I have just had all my "lost" money refunded by my credit card company - even though I only paid my deposit with my credit card and they originally told me they would only refund the deposit. I got onto the Financial Ombudsman who sent a letter to the bank informing them that unded section 75.....they had to refund the lot and hey presto - so I say do everything you can possibly think of - I contacted the Judge in the Sunday Mail, my MSP as well as The FIN Obman, ATOL, ABTA, CAA and I kept on and on at them until something had to give, so dont give up anyone.
Good luck
ps my sister who also booked at the same time hasnt had her money back yet - but were hopefull, and she paid it all by debit card!

Thats great news Jakejenn - just shows what can be done if you don't give up. Hope your sister gets her money back soon. I have been following this thread and saw the piece in the Sunday Mail. It's just a pity that you had to get the runaround before you got your refund.

Kimi - exactly - I lost 2 days at work at the start of this trying to sort it out and in the first couple of days my phone bill was up £20, however I still think the system sucks as no-one would give us any information on "what to do". I just kept asking for advice!

i live in northern ireland and over here we have a smalls claims court , i paid f/d on 13/04 £804 as i booked hotel only and this was through low cost beds so i phones them and they said ''pay again or get off the phone'' so i took it to smalls claims and i ended up getting back £1000.00 and extra £196 woh woh

so if you live in N.Irland take it to a smalls claims court

David
Good to hear you got your money back. Was it Low Cost Beds you took to the small claims court? And how did you get back more than you claimed for?

@ David

Hello from a fellow countrywoman - I paid FD for accommodation with YouTravel. Paid deposit in early March and remainder in early April to FD. After paying deposit got a voucher with YouTravel's name on it and details of booking. Now YouTravel are saying they received no money and I will have to pay again.

Can I take YouTravel to small claims the way you did with Low Cost Beds? How do I go about it? Do I need to get private solicitor or can I do it directly?

Bobbyboo

in a smalls claims you dont need a solicitor and you just go to your local court and fill out a form , as long as you have your booking comfirmations , bank slips and somrthing showing you paid it will be fine and any court costs that are out by you ''if its under "£2000" it will be only £85 and you get that back as well as your money
hope this helps

@David,

That is great break-through news! There are small court claims in England too. I am thinking of taking Hotels4U to the small court claims as I too had paid FD, but have accommodation contract with Hotels4U that they refuse to honour and asked me to pay again.

I wonder, once you were awarded the sum, how long it takes to get money and do you actually received it already from lowcost beds?

Surprise, surprise - YouTravel will not honour the original bookings either. Abta are now saying to claim off the Banks and they will send out a letter. In previous conversations they said that YouTravel were legally obliged to honour the bookings but now when I asked about the possiblity of the Small Claims court they were very cagey about this and said I would have to speak to a Solicitor. I understand that YouTravel are also ABTA bonded.

I cannot understand how I paid a deposit back in early March that it did not go to YouTravel. Is no-one going to be held accountable for all this?

Another question - if I do not go to this hotel can the hotel owners demand payment of money from me if I do not turn up?

Bobbyboo x

Got this email yesterday after chasing ABTA again and it is as the previous post

''Thank you for providing us with the information we requested.

As you are aware you will need to contact your card provider to seek a refund under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

We will be posting a negative referral letter to you. Please forward this to your card provider as it will substantiate your claim with them.

Regards,''

Whats the betting the CC company will send it back to ABTA.

Anyone got a refund from the cc companies?

Dear Sir,
Card Number 5425 **** **** ****

In January 2008 I made a booking for a holiday with Hellenic Voyages Ltd, Wakefield.

Payment for this being made on my credit card in the Amount of £154.50 reference *****************

I am now informed that this company has ceased trading.

I have contacted ATOL who advise me I should contact you for reimbursement under Section 75 of The Consumer Credit 1974

I enclose copies of the booking documentation and a copy of the relevant information from ATOL for your information.

Yours sincerely

The above is what I wrote to my CC supplier on 27 May last year. The money (which included the cc charge) was credited to my account three weeks later.

So yes you can be refunded. With respect to all who are stuck in this, exactly how much information are you putting in your claim letter? I simply printed out the announcement by ATOL regarding the company failure and that cc claims should made with the supplier. I also copied the booking confirmation. You do not need to print /send the ATOL claim form. Are the cc suppliers using the claim form if sent as an excuse?

Sometimes we give more information than we need to.

fwh

Thanks for that will take your advice.

CC claims are not the only refunds that should be available.

I contacted ABTA and they said that as my debit card had the visa logo on it the bank should give the refund as it has the same cover as a CC now.

Off 2 my bank in the morning to put the claim in for the hotel cost - flight's already paid by FD so going to reschedule them to next year.

I am just back from a wonderful holiday in Icmeler despite all the ongoing problems with FD

As I had indicated in earlier posts the Judge in the Sunday Mail took up my story and hopefully things would ahve moved on.

I came back to a letter from my CC company to say they have refunded the amount I had lost. I checked my account but no sign of the money. Phoned them and they confirmed the payment is waiting to go in to my account. I need to phone them back tomorrow and speak with their dispute dept but the guy I spoke with said I would definetley get the money back

My message is a simple one keep at them and ensure you get back what you are owed. Its your right

Stewart

Stewart I also got my money back - I was in the sunday mail - so it does work to persevere, my sister who booked separetely from me is still fighting for her money. I cant believe that some people are still getting the run around!

Right then, got the letter from ABTA advising to claim back off my credit card and as I only paid the deposit by card and the remainder by cheque I thought I was going to lose £641.00.
But ABTA has sent me a gem which I did not know about soI thought I will let you all know also, if you don't know already.
If you have paid the initial deposit by credit card then you can claim the balance no matter which way you pay,
''under the subsequent liability clause of the consumer credit act''
Been on to MBNA and they are sending out a claim form and said that the cheque would also be covered if all the documentation lines up, 7- 14 days for the form, 14 days later money should be back in the account.
By the way she was the most helpfull person I have spoken to in all this and was genuinely sorry about the situation, and she has nothing do do with this fiasco, not one person from Freedom, You Travel, Hayes, ABTA, ATOL, CAA has had the balls to say sorry, although of late I have had some kind words of ABTA.
Hope this helps a few people.

Looking forward to 14th June now, although I have paid double, I have more confidence in getting my money back
Sunny Turkey.

* update, CC company just been on the phone while writing this, it seems that although the lovely lady from the first call said I could claim back my cheque money no problem, the A team has stepped in and said it would be no problem for my deposit but my cheque would not be honoured and I should go to the citizens advice, I quoted the section 75 of the consumer credit act and stated the subsequent liabilities line and what it means, he then relented and gave me an adress for their section 75 team.
From this i suspect a lot of people would not know this and would not persue this after The A team brush off approach.

Still looking forward to 14th June even though I have a fight on my hands to get the other half of my money back.

Homer I was told the same thing, i paid deposit by credit card and balance by 2 different debit cards - I contacted the financial ombudsman and they contacted cc company, within 1 week I had my money back - give him a call he was brilliant!

Thanks for that Jakejenn, They say that they cannot send out form untill after the holiday which is the period of time that I did not recieve the service that I initially paid for, got no problems with that, its the cheque that causes me the grief, but ABTA clam this to be reimbursable by consumer credit act.
Glad you got squared up. Hope I get the same result, will let you know how I get on.
Will defo call the ombudsman If I get grief, I have to wait on the response to my letter to the section 75 team of MBNA first though.