I wonder how things are going?

hi all.finally got a refund from travel republic thanks to steve and rami..?? that was just for the the hotel .....

now the struggle for the flight refund...was told at first by travel republic to claim from credit card company did that the credit card company kept me waiting 14 days then said .i must download the claim form from atol then send to travel republic..(why oh why didnt they say early and why did travel republic say to go to my credit card company........so now the wait starts again .god alone knows for how long............just wish these companies would give out the correct info.......

I have booked a holiday for next summer with Travel Republic , flying from Coventry sadly with Thomsons , who have announced they will not be using Coventry next year for flights. My question is who should I contact as my travel voucher is in the name of Travel Republic but flying with Thomsons surely someone should have contacted me to arrange an alternative airport and tickets etc .. hope you can help cheers Paddy

You should speak tol Travel Republic, who in turn should speak to Thomsons for you.

Good luck.

Kath x

Panic over ... received an e - mail this evening from Travel Republic concerning the change of airport and times , well done TR thanks again ...Paddy

Hi Johndoe,
I'm in a similar situation to you. As soon as the news of the xl fiasco broke, I wrote to TR to ask for a refund and was told to download a claim form from CAA and send it to TR, who would fill in extra details and forward it to the CAA. When I visited CAA website it stated if the flights were paid for using CC which they were, then I was to claim direct from the Credit C commpany. Anyway, I wrote a letter, enclosing all info to the CC CO. and also filled out the CAA claim form and sent it to TR. I let TR persue the claim with the CAA while I persued CC company. I thought as I wasn't sure who to claim from I may as well try both. To cut a long story short, after being told by CC CO. 2 weeks ago that I should have my money by the end of last week, I received a letter today asking me if I'd been in touch with TR and what had they advised me to do regarding a refund

In the meantime only one message from TR stating it will take 6 weeks for CAA to reply to claim - 6 weeks was up today.
So as it stands, still no refund from anywhere 6 weeks later. It's so frustrating. I've e-mailed TR again today, asking them exactly who I should be persuing. Hope you have better luck than me.
Please keep us updated and I will do the same.

hi...shirley have sent you a p.m.........
still no word from travel republic .had plenty of promises though .which they havent followed through . so still waiting.......they getting to be a pain you know where.. .
regards..j.d.........

I'd just like to say a huge thanks to Steve. As a result of his intervention and interest in my case, Travel Republic are back up high in my estimations. Although I think I will have a long wait for my refund, Steve seemed to escalate my claim and it's now in the hands of the CAA. TR should be proud of employees such as Steve - it's obvious that customer satisfaction is a priority for him. It took from yesterday until today to turn me from a disatisfied customer to a satisfied one. Well done Steve !! and thanks again.

Hi Shirley - good to hear that. I have used Travel Republic many times and always been more than satisfied with their customer service - as have many other HT members - so good to hear that Steve had restored your faith in the company. Do hope that you won't have to wait too long for your refund. All best - Jenny x

Hi All
I notice that Travel Republic have once again got a sale on. I have been watching them over the past week or so regarding the booking of a hotel for March 2009 and guess what, the price is now more expensive in the sale than it was before the so called sale.
Is there no regulatory body to stop this sort of thing on the internet ?

Robert

hi ..all...still waiting for travel republic to send my forms on to atol .have had many times been told they are dealing with my claim and indeed its been done only to fine out its not .......steve told me he would help to sort it .but.???????????/so still waiting ...WISH THEY WOULD TELL THE TRUTH........

There were some problems reported recently with reservations made through TR not being honoured and must admit, I was getting a bit worried as I booked my parents accommodation with them...

They arrived in Cyprus on Weds of this week and I went and confirmed their reservation on the Thurs before they arrived directly at the hotel.

The hotel had received their reservation - but NOT the special requests and other info I had added to the reservation at time at confirming as we had specifically requested twin beds for them and also added my contact tel no in case of problems.

The receptionist confirmed they had indeed received the booking and duly noted the request for twin beds rather than a double bed (which is unusual anyway in East Med) and to be set back from the road.

They got a nice room on 4th floor with twin beds and a pool view, which receives the sun in the afternoon so they can sit on the balcony and read once the sun has gone from the pool area. Food is good, hotel is clean, staff are all nice and polite so hopefully they will be happy there for the next 4wks...

Looks like we will use TR again in the future

CwB

ATOL announcement due later today

The Civil Aviation Authority is due to make an announcement later today regarding whether online agency Travel Replublic needs to have an ATOL.

According to sources, the CAA is also due to make a decision on
another online player, On the Beach.

A CAA spokesman confirmed a press statement was due to be released today, but refused to give further details.

It is believed the CAA's decision will once again raise the thorny issue of passenger protection.

With permission from Travelmole

Update: 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

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

Janalice, in answer to your question in the locked thread, any bookings you make with TravelRepublic are protected.

We have recently introduced what we call Total Financial Protection, details of which will be displayed from link below (I have asked Kath HT Admin to add link as I cant because I havent made enough posts).

(link to TravelRepublic Total Financial Protection here)

Jetnoise, your bookings are not 'illegal', ATOL has reimbursed XL customers who booked with ALL travel agents.

steved1
its all very well boasting about the protection you give (every little does help).
The main problem that concerns me -and most others i suspect - is that if my flight is cancelled then my hotel/car hire etc are not and then i have to arrange alternate flights at almost certainly much higher costs, or pay cancellation charges/amendment fees as one part of the booking i make is directly affected by the others.
the same would apply if my accomodation was changed.
it is no good getting a £10 refund for cheap flights booked months in advance if you have to lose 50%+ on your hotel charges if you cancel or have to pay £150 for new flights.
the same will apply if the airline change my departure airport, and so force me to cancel my holiday or pay additional costs to get to the new airport.
if your protection actually protected the customer properly - by giving them the same rights as someone who booked their holiday through a tour operator -then it would be worth shouting about.
you should remember that to a lot of people you are providing them with a holiday - that includes flights/accomodation/car hire/trips or anything else they are paying for.
they pay you for their holiday and expect you to look after them.
disclaimers are all very well when people understand them, but not all people who go away are fully wise to how your operation differs from a normal holiday company.
so, sorry but i don't think your protection is as good as you are claiming it to be

Can I just say, from an agent who cleared up a lot of TR's mess and helped their customers when they could not get any assistance from TR when XL fell over......... HEAR HEAR to jimd-f's post.

Small steps at a time Jimd-f, small steps. Many thanks for your comments, they will be passed on. Didnt want to appear to be boasting.

What you are asking for is ATOL type protection on a package holiday. There is a cost associated with this and the tour operators pass this onto customers.

Our product is an alternative offering at hopefully a lower price. Perhaps there is something in the middle that the insurance companies can offer us/you that closes this gap, allowing us to still offer very competitive pricing. Let me see what we can come up with, but give us some time! I will explain why further down!

AgentQ and Jimd-f, we did our very best when XL went into liquidation with regards to responding to customer requirements, but it was an exceptional event. We had over 7500 Freedom Flights bookings and over 1200 Medlife bookings (both part of the XL Holiday Group). Volume we had to deal with went from routine administration calls to service these bookings, to ALL of them asking what was going on, and all that entailed. (Rebooking with alternative supplier, refunding, changing hotels, transfers to match new flights)

With regards to t&c's of protection type plans, the reality is sometimes different. With XL, we tried to get alternative flights ourselves, we also let the customer try, and if none could be found, we asked each supplier associated with the holiday for a full refund, and then passed it onto the customer. I would say in the majority of cases, especialy where departure was not imminent, we achieved full refunds. It wasnt in the terms and conditions, but it was what we tried to do.

I will stop now, as am rambling on, feel free to ask more, will try and answer what I can!

I have to say that TR were rather slow passing on my claim forms to the CAA but through the intervention of Steve, apologised profoundly with a small discount on my accomodation. I am however still waiting for any refund on the flights 16 weeks after sending off my claim