Travel agent still refusing to give full refund one year on

stupage2002

Fighting with Alexa travel, parent company is Times travel. We booked and paid for flights to Canada £3938 with Westjet in August 2020. Due to covid 19, travels restrictions hit and the government cancelled all foreign travel. Westjet stated on their website full refunds would be given so we contacted the agency and cancelled our booking as per Westjets advice. The agency refused to give us our money back claiming westjets policy did not apply to them. They offered us a voucher but not a refund. 1 year later we were still fighting with them. Westjet confirmed they had given the travel agents All of our money back but still they refused.  Their contract does not state how much of a non refundable deposit they keep.
So we started fighting again. they offered us two thirds of our money back £2660 or a voucher. When we asked for a refund they then said voucher only. Every time we contacted them the story and the amount changed from this is all the airline gave us back, to now stating its because we want a refund not a voucher. 18 months down the line, the credit card company wont help, stating too long a time has passed. Now in the position of them keeping £1278 of our money.
they constantly won't answer questions in emails , and now they are demanding we accept the £2660 refund .
Any advice please, one very frustrated lady here.

longjohnjohnson

I don't believe you're entitled to a refund simply because Westjet refunded your travel agent.

Did the flight actually go ahead?  If so you wouldn't be entitled to a refund.

If you cancelled before the flight date then you're going to be at the mercy of their cancellation policy, which isn't particularly generous.

Maskface

longjohnjohnson said:

I don't believe you're entitled to a refund simply because Westjet refunded your travel agent.

Did the flight actually go ahead?  If so you wouldn't be entitled to a refund.

If you cancelled before the flight date then you're going to be at the mercy of their cancellation policy, which isn't particularly generous.

Unless I'm reading wrongly they say the government cancelled all foreign travel. At that point refunds should have been given. The question is whether the deposit is refundable.

user1977

Maskface said:

longjohnjohnson said:

I don't believe you're entitled to a refund simply because Westjet refunded your travel agent.

Did the flight actually go ahead?  If so you wouldn't be entitled to a refund.

If you cancelled before the flight date then you're going to be at the mercy of their cancellation policy, which isn't particularly generous.

Unless I'm reading wrongly they say the government cancelled all foreign travel.

That's what the OP said, though the government didn't actually prohibit flights from operating, just imposed restrictions on who could travel. If your flight still operated then you didn't have any contractual right to a refund, even if you weren't allowed to get on it (and/or to enter the destination country).

longjohnjohnson

Maskface said:

longjohnjohnson said:

I don't believe you're entitled to a refund simply because Westjet refunded your travel agent.

Did the flight actually go ahead?  If so you wouldn't be entitled to a refund.

If you cancelled before the flight date then you're going to be at the mercy of their cancellation policy, which isn't particularly generous.

Unless I'm reading wrongly they say the government cancelled all foreign travel. At that point refunds should have been given. The question is whether the deposit is refundable.

As you'll see in the COVID travel boards that's not at all what happened.

Generally, if a flight did not operate you would be due a refund, but many did still operate. Foreign travel wasn't forbidden as an absolute rule and many flights did still take off. You begin unable to board is, unfortunately, not the airlines/agents problem.

The separate issue here (and perhaps the bigger one) is that the OP cancelled their flights.  But their contract is with the agent, not the airline and this was arguably poor advice. The general advice given over this was to not cancel and let the agent/airline cancel on you.  Those who cancelled of their own "choice" have almost always found that the agent invokes the cancellation policy, which as I said is not particularly generous in the case of this agent.

It's not really relevant to the OP that the airline refunded the agent.  Just as it wouldn't be relevant if the OP was legally due a refund but the airline refused to reimburse the agent.

stupage2002

If i recall correctly Canada had very stringent entry restrictions at the time and no guarantee of entry into the country except for its own citizens

powerful_Rogue

stupage2002 said:

If i recall correctly Canada had very stringent entry restrictions at the time and no guarantee of entry into the country except for its own citizens

That's where you would claim on your travel insurance. As the flight went ahead, I would jump at their current offer.

Aylesbury_Duck

I agree.  This is an insurance job if you effectively cancelled voluntarily, whether the flight went ahead or not.  If you cancelled and the flight went ahead, the agent's cancellation policy applies and your insurance may pick up the difference.  If you cancelled and the flight was subsequently cancelled, the same situation stands because you cancelled before the flight was cancelled.

Have you spoken to your insurer?

born_again

stupage2002 said:

Fighting with Alexa travel, parent company is Times travel. We booked and paid for flights to Canada £3938 with Westjet in August 2020. Due to covid 19, travels restrictions hit and the government cancelled all foreign travel. Westjet stated on their website full refunds would be given so we contacted the agency and cancelled our booking as per Westjets advice. The agency refused to give us our money back claiming westjets policy did not apply to them. They offered us a voucher but not a refund. 1 year later we were still fighting with them. Westjet confirmed they had given the travel agents All of our money back but still they refused.  Their contract does not state how much of a non refundable deposit they keep.
So we started fighting again. they offered us two thirds of our money back £2660 or a voucher. When we asked for a refund they then said voucher only. Every time we contacted them the story and the amount changed from this is all the airline gave us back, to now stating its because we want a refund not a voucher. 18 months down the line, the credit card company wont help, stating too long a time has passed. Now in the position of them keeping £1278 of our money.
they constantly won't answer questions in emails , and now they are demanding we accept the £2660 refund .
Any advice please, one very frustrated lady here.

How many of the above actually read what the  OP posted?

longjohnjohnson

born_again said:

stupage2002 said:

Fighting with Alexa travel, parent company is Times travel. We booked and paid for flights to Canada £3938 with Westjet in August 2020. Due to covid 19, travels restrictions hit and the government cancelled all foreign travel. Westjet stated on their website full refunds would be given so we contacted the agency and cancelled our booking as per Westjets advice. The agency refused to give us our money back claiming westjets policy did not apply to them. They offered us a voucher but not a refund. 1 year later we were still fighting with them. Westjet confirmed they had given the travel agents All of our money back but still they refused.  Their contract does not state how much of a non refundable deposit they keep.
So we started fighting again. they offered us two thirds of our money back £2660 or a voucher. When we asked for a refund they then said voucher only. Every time we contacted them the story and the amount changed from this is all the airline gave us back, to now stating its because we want a refund not a voucher. 18 months down the line, the credit card company wont help, stating too long a time has passed. Now in the position of them keeping £1278 of our money.
they constantly won't answer questions in emails , and now they are demanding we accept the £2660 refund .
Any advice please, one very frustrated lady here.

How many of the above actually read what the  OP posted?

I did, what's your point?

born_again

longjohnjohnson said:

born_again said:

stupage2002 said:

Fighting with Alexa travel, parent company is Times travel. We booked and paid for flights to Canada £3938 with Westjet in August 2020. Due to covid 19, travels restrictions hit and the government cancelled all foreign travel. Westjet stated on their website full refunds would be given so we contacted the agency and cancelled our booking as per Westjets advice. The agency refused to give us our money back claiming westjets policy did not apply to them. They offered us a voucher but not a refund. 1 year later we were still fighting with them. Westjet confirmed they had given the travel agents All of our money back but still they refused.  Their contract does not state how much of a non refundable deposit they keep.
So we started fighting again. they offered us two thirds of our money back £2660 or a voucher. When we asked for a refund they then said voucher only. Every time we contacted them the story and the amount changed from this is all the airline gave us back, to now stating its because we want a refund not a voucher. 18 months down the line, the credit card company wont help, stating too long a time has passed. Now in the position of them keeping £1278 of our money.
they constantly won't answer questions in emails , and now they are demanding we accept the £2660 refund .
Any advice please, one very frustrated lady here.

How many of the above actually read what the  OP posted?

I did, what's your point?

Read the bits in bold...
Airline has fully refunded. No reason for agent to hold onto any of it.