No ATOL certificate sent by agent.

pml207

Hi,
I booked a 4 night Holiday with an online travel company.  It was booked via the telephone.  It was explained to me that once the flights were booked, which were with Ryanair, then the holiday could not be cancelled.  This company is ATOL protected, I paid the deposit and as i understand by law i should have recieved an ATOL certificate and invoice for the booking almost immediately, but i have had no certificate or booking reference number.

The company later in the conversation gave me details of the hotel room, which turned out to be an economy room with a double bed and as i was traveling with a friend needed a twin bed room.  I was offered an upgrade to a standard twin room at extra cost, i asked if the flights had been booked in which i was told they were and my understanding was once they were booked there was no going back so continued with the booking.

An hour after the phone call ended i reconsidered the booking feeling i had been pressured into it and Emailed them to cancel the booking, followed up by a phone call. I was told by the agent that the booking could not be cancelled and i would loose my deposit.  I was told If i wanted to contact Ryanair and try to get a refund i was welcome to do so and the agent gave me the Ryanair reference number.  However the agent would not give me their reference number so i could not proceed with Ryanair.  As i mentioned i have still not recieved a booking reference from this company, neither the ATOL certificate so have no real evidence of the booking.  The company refuse to give a refund as i authorised the transaction with the credit card company.  It turns out that the holiday is split in to, flights and hotel with two transaction pending on my credit card.   I have informed the credit card company of this issue and they will monitor the transaction for me and take appropriate actions.

I understand as a customer service standard set by the Department of Transportation, that says airlines must let travellers hold a reservation at the quoted fare for 24 hours without payment, or allow a purchased reservation to be canceled within 24 hours without penalty and with a full refund to the original form of payment.19 May 2020

Does this entitle me to a full refund of my deposit?  and now do i leave this for the credit card company to handle?

This is long winded but opinions are greatly valued.

Ganga

Who is the travel agent ? are they in the UK are are they based abroad ?

pml207

Hi Ganga

Company is trading as, Best Online Holidays, based in Morden Surrey UK.

It gets worse, they have even sent me details of someone else's booking confirmation, certainly not meant for me. 

Westin

I understand as a customer service standard set by the Department of Transportation, that says airlines must let travellers hold a reservation at the quoted fare for 24 hours without payment, or allow a purchased reservation to be canceled within 24 hours without penalty and with a full refund to the original form of payment.19 May 2020

Could you be confused and have found something online regarding the above which related to rules in the USA (the US Department of Transport) which covers cancellation when booking directly with an airline?   I have not heard of such a consumer right or as you say a customer service standard here in the UK.

Whilst it seems you were not happy with the booking experience, it appears a possible change of heart on continuing with the holiday. On that basis alone no refund of a deposit would be due.

What the agent said warning of the RyanAir flights being non-refundable would stand true.  If you cancel then this cost is unlikely to be recoverable.

If flights and hotel were booked together (or within 24h) it does sound like a package/linked travel arrangement and therefore should have ATOL cover.  Not receiving the ATOL certificate would IMO not allow for an immediate cancelation and refund though. I think you would need to first raise the issue and dispute with Best Online Holidays first and allow them to correct or explain why you don't have an ATOL protected trip. 

I would have thought you would receive some correspondence from the agent, even if just the RyanAir flights had been booked and not the accommodation because of your charge of heart.  Have you checked your email junk mail folder?

heatherw_01

I understand as a customer service standard set by the Department of Transportation, that says airlines must let travellers hold a reservation at the quoted fare for 24 hours without payment, or allow a purchased reservation to be canceled within 24 hours without penalty and with a full refund to the original form of payment.19 May 2020

That is a USA thing. That isn't a UK policy.

Sncjw

1. Please note that this website is a price service providing website and its motive is solely to assist customers in sourcing the availability of travel-related goods and services and to make permissible reservations or otherwise perform business with suppliers. We do not operate any suppliers.

This is on the website 

pml207

Thank you everyone who replied, the issue has been sorted.

onashoestring

pml207 said:

Thank you everyone who replied, the issue has been sorted.

What was the outcome? How was it resolved ? 

CKhalvashi

pml207 said:

The company later in the conversation gave me details of the hotel room, which turned out to be an economy room with a double bed and as i was traveling with a friend needed a twin bed room.  I was offered an upgrade to a standard twin room at extra cost, i asked if the flights had been booked in which i was told they were and my understanding was once they were booked there was no going back so continued with the booking.

It's possible that they've attempted to do the trip in the cheapest possible way for you, which may not meet your circumstances.

An "Economy" room will not be the same as a "Standard" room, so there may be an extra change for this. You should have insisted on this being rectified before paying anything, so I fear the agent has acted on your instructions and you've left it too late.

pml207 said:

An hour after the phone call ended i reconsidered the booking feeling i had been pressured into it and Emailed them to cancel the booking, followed up by a phone call. I was told by the agent that the booking could not be cancelled and i would loose my deposit.  I was told If i wanted to contact Ryanair and try to get a refund i was welcome to do so and the agent gave me the Ryanair reference number.  However the agent would not give me their reference number so i could not proceed with Ryanair.  As i mentioned i have still not recieved a booking reference from this company, neither the ATOL certificate so have no real evidence of the booking.  The company refuse to give a refund as i authorised the transaction with the credit card company.  It turns out that the holiday is split in to, flights and hotel with two transaction pending on my credit card.   I have informed the credit card company of this issue and they will monitor the transaction for me and take appropriate actions.

As this is a booking with flights, you should have been issued with an ATOL. The booking number for Ryanair will be a 6 number/letter reference on the flight booking. If you don't have this, you should.

Ryanair do not issue refundable tickets, so if the flight goes ahead these will not be refunded, however your contract is not with Ryanair assuming your myRyanair account has not been used, your contract is with the holder of the myRyanair account used in the booking. This would in this case still be a package, but a multi-contract package and therefore an ATOL should still be issued. It should look something like this.

pml207 said:

I understand as a customer service standard set by the Department of Transportation, that says airlines must let travellers hold a reservation at the quoted fare for 24 hours without payment, or allow a purchased reservation to be canceled within 24 hours without penalty and with a full refund to the original form of payment.19 May 2020

Does this entitle me to a full refund of my deposit?  and now do i leave this for the credit card company to handle?

This is nothing to do with UK/EU legislation and I've never seen it in my business dealings.

It may be something from a country like the US where many licensed businesses are in general not adequately regulated.

pml207

Hi CKhalvashi

Very interesting what you say about the booking with Ryanair, i did have to access the details via the OTA email address they use.  Unfortunately now i the details come up in my account when i log in.

I did receive an ATOL certificate 7 days later with an invoice.

The point about the room was that, they only described the room after i had paid a deposit for the flights, which i was told could not be cancelled, i asked were the flights definitely book, the agent confirmed they were, how ever as it turns out, the flights were not actually paid for and secured until at least 45minutes after the booking telephone conversation ended with the OTA.  This was confirmed by Ryanair.

How the agent described the room upgrade to lovely views of the gardens or sea.  This hotel is in the middle of a built up area with no garden or sea view, even from the roof top where the swimming pool is.

Even if i cannot have a refund from Ryanair then the second part of the split deal regarding the hotel can be canceled under the 14 day cooling off period and the fact i canceled via telephone and email before a i received a contract.