marjon
Dont give up hope - I booked what i thought was a package, and same as many others my flight are (supposedly) secure, and accom - lowcostbeds and transfers are asking to be paid again - i booked for 10 of us, so there is no way I can pay again. My sister is also in the same situation - she booked for 4 of them. Only difference I paid deposit by credit card and she paid by debit card - however ABTA told me at the very beginning of this that no matter how we paid these company's involved have to honour our bookings. I know it doesnt look like it yet, however if we gather enough media attention and legal involvement hopefully between us we can force these companies to re-think the situation.
I also think that ABTA are hopefull of getting some sort of resolution to this and that is why they have been asking us to give them a week to come to some sort of solution between these companies.

Or maybe I'm being niave!!!!

I am glad that some of you are now getting some kind of response from ABTA, as a "household name" with what i would presume 90% of the public feeling that if an agency is ABTA protected then all is ok.
The whole Freedom Direct collapse i feel has opened up a can of worms whereby if ABTA don't act then their hole percieved image has just been thrown completely out of the window.
The public have been brainwashed for too long thinking ABTA ABTA ABTA is the key to protection yet when they stopped protection some years ago on certain elements of how a package has been put together, i don't think the public were or even now are aware of this.
If ABTA say that under agency law that the accommodation providors who are ABTA Members have to honour bookings, then this is a fast in itself, as if it were true, then this mess would have been dealt with on day one. Instead they tried to brush off their responsibilities and claims and i feel that it is only because of the bad press they will get and other members now questioning why they are members of such an organisation that this is why they are now trying to help people.
Otherwise, ABTA would stand for very little. Only if your whole package is say with Thomas Cook etc that this would be honoured and in this day and age, ABTA have lagged behind with the times of the industry.

I have also seen this from ABTA's website:

Always Ask, To Be SureAs you can see, it's not always easy to know whether your money's safe when booking a holiday or other travel arrangements. You should always ask when making your booking. If your arrangements aren't automatically protected, ask if your travel company can offer you an insurance policy that will protect your money. ABTA has arranged a policy specifically for this - the ABTA Protection Plan - which is available to buy through most ABTA Members.

Ok, so if ABTA offer this policy to "most" ABTA members which i would assume that with the high activity Freedom had and the size of the agency, this would be offered (i may be wrong) but if such a thing exists then why has ABTA not enforced this policy whereby all dynamic packages that have not been put under Freedoms ATOL and are therefore not really protected, why has the customer not been given the choice to have this protection !!!
Example: on all bookings, the agent would advise the client that certains elements of the booking are not protected but you can purchase the ABTA Protection Plan for ( what i would assume to be a few pounds) so that everything is completely safe.

From the wording on the website, it is up to the customer to ask, most joe bloggs would not know what was what when it comes to travel protection and even agents and myself can get baffled sometimes. As mentioned above, the public see the ABTA sign in the know that they are protected, when infact, as all these stories prove, with the way Freedom acted and many other companies, this is not always the case.

I will be glad when travel protection becomes standardised and that the public can understand easily what is and what is not protected.

Thanks

I have an insurance policy, which I was given as part of my booking, it wasnt anything that I knowingly asked for or was offered and it is for Supplier Failure Cover -cost £30. I dont know if this makes any difference to my booking, but ABTA have not gave me any indication that this is of any value, and it doesnt seem to have made any difference whatsoever to my holiday, me and the other 9 in my party are still in limbo like everyone else!

Actually, just reading back through the post it appears that i too have also become confused by what has been said.

The supplier failure insurance is if say your accommodation providor etc went bust, not the agency that sold you but then again, this go's back to people feeling that if the agency is ABTA protected then all is ok which in the sad stories i read, this is not the case.

Thanks

Can someone please explain to me how this works - This is the receipt that I got from Freedom

"YOUR COSTING
Freedom Direct Package Basic Cost = £ 3914.74
Discount = £ 138.78
---------
Your balance of £1942.00 is due 14/03/2009
YOUR PROTECTION
£1 per person of the cost of this air holiday package is paid to the
Civil Aviation Authority to provide ATOL Protection to you. This means
the money paid for these arrangements is fully protected.
Our ATOL number is ATOL 9740. For more information see our booking terms
and conditions."

Therefore how do I fall into this category!!!

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. .

i already supplied all my documents to abta and atol ,atol explain if all payments on your bank ,credit card shows that all payments were made to freedom direct and the £1.oo levy was payed to atol on your paperwork they have to pay you out. £1.00 +atol number on paperwork is the key otherwise, like in my case freedom sold the flight direct which on my bank shows thomas,then rest of money was taken by freedom for accomadation/tranfers they did not pay £1.00 to atol,but sold supplier failure cover in case the tour operaters failed. in this case the tour operaters havent failed so cant claim from insurance. freedom acted as an agent just like hays travel if you read their small print, we act as an agent.

the big problem then arises when the tour operater claims we have not been paid by the agent customers will have to re pay or we will re sell on there accomadation. which abta claims breaking code of conduct. these tour operators take on agents third party suppliers to boost their takings. i have complained to all relevant people but im due to travel on 11 may 09. and torn between what i believe and letting my children down or re paying and dealing with these money grabbers when i get back. was advised by trading standards if payment is made to state clearly a letter " payment in protest"

Just spoken with someone from The Judge, the Scottish Sunday Mail consumer champion who will hopefully be taking this story forward. They are sending someone out to take my photograph

Anyway they are looking for more people particularly from Scotland to contact them. If you wish you should contact them log onto

http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/lifestyle/law-advice/contact/

and put in your basic details

Stewart

recently I booked and paid in full for a package holiday in one of the Thomascook high st shops....got a bit wobbly when read something on paperwork saying that they Thomascook Retail ltd were only acting as agents for Thomascook Tour Operations ltd......

then the confirmation/final invoice from Airtours shows only the cost of holiday and says pay the balance to your travel agent by agreed date......yet I paid it in full at time of booking...

my visa reciept is from Thomascook Retail ltd.....so my cash is in an agents bank account and I would be much happier after following this thread if my cash was in Airtours control as they are covered by ABTA ATOL and FTO

The Judge have also been in touch with myself, and are taking a photo tomorrow. Fingers crossed this will get things moving in the right direction.

Jakejenn

The lady I spoke with seemed very enthusiastic and I do believe that this will be in the papers shortly.

To anyone else particularly of you live in Scotland please contact by email, thejudge@sundaymail.co.uk. They have a great record of helping those who find themselves going round in circles

Stewart

There is also alot of upset within the industry over ABTA's role and i will hopefully be able to let you guys see what is said by agents etc in this weeks issue which is due out shortly.

I think ABTA are going to be getting a battering !!

Here is what has been said from Rock Insurance (turn to page 32-33)
http://content.yudu.com/Freedom/A17g8l/TTG01052009/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=

Also interesting in there is page 36/37 and the advice given re customer complaints. If only the TOs would actually take notice.

fwh

i have repaid for my hotel/transfers through hays travel.
i am trying to get a latter out of abta to give to my credit card company so i can get my claim sorted for the original lost monies.

im sure i can still claim back the original amount even though i have repaid.

Mattyj3nks. Please come back and let others know if you can. Fingers crossed for you.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/FreedomDirect/

Petition against Freedom direct now up and running, please sign and pass it around.
Thanks

just signed up to the petition

the photographer from the Sunday Mail called last night to take our pictures. Hopefully they will run the story this weekend. The Sunday Mail is the biggest selling newspaper in Scotland, so hopefully this will raise the profile even more

Stewart

Thanks for that, mention the petition to the Mail as well, good stuff.

I have the sunday mail coming tonight to take photo's also - there are 14 of us involved in this. I told them about Mr Jones borrowing £4000k from FD last year to pay for his house, as was in the Independant!
My MSP is also looking into it for me!

The more of us who get papers and MP's involved hopefully the better!