TravelMood - Buyer beware !

SnowHarp

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has purchased air tickets from TravelMood and had a problem. My retired parents purchased tickets from them and paid well in advance, online, by credit card. On top of the price for the tickets, they paid a deposit and credit card surcharge. Two months before the flight my mother was taken ill and had to have emergency surgery. As a consequence she was not fit to fly. Travelmood will not refund any of the ticket money, they are also keeping and/or charging deposits and admin fees. I am about to embark on a crusade to find out exactly why travel agents and many airlines are allowed to take payment in advance for air tickets, refuse to allow seat assignments in advance, reserve all sorts of cancellation privileges for themselves but offer no cancellation policy for customers despite the fact they sell those seats again. Surely, once paid for, they should NOT be allowed to sell them again without giving some or all the money back ? My parents paid about 1200.00 pounds for air tickets which were undoubtedly sold to someone else yet, Travelmood will refund them nothing, despite a medical letter and some down to earth 'begging' from my father. It is callous and unfair to take money from people in this way and I would like to know why successful companies like Travelmood want to invite this kind of bad press. If anyone can offer advice on this I would be very grateful.

Incapuppy

Isn't this what travel insurance is for?

hellofreebies

in cases such as this is why its important to book your holiday insurance when booking your flights or holiday package as you would be covered if you were unable to fly for emergency or health reasons. usually ive purchased holiday insurance at the last minute ie. two weeks before departing despite purchasing flights 8 months in advance, that was until i conceived 2 dd, which wouldve meant having to fly long haul 7 months pregnant. on that occasion i was lucky as cathay pacific offered me to use the flight money as credit for an alternative flight which we opted for a month earlier. i was very lucky but maybe you have a better chance calling the airline direct and speaking to accounts and book for another date? hth oh'and good luck in your crusade....

Voyager2002

Just to say, the people who are holding on to the money and being "hard-hearted" are the airlines rather than the agents. Travel Mood are a reputable company (I used them ten years ago) and you would have had exactly the same response from any other travel agent. So your crusade should be directed against the airlines: and good luck!

If you really want to have a go at Travel Mood, you could ask whether they offered your parents travel insurarance and explained why it was a good idea to get insured at the same time as making a booking. I am sure they did, but if not you might have reasonable grounds for a complaint. And if you want to ask for compassion, all you could expect Travel Mood to return to you would be their commission on the sale, which will be a tiny proportion of the actual ticket cost. The rest of the money went straight to the airline, so the agent is not in a position to return it to you.

Sam_Bee

A couple of really important points:

1) Isn't this what travel insurance is for? Why on earth did they not have travel insurance?

2) Why on earth did they not have travel insurance?

3) Travelmood, as an 'agent' have sold you a ticket that conforms to the airlines rules and restrictions. It is the airline that sets the cancellation charges (Travelmood will charge a small amount on top to cover their charges, but the bulk of the money will be kept by the airline). Travelmood will NOT get these seats back to 're-sell', they will NOT be profiteering from your parents unfortunate illnesses. The airline might, but I bet my bottom dollar your parents were sent confirmation invoices which stated clearly the tickets were 100% non-refundable (which to re-iterate was an airline rule, not a Travelmood charge).

4) Why on earth did they not have travel insurance, then their losses would be minimal?

If you're going to get indignant, then get indignant at the people that are ultimately responsible for them losing £1200. Which is them, for not getting travel insurance.

shockingmoment

I've used Travelmood loads of times - and they have been really good so far. The low cost tickets sold by them are generally inflexible and have strict restrictions placed - not by TM, but by the airlines. We fly out on friday to the Far East, tickets bought 5 months ago. Cancellation / change charges are horrendous, but we knew that when we booked.

Travel insurance is important - and not just from the day you fly......

SnowHarp

Thanks for these responses. I do agree with you about the travel insurance, it would have made sense. Notwithstanding, I think it all too convenient to stick a checkbox on the computer screen to indicate that a customer has read and understood ALL the legal jargon. We are not talking about a DVD set or a set of pots and pans on eBay. This is 1200.00 pounds and they took the cash months in advance. Imagine going into Dixon's and buying a TV. You pay for it in March but cannot collect it until July. If you find another one in April, too bad you lose your money ! My point is, the seats are a commodity and would have been sold to someone else, just as the TV would have been. But Dixon's would not be allowed to do that to their customers. Airlines have it all ways, advance cash, no-refund policies and no seat assignments because you chose a low fare. Insurance or not, there should be limits to how much they get to keep. My folks wanted to reschedule but even that was denied to them unless they paid more money. It isn't an honourable game.

dzug

No - most airlines will also sell (at a considerable premium) fully flexible refundable tickets. The advance cash/no refund policy allows tickets to be sold at a considerable discount. The customer in this case is trying to have it both ways, wanting a cheap ticket but not the strings that go with it.

Sam_Bee

SnowHarp wrote: »

Imagine going into Dixon's and buying a TV. You pay for it in March but cannot collect it until July. If you find another one in April, too bad you lose your money ! My point is, the seats are a commodity and would have been sold to someone else, just as the TV would have been. But Dixon's would not be allowed to do that to their customers.

I really feel for them, so don't want to sound harsh. But on the other hand, you walked into Dixons and wanted to buy a TV there and then you could pay and take it.

If you want flights flying this evening, you could pay and take them.

Airlines are only offering choice by allowing you to book so early. It's a very uncomparable industry.

esuhl

SnowHarp wrote: »

It isn't an honourable game.

Welcome to capitalism.



(Seriously, though - sorry to hear of your parents' experience.)

Tozer

One thing - if they are definitely not going to travel, then they WILL be able to claim back air passenger duty tax, fuel surcharges, etc. Not sure how much this will be but could be a couple of hundred £.

They cannot keep the money for these items as the flight is not being taken.

Also - have a look to see whether the credit card provider offers any automatic travel insurance when using it to book. Some do.

Hope this helps.