Being ignored by travel agent re refund

pain10suffering10

Hi, I booked flights with travel decorum to Australia nearly 2 years ago, but my mother passed away a few days before the flights, we paid an extra £100 on top of the price to cover us for date changes etc, but when it came to changing they tried to charge us £900 per person. They said we couldn’t be refunded for flights but could claim back the taxes ( APD ) and other fees…. I have been battling this ever since and the company is completely ignoring me now and they have blocked my number so I can no longer call them…. I lost £2805 for the flights for myself and my Brother to visit our Mum while she was in hospital battling cancer. She died a few days before we were due to travel and we couldn’t face going….. I didn’t have enough on my credit card to pay the flights so had to use a normal bank card, so I’m not even covered through that. I think it’s disgusting that at such an excruciating and devastating time, we were basically robbed and are still being ignored regarding a refund for the flight taxes etc…. I’ve contacted citizens advice and they helped me draft emails to the company, but to no avail….. I literally cannot contact travel decorum now, the phone number doesn’t work and my emails are ignored or bounce back with “ delivery to recipients failed “
Has anyone else had this problem or similar? I need advice on how to claim some money back as almost 3K has left me pretty broke as well as being physically broken at the loss of my wonderful Mum…. Any advice would be greatly appreciated…. Thank you! 

mr_stripey

I guess the obvious question is - did your travel insurance cover you for this? I think death of a close family member is usually covered. Did you take this up with them at the time?

la531983

Travel insurance?

As an aside, please dont use third parties to book flights ever again, they are generally cheap for a reason you are finding out. This one has a 1.7 rating on Google, which says it all.

I would go on the Travel Decorum website to try and find where they are based but not a chance I will be doing that, my antivirus has flagged it up.

Mark_d

Where you can change the date of a flight, it is normal that you have to pay the difference in flight cost.  Having the flexibility to change dates is not the same as the flight being refundable.  If you cancel a non-refundable flight then all you get back is the APD.  Travel decorum are not at fault and you were wrong to be battling them.

If the travel agent could cancel with the airline and get a refund, then you could be refunded - but why should the travel agent be out-of-pocket here?

I believe travel insurance often covers cancellation in the event of death of an immediate family member.  What do your travel insurance say?

la531983

Mark_d said:

 If you cancel a non-refundable flight then all you get back is the APD.  Travel decorum are not at fault and you were wrong to be battling them.

If you re-read the opening post thats exactly what he is trying to claim back from them, and nothing more.

Mark_d

la531983 said:

Mark_d said:

 If you cancel a non-refundable flight then all you get back is the APD.  Travel decorum are not at fault and you were wrong to be battling them.

If you re-read the opening post thats exactly what he is trying to claim back from them, and nothing more.

I have re-read the opening post.  The OP was offered a refund of APD but wanted to battle for a full refund.  Why don't you try re-reading the text?
If the issue is about getting APD back then the best practice would be to claim the refund via credit card rather than spend 2 years battling with a company who are not cooperating.

la531983

Mark_d said:

la531983 said:

Mark_d said:

 If you cancel a non-refundable flight then all you get back is the APD.  Travel decorum are not at fault and you were wrong to be battling them.

If you re-read the opening post thats exactly what he is trying to claim back from them, and nothing more.

I have re-read the opening post.  The OP was offered a refund of APD but wanted to battle for a full refund.  Why don't you try re-reading the text?
If the issue is about getting APD back then the best practice would be to claim the refund via credit card rather than spend 2 years battling with a company who are not cooperating.

He then says "some money back" and "being ignored regarding a refund for the flight taxes". 

How have you read that OP that he is battling for a full refund? He wants the taxes and nothing more.

Mark_d

la531983 said:

He then says "some money back" and "being ignored regarding a refund". 

How have you read that OP that he is battling for a full refund? He wants the taxes and nothing more.

"They said we couldn’t be refunded for flights but could claim back the taxes ( APD ) and other fees…. I have been battling THIS ever since"

It appears the OP does not agree with the position taken by the travel agent.

The OP does not say he wants taxes and nothing more.  If you were correct then the OP would have claimed the refund of taxes from credit card company after failing to make progress with the travel agent.  Have you ever considered the possibility that maybe you are the one who has misunderstood?

la531983

Well unless the OP returns and actually clarifies what he or she is expecting a refund of, nether or us are any the wiser. I still think he is only wanting a refund of taxes though, which is now being ignored.

And maybe the OP didnt realise the credit card was an option, he or she hasnt even mentioned travel insurance, so is likely uneducated in how to deal with stuff like this.

DullGreyGuy

pain10suffering10 said:

Hi, I booked flights with travel decorum to Australia nearly 2 years ago, but my mother passed away a few days before the flights, we paid an extra £100 on top of the price to cover us for date changes etc, but when it came to changing they tried to charge us £900 per person. They said we couldn’t be refunded for flights but could claim back the taxes ( APD ) and other fees…. I have been battling this ever since and the company is completely ignoring me now and they have blocked my number so I can no longer call them…. I lost £2805 for the flights for myself and my Brother to visit our Mum while she was in hospital battling cancer. She died a few days before we were due to travel and we couldn’t face going….. I didn’t have enough on my credit card to pay the flights so had to use a normal bank card, so I’m not even covered through that. I think it’s disgusting that at such an excruciating and devastating time, we were basically robbed and are still being ignored regarding a refund for the flight taxes etc…. I’ve contacted citizens advice and they helped me draft emails to the company, but to no avail….. I literally cannot contact travel decorum now, the phone number doesn’t work and my emails are ignored or bounce back with “ delivery to recipients failed “
Has anyone else had this problem or similar? I need advice on how to claim some money back as almost 3K has left me pretty broke as well as being physically broken at the loss of my wonderful Mum…. Any advice would be greatly appreciated…. Thank you! 

It's unclear if you have been trying to get the full costs refunded or just the taxes? 

Whilst people have asked about insurance on the basis you were travelling because your mother was seriously ill its highly unlikely any claim related to her passing would be accepted.

Their website states their phone lines are currently down so its unlikely to be them blocking you, their address is used by 26,000 companies but thats somewhat understandable as there is a business with that address that offers virtual addresses, what is more odd is they talk about paying cash at that address. They've a negative balance sheet and only 2 people work for the business so they are a tiny operation. 

Have you tried contacting the airline directly? normally they'd only refund via your agent 

Assuming you were flying Economy you are most likely looking at a refund of £92 per person, The terms for Travel Decorum is that they charge £75pp in admin fees, so you are looking at getting £17 per person back. 

400ixl

I read the OP's post as they are trying to claim back the full £2805 and not accepting just the £900 APD refund.

If the ticket was just a flexible (change of date) and not a fully refundable ticket, the requesting to cancel would only give an entitlement to taxes being refunded, not the full ticket price. Potentially minus an admin fee on that.

Questions to the OP would be:
1) Was the ticket a cancellable ticket, or just change of date?
2) Didi you request a change of date or a cancellation

If it was a non-cancellable flight and you cancelled then you are only entitled to the taxes back and the travel agent is right and you should request that is refunded unless they already have and in which case the matter is closed.

If it was a fully cancellable ticket and not just a flexible one then you are right. You next step is probably a court claim and letter before action to get it going.

As people have mentioned, did you have travel insurance? If so, what does that say, you may be able to claim the difference between the taxes and the full cost from them.