Trip Disaster please help

jayeddo

Any help or advice is grately apprecited, Booked an essential trip out the country. Took out basic insurance and paid on credit card. Flights and hotel. Massive crash on the M6 missed my flight. called airliber who were very helpful and gave me a credit note. Called and emailed hotel over 24 hours before arrival and explained situation and asked for a date amendment (as per hotel booking terms and conditions). Hotel responded with no refunds goodbye! Called credit card company and have lodged a dispute sending all relevant evidence. Was wondering what are my chances of receiving my money back? Also i lost hundreds returning home is there a way i can get the costs back for this. I am so upset its a expensive trip to be at my friends funeral. 

jayeddo

Insurance company said not covered for the incident because of basic plan needed premium plan to have a claim.

eskbanker

Your card company should be willing to refund costs where a supplier has breached their contract, so if a hotel isn't honouring their terms then you ought to be able to secure that money back.

Unless the "lost hundreds returning home" were a direct consequence of a supplier's breach of contract then your card company won't refund those - this is where your travel insurance comes in....

Edit: just seen your second post, if the insurance won't cover it then there's no other party who'd appear to have any liability to refund you?

jayeddo

Thank you for the reply, its hard to say it was or it wasn't a direct consequence by them not making a date amendment i wasn't able to rebook another flight and therefore had to pay myself home? This is the first trip ever gone wrong for me in 15 years. Never paid on a credit card and never paid for insurance before. The one time I did literally everything went wrong. So securing the money back from the hotel would that be via a charge back or section 75? 

eskbanker

jayeddo said:

Thank you for the reply, its hard to say it was or it wasn't a direct consequence by them not making a date amendment i wasn't able to rebook another flight and therefore had to pay myself home? 

Sorry, from what you say, your costs of returning home won't be due to any breach by the hotel that you couldn't get to anyway, so you'll have to write those off.

jayeddo said:

So securing the money back from the hotel would that be via a charge back or section 75? 

Chances are the card company will pursue via chargeback anyway, at least at first, as this entails them recovering the cost from the supplier, whereas they'd have to fund a s75 claim from their own pocket.  There are various constraints with each of these processes that may influence which is applicable, so, for example, it's typically necessary to initiate a chargeback claim within 120 days and provide evidence of attempts to resolve with the supplier, while s75 won't apply if you booked via an intermediary or if the item value was below £100. 

jayeddo

Thanks again for explaining and helping ease my worries. My deposit £115 paid on credit card I finalised booking on debit card £1200. Really worried ill get nothing back just seems all so unfair. Called bank they said the dispute is in progress they will update in 45 days. 

eskbanker

jayeddo said:

Thanks again for explaining and helping ease my worries. My deposit £115 paid on credit card I finalised booking on debit card £1200. Really worried ill get nothing back just seems all so unfair. Called bank they said the dispute is in progress they will update in 45 days. 

That timescale suggests that they're handling it as a chargeback claim, as expected, since this typically entails the merchant having a 45-day window within which to challenge the claim - card companies will often refund you the money provisionally sooner than that, with the caveat that they can reclaim it if they come down on the side of the merchant.

jayeddo

Just a quick update for you EskBanker! Provisional credit has come into my account today! Followed by a phone call from the hotel saying the bank has contacted them to say there has been a dispute against them. After reviewing the situation they have recognised their mistake and wish to offer me a credit note. I've accepted their offer. Will rebook again using the credit note for September time and get some premium insurance. 

Thank you for your advice and support