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Post by BuzzB on May 15, 2020 22:55:39 GMT
I ended up paying a balance payment to Tui a week or so ago as I'd lose the entire deposit otherwise as they'd just cancel for non payment and keep the money irregardless of what happens. We're due to fly late July and although it's unlikely to happen my biggest concern is that if the Spanish/Greek/Italian tourist industries get their way and manage to convince their governments to allow them to open the hotels. Taking a lead from that the airlines (not necessarily Tui but any of them) will put pressure on our government to reduce the FCO advice from "against all but essential travel" to something flimsy like "we don't recommend travelling" which means that flights are suddenly start taking off again, this combined with a possible two week quarantine on return to the UK meaning that very few will be able to actually take the holiday they've paid for but will lose the entire sum as they have a "disinclination to take the flight/holiday" which means the company keeps the money, cancels the hotel to keep more of it, ATOL won't cover the loss and insurance companies won't either. Could be a perfect storm of consumer losses? Its a dodgy situation with Tui right now, after announcing possible large scale redundances. We are due out to Menorca 11 July, had to pay in full by 18 April or be in default of our contract, thus rendering any refund fucked to put it bluntly. So, going by the previous announcements I am expecting holidays covering half of July to be cancelled this coming week, question is what will come first, our (and others obviously) refund or Tui going to the wall. Hopefully by using my credit card I am covered. I then have a cruise with MSC later in the year to deal with, oh the joys eh.
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Post by AdderleyGreenStokie on May 15, 2020 23:41:34 GMT
I ended up paying a balance payment to Tui a week or so ago as I'd lose the entire deposit otherwise as they'd just cancel for non payment and keep the money irregardless of what happens. We're due to fly late July and although it's unlikely to happen my biggest concern is that if the Spanish/Greek/Italian tourist industries get their way and manage to convince their governments to allow them to open the hotels. Taking a lead from that the airlines (not necessarily Tui but any of them) will put pressure on our government to reduce the FCO advice from "against all but essential travel" to something flimsy like "we don't recommend travelling" which means that flights are suddenly start taking off again, this combined with a possible two week quarantine on return to the UK meaning that very few will be able to actually take the holiday they've paid for but will lose the entire sum as they have a "disinclination to take the flight/holiday" which means the company keeps the money, cancels the hotel to keep more of it, ATOL won't cover the loss and insurance companies won't either. Could be a perfect storm of consumer losses? Due to pay the balance of my TUI holiday on Monday for a August holiday. Honestly don't know what to do for the best.
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Post by Widget123 on May 18, 2020 18:45:33 GMT
^ Its a tough call. Depends on how much you stand to lose deposit wise. I was looking at £800 down the tubes if I hadn't paid the balance so I stuck it on a credit card then cleared the card the next day with the savings I'd made for the holiday payment. That way I'm hopefully then covered every possible way; Tui if they cancel, ATOL if they go bust, credit card if ATOL play silly buggers or there is some other reason I can't travel, finally travel insurance if all that fails. Although none of them will cover disinclination to travel which I would have a lot of if I had to quarantine for two weeks after arriving home, so that's my only losing hand (in theory at least).
Personally having watched the situation closely, despite the protests of the industry I can't see many countries allowing a free flow of flights of holidaymakers in the near term unless there is a huge material change in circumstances (eg. a vaccine appears from no where or the virus suddenly disappears). I think it'll be September/October before there is a sign of activity on opening up borders properly and that foreign holiday travel is off the cards until 2021 in any real terms.
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Post by spiderpuss on May 18, 2020 19:42:16 GMT
As holidays are one of the biggest yearly costs, I wonder if anyone can share their experiences of getting a full refund from holiday providers? I’ve got £875 tied up in Ryanair flights For May half term to Malaga and from what I’m hearing, when it’s eventually cancelled they’re offering vouchers valid for 12 months. Sounds really dodgy. Not the most encouraging threads, and there are plenty more on MSE. www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/05/mse-travel-survey-results/And also www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/04/ryanair-customers-sent-vouchers-after-requesting-refunds/The screen shot from Ryanair when I applied for the refund was as follows: "Once approved your refund request will be processed within 20 working days to the original form of payment and should show in your account within the next 5-7 working days. A confirmation email will be sent to the address provided in your booking" Quite clear, nothing about vouchers there. For what should be a 7 day process, we're looking at a 27 day one.
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Post by spiderpuss on May 18, 2020 19:43:41 GMT
Get ready for lots of going round in circles as your travel insurance company says you should claim off your credit card company first while, at the same time, your credit card company is informing you need to try to claim on your travel insurance first. And both will be asking whether you’ve tried to claim directly from the airline and, if not, then you should be trying that before anything else. My advice is to keep an exact log of every call you make (time, date, who you spoke to and the outcome of the call) and file every email so that when they ask for it you can provide a full audit trail of exactly what was said and done by whom, and when.You can usually end up with the outcome you desire, but it takes hard work and persistence. And lots of time. Good luck. Excellent point, Yoky. It's absolutely crucial to do this. A lot of smart phones have recording on voice calls. (not app calls)
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Post by slicko on May 18, 2020 21:08:17 GMT
As holidays are one of the biggest yearly costs, I wonder if anyone can share their experiences of getting a full refund from holiday providers? I’ve got £875 tied up in Ryanair flights For May half term to Malaga and from what I’m hearing, when it’s eventually cancelled they’re offering vouchers valid for 12 months. Sounds really dodgy. Not the most encouraging threads, and there are plenty more on MSE. www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/05/mse-travel-survey-results/And also www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/04/ryanair-customers-sent-vouchers-after-requesting-refunds/The screen shot from Ryanair when I applied for the refund was as follows: "Once approved your refund request will be processed within 20 working days to the original form of payment and should show in your account within the next 5-7 working days. A confirmation email will be sent to the address provided in your booking" Quite clear, nothing about vouchers there. For what should be a 7 day process, we're looking at a 27 day one. . Ryanair are being their usual idiotic selves. I told them I do not want a credit voucher and to process a refund. One week later they sent me an email asking if I wanted a credit note. I called them and after a wait of one hour, asked why I received this email and I want a refund. They said they’d put me back on the refund list - they’ve just bought themselves one week. The web form for vouchers is one click, the web form for refunds is impossible to find.
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Post by LL Cool Dave on May 27, 2020 13:53:00 GMT
I've had no luck with Dice who I bought the tickets from. Apparently Primavera are waiting for the Spanish Govt to make the first move so they can claim on the insurance. I'll get onto my credit card company if I don't hear anything soon. I'm supposed to be in France for when it's been rescheduled. Fuck knows if either will go ahead. Ha ... we've got tickets for Reading for when Primavera has been rescheduled, not a chance that either is going to happen, you'd think. Well I certainly won't be asking for a PS refund now. Gorillaz, IDLES and Tame Impala being added have made an OK line up this year into an unmissable one for 2021. Worth the wait imo
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Post by Paul Spencer on May 27, 2020 14:11:17 GMT
Ha ... we've got tickets for Reading for when Primavera has been rescheduled, not a chance that either is going to happen, you'd think. Well I certainly won't be asking for a PS refund now. Gorillaz, IDLES and Tame Impala being added have made an OK line up this year into an unmissable one for 2021. Worth the wait imo We've got three full VIP festival passes, which is worth around a thousand euros. God knows what is going to happen over the next 12 months (my wife is in the shielding group and I'm in the at risk group), so we're going to take the refund and see how things lie much, much nearer the time. Oh and Lana Del Rey is not confirmed for the new bill ...
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Post by franklin66 on Jun 10, 2020 13:14:07 GMT
Just booked flights to Germany for August fingers crossed.
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Post by Widget123 on Jun 30, 2020 16:07:11 GMT
Quick update in case its useful for anyone:
1. TUI cancelled our holiday, they've offered 10% bonus on top of current price paid for re-booking which doesn't cover the cost of re-booking so its not much of a bonus. They are apparently accepting refund requests from the 3rd of July, our holiday was the 26th of July - I'm not holding my breath on getting a quick refund as I think they'll stretch it out for three months before depositing the money but I await being surprised by them!
2. I had meet and greet parking booked at Manchester airport direct with them which was a *single* button press to cancel and an instant refund! Amazing service really.
3. Our flights were at stupid o'clock in the morning so I had a room at the on airport Radisson Blu booked for the night before the holiday so I could check in and drop off the luggage at the TUI anytime desk the afternoon before the flight (meaning a pleasant walk straight into security/departures in the morning rather than queuing to check in). Radisson changed their terms this week allowing free cancellation with full refund and re-booking for hotels right through to the end of August. The only proviso was that if you'd paid a deposit then they'd "hold onto the deposit for up to 12 months" so you could use it for another booking then refunding it if not used within that 12 month period. I had a constructive chat on the phone with them and they initially said my paid for in full booking was a "deposit" and would be kept for 12 months. I pushed them quite hard in the end saying that if they considered full payment to be a deposit I'd ask the Ombudsman to get involved as frankly that didn't feel right. The agent then said it'd cost me more than the booking cost to get a solicitor involved to which I replied "what if I was a solicitor myself?" (a vague enough statement without saying I was or not) after which she quickly backed down and immediately arranged a full refund, clearly they know they are on thin ice with the 12 month retainer thing on "deposits".
All in all its been a bit easier than I expected. Hope everyone else has a similar experience.
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Post by LL Cool Dave on Jul 4, 2020 22:18:43 GMT
I'm having a fucking mare with Hoseasons at the moment. Do not even think about booking anything with these bunch of charlatans.
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Post by thehartshillbadger on Jul 4, 2020 22:22:47 GMT
I booked 4 weeks in America June just gone. Getting married in Nashville, cheapo job. Obviously couldn’t go, cost 7k all in, lots of travelling, planes trains And automobiles. Re booked it for same time next year, extra grand so it’s now 8k🤦🏻♂️
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Post by franklin66 on Jul 5, 2020 15:48:59 GMT
I know Ryanair come in for some stick and I understand why but I've just used my cancelled May flights to rebook for August. Now on their app the flights in August were £50 more than the May ones but I called them and they changed the flights for free no hassle 5 minute call.
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Post by basingstokie on Jul 5, 2020 19:24:01 GMT
I had a cycling trip with Marmot Tours booked for July. Flights separately with Easyjet.
Marmot offered me a refund, but I asked them to keep the money and book me on the same trip next June. Marmot are a great company, I figure they need the money more than me now (it was 'spent' when I booked the holiday) and if the worst happens and they go bust it'll be protected by ABTA. It's about £100 dearer next june than this which I don't have a problem with.
Easyjet different story - they really don't want to give refunds, push you strongly for a gift voucher, but it can only be used against 1 flight and must be for me. They even make you go through process twice (once for outbound, once for inbound). I wouldn't be adverse to rebooking, but they've not released flights for next June yet. Anyway, I should receive my refund within 90 days. From what I've seen online, I could call and sit on hold for the next week and I might get it in 89 days, so will just tough it out for now,
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Post by Widget123 on Jul 26, 2020 14:07:00 GMT
I feel sorry for anyone who has a booking for Spain or is currently there. That perfect storm I mentioned about the airlines and hotels being open and the government back tracking on the air bridge meaning no isolation required must be a complete nightmare.
A friend of mine can't isolate on return and he's looking at losing £4k as his insurance firm says he must travel or they won't cover any loss.
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Post by Cast no shadow on Jul 30, 2020 13:01:48 GMT
Had an email 4 weeks ago saying my 3k Greece refund would be in within 4 weeks, nowt yet, just sharpening my pitchfork
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Post by spiderpuss on Jul 30, 2020 14:17:56 GMT
So one of my final Ryanair flights was refunded the other day. Cancelled in May. Flight was in end of June. Flight refunded 26/07
Two months seems to be the current lead time, plus I had to reject vouchers.
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Post by Cast no shadow on Jul 30, 2020 20:03:14 GMT
Had an email 4 weeks ago saying my 3k Greece refund would be in within 4 weeks, nowt yet, just sharpening my pitchfork UPDATE!!! Just gone in, so 4 weeks exactly. *puts pitchfork away*
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Post by longdistancekiddie on Jun 12, 2021 18:30:16 GMT
Stobart Air, gone bang
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Post by metalhead on Jun 12, 2021 18:46:38 GMT
I had £136 tied up in Ryanair. They kept promising to refund. They never did. Eventually, I used the voucher towards another trip... Now it's £178. Clever way of stopping me from booking with a competitor.
Tui, however, refunded around 1300 quid no problem to my card.
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Post by franklin on Jun 12, 2021 19:26:25 GMT
I booked some flights through lastminute with Lufthansa to Frankfurt for Sept 2020. They cost €300 and needless to say they were cancelled. Out of that €300 they have just refunded me £129 I tried to argue the case for a full refund but I've actually given up. I'll genuinely never use them again terrible service.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2021 19:29:43 GMT
I got a full refund from Emirates plus 1000 dollar voucher after 3 days. Card holder so maybe helps.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2021 21:34:35 GMT
I booked some flights through lastminute with Lufthansa to Frankfurt for Sept 2020. They cost €300 and needless to say they were cancelled. Out of that €300 they have just refunded me £129 I tried to argue the case for a full refund but I've actually given up. I'll genuinely never use them again terrible service. How have they justified not paying you the full refund??
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2021 22:21:17 GMT
I booked some flights through lastminute with Lufthansa to Frankfurt for Sept 2020. They cost €300 and needless to say they were cancelled. Out of that €300 they have just refunded me £129 I tried to argue the case for a full refund but I've actually given up. I'll genuinely never use them again terrible service. How have they justified not paying you the full refund?? Looks like they have issued you the handling fee and not that of the airline tickets they pay on to the airline. I think Lastminute argued recently that they hadn't been refunded by many airlines in some cases and so couldn't refund the actual ticket prices yet which they pay on to the airline involved.
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Post by longdistancekiddie on Jun 12, 2021 22:23:14 GMT
Three flights, full refund from Ryanair
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Post by BuzzB on Jun 12, 2021 22:53:21 GMT
I ended up paying a balance payment to Tui a week or so ago as I'd lose the entire deposit otherwise as they'd just cancel for non payment and keep the money irregardless of what happens. We're due to fly late July and although it's unlikely to happen my biggest concern is that if the Spanish/Greek/Italian tourist industries get their way and manage to convince their governments to allow them to open the hotels. Taking a lead from that the airlines (not necessarily Tui but any of them) will put pressure on our government to reduce the FCO advice from "against all but essential travel" to something flimsy like "we don't recommend travelling" which means that flights are suddenly start taking off again, this combined with a possible two week quarantine on return to the UK meaning that very few will be able to actually take the holiday they've paid for but will lose the entire sum as they have a "disinclination to take the flight/holiday" which means the company keeps the money, cancels the hotel to keep more of it, ATOL won't cover the loss and insurance companies won't either. Could be a perfect storm of consumer losses? Its a dodgy situation with Tui right now, after announcing possible large scale redundances. We are due out to Menorca 11 July, had to pay in full by 18 April or be in default of our contract, thus rendering any refund fucked to put it bluntly. So, going by the previous announcements I am expecting holidays covering half of July to be cancelled this coming week, question is what will come first, our (and others obviously) refund or Tui going to the wall. Hopefully by using my credit card I am covered. I then have a cruise with MSC later in the year to deal with, oh the joys eh. Update: Tui were pretty good, they cancelled and we got our refund a few weeks after. MSC on the other hand have been a nightmare. We had booked a 7 night holiday with 7 ports to visit, ie no sea days which was brilliant, visiting places we hadn't seen before and always fancied. Then that got cancelled so we agreed to move it to 2021, a different itinery slightly though which we accepted in the Covid circumstances. Then in December last year we got an email saying that our ship had been changed, airport changed from Liverpool to Gatwick and itinery changed again, only 5 ports with two sea days, only one remaining port from our original booking. I asked for a refund, now under their T&C's I can only get a refund if over 50% of our itinery had changed which it clearly had. However, they moved the goalposts by saying they were in the right regardless. So after numerous phone calls and emails, on the 12 of April just gone, out of the blue they cancelled our cruise. I applied for a full refund to which I am yet to recieve a reply, so went down the section 75 route with Barclaycard. 495 days after parting with my £1000.00 it went back on my card last Thursday. Motorhome holidays for us for a year or two now.
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Post by franklin on Jun 13, 2021 6:49:19 GMT
How have they justified not paying you the full refund?? Looks like they have issued you the handling fee and not that of the airline tickets they pay on to the airline. I think Lastminute argued recently that they hadn't been refunded by many airlines in some cases and so couldn't refund the actual ticket prices yet which they pay on to the airline involved. They have had a refund from Lufthansa because I spoke to them and they emailed me. Online lastminute had a section on my booking that had updates regarding my "refund" and they has waiting for airline to refund. This was at this stage for 6months or more so I called Lufthansa and they told me on the phone and in an email that they had refunded the booking agent. So I went back to lastminute and for months I was unable to make contact via phone as it just took me through an automated system then cut me off after telling me they were waiting for my money from the airline. This went on for ages before once again I tried and I spoke to a customer care advisor who told me they were waiting for Lufthansa. I then told this lady that I have an email and first hand conversation that you already have my money from the airline. Awkward silence then she tells me she doesn't know that. I then a few weeks later a email from lastminute informing me that they will refund me £209 which is minus admin. So I once again phone and they just point blank refuse to refund the full amount because in the T&C they can charge I handling fee. I argue they refuse. I then received a notification that they will refund me £129 within 5 working days and they did. Goodness knows where that amount came from from a start €300 (£275) they tell me £209 and eventually refund me £129. I made the booking in July 2020 refund May 2021. It seems from their social media I'm not alone in fact they turned off comment on their Facebook page as it was spammed with accusations and memes of thieves etc.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2021 8:01:28 GMT
Looks like they have issued you the handling fee and not that of the airline tickets they pay on to the airline. I think Lastminute argued recently that they hadn't been refunded by many airlines in some cases and so couldn't refund the actual ticket prices yet which they pay on to the airline involved. They have had a refund from Lufthansa because I spoke to them and they emailed me. Online lastminute had a section on my booking that had updates regarding my "refund" and they has waiting for airline to refund. This was at this stage for 6months or more so I called Lufthansa and they told me on the phone and in an email that they had refunded the booking agent. So I went back to lastminute and for months I was unable to make contact via phone as it just took me through an automated system then cut me off after telling me they were waiting for my money from the airline. This went on for ages before once again I tried and I spoke to a customer care advisor who told me they were waiting for Lufthansa. I then told this lady that I have an email and first hand conversation that you already have my money from the airline. Awkward silence then she tells me she doesn't know that. I then a few weeks later a email from lastminute informing me that they will refund me £209 which is minus admin. So I once again phone and they just point blank refuse to refund the full amount because in the T&C they can charge I handling fee. I argue they refuse. I then received a notification that they will refund me £129 within 5 working days and they did. Goodness knows where that amount came from from a start €300 (£275) they tell me £209 and eventually refund me £129. I made the booking in July 2020 refund May 2021. It seems from their social media I'm not alone in fact they turned off comment on their Facebook page as it was spammed with accusations and memes of thieves etc. Oh well, when they go out of business off the back of it, it'll be one less rogue operator to worry about.
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Post by franklin on Jun 13, 2021 8:13:37 GMT
They have had a refund from Lufthansa because I spoke to them and they emailed me. Online lastminute had a section on my booking that had updates regarding my "refund" and they has waiting for airline to refund. This was at this stage for 6months or more so I called Lufthansa and they told me on the phone and in an email that they had refunded the booking agent. So I went back to lastminute and for months I was unable to make contact via phone as it just took me through an automated system then cut me off after telling me they were waiting for my money from the airline. This went on for ages before once again I tried and I spoke to a customer care advisor who told me they were waiting for Lufthansa. I then told this lady that I have an email and first hand conversation that you already have my money from the airline. Awkward silence then she tells me she doesn't know that. I then a few weeks later a email from lastminute informing me that they will refund me £209 which is minus admin. So I once again phone and they just point blank refuse to refund the full amount because in the T&C they can charge I handling fee. I argue they refuse. I then received a notification that they will refund me £129 within 5 working days and they did. Goodness knows where that amount came from from a start €300 (£275) they tell me £209 and eventually refund me £129. I made the booking in July 2020 refund May 2021. It seems from their social media I'm not alone in fact they turned off comment on their Facebook page as it was spammed with accusations and memes of thieves etc. Oh well, when they go out of business off the back of it, it'll be one less rogue operator to worry about. They were threatened with Court action by the UK government and still failed to comply with refunds, I understand the difficulties faced by companies thats why initially (6 months) I just let them get on with it, but I became aware of issues so tried and failed to get a refund which is a shame that they were unable or unwilling to refund thousands of flight only customers. No replies to emails, no people on the phone to talk to all rather unsatisfactory but I live and learn.
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Post by LL Cool Dave on Jun 13, 2021 8:37:11 GMT
Ha ... we've got tickets for Reading for when Primavera has been rescheduled, not a chance that either is going to happen, you'd think. Well I certainly won't be asking for a PS refund now. Gorillaz, IDLES and Tame Impala being added have made an OK line up this year into an unmissable one for 2021. Worth the wait imo And an even better line up for 2022.
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