Thanks Mike for posting and clearing that up.

Steve, you have a fairly bad attitude for a new member who is asking for help on our site. We are all here to help each other, negative attitudes help absolutely nobody.

Sarah HT Admin.

p.s. Thank you Glynis you said it perfectly.

If my attitude offends you then i apologise,but as you can see there are over 800 viewings on this topic,which for one reason or another only Mike has come up with a sensible answer and solution.
If he offered his help to me personally,i cant see what the problem is,or is it just to let people read all about the problem and say nothing.
A very stressful time at the moment regarding this matter as you surely can appreciate,so for all the moderators to get on your high horses,and start slating me about being a new member is out of order.
I was under the impression that this forum was to help people like us who have been stung,if it was for general chit chat about how hot the weather is then i could fully understand you raising the questions
Or am i wrong to think the above
Please do advise.....

I think the problem Steve is that you said the PM wasn't working and a mod sugested(asked the question) whether the information could be posted here! She didn't say it SHOULD be posted here!

Flair holidays has failed. For notice and claim form click here

stevechorley wrote:

If my attitude offends you then i apologise,but as you can see there are over 800 viewings on this topic,which for one reason or another only Mike has come up with a sensible answer and solution.
If he offered his help to me personally,i cant see what the problem is,or is it just to let people read all about the problem and say nothing.
A very stressful time at the moment regarding this matter as you surely can appreciate,so for all the moderators to get on your high horses,and start slating me about being a new member is out of order.
I was under the impression that this forum was to help people like us who have been stung,if it was for general chit chat about how hot the weather is then i could fully understand you raising the questions
Or am i wrong to think the above
Please do advise.....

Mike clarified his point why he could not make the advice public. He has done so now. The more people this advice is made public to, the more people can benefit from it.

Nobody has got on their high horses, not even a member of the Admin Team.

MarkJ HT Mod

Hi guys

We had an unfortunate experience courtesy of Sunescapes. Our holiday was booked for Rhodes 14th May. We got up at 3.30am, arrived at the airport at a cost of £33 for the taxi, checked in, had a breakfast at £15, and it was only when we were about to board the plane that we were taken to one side, along with two other couples and were led right the way back through the airport to a desk where we were told that they had gone bust.

On arrival back home, we found that the travel insurance didn't cover the situation, but luckily, we had booked in mid-Feb, so we have a valid claim with ATOL. We then spent about 18 hours on the internet trying to re-book something. Luckily, we were able to salvage the situation via a very helpful guy called Chris at A1Travel, and ended up going to Turkey and had a brilliant week.

Reading through the above thread, it would appear that Sunescapes (Hellenic Voyages Ltd) were taking bookings long after they knew they were trading insolvently. Now I'm no expert on the law, but I'm pretty sure that is illegal. Before we left for Turkey, I reported the matter to the CID at Wakefield, who were very interested - especially when I ran through a 'back of fag packet' calculation with them as to the amounts involved. The biggest question is - what has happened to all the money that unwitting customers have paid over???

I would urge others in the same situation to contact them as well as I would really like to see that fraudster nailed for all the heartache he has caused to so many people.

Good luck

Paul & Jane

i can now that my claim is being handled, i just didnt want anything to harm my claim against the company. All the information is now availiable in the public sector now. i had information which was not avaliable at the time which i did not wish to release in an open enviroment.

I find this statement a little disturbing. It suggests that the poster has/had some inside information on this.

I have used Hellenic for the last five years with no problems. Having just got back today from Spain it is news to me.

I also have a holiday booked with them for October (deposit paid by credit card) so will have to look elsewhere now.

fwh

Interesting that PaulJane,i will contact the police if this is correct thats for sure.
Since i have sent my claim form back to atol,they have sent me a letter back confirming that claims are to be dealt with within 4-6 weeks,we shall see !!!
I will keep everyone updated on my success or not as the case may be.
Regs

Steve

After trying numerous times to contact sunescapes via telephone i decided to google the company once again to see if i could get a email address! to find this!!! i was shocked, my boyfreind and i have booked to go to turkey in september for a week through this company and £400 has been taken out of my account i did recieved a invoice dated 26/04/08 and full balanced had to be paid by the 7/07/08. we booked it on the 26th April does anyone know who i could contact about getting my money back or even see if the holiday is still vaild???


cheers

Hi lorad82

You should look at the CAA website for more info. (I can't post the link I'm afraid).

The CAA (ATOL) can be contacted on 0207-453-6350. They are very helpful and will advise you whether or not you have a valid claim. This seems to be dependant on the dates you booked/paid.

I think you can be sure the holiday is no longer valid.

this is such a shame!! i am soo mad that a company can still recieve payments and act like theres nothing going on and treat people this way...i feel cheated

Thank you for your kind advice, i shall be contacting them now and ringing the police.

Best regards

Lora

http://www.caa.co.uk/

Thank you for your help! i have spoke to someone at ATOL and they reassured me that i shall be getting my money back.. tho i have reported this company to watchdog and the police.. i hope they catch up with them sooner rather than later.

Once again a big thankyou to your site

Lora x

Your very welcome Lora - we're just glad you are hopefully sorted out now. Good luck

Firstly I have had six holidays with this company between 2004 and 2007 with no problems.

I was as surprised as anyone else when I read about this here on HT on Sunday having just come back from Spain. I had booked in January for Cyprus in October with Hellenic.

I have contacted ATOL and confirmed the information but have not been able to find out who is actually handling the liquidation - that may be important where anyone finds they are not covered by ATOL or did not pay by credit card.

I have contacted my credit card provider and have been advised to write to them with the details and supply COPIES of any documentation. They were sympathetic and assured me there would be no problem.

Where at least £100 has been paid by credit card then you are able to claim back from your supplier under Section 75 of the Consumer credit Act 1974.

It is in cases such as this the complaint that there was a fee charged for doing so become irrelevant. The credit card company become liable for the full amount paid even if it was cash.

Suggestions have been made here on HT that there may be more to this failure but unless anyone has proof they are just stories.

Companies do go out of business and when I spoke with ATOL and mentioned the rumours, their view (without proof) was that it was just another casualty of the credit crunch. Personally I think there are a lot more to come.

Talking to people in Nerja last week I was told that British tourism is down substantially this year although visitor numbers from Ireland and the continent were up.

fwh

A word on reporting to the police...

... make sure it's Wakefield CID direct, not some HQ call centre who may (or may not) pass the message on and likewise not your locals. I think it may also be an idea to contact West Yorkshire Trading Standards. The police are not experts on all law and may miss offences commited under consumer protection legislation.

Trading Standards Officers, unlike BBC staff at Watchdog, have legal powers to investigate and start legal action.

Steve is quite correct in what he says but please, a word of caution.

I can understand people being upset. I am. I have booked and paid in good faith for a holiday I will not now get, at least with the company with whom I booked.

I have rebooked with someone else at greater cost.

There is a posting on here that implies that there are other concerns with this failure without specifying anything.

If you wish the police or Trading Standards to take any notice, telling them you have read on the internet that something fishy is going on, they will just ignore you.

Please give them facts that can be checked.

I am not defending simply being realistic. Companies do go out of business.

fwh

Very true!

from reading the complaints I haven't seen any evidence of fraud (as defined in the Theft Act rather than normal conversation!) but there may be offences under lesser regulations, such as continueing to sell package holidays after the bonding expired.

Bear in mind that a conviction won't get any money back. But it might get someone banned from being a company director and could help a later civil claim.

..... why won't this stupid automatic censor let me say f.r.a.u.d when it will allow Theft??????