Hi recieved second email today from Hays travel telling me that my holiday falls under a category c booking, and that my hotel booking will not be honoured by them or medhotels. I have had to rebook my hotel at a cost of £500. The next step for me is the CAA to try and recoup this money.

Hope you have more joy than us....they told me that i was cat-c as well but because i got my flights with another airline cant even contact caa as that is for the flight side of things. We can live in hope....and good luck

caz x

Oh well I guess I aint a cat C as they were contacting all them today. I am due something tomorrow but dont expect good news. I have new accomodation lined up but dont want to book it just to be safe. Sadly cant afford the same place as we had booked as med have put the price up so much. Rip off merchants!

My god this gets worse:

As an agent, the whole mess and the way it is being handled makes a complete mockery of the travel industry.
What i want to know is WHAT IS THE POINT IN HAVING ABTA ....... NONE

For people that make arrangements for accommodation only or whereby the package has been dynamically put together, whilst the flights may be fine, WHERE HAS THE MONEY GONE FOR THE ACCOMMODATION !!!!!

It must be floating there somewhere which is why being ABTA members that ABTA itself would take more of a control in trying to make sure that peoples travel plans remain as normal as possible, something which they say they will do all possible to do.

I understand that there is no legal requirement for companies to protect acommodation only bookings but surely this now has to change. ABTA say go to the bank, the bank don't want to know, i feel very sorry for what has happened to you guys i really do.

In a company failure like this, it should be straight forward whereby ABTA in order to protect its own name and reputation should be doing this night and day to get this mess sorted.

Persoanally, it seems that as long as they get their annual membership then they don't care one bit. THIS ALL HAS TO CHANGE for the interest of the travel industry and the public perception of ABTA.

Sorry and Thanks

when FD made the accommodation bookings with the various companies - Hotels4U and the likes - would they have had to pay a deposit to secure the booking? If they did and customers are being asked to pay in full again then surely this can't be right for them to GAIN from this situation. I also wonder if ABTA have tried to put any pressure on these companies to honour the bookings or if they are just taking a back seat. As has been said before - what good is ABTA to the consumer - not alot by the sounds of it!

IMO Abta exist mainly, for the benefit and protection of the trade. My first, and only, dealing with them was in 1986 re some very below par accomodation in Tenerife and found ABTA to be utterly, utterly useless.

They have acquired a reputation far in excess of what they deserve. People are now seeing through them. My sympathies and respect to all those who have been victims of FD...I do hope that you get a just result asap.....good Luck to you all...

hi leisurelad.....you are so right.....we book through travel agents thinking we are safe .....but it looks like we are not as safe as we think.....and would be taking no greater a risk if we booked direct with the hotels ect ourselves with a credit card....DIY.....which costs a lot less.....

the travel agents ect are taking over each other left right and centre....and its hard being sure exactly how your holiday deal is being done....and therefore in what way you are or arent being protected....for example if you book with someone who is only acting as agent for some one else....there are things to worry about....and its not till after youve booked and you get your paperwork you find things out....Im usually very cautious but feel even I could fall foul as too many grey areas and travel agents not keen on you seeing them.....I have booked 2 hols recently and am not feeling secure in the knowledge I am fully protected for either of them....

the first was booked with thomson...but they didnt do the exact holiday needed so booked it with first choice (know they are now one company).....when paperwork came through the holiday was with skytours ( and yes also same firm)....I had 3 lots of paperwork one for each

the second was a holiday I found on the thomascook website....but phoned and then went to a thomascook high street shop to book..... I paid with credit card in full ( for extra protection I thought and paid a hefty fee for the privalige...yet the posters on this topic who did same seem to also be having problems)....before I left the shop I asked the booking clerk a simple question " you arent just acting as an agent are you ...I am fully protected arent I" and was told I was fully protected.....

when I got home and was checking through paperwork I had been given ...this is what I discovered ....the package holiday was with airtours.....and on the travel and payment details letter it says after all the details." Thomas Cook Retail Ltd is acting as agent for Thomas Cook Tour Operations Ltd - ATOL Number 1179"......my visa reciept says Thomas Cook Retail Ltd.....so I have paid an agent

I also had a "confirmation /final invoice" from Airtours which details my booking and lists costs then total cost...no where on it does it say paid in full......but in small writing underneath it says....

"Notes: Please pay your Thomas Cook Travel Agent by the date agreed at time of purchase"

I havent a clue where I really stand if anything where to go wrong as I think Airtours are part of thomascook too.....technically though they also seem to be trading as seperate entities...each using the other.... but would they be jointly communily liable....or can they juggle blame to suit themselves

leisurelad...i don't understand your position re:ABTA...without ABTA all the XL customers and now Freddom

customers would have lost all their monies paid !!!ABTA is a godsend for travellers.....

if you order say a new kitchen or fiurniture paying a deposit of possibly thoudands of pounds

and the company goes bust you will not get your money back you'll lose the lot !!!!

so as someone in the travel industry you should be praising ABTA and the financial

safety measures they have in place....also you state your a member of the TTA

surely 80/90 % of your business is done with ABTA tour operators so why not

stick up for them

after further conversation with hays travel who are not helpful in any way and are more interested in profiting from you by taking more money from you for hotel booking. this company is as dodgy as freedom holidays, they say even though you was once atol protected and have clearly paid for that protection, once freedom did not renew their atol licence, you stoped being protected. they also say they have full computised booking details but refuse to answer why your booking is not protected but think they are doing you a favour by rebooking and claiming they have convinced the hotel suppliers to let you rebook with them at the original price, this is infact lies as the hotel providers already told me last week i could pay them direct and cut out the middle man. hays are only interested in getting your money and not helping anyone out

well i have just had to pay £961 to rebook my hotel or lose £1700 on flights, i have not rebooked through hays but direct with you travel as they claim that it is protected under their own abta bond. my original £961 is now floating around freedom holidays invisible pit of customers moneys and as im a cat c according to hays travel, i can not claim my money back from ATOL as i was booked as a dynamic package, seperate flight and hotel. my original Atol protected booking they claim is not protected because freedom did not renew the atol licence. the hotel should of been bonded with freedom own abta bond and or you travels abta bond, yet this seems not to of been done. i think hays are just after money and not helping the matter. they refuse to give a letter to do a chargeback from the bank on visa debit card. you travel who freedom direct original booked with, are however doing the letter.
i was caught up with xl and the chargeback with my bank, alliance and leicester and as i had a letter from the admistrators could get it done. rmt accounting will send out a letter if you contact them. hope this helps

Its so good to know we are all in the same boat ( not in a good way), We booked accommodation only through FD in Jan, paid £102 deposit and the full balance 7th April (£957). We are due to travel 17th June and so far after phoning low cost holidays we have found out the FD havent paid them a penny, what a surprise! They also state that they broke contract with FD 2 weeks before it went bust and therefore there is no contract and they do not have to honour anything under agency law. We then contact Abta claims, send a email attaching all scanned docs to their cega email address and get the following response :

If you have an invoice that named Freedom Direct Holidays Ltd (FDHL) and no ATOL is shown, or your card statement shows payment directly to the airline and you have purchased a flight, flight and accommodation and/or transfers where FDHL's ATOL (9740) is shown on your invoice then you will need to contact the Civil Aviation Authority on 0207 453 6350, who will advise you in accordance with the ATOL bond.

If the above does not apply, in respect of Lowcostbeds.com the bookings must be honoured. However, if Lowcostbeds.com refuse to honour your booking and you paid FDHL by credit card you should contact your card provider for a refund under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

If you paid FDHL by any other method you will need to take you own legal advice regarding Lowcostbeds.com, to either have your booking honoured or to obtain a refund from them for the cost of your booking.

Whether or not a contract was in place between Lowcostbeds.com and the failed company does not affect the above information.
Regards

ABTA Claims

However our booking conf says ATOL 9740 and the word "package " but its only ever been accommodation only so where do we stand ?? What documentation do I need to make a section 75 claim and is that dependant on the CAA/ABTA/ATOL whoever confirming in writing no claim ? Hays travel are of no help. We need to rebook accomm but need to know WTF is going on !

sos for banging on grrrrrr

well i was led to believe by hays that any accomadation only booking are covered by freedoms abta and as long as the hotel booked does not include flights, then you are covered by abta. like you i also had freedoms atol number and the booking clearly states i have paid the atol fee for each passager, but hays now say that the booking is now longer protected under atol as they did not renew the licence. however i think hays are just telling lies to secure new bussiness by getting you to rebook the hotel side of the booking. as for the chargeback with the banks, mine has said they need proof that freedom are in adminstration and also proof that i paid freedom the full amount along with the booking comfirmation. i have also sending the email i had from hays saying i needed to repay the hotel side as this money appears to be lost, ive also included the reciept from you travel for the hotel payment again and they were good enough to supply a letter explaining i had repayed because of freedom. fingers crossed they pay me back as from all my calling around, freedom stitched everyone up and you cant get your money back from anywhere else. i would explain to your card provider

good luck

Thanks for replying, it sounds like youre having a fun time of it all too. So realistically the best thing to do is go down the credit card reclaim route. I havent had any email from Hays clarifying our situation at all, but if I hear anything new Ill post on here. Good luck and enjoy your holiday, it had better be good when we eventually get there !

Lara

this was the email i got from them on wednesday, hays dont really make alot sense and that why i have not re booked with them

UPDATE 2 - 29th April 2009

Dear Client,




This is a general update for information purposes only. You will need to communicate with our staff with regard to the details of your specific booking.


Regrettably we are finding that the situation with Freedom Direct Holidays is complicated, because Freedom Direct transacted business in 3 different ways.


Freedom Direct Holidays booked holidays for clients in the following 3 ways (categories). They either:-


Category (a) acted as agents for other ATOL holders; or

Category (b) booked clients under their own ATOL (9740); or

Category (c) contracted flights, transfers and accommodation, directly with suppliers but did not bond the holiday with the Civil Aviation Authority as an ATOL package

It appears that your booking falls under category (c). Subject to a detailed review of your file in conjunction with yourself and one of our consultants it appears that your flight & transfer are safe and you will not be out of pocket. Unfortunately the amount you have paid for accommodation appears to be lost.


We have liased with your accommodation provider and we can re-book your accommodation for the original price that you paid. Unfortunately you will need to pay for the re-booked accommodation.

If you paid Freedom Direct Holidays Ltd by credit card, a claim to your credit card provider should result in a full refund of the accommodation element of your booking.

For clients in your situation (category c), we have set up a new contact team who are fully trained in the circumstances of your type of booking.

e-mail:- freedomc@hays-travel.co.uk

Tel:- 0870 4959041

We will send you regular updates. Freedom Direct Holidays Ltd has been a large and complicated collapse. Our phone lines are extremely busy. Please bear with us. We will do our best for you.



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.

Freedom Direct You Travel ABTA and Hays travel all conspired to totally mess up any belief I have in ever seeing £1200 again.Read all your posts and it they are depressingly mirroring my scenario.
Freedom goes bust
Abta says You Travel are bound by law to honour booking
You Travel agree and will honour my booking if I send in all my proof of payment etc.
Hays Travel buy out Freedom Direct and issue statement saying everything is gonna be ok
You Travel will no longer honour the booking
Abta says , well if they don't want to they can't make them
Phoned You tavel and paid another £1200
Called administrator who will provide letter of proof of insolvency to forward to my Bank / Card provider
Don't you just know it, Its gone folks.

Poor hotel will go bust the time me and my lot are finnished, all inclusive from 10am to Midnight, its gonna get a hammering!!!!!!!!

So then, my £1200 and your estimated (10000 people @ average of say £150 per person)£150,000 where has it gone, dissapeared in thin air, I do not believe for one minute the bank accounts of Freedom Direct were empty, they were still taking money of folk up until the day they went bang.

Anyone out there got any sensible ideas.
My deposit at least should show up somewhere, paind last september.

Been a bad year up until now, went with Freedom to Tenerife in March, Hotel room got robbed 10 hours after arriving, lost over £1000 of valuables,(only insured for £250 apparantly, good old Barclays) turns out the hotel had a problem but neglected to warn anyone about it, if we knew there was a prob, we would have been more carefull, You Travel, again the supply company said Tough break sorry not our problem, when I have an email saying that the hotel admitted to knowing of this problem and neglected to tell us.
Think I may reactivate my claim against them and see if I can get some cash back that way although it will probably cost more in solicitors.

Next year anyone fancy booking up with me, got no experience, no capitol, no licence to opperate, no premises, not bothered if you encounter problems, no compassion, just give me ya cash and you will not be sorry. Will pick you up at Newcastle Airport and transport you to Sunny Whitley Bay.
These people will have the tourist industry done away with.
I for one will not be even looking at Hays Travel ever again.

Booked a posh holiday for September with one of the big operators, what chance that going t**s up!!!!

Just got this from ABTA.

''Thank you for your email, I am unaware of the details being stated to you by Hays Travel. So long as you can provide the requested details to Youtravel Ltd to prove the booking had been paid for and the confirmation invoice to prove Freedom Direct acted as their agents, the booking will be honoured by them under Agency Law.

Regards

ABTA Claims''

Is this worth the paper its going to be printed out on??

Homers3rdnipple :

Not worth a penny, at the end of the day they cant force them to do anything (useless) and what are you supposed to do in the meantime ??? It is beyond frustrating. I consider myself to be reasonably intelligent but the misinformation and contradictory statements coming from Hays, Abta, CAA website are driving me me to question my own sanity !

Hang in there and have a massive Rum and Coke for me when you get there!
Lara

Al least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask!!

Just a daft one, what happens if You Travel ( who I have just paid another £1200 to goes the journey!!!)

Tyne off jump Bridge (rearrange into a popular saying)