Holidays

Personally, I'd advise contacting your MP. I contacted mine when our insurance company were being difficult about paying out about something to do with Covid - I won't go into detail as it's irrelevant to your situation, but he was extremely helpful, wrote a stiff letter to the company, and they paid up. The fact is that to leave the country on holiday at present will cost you a £5,000 fine, as you would be breaking the law, so how they can expect you to travel, is beyond me. Good luck and do come back and let us know what happens.

We had long-haul flights booked for September 2020, but it was cancelled due to Covid. The airline said, if we wanted a refund, we would have to wait 12 months for it to be credited to our credit card (no explanation why, other than that it wasn't THEIR fault the flight had been cancelled!), or we could change the dates, but we had no idea when it would be possible to travel again. Also, our flights had been booked on a special promotional fare for business class tickets, at around the same price as economy, but if we rebooked we would have to pay the difference in price, as their promotion offer was no longer available, and the cost would be almost double! So, we opted to have our money held in a 'travel account' by the airline, for us to use when we were ready to re-book. However, they said that we would have to re-book something within 12 months, but here we are are, still with Covid, and travel restrictions! I've tried to contact the airline to find out if I can now get my money refuned, or if they will allow me longer to rebook something, but so far to no avail! So annoying!

We had to buy an extra flight back from Australia last year when HK stopped allowing people to transit there.
We were refunded about 3 weeks ago so it took almost a year with many on line chats plus sending two lots of paper proof and then having to upload everything as well. I kept a note of every chat and sent all paper copies by registered post.
This is the second time we have had to return from Australia in unexpected circumstances.
Gone are the days when I would book anything ad hoc. I do my homework and then go to Trailfinders. I will be taking out my insurance with them too next time.

I hope you get sorted out, I had just about given up but it is a really difficult time for holiday companies at the moment and they seem to take forever. Good luck.

Thank you everyone

I've not had a 'proper' holiday in eleven years so I'm not up to date on tourist companies. Does your do any holidays in the UK, could you swap it for a Staycation?

We had a difficult job getting our money back on a Riviera River cruise last year. We decided not to rebook for 2021 in case we were unable to go. For weeks no resolution was made. Eventually we found we could get the money Back from our credit card issuer. They were not at all happy about this and put pressure on Riviera. The money was then refunded and we had a letter of apology from the managing director.

As Polarbear said, get legal advice .....it would be worth paying for a letter to be sent to them as you may then get your money back ! Also, get on to ABTA or any other organisation they belong to, as this is illegal under current government guidelines. Your local MP could update them on current legislation ....good luck !

Ring the Citizens Advice Consumer helpline on 0808 223 1133 Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. Calls are free. They will tell you what rights you have.

I had a trip booked through a third party to the Harry Potter studios. The studios are closed, but the company said that it was their policy not to offer refunds. Luckily I had paid through Paypal and they refunded the money back on to my card. I don't know whether Paypal managed to retrieve the money from the company. Perhaps your bank would do a chargeback in the same way.

Talk to your bank, first. Unfortunately, it depends what kind of bank card you hold whether the bank can get your money back or not.

I thought the UK had the equivalent of the Danish Ombudsmand, and had imported the term. He is the chappie you want to deal with sharp business practise.

Have you considered getting your solicitor to send the company a fairly stiffish letter?

It's illegal for you to travel. You should get refund. You could have had one last year too when travel was banned.

@Calendargirl as EV said, they're very high risk and you can lose money big time. I lost a packet in one a few years ago not to the pint I owed money to the bank admittedly but over half my original investment. Don't go there unless you can afford to lose a lot of money.

EV please tell me where I can get a high interest account as I am feeling peeved to be earning almost nothing on my savings.

Can you not just change the date until later in the year.

I am thankful that I refused a voucher or rebooking from TUI last year as it looks now that my rebooked holiday ( now hotel only) will not be going ahead in July. There is now talk in the media that it might be August before we will be able to travel abroad! I will probably lose my £250 deposit for the hotel as I don’t expect them to move my dates yet again, it is a small family run place where I’ve stayed several times before. I’ll get there again one day!

Prague is shut! UK airports are also shut for people going on holiday. Report the company to ABTA. If it's not a member of ABTA make sure you do your research in future and steer clear of disreputable companies. I lost two sets of flights last year - one set with Tui, and another set with SwissAir - both offered refunds for up to one year, and changed flights for up to 18 months. I've rebooked with Tui but it looks as though those flights will also be cancelled as the original date for travel abroad of 17th May is being pushed back to June.

Australia aren't allowing anyone in their country until they've all been vaccinated and they're looking toward sometime next year.

What is happening may not be illegal, before you decide to start any naming and shaming. I don't know when you originally booked your holiday but it has long been advice to (a) book packages through ABTA, not separate flights and accomodation and (b) pay by credit card. Frankly, if you have not done either, you are on shaky ground. It is frustrating when you keep getting deferred credit though.

British Airways still has my money from a cancelled flight to India in March 2020. They refuse to give me my money back on to my credit card because apparently I agreed to a voucher. I think the voucher has been extended for another year. I am just thankful I was not stranded in a foreign country.

Go on their Twitter account and Facebook and name and shame them.

get as much publicity for this as you can. Contact moneybox on the bbc who are excellent at sorting out such things, but of course they have a lot of calls for this , but it would be worth writing to newspapers, local and dailies. put it on the internet , print in capitals the company who is doing this. Contact covid information and tell them what they are doing - which I would consider is illegal and report to the ombudsman. Like the pebble in the pool tell us all the name of the people concerned and we can all pass this on to everyone else.

Just to add a rebooking is probably as good as you will get as many insurance companies are taking the stance that the offer to rebook is sufficient repayment.

Was your holiday a package holiday? Flights and hotel booked at same time with an ATOL certificate? If any elements are cancelled then you would be entitled to a refund but IF flights are going ahead and hotel open then you would need to rely on your insurance to cover you for this. If the insurance you have taken out doesn’t cover you, and flights and hotel open then sadly you won’t be able to get your money back.

Sorry not what you want to hear but it is as it is.

I remember having a word with my bank a few years ago but you have to be prepared to lose a lot and they wouldn't touch such an account as they're not covered by the FSCS.
Money tied in for a period which could technically win big if invested in all the right places but----if they failed you could end up losing the lot and owing the companies involved.

It's a high-risk jobby Calendargirl.