Refunded twice - do I have to repay it? 17 November 2021 at 12:38PM in Coronavirus travel help & info 15 replies 641 views

penj61

In January 2020 I booked and paid for a holiday to Spain for September 2020.  I paid the deposit of £95.72 by debit card, and then paid the balance in full in February be credit card.

In May 2020 due to Covid I decided I did not want to travel and decided to cancel my trip.  At this time, I would have only lost my deposit if I had not paid the balance (12 weeks prior to departure).

Despite numerous attempts to contact Travel Republic  I was unable to contact them, and received no acknowledgements to my requests to cancel the holiday through their online portal.  (The holiday was ATOL protected).

I forwarded copies of the screen shots etc to my credit card company, who refunded me the cost of the holiday less the deposit ( £522.78) in August 2020 under Section 75.  In mid-September 2020 Travel Republic cancelled the holiday due to Government restrictions on travel.  They then refunded to me £95.72 in November 2020 to my current account, and £522.78 to my credit card.

 

In April 2021 I received an email from Travel Republic notifying me that they had asked the credit card company to refund the duplicate refund money to them, and that this would be taken from my credit card account within 14 days, and to ensure I had sufficient funds/ credit limit.  The transaction did not happen.

 

I have received a further email from Travel Republic who have passed the duplicate payments to a credit management partner, Daniels Silverman.  They are offering me a 10% discount to repay by the end on November.

 

Am I legally obliged to pay this back after this length of time – over 12 months?

eskbanker

Yes, the delay doesn't absolve you of responsibility to pay back what you owe, and if you win by fifty odd quid into the bargain then you've done alright out of it....

mattyprice4004

Yes - you still owe the money and you'll be £50 up if you take their offer too. 
Legally and morally you owe the money - why would you think you can get refunded twice and not have to pay it back? 

Westin

Yes - of course you need to pay it back.  Best do so soon before things develop further with the appointed credit management/debit collection agents.

emmajones1976

OP - let us know when you are next off to the supermarket, will tell them to charge you twice.

Ganga

What would your question be if they had taken payment twice ? you know the answer to your own question ,pay what you owe.

michael1234

TR were good in the end by refunding you in full However, their communication seemed awful as you were unable to contact them.

If it was me I would mention this to debt chasers and anything else you're not happy about and say because of that you will make a final offer of 80% and pay within 7 days if agreed by Silverman and they agree not to impact your credit reference agency record. Good chance they'll agree and perhaps they'll pick up the phone next time.

Caz3121

penj61 said:

 They then refunded to me £95.72 in November 2020 to my current account, and £522.78 to my credit card.

 

In April 2021 I received an email from Travel Republic notifying me that they had asked the credit card company to refund the duplicate refund money to them, and that this would be taken from my credit card account within 14 days, and to ensure I had sufficient funds/ credit limit.  The transaction did not happen.

you have had the benefit of a double refund for 12 months. Did you contact Travel Republic in November 2020 when they refunded the amount to your card that you had already been refunded to alert them to the issue/repay?
10% discount seems a great result for you.

LaHostessAvecLaMostess

michael1234 said:

TR were good in the end by refunding you in full However, their communication seemed awful as you were unable to contact them.

If it was me I would mention this to debt chasers and anything else you're not happy about and say because of that you will make a final offer of 80% and pay within 7 days if agreed by Silverman and they agree not to impact your credit reference agency record. Good chance they'll agree and perhaps they'll pick up the phone next time.

Daniels Silverman are debt collectors, not debt buyers so will almost certainly have little to no leeway in negotiating this.  It's not like they have bought the debt for tuppence in the pound.

They also have no ability to report anything to the OPs credit file as this is not a credit or service agreement.  The only way they could impact this is by getting a CCJ against the OP and the OP not paying within 30 days.

bagand96

penj61 said:

Am I legally obliged to pay this back after this length of time – over 12 months?

Legally talking, they have 6 years to pursue this debt.

michael1234

LaHostessAvecLaMostess said:

michael1234 said:

TR were good in the end by refunding you in full However, their communication seemed awful as you were unable to contact them.

If it was me I would mention this to debt chasers and anything else you're not happy about and say because of that you will make a final offer of 80% and pay within 7 days if agreed by Silverman and they agree not to impact your credit reference agency record. Good chance they'll agree and perhaps they'll pick up the phone next time.

Daniels Silverman are debt collectors, not debt buyers so will almost certainly have little to no leeway in negotiating this.  It's not like they have bought the debt for tuppence in the pound.

They also have no ability to report anything to the OPs credit file as this is not a credit or service agreement.  The only way they could impact this is by getting a CCJ against the OP and the OP not paying within 30 days.

Yes that's true they are but they are also the authorised representative and the customer facing side of the debt reovery operation. The OP has the cash and as such are in the driving seat. A modest reduction of 10% would certainly be passed back to Silverman's client who would likely accept (along with a no-impact agreement on the borrower's credit reference history).

Why wouldn't they agree to that? The alternative is a much more costly and long drawn out court process. These are businesses that want to maximise their return. They are not interested in a "Just" outcome. Furthermore, any court might take a dim view of a party who threw out an offer of nearly all that was owed.