Hi Bushbaby,
Be prepared for a long wait! I've been persuing my refund since the middle of September. However, to be fair to the CAA (who will refund customers of Atol bonded companies) they didn't receive my claim until about a week ago, due to an error on Travel Republic's behalf. I've been advised by Travel Republic that the CAA are taking between 8-10 weeks to process refund claims. Good Luck!!

hi to you both.........i too have just been informed that my claim as been forwarded to atol ..after a lot of mis-statements etc from travel republic.......
so it seems we are in for a long wait .......

my daughter has just received a letter saying because i paid the deposit ive got to put in the claim grrr , what a carry on this seems, its taken them a mth to contact her about this after she had sent all forms to them grrr , she paid the final balance too , cant see this being sorted out before xmas now

hi...i have just been informed to-day by travel republic they have lost my claim forms ,.
they have had them since the 3rd of october (they were sent recorded delivery) .
and at one stage confirmed they had them ...i just cant work it out ...... i have had so many different stories off them .they would make hans christian anderson jealous........

Hi everyone,
it's a farce isn't it. Well I'm still sitting tight. Hopefully, no news is good news. I'll let a couple of weeks go and if I've still heard nothing I shall be contacting TR again to see what they have to say. I wonder if we can contact the CAA directly to see if they have actually received our forms.

Another update. I'm still waiting for confirmation of receipt of my claim forms form the CAA, one month after Travel Republic confirmed they'd forwarded them. TR didn't forward them until 6 weeks after they had received them (for which I received an apology and a goodwill gesture). I contacted TR again last week to see if they could chase up the CAA on my behalf and was more or less told that it was just a waiting game and for any more info to visit the CAA website. As I've now been waiting 10 weeks without even an acknowledgement that the CAA have received my claim I visited their website for further info. There was a general appology on the site, for the delay in sending out confirmation letters as they had a tremendous workload. It then went on to say that once the customer received this letter, the claim would take aprox 12 weeks to process - In my case that will have been a total of 22 weeks (and that's if the letter comes tomorrow).

I would love to phone them to vent my anger and to see where in the queue my claim stands but it states that they won't go into any correspondence without the customer quoting a ref number which they will find on the confirmation of receipt A bit difficult as I have no receipt yet.

Any advice please?

2 weeks later shes had a reply from the TA saying they now want proof of payment lol, without it she wont get her money back, what a joke as shes been on this holiday so obviously paid, the annoying thing is cos its taken so long to get back to me and i have an internet bank my statement is no longer online and as i paid the deposit she needs a copy of my visa statement and now i have to pay to get that !!! so whos going to pay for that i ask myself certainly not me, seems to me they are doing everything possible to delay things and surely they must have a copy of the deposit i paid and the balance they paid, has anyone else had to send in bank statements ?

hi..all ..good news at last .........travel republic have sent my (replacements) forms on to the caa.......
still a long wait though for a refund ..
thanks ..steve (travel republic) for all your assistance couldnt have done it without you.........

Good Luck Johndoe. Glad Steve was able to help.

I've just sent off an e-mail to the CAA eventhough their website states that they can't enter into correspondence with regards to individual cases without a reference number. That's my whole point, I haven't got a reference number because as yet, I haven't received the acknowledgement letter which gives the number
I have asked them if they can tell me how long, generally, it takes for them to send out the acknowledgement letters. I'll not hold my breath for an answer!!

hi shirley ...give me a up-date please when you finally find out whats going on........
regards,....... ........j.d.........

Will do Johndoe,
just had an automated reply, stipulating exactly what I've already read on their website- they apologise for delays in sending out acknowledgement letters. We will receive them shortly. I've been reading that on their website for the last 3 weeks, so what exactly do they mean by shortly. The automated reply also stated that the refund would be recieved about 12 weeks after the acknowledgement letterthey'd only reply to individual cases if we gave a ref number. For Goodness sake, how can I have a ref if I've not recieved a letter. This is really making me angry now. I'm giving them one more week then I'll be on the phone demanding answers.

hi all ....had a letter from the caa confirming they had my forms and i now have a claims number
just have to wait now.........

After a phone call to the CAA last week, it was confirmed they'd received my forms some time ago and that I should have received an acknowledgement letter. I spoke to a very helpful girl who ordered another letter to be sent out as I hung on the phone. Two days later the letter arrived, stating that the refund should take 40 days from the date of that letter. I've also had a confirmation letter so at least I know I'm on the system and that things seem to be moving forward.

Travel Republic gets court summons over ATOL breach

The CAA has started legal proceedings against Travel Republic relating to alleged breaches of the ATOL regulations.

The news came as the CAA said it was taking action against agents who had illegally sold flights of failed XL Leisure companies Freedom Flights and Pure Flights as part of packages (see separate story).

The action, which is also against the company's managing director Kane Pirie, is over claims that on a number of occasions throughout 2008, Travel Republic broke Regulation 3 (1A) (a) of the regulations.

Westminster Magistrates Court has issued 20 summonses against Travel Republic Limited and a further 20 against Pirie, following information from the CAA.

The first hearing date will be February 11.

Travel Republic was unavailable for comment.

The CAA's action was welcomed by TUI and the Travel Trust Association. See separate story here.

With permission from Travelmole

Thanks for that info David,
I hope that won't jeopordize my claim for a refund on my flights. The sales of a put together "package" by Travel Republic was always a grey area and at last something will now have to be done about it. I purchased flights and separate accomodation from TR but am only claiming a refund for the flights as I was lucky enough to secure alternative flights with a different airline.

The latest info I have from the CAA is that my refund should be through in about 30-40 days. However, This info was received at the start of last week which I'm assuming was before the news of the suing broke.
Please keep us updated. Thanks

David,
Does the above, roughly translated, mean that the CAA have determined that the "dynamic" holidays sold by Travel Republic and the like are, in fact, "Package Holidays" and thus require ATOL registration and protection?

If so, is the "dynamic" holiday I have booked for March 2009 now "illegal"?

Cheers,
Jet

Hi,

Well as an agent, the whole ATOL thing has soo many grey areas its unreal especially when it comes to Dynamic Packaging. There are so many different scenarios to it that i would be here all day trying to explain it, hence the big HOO HAA it is creating.
At present anyone that books a flight and accommodation as an agent knowingly putting a package together should be protected through ATOL, however, as far as i am aware, ATOL doesn't cover low cost airlines unless the agent organising it accepts responsibility should the low cost airline go bust.

I sure hope i got the above bit right and as i say, hopefully the whole ATOL thing will be streamlined and one clear set of rules laid down once and for all.

Thanks

My latest update-

My father (whom I booked the flights for) received another letter yesterday from the administrators stating they were holding a series of talks (not sure whether it was with TR or Freedom flights or even Atol), the first of which is scheduled for next week. They also wanted to know how much refund we were claiming This was spelt out perfectly clear in my original letter to TR (along with a copy of the booking receipt) which they have said they sent on to the CAA.

I'm losing the plot now to be honest!!

i know a lot of people have had there refunds and i don't get why mine is taking so long...sent off forms in set, received acknowledgment 9th october....still nothing!