Thomas cook flight refund issues

Ouch. You have left yourself wide open and probably done the opposite of everything that is advised when booking flights.

You perhaps now realise the benefits of booking a trip with ATOL protection, or failing that using a credit card for payment protection under section 75.

In addition, rather than book direct, or with a reputable U.K. travel business you have booked with an overseas seller and as such may have very limited recourse. Gotogate International AB is part of the Etraveli Group. They are a Swedish based business. Swedish regulations apply.

I expect Gotogate will argue that they simply acted as an agent and forwarded your payment to a now defunct airline and that YOU rather than THEY become a creditor of that failed business. I suspect their trading terms and conditions may cover this aspect but if you haven’t already read them it might be worth doing so now.

As for suggestions on what to do -
1. Research via the internet to find others who are likely to be in a similar position having booked via Gotogate and see if any different approaches have worked for them.
2. Try to badger Gotogate via their social media for resolution. Remain polite. Seek a helpful solution rather than give threats and vent anger. You may receive a partial goodwill credit.
3. Try to add justification to any counter view to your bank refusing the chargeback. Probably the ‘service not received’ time is best but I have to say I think you are loose ice. Good luck anyway.

Regrettably, I think you will have a fight on your hands, but don't give up yet. Using a third party to book a low-cost flight is generally never a good idea, to use one based outside the UK even less so. A travel agent will always argue their obligation is to book and pay for a flight and issue a ticket on behalf of an airline, and once they have completed that, their job is complete. It was never their responsibility to fly the plane.
Good travel agents would offer scheduled airline failure protection, usually at a cost of £4-5, which would ensure a full refund but again GotoGate doesn't and you admit having taken out no insurance, as you can buy this cover, at a slightly higher cost yourself.

If you had never received the ticket, and that might be the case, then you can argue that the service you paid for hasn't been completed, another issue with TC Airlines appears to be that many travel agents were forced to book, not with TC Airlines itself but through it's associated company Condor in Germany, possibly because the UK arm couldn't find a bank willing to process credit cards for them.

Alas, because you booked through an agent, it is impossible to tell as the debit on your card will have been by Goto Gate but for those who booked direct, there is a possibility of claiming against Condor, who don't want to know, and then arguing with a card issuer that Condor has failed to provide the service.

Best of luck