Air Canada/Air Transat seemingly the worst).

If the airline cancelled the flight then you certainly should have been entitled to a refund. That however is moot if you accepted a credit note. Not so clear cut if you decided not to travel or destination entry county restricted you. In those cases airlines were in many cases flexible and offering credits and travel waivers, but no right to later convert that to hard cash.

This MSE article worthy of a read - https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/02/coronavirus-travel-help-and-your-rights/#booked