Reading all the posts on here can someone please clarify the situation

I booked with FD who booked flight s with Goldtrail and accom with Hotels4U

Goldtrail say they will honour the flight

Hotels 4u say I need to book and pay again

I got an email from ABTA which advise

Thank you for your email, the bookings made by the Freedom Direct will proceed with the Goldtrail and Hotels4U. Any monies they have not received will be honored by them and claimed back from the financial protection by the tour operators directly.

So the question is with accom, do I need to pay again or do I quote the ABTA email to them and advise H4U that ABTA advise otherwise

Any help appreciated

Stewart

I think I'd be inclined to email H4U (cc ABTA) , forward a copy of the email you got from ABTA, ask for their written response within 48 hours and then take it from there. That way everyone (including ABTA) will see how the situation is being dealt with. How soon is it until you go?

Hello
i have book for hotel only in july for 2 wks .
i booked with freedom direct and my hotel was through low cost beds which they have said they want full paymnt again which was £989.00 but i paid the full balance to freedom direct on 13/04/2009 and they went under on 16/04/2009 but i was reading some where this -

***Freedom had to stop taking money on April 1 because its annual accounts were not submitted in time for it to renew its ATOL (Air Travel Organisers' Licence). This meant that the Civil Aviation Authority had to withdraw the bond which allows Freedom to trade.***

so why did they ring for thr reminder of balance and should low cost beds honor the booking as i an not paying twice

pleae help

David - I had a look on the CAA website and they have some information there. The ATOL doesn't cover accommodation only booked through Freedom Direct. It says that customers that have received confirmation of their booking with a named supplier ( low cost beds in your case) should contact ABTA about whether their booking will be honoured. Go on the ABTA website and there is a telephone mumber you can ring for information and help. If you paid by credit card then you could try contacting the company and they might be able to refund your money so you can book again. Good luck and let us know how you get on

David...did you pay by credit card .....if you paid on the 13th and they withdrew licence on the 1st you maynot be covered any way...thats probably why they werent supposed to take money after the 1st...would still be covered by credit card ...wish you luck fellow scouser

Kimi

I am due to fly out on 17 may so not too long

Goldtrail will honour the flights but Hotels 4U will not budge and have advised that as they had not been paid by FD I will need to pay again. I spoke with ABTA who disagree and say Hotels4U should honour the booking. Hotels4U are arguing that as this is classed as accomadation only booking they do not have to honour the booking. Upshot is I have had to pay Hotels4u again, luckily this is only just over £50. I feel sorry for anyone who may have paid out a large sum for accomadation

I have written to Hotels 4U asking for a refund of the money I paid today and copied in ABTA.

Quick question if they refuse to refund, who do I make a claim against. ABTA advise, that an individual cannot claim with them as the contract is with tour operators. ATOL advise that I cannot claim via them as Freedom Direct were acting as an agent

It gets worse, I paid by credit card so I thought that I could claim theough them. This looks unlikely as although i paid Freedom Direct around £600, they put this through as 2 payments, one for the flights and anothet for the acconadation. As the cost is only around £50, I beleive that credit card companies will only cover if over £100

HELP

Stewart

Stewart,
What a nightmare - as you rightly say it's fortunate the amount involved is not running into hundreds of pounds, however £50 is still £50 and it seems unfair that you have had to pay it again. It certainly seems like you are being passed from pillar to post. I have read on this forum about a travel law solicitor who offers free advice to members - Ros Fernihough, tel no 01922 621114 - so perhaps if you gave her a call she could point you in the right direction.
All the best

smc4761---i think in your case as you still have the flights i would re-book my accm thus protecting your

forthcoming holiday and still keep enquireing into who you make your claim against

Some good news, Hays Travel buys Freedom Direct.
http://www.ttglive.com/c/portal/layout?p_l_id=61139&CMPI_SHARED_articleId=2389649&CMPI_SHARED_CommentArticleId=2389649&CMPI_SHARED_ImageArticleId=2389649&CMPI_SHARED_ToolsArticleId=2389649&CMPI_SHARED_articleIdRelated=2389649&articleTitle=Hays%20Travel%20buys%20Freedom%20Direct

Just had call from medhotels to say that they are in dispute with ABTA and would not be honouring my booking. Is it going to make any difference to customers now thay HAYS have bought Freedomdirect?

I also had the same conversation with Hotls4U, they and ABTA are in dispute and Hotels4U will not honour my booking so I had to pay again. If ABTA and the firms cannot agree where does that leave the poor customers

Stewart

seem hays travel have bought freedom direct does that mean all bookings made with then and payment will be honnored as freedom is up and running again

http://www.freedomdirect.co.uk/clients.phtml

Post edited for copyright reasons, weblink inserted to replace quoted text
David HT Mod

If anyone has had any actual posative news from Hays I would appreciate if they could put something here. It would appear that all seems ok and back to normal with then taking payments towards balances but it is still a bit scary until they confirm with me that my holiday is ok.

Have just recieved an email from Hays Telling me that they have bought over freedomdirect and there shouldnt be any problems with my holiday. I then phoned medhotels who have already told me they would not be honouring my booking, and they said they are still waiting on news from Hays.

This is an e-mail I had from Hayes yesterday


Your Booking Re-

Departure Date -


Dear Client,

On the 16th April your travel agent Freedom Direct Holidays ceased trading.

On the 23rd April 2009 Hays Travel acquired the intellectual property rights, trademarks and web domain names of Freedom Direct Holidays Ltd from the administrator.

Your holiday should not be affected and our customer services team are here to help.

E-mail: freedom@hays-travel.co.uk

Fax: 0870 120 1371

Tel: 0870 495 7266


As I am sure you can appreciate we are concentrating our efforts at the moment on Freedom Direct clients who are due to depart imminently. Therefore over the next few days we would appreciate it if you only contact us if you have an urgent query or the balance of your holiday is due to be paid.

The telephone number for balance payments is 0191 510 6304


We will send you a further update by the 30th April.

Thank You



Nicola Smurthwaite

Customer Services Manager

Hays Travel


Hays Travel is the UK 's largest independently owned travel agent and is fully ABTA & ATOL bonded.










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hi, i booked a hotel only for 2 @ january, paid a deposit, received phone text march saying balance was due 12april 09, paid that @ 11 april 09 a total of 1100.00 got e mail from hays 25 april 09 ,they dont know if hols are safe as mine are thru SOMEWHERE 2STAY.COM & i wont get a answer til tomorrow,
why were they taking money when the CAA restricted them from doing so ?
how come the business was snapped up so quickly (assets only) ?

Is your entire holiday with somewhere to stay or only the accomodation? Does your e-mail said that they were not sure if your holiday was safe or the Hays customer service team? It looks so far that some hotel companies are going to try and fleece as much extra cash as they can out of this despite Hays doing their best to get them paid at the original price.

i have only booked accomodation with fd, i have looked at the same hotel with other travel agents today & some of the prices are extortionate