Alpharooms, travel trust associationHow does the Travel Trust Association provide 100% financial pro

marystrat

Hello I am after some advice . I booked accommodation and airport transfers(no flights ) through alpha rooms on 18th October 2021 . They then went into liquidation on 28/10/21 .As per guidance on their website I applied for a refund  online through the travel trust association .After a lengthy delay they finally responded on 28/1 2022 stating that accommodation only bookings were not covered by the scheme ,despite the claim form  guidance clearly stating how to apply for a refund for accommodation   and also the travel trust association giving the following guaranteed on its website 

How does the Travel Trust Association provide 100% financial protection for me?

All Payments made to a TTA Member should be made payable to the specially designated trust account i.e. when paying ABC Travel Ltd make all payments to ABC Travel Ltd Trust Account.

Credit Card Payments are automatically deposited into the trust account via electronic processing. Every TTA member will have a practicing certificate. This certificate will identify the TTA member’s number, the company to whom all payments should be made and the trustee for that member including the trustee’s address.

The Travel Protection Plan covers every service which you have booked from a travel company whether it be for transport, accommodation, entertainment or recreation. It involves two aspects, firstly the Trust account operated for your benefit. The money may only be released from the Trust to pay for the services which you have booked. Secondly, there is further protection from a guarantee, the TTA will guarantee the financial obligation of its members in the event of fraud or dishonesty, to repay such sum to you for up to a maximum anyone passenger of £11,000. So if you paid £2,000 we guarantee we will reimburse the loss of the £2,000, where it is not available for you from the Trust account.

Therefore, the Trust Account plus the guarantee will ensure that all the money which you have paid is safely protected and available to reimburse the money paid. When you make a booking, you will be supplied with a guarantee certificate – you can see the terms of our guarantee at www.Traveltrust.co.uk/guarantee.

Has anyone else experienced similar problem i am now making a claim through my debit card provider but have no guaranteed this  will be successful-Any advice would be gratefully received 

 

born_again

Well if it's going through as a chargeback, you should have no problem. The fact they have no funds makes no difference to you getting the money back. It comes from their merchant back, who will have to take the hit.

Manxman_in_exile

Not sure if you might be better off posting on the Travel board...

I'm no expert on this, but what is that guarantee intended to cover?  I can see fraud and dishonesty mentioned, but what about going bust?

As born_again says, wait and see the outcome of the chargeback.

Manxman_in_exile

born_again said:

Well if it's going through as a chargeback, you should have no problem. The fact they have no funds makes no difference to you getting the money back. It comes from their merchant back, who will have to take the hit.

Hi @born_again -  slightly off topic but a technical question that might affect the OP here.

As the merchant is in liquidation, is that likely to have any influence on the outcome of a chargeback?  I know from previous discussions on s75 and chargeback that the merchant can challenge a chargeback.  Isn't it even more likely that a liquidator would challenge it as it would potentially interfere in his legal duties as liquidator?  (ie whoever shares in whatever is left).

Or does the fact that the merchant is in liquidation mean that the "hit" stays with the merchant's bank?  And if so, wouldn't the bank challenge it?

Just curious about the ins and outs of chargeback...

Sandtree

The money comes from the vendor's merchant account bank, its their bank's problem if they can get it from the vendor themselves.

Manxman_in_exile

Sandtree said:

The money comes from the vendor's merchant account bank, its their bank's problem if they can get it from the vendor themselves.

Did you mean "if they can't get it"?

Sandtree

Manxman_in_exile said:

Sandtree said:

The money comes from the vendor's merchant account bank, its their bank's problem if they can get it from the vendor themselves.

Did you mean "if they can't get it"?

meant to say "if they can get it or not" so same effect as your suggested correction

Manxman_in_exile

But if the bank can get it from the merchant, in what way is it the bank's problem?  Surely it's only the bank's problem if they can't get it from the merchant?  

Jenni_D

I think what is being said is that the consumer's bank recovers it from the merchant's bank; whether or not the merchant's bank can recover it from the merchant is immaterial as far as the consumer or consumer's bank are concerned.

Manxman_in_exile

@Jenni_D -  I'm sure you are right.

I was initially confused because what was being said appeared to be that it was the merchant's bank's "problem" even if they could recover the funds from the merchant.  I assumed that that was a typo.  I was then a bit more confused when explained that it would remain a "problem" for the bank whether they could recover the funds from the merchant or not.

I suppose what I was getting at is trying to understand better the mechanics of a chargeback.  (Of which I'm sure you will recognise I'm not the world's greatest fan!)

It's just that previously the point has been made time and time again that with a chargeback it's the merchant or trader who ends up paying it.  (Which is what prompted my question about liquidation*).

I understand now that it's the trader's bank who coughs up and that it's then their "problem" ultimately to recover it from the trader.

*There's another one here  Visa Debit Chargeback — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Sandtree

Manxman_in_exile said:

But if the bank can get it from the merchant, in what way is it the bank's problem?  Surely it's only the bank's problem if they can't get it from the merchant?  

Just a different way of saying the same thing... its immaterial to the OP if the merchant bank is able to get their money back or not

However to illustrate the point, assuming the merchant bank has already exhausted any funds it was withholding then they have to go through the time and effort to recover their debt, even if successful and so "they get it back from the merchant" it is unlikely the cost of the debt recovery would be recoverable so its their problem having to pursue director guarantees or whatever to get the funds.

In practice many debts will be written off as its not economical to pursue but sometimes there are avenues worth exploring if the total amount is starting to become substantial.