Post edited for copyright reasons

The example quoted shows a complete (deliberate) lack of understanding of what is involved. If I buy bacon at one stall and eggs at another it adds up to a meal. According to that ruling it does not. Many of the problems have occurred because companies have taken our money and quite deliberately not ring fenced it.

The dynamic packaging is not something the public understand. Holiday companies have sold us the idea of the "package holiday" for many years. These companies have now found a loophole in the law to enable them to do it different - and who has helped them? Why the same people who for years and years have been selling us "the package"

fwh

EDIT: Sorry fwh, I appreciate that you were only quoting from a previous post, but unfortunately leisurelad had reproduced copyright protected material and so both posts had to be edited.
David HT Mod

Sorry David HT Mod,

Didn't mean to cause you guys any issues.

Dynamic packaging is something which i do 99% of my day and "touch wood", i don't get any major issues. You can come unstuck though when flights change or get cancelled as you are left with accommodation that may not be able to get changed for the dates needed or get any money back.
Dynamic Packages are good and quite often come in alot lot cheaper but you have to be aware of the risks aswell which is why at every booking we read a script which explains that we are booking a split contract booking whereby flights are through ... and the accommodation supplier is ....
To be honest, i doubt the public always understand the above but when you can get the same holiday for less just by booking it differently, people will go for the cheaper option and this is really how the dynamic package came about. It offers alot of flexibillity when it comes to dates as tour operators may only do the route once a week yet you can book onto the easyjet and do whatever duration you want.
If i had my way, i'd rather sell packages all day long as it is soo simple and everything is with one company but hey, you have to go with what the public want.
In regards to protection, this is a whole different issue where ther are a few loopholes which i suppose have been exploited and have now come back to haunt us. Hopefully something good will come out of this and everyone will be protected regardless of how it was book or which airline you use etc.
The likes of BA etc say why should we have to provide protection as we are financially secure and cost us extra money. technically, people will be happy to pay a couple of pounds to have security whether you be on a £100 bucket and spade or holiday or a £10k holiday.

Thanks

after several log months of trying to get my money back from halifax they finally paid back the total cost of the holiday (flights & accommodation) and they even backdated the refunds so that interest that would have been recieved if the money was in my account was paid with the original ammounts.

hats off to the halifax for doing this!!!

Hey everyone, can someone please help me out

I booked through freedom direct in January, and lost the accommodation and transfers like most other people. so had to pay out again.

Ive tried claiming through through;

Atol - rejectected the claim
ABTA - rejected the claim saying "holiday brokers should honour the contract" and i should claim through them
Bank - refused to pay because i used my debit card

Im still £360 out of pocket,

Ive sent emails to holiday brokers (onholidaygroup) - no reply
This has been going on for months as i went on holiday in May.
SO FRUSTRATING.

Where do i go from here?
Any ideas?
Thanks

Hi and welcome to HT!

Re the debit card, if it was a Visa debit card and not Maestro, go back to your bank and tell them you want to do "Visa Chargeback" http://whatconsumer.co.uk/visa-debit-chargeback They may not know about it, but be persistent.

luci

Thanks for the reply ,

I used a Maestro debit card with Natwest.

seems everything's going against me with this claim.

Anyone got any ideas?

ste

Sent you a pm not sure if mastro pay back but hope the pm helps

thanks

rang the bank and they've told me that with the card I used I can't claim a charge back. they said I was unlikely to get any money back off freedom direct, the cheek of them. And they told me that if I used a credit card I'd get it back the next day, (I bet they said that just to rub it in),

should I just keep trying and claim through holiday brokers? (the company through freedom direct) that's if they will ever get back to me.
sorry about all the questions, just sick of being pushed from company to company with no luck

Yes ste ring the number i gave you explain that you are a freedom direct customer who paid for a holiday before they went bust , im sure they will help .

Hi Ste,

Sorry to hear that you are still trying to claim for what has been a complete mess within the industry.

Where do i start,
Holiday brokers are purely accommodation suppliers to the travel trade and i believe are not protected by ABTA. Bed Banks such as these and many others are only paid by the agent after you have travelled. If the travel agent goes bust then the bed bank will more than likely cancel the bookings as know they will not be paid.

In regards to booking through Freedom and it being ABTA protected, ABTA does not protect what is called "pipeline monies" so basically your money is floating about somewhere, probably with the administrators or the owners who probably took a slice of it too before they went under.

I personally have challenged ABTA by basically saying that the public sees the ABTA logo as a sign of security and that by booking with them then you are financially protected. ABTA's response was that we have never said that we protect clients monies !!! Because ABTA use to protect the money many years ago and it was banged into the public that ABTA was safe, it became a household name and a symbol of security and when the terms changed, this was not made clear to the public (i don't blame them as then there would be no point in them being here)

If an ABTA member sells a full package say through Thomson then there is something within abta rules that the tour operator will honour the booking and they will make the claim. All confusing i know.

There is still a huge debate going on within the industry and especially with the bed banks as ABTA is demanding that the bed banks honour bookings of a failed agency. The bed banks have turned round and said well if that is the case then we want paying staright away but the travel agents don't all want to play this way because it will restrict their cashflow - you can't win. Something is due to happen within the next few weeks so we shall see what happens.

Back to your question though, i am wondering if you would be able to take ABTA to court or have at least some kind of legal case because of how it lets it members trade, basically what i am saying is that on many websites it states Financial Protection, ABTA Protected, yet they will allow you to package up a holiday as a dynamic package, something which you bought yet if the Travel Agent failed, your accommodation would more than likely be cancelled leaving you in the situation you have. Whilst members can sell an insurance to cover you if the operator goes bust, there doesn't appear to be anything to protect you if booking this kind of package if your ABTA travel agent goes bust.
ABTA has allowed for its member to trade with a non ABTA agent and i bet you that when booking your holiday, it was probably not explained to you how it was being booked !!

Is there a case for this, maybe, but seek legal advice, im sure Ros might help you, although she is probably swamped with what has happened this year.

You have nothing to loose but you have to ensure that you know the rules beforehand as it can get very complicated !!

Forgot to say before anyone has a pick at me.

Some of the larger companies that belong to ABTA do operate a trust fund whereby they can't touch your money until you come back but many agents don't operate in this way.

To be clear, if you book a full package then not a problem, anything that has been put together for you comprising of other suppliers then some parts of it may not be protected.

Even if you do ask, some agents may tell you it is when it isn't !!, the whole thing is a sham with ABTA

Thanks

Sorry to go on but this is exactly what i mean whereby you might have a case, many agents have the following phrase and i have taken a sample from the a leading travel agents site.

Apologies to anyone if this is classed as copyright or something but want to show this as an example as the agency provides both full packages and dynamic packages.

What if ****** becomes insolvent, am I protected then?

Yes. We are full ABTA Members. In that most unlikely circumstance, ABTA will protect you by ensuring that the individual providers continue with your bookings as planned or, where that is not possible, by giving you a refund for any services that cannot continue.

Comments like the above have no substance and i am sure a lawyer would only be too happy to get their mitts on something like this.

Thanks for the replies. Didn't realise it was so complicated to claim money back.

I will seek legal advice if that's the case.

I will keep you all informed

thanks again

I was in the same situation as you we had paid freedomdirect with a debit card and could not claim back the money, we then put a claim in to ABTA who also refused the claim, but they advised us to phone the CAA,and get a claim form and within 6 weeks we recieved our money back from them. So if you have not already tried this then i think that is the way forward for you. Good luck.