Section 75 - Your secret financial superhero by Rosie Hamilton.

charlcombe007

I thought so but it's no secret financial superhero for me, Rosie.

Further to my earlier post I am now taking independent legal advice against possible court proceedings by the holiday company following a successful chargeback with Mastercard.

The holiday company simply raised an invoice for the chargeback amount and applied it to my account with them. I have 30 days to pay. If I don't they will pursue this as a debt owing to them through the courts.

In summary. My holiday was curtailed - halfway through - arriving back home to the UK 7 days earlier than planned. On arrival at the holiday destination the schedule/tour started to fall apart almost immediately. International borders in the destination country closed on the day of arrival. I was on one of the last flights to arrive into that country. This closing of borders in this particular country was worldwide news a day or so prior to departure. I knew it was going to happen as did the holiday company. No cancelation was forthcoming from the holiday company but I could cancel and lose all my money. I chose not to do this. The UK governments FCO deemed it safe to travel so the holiday was going ahead with or without me. I was assured that should any changes to the tour/schedule that needed to be made whilst on holiday would be be managed by the travel company's guide. If I didn't get to see any of the major attractions or if the holiday was curtailed it would all be sorted out upon return to the UK and there would be a refund. These promises were made to myself and others on the same holiday who were all frantically making phone calls to the travel company days before departure.

On my return I got in touch with the holiday company about the promised refund. They in response pointed me in the direction of my travel insurer to make a claim. A major insurer and a gold star policy. I made a claim on my policy. They then turned me around and told me to go back to the holiday company to pursue a full refund as per government and CMA advice - consumers should receive a full refund from the holiday company in the case of curtailment.

Numerous emails were exchanged between myself and the holiday company as well as many others on the same holiday doing the same. The assurances that were made of refunds to all these people prior to departure were denied and refused. Holiday tokens were offered as recompense in the best outcomes. I didn't accept mine.

I and others turned to their credit card companies. I made a CLAIM UNDER SECTION 75 OF THE CONSUMER CREDIT ACT 1974 with Mastercard. This is what the card company refer to it as. I submitted all my evidence. I was told this would be reviewed and a decision would be made if I could make a claim which they referred to as chargeback. After a while they came back and said my claim had been approved and a chargeback was going to be made. I received a partial 'refund' for the days that were lost due to the curtailment. My card was credited accordingly but the holidayl company would have 45 days to challenge. After 45 days the card company said it had been successful as the holiday company hadn't challenged the claim.

18 months later I receive the invoice from the holiday company I mention at the start of this post. Secret financial superhero? Not all the time, Rosie.

eskbanker

Surely it would have made more sense just to have continued on your other thread about this, where it's pointed out that your card company evidently didn't process this as a section 75 claim but a chargeback one?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6309172/successful-claims-under-sect-75-of-the-consumer-credit-act-1974-are-these-legally-binding/p1

michael1234

Wow. What a story. Just incredible that this could happen to someone particularly as you were well prepared with good insurance etc.

My "advice" is to trust the legal advice you get and nobody else (including mine if that's not an oxymoron).

I wonder if it counts in your favour the fact that the company had a good opportunity to challenge the partial refund (thus avoiding wasting court time) but did not do so.

If you're able to update your post as the case progresses I'm sure it will help lots of other people but obviously don't prejudice your legal situation.

CKhalvashi

As Eskbanker has noted (and I noted yesterday), it looks like this was processed as a Chargeback.

I would argue now we have some of the information I requested that this would be a refundable holiday under the PTD, at worst for the part you haven't had of it due to the pandemic, but pushing for the full amount would likely be in your interests.

The first advice I'd give in this case is to speak to the CC company by phone, specifically quoting S75 rights, as I'd argue they would be partially liable (as a worst case) in the event of this going further.

I'd also be on the phone to my insurer in this case too, as while there may not have been a refund at the time of departure, they should bear some liability for anything you may not by able to reclaim from the CC company, depending on the terms of your contracts and speaking very generally as I don't know the country or insurer in question so can't browse their terms.

It may or may not be the case that there is a liability to the holiday company here in law for the parts of the trip you've used (I really need a country and departure date to be able to give a full opinion on this), however it should be the case that in the worst case scenario, you've minimised your losses significantly.

bagand96

Perhaps this thread and the one yesterday could be merged given that it's the same OP with the same circumstance.

Again, it sounds like you didn't do a Section 75 claim and instead did a chargeback.  The two are very different.  

I would be going back and reviewing the T&Cs of the booking with the unnamed tour operator as well as the Package Travel Regulations.  I would also be going back to my travel insurer, it was very convenient for them to hide behind CMA advice (the CMA have spouted a lot of advice - and even they've had to back down on one issue admitting the law "isn't clear").  You may well have had a valid insurance claim.