Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
General Topics => All things that have nothing to do with Turkey => Topic started by: Colwyn on July 18, 2016, 17:55:39 PM
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Yes, it has gone bankrupt, and yes our September holiday in Portugal was booked with them. Only the hotel fortunately - the flights are safe - but that is a big enough dent in our finances. I'll try negotiating with the hotel tomorrow, when I have stopped spitting feathers. Company is trying to blame Brexit for devaluing the pound. Yeah, look at those flying pigs up there!
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Sorry you have been affected Colwyn :(
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Jeepers Colwyn, as much as I feel sorry for your predicament I'm astounded that someone of your intelligence/awareness etc. could book with this awful organisation. (20/20 hindsight - I know).
They moved their base to Palma, Majorca in 2013, thus excluding themselves from ATOL. To the best of my knowledge, they were never members of ABTA.
The CAA recommended not using them in 2013 despite their assurances that Spanish laws would provide sufficient protection.
Hopefully, you booked on a credit card - perhaps you can recover your monies.
Thankfully, your flights are not booked through these charlatans and I hope that your hotel can help you out.
My neighbour and her two children are amongst a 30 strong party booked to go to Spain in August with these people. All flights/hotels/transfers were prepaid.
Lowcost's problems were apparent long before Brexit!
All the best, Colwyn.
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My deposit was booked on credit card. But the final payment came due when I was on holiday in Turkey, and they didn't sent reminder (even though I was online). So came home to a message that my booking had expired and was invalid. I quickly phoned the company, they reinstated but wanted immediate payment, I paid on debit card. Doh. That's gone.
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Sorry to hear that Colwyn.
Hopefully you can sort something out with the hotel
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Was it a Visa debit card, if so you could still get your money back.
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Thanks Peat. Yes, in fact I am doubly covered since I paid £300 deposit by credit card which, it appears, covers the full amount in the event of bankruptcy. I'll have to double check this today.
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They moved their base to Palma, Majorca in 2013, thus excluding themselves from ATOL. To the best of my knowledge, they were never members of ABTA ...
The CAA recommended not using them in 2013 despite their assurances that Spanish laws would provide sufficient protection.
Hi Stuart. I was not aware of the CAA recommendation. ATOL isn't relevant for me since I always book flights, hotels and transfers separately rather than as a package holiday. Anyway, things are looking brighter this morning.
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So pleased that there's light at the end of the tunnel for you.
(I suppose that if there wasn't any light it wouldn't be a tunnel, it would be a cave. Unless it was night time).
Enough - I'm rambling.
I hope all works out well for you.
There's hundreds of thousands of people whose summer holidays have been ruined by these rogues -
they kept on taking deposits just hours before their situation became widely known.
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(I suppose that if there wasn't any light it wouldn't be a tunnel, it would be a cave. Unless it was night time).
Or, there could be a train coming. ;)
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I stopped rambling when I started going off track........
Now I've started again.
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I can't see the point.
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Things are becoming more complicated. Reclaiming a credit card debt following redundancy is covered by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. But this does not apply if there is a disconnect between the payment and the thing being paid for (in this case the hotel) e.g. if lowcostholidays was acting as an agent. I have heard back from the hotel and they say:"As you are aware of, Lowcost Holidays, is no longer operating. We, as Hotel ****, didn’t have a direct contract with them. They bought your reservation, through a Portuguese Travel Agency, to whom we have a commercial contract". Does that mean that lowcost was a direct purchaser of the reservation so is covered under Section 75? Or does it mean that the Portugeuse travel agency is the agent and that breaks the connection? If Section 75 doesn't apply I need to explore "cashback" VISA provision. Hey, ho!
Meanwhile, Portugeuse TA has not yet cancelled my reservation but the hotel is expecting it and has written to them. So I don't even have proof my hotel is cancelled - but it is certain it will be.
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What a stinker, Colwyn.
I hope the VISA cashback proves successful if all other avenues close up.
At least you have a few weeks to resolve this before heading out.
Good luck with it all.
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There might be some useful info on here Colwyn
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/travel/2016/07/low-cost-holidays-calls-in-administrators
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Thanks KKOB. It is a site I rely upon for financial advice. I've downloaded the general lowcost advice, the Section 75 page and will copy his credit card letter template. I don't want to make this a full-time job!
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I've finally got confirmation from the lowcostholidays administrator that my hotel is indeed cancelled. I can now book something else and start the process to try to reclaim money. That counts as a good day.
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Stage One Completed. I have received a refund of £307.50 from my cedit card company (£300 deposit and £7.50 admin fee) paid on my credit card. Result! Apart from the money (always handy) is is confirmation that lowcostholidays is not an agent and that the cc company is viable
Stage Two. Now I have to get back the £432.02 final payment paid on debit card. Two possibilities are open. (i) go back to credit company and remind them that Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 that they are jointly and severally liable for any misrepresentation or breach of contract with lowcost i.e including the debit card failure of contract. I have been informed of this by my financial advisor. (Actually my "financial advisor" is Martyn Lewis' website, but there is no reason my credit card company has to know this). (ii) Go down the debit card route and attempt to get a VISA refund but I don't know if Santander is signed up to this deal (some banks are: some not).
I'll let people know the outcome in case they face something similar in future.
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Well done on Stage 1.
All the very best with your efforts for Stage 2, Colwyn.
Good luck.
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Pleased to hear you are making progress Colwyn. Good luck with Stage 2.
Still feel incredibly lucky that, having booked with low cost holidays for the first time ever this year, we went in May, before they went bust! :o
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the cc company is viable liable.
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Result!!!
Some may remember that my credit card company repaid my deposit payment (£307.50) to lowcostholidays for hotel accommodation. I was then pursuing them for the final payment (£432.02) made on debit card. I said that I had financial advice that they were liable even for the part of the payment not paid via them and would go to the Financial Ombudsman if they didn't cough up. I looked online at my current account a few minutes ago - and, hey!, in the "Money In" column there is £432.02 credit.
So for others on CBF who have problems with airlines or travel companies going bust, remember ... if part of your loss was paid by credit card then all of your loss is covered. Just be persistent.
[P.S. I can see that banks may complain that this is not fair. I have some sympathy with that view. But then credit card companies make a nice profit by us using their cards and, usually now, we have to pay a supplement for using the card. One of the reasons we are willing to pay the extra because it gives us more security for our spending. So my sympathy doesn't go very far].
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Great result Colwyn - very happy for you. :)
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My assumption that my credit card company, MBNA, had coughed up was wrong. I got a letter today saying it had been refunded to my current Santander account that I used to pay off the remaining money on debit card after making the deposit on credit card. Very easy: just one letter asking for refund and then filling in a form to claim the refund. MBNA to whom I wrote many weeks before contacting Santander have still not replied to my second letter specifying details on their form. I don't often praise banks but - well done Santander.
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My LCH experience goes on. I had a phone call from my credit card company this morning. They were clearly going to pay the remaining monies - and just as clearly I couldn't accept it (having already been reimbursed by debit card company). But the chap kept going and began asking if I had suffered "consequential loss". That is, if my alternative accommodation had cost more than my original booking I could have reclaimed the difference if I kept the both sets of invoices. There wasn't much difference so I decided not to pursue it.
So my case is now officially closed. But I learned something. I knew I could get my money back if I was persistent enough but not that I could claim any other out-of-pocket costs. That might be useful for others in the same position in future.