XL holidaymakers' refunds
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Last September XL Leisure went bust. It was regarded as one of the worst crises ever to hit the travel industry. 85,000 passengers were left stranded abroad and 250,000 of their customers who'd paid for holidays were stuck with useless bookings worth tens of millions of pounds.
The travel industry has a unique protection scheme called ATOL, run by the airline regulators the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Book your holiday from a company with the ATOL logo, and you're promised total financial protection for your trip.
Many of the people who'd booked with XL believed they'd be able to get their money back within weeks but, it has now been several months and thousands of people still haven't received a penny.
Most companies within the XL Group were ATOL registered but Watchdog has heard from hundreds of people who've not had their refunds.
Husband and wife Ros and Mick Lunt told Watchdog about the trip to Greece they'd booked with XL. When it was cancelled, they still had a holiday but it was slightly closer to home in Tenby.
ATOL guarantee
They enjoyed their break away but are disappointed with the communication from the CAA and they can't understand why - when they had that crucial ATOL guarantee - they still haven't had their money back.
Another couple, Kirsty Leggott and Christian O'Connor borrowed over a thousand pounds from their parents to pay for their holiday. After the collapse of XL they thought they'd get their money back and despite completing all the claim forms requested by the CAA, they're still waiting.
The CAA sent a letter to people who paid by credit card advising them to try and claim via their card providers under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.
But the credit card companies don't always want to play ball either. So some of these people feel that they keep getting sent backwards and forwards between them and the CAA - with neither paying up.
When Watchdog contacted the CAA they said: "All customers with a valid ATOL claim will get their refund and the CAA is working to ensure that this happens.
"We apologise to all claimants awaiting refunds for the delay they're experiencing, but it's taken time to resolve the legal complexities of the failure given the many different ways that XL traded.
"Previous experience indicates that, with a failure of this size and complexity, it's likely to take about a year from the date of the failure for all valid claims to be submitted and processed. The rate of progress is heavily dependent on the speed with which all concerned supply us with the information we need.
"The repatriation of over 85,000 passengers due to fly home on XL last year demonstrated the value of the ATOL scheme and customers can be assured that they can continue to count on ATOL to protect them."
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I am one of the travellers,along with two members of my family,who are still waiting for our cash back. I have spoken to CEGA who are dealing with the claims refunds... They keep moving the goalposts.
Does it not make you think whether that maybe the delay tactics are because the fund may be in deficit..... if that is the case, where has the money gone. Everybody who flies,has £1 put into the fund. Airtours was the reason the fund was put in place,many years ago.
Yes there should be money there for us,but where is it.
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I watched your programme tonite about ATOl, and have been trying to get a response from them since I posted off my claim for a refund of £600 following the demise of XL. I have not even had an acknowledgment of my letter, never mind a refund. Phoning, emailing is a complete waste of time. As far as I am concerned I dont know if they have received the claim, as they just dont respond to any communication.
BTW my claim with all supporting documentation was submitted within weeks of the cancellation of my flights
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I paid for my flights to cyprus with credit card. I thought all that i had to do was claim the money back. I sent all the details and my claim and was given the runaround till December when someone fromt the credit card told me that i could only claim if i had been told that i would not get paid from the CAA. I sent my claim to CAA via the agent where i bought my tickets and have heard nothing since. Without a rejection from CAA i can't get a refund. If it takes up to a year to get my money back from the CAA, i think they should pay interest on the money as i have to apy inmterest on any unpaid credit card debt - Is this sometging that could be pursued?
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We have 2 claims with xl. The CAA has yet to accept either due to someone mixing the paper work up and merging the 2 files. Nobody will give us back our paperwork so we can re-file it for them. CAA are blaming Thomas Cook and guess what Thomas Cook are blaming the CAA. Why are things so complicated? If you buy from a shop and things go wrong you go back to the shop. Shouldn't this be the same system? Travel Agents should pay the claims and they should claim from the CAA. We will not give up but hysteria is beginning to set in. At least we now know we are not alone.
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I wrote to Sir Roy McNulty CBE (Chairman of CAA)and five other board members on 21 February by Recorded Delivery re my CAA claim for almost £600. My claim was approved on 25 February, and the appropriate sum was credited to my account on 2 March. In his reply to me dated 3 March, Sir Roy made reference to the fact that my claim had in fact been approved on 25 February but did not confirm that either he or any of the other board members had intervened on my behalf. Coincidence or not?
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I am still waiting for a refund submitted to travel agent on 05/10/08. Just found out from CAA my claim has never been submitted to them by my travel agent. I have been past around between travel agent and CAA not sure where we go from here
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We booked our family holiday which was a late honeymoon for last October. We sent our claim in the day they released the info on GMTV. After 3 mths I rang to see the progress of the claim to be told they needed me to complete section 5. I sent all paperwork off once again this time including section 5. I rang the following week to see if they had received the requested section 5 to be informed they hadn't. I emailed them on several occasions to see if they had received but had no response. I rang again to be told to call back the following week. This went on for 2 mths...then finally I rang to be told yes they had received it and it would now be passed to the claims dept. I rang last month to be told there was further information required, I couldnt believe it why wasnt this issue raised when they realised section 5 hadnt been ticked????? since march the 7th ive been asked to call back every other day as I sent the info they required on email. On each occasion they have either not had the email or they have had the email and its been passed to the claims dept. I rang again today to be told they havent received the email.....im so frustrated! if only i had put myself in debt to pay on credit card instead of saved and paid by my debit card.
I wonder how much interest Atol have made on there estimated claims???? Id would rather have my refund sitting in my account gaining interest then them.
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W received our confirmation back in November,telling us that the claim was being processed,since then numerous phone calls. One call we were told that the cash should be in our bank no later than 3weeks.
We are still waiting,then last week to be told they needed another form to be filled in telling them we had never received the tour operator invoice.But we had the travel agents confirmation invoice.
When asked why we hadn't been told another form was required,apologies. You can't shout at the person at the other end of the phone,its not there fault.But who's fault is it... my husband & myself have now been made redundant,we just want our cash back,it would surely help.
Why the rules keep changing is beyond me....can someone from the CAA help us travellers,or not travellers understand,why some have received refunds & others haven't
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We booked our holiday with XL. Eight of of us. It was to be the holiday of a lifetime. Florida was going to be a dream. Especially as we had all upgraded our flights to 'First Class'! Of course, we booked it knowing that we were fully protected by ATOL. Ha!
We have claimed, written and emailed. Bank statements, receipts and all manner of information has been sent. Alas, our £10,000 holiday doesn't warrant a response from the CAA. We have been waiting for over six months! Even an acknowledgement that 'something' is happenning would help.
One could be forgiven for thinking that CAA stands for, Can't Acknowledge Anybody...
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My husband and I booked with Sunmasters to go to Zante in Sept 09 flying with xl.
Sunmasters have been brilliant they refunded the Hotel and Taxi Transfers within weeks without any hassle. But the claim has been in the process from October 09. I received a claims form which i filled in and returned with all the documentation they required ie the original booking invoice, I had heard nothing until the 02/04/09 when I received a letter requesting all the original documentation,as they say I did not enclose them.And yet they acknowledged safe receipt of my claim in November and give me a CAA Claims no: so why after this length of time are they comming up with excuses about documents not included. Sureley on receipt of my claim before they issue claims no's don't they do checks to make sure all is present.Personally I think they are just using delay tatics.
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My Partner and I lost our holiday to Florida with Travel City Direct part of XL. We got our claim in immediately, got a claim number and heard no more until we were told to get our money back from my Credit card company. The CAA have returned our claim, my credit card company have repaid me my £103 but will not return the £2400 my Partner paid by cheque. We have now approached the Financial Ombudsman but told it may take months to resolve. Is anyone else in the same position? We are at our wits end and have lost all faith in ATOL/CAA.
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I am also one of the people who is also awaiting a refund for XL flights booked last august with Travel Republic.
Tonights programme was spooky for me, as I had just got all my paperwork out again and decided enough was enough I had waited long enough for my refund and my intention was to start and try to put some pressure on either the CAA,CEGA, Travel Republic or my credit card company (who have already fobbed me off 6 months ago).
Luckily, (if you can say that) I have received confirmation fron CEGA that my claim has been received.I was horrified that alot of people haven't even had any correspondence from anyone.But it was reassuring to know that I am not alone!!
My next step is to start to put pressure on my credit card company again and if I don't have any joy then I'll take the matter up with the Banking Ombudsman.I'm not very confident that this will get me a refund but I feel that I've been patient for long enough.
Thank You Watchdog for bringing this story to our screens,at least I'm not alone!
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We sent claim for over £400 0n the 13th September 2008 . At least an acknowledgement was received Never answer e-mails.Finally got through by phone on 13th March 2009[after waiting some 25 mins]Was told info on website about claims refunded was inaccurate & misleading.Authority to make refunds had only be received in the last week or so.Apparently although our claim was now 6 months old no-one had actually examined it.Was told it looked Ok & was possible we would get refund in next couple of weeks.Still waiting.
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We're much more fortunate than others on this site as we bookedthrough travel republic and got refund for hotel almost straight away.
However, although claim for flight money was acknowledged by CEGA, same delays as posted elsewhere (no response to e.mails, phone calls, delays with paperwork not competed properly etc etc). Finally received offer this week for 75% of what were owed even though ATOLL state you're 'fully protected'. Have no idea where to get advice on whether we should accept this offer? Anyone got any ideas that might help?
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I booked on the evening before the company went bust at aprox 8pm, yeah paid by switch. When I found out the following morning the money hadn't even come out of my account but because I booked through an agent the money was taken, the cost of the accomadation and transferes was refeunded but I have been left to claim the flight money myself....Gutted...
I still haven't recieved a refund nore much information regarding the claims progress.... I was hoping that KIRKIEBHOY would be able to advise me on the address that he used to send the recorded letters too, cause this appears to be a very good option...
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I booked to go to Cyprus in Sept. 2008 with my family . I paid the initial deposit by credit card in Dec. 2007 and the balance by debit card from my bank account in August 2008 . When X L crashed i sent of my claim form as instructed and after months of waiting was eventually sent a claims number. I was patient as i realised that i was one amongst thousands but i have just received a letter from the CAA stating that as i paid my initial deposit by credit card i needed to contact the credit card company about a full refund including my payment by debit card under section 75 of the consumer credit act 1974 . I change my credit card supplier at regular intervals to take advantage of 0% interest and am struggling to discover who my card company were in 2007 let alone persuade them to pay me in full . I am now at a loss what to do as i presumed that i would have been covered for the majority of the money i lost by my claim under ATOL protection as they stated initially . Can anyone out there give me sound advice as i feel like i have been fobbed off by the CAA who have renaeged on their responsibilities .
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As many other I am still waiting for my refund. I have tried numerous time to speak to someone on the phone, only to be told after a few rings that no-one is avaiable and then get cut off. They also don't reply to emails.
Readig through the other comments, it stirkes me that the information being given out by CAA is conflicting. Approval to give refunds was only granted in recent weeks, yet in Feb someone had their claim approved. CAA just seem to being using delay tactics to hold on to our money longer.
I agree with the above comment, that we should reclaim our money from our travel agents rather than ATOL direct. We paid our money to the travel agent, so we should reclaim it from them. At least when they collate claims together, they will be sufficeintly large enough to make CAA listen to concerns, rather than lots of smaller travellers.
I would be very interested to know if the credit card companies have received their money already. I bet they were first in line, just because they are claiming so much more.
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Wow, Have I got plenty to say. Are you ready? I booked a holiday last March for September 2008 with Travel City Direct. Obviously they went bust and as the travel agent was ATOL protected I would get my money back wouldn't I? Oh no, how wrong could I have been. When the holiday was booked I paid the deposit on my credit card and then the rest of the holiday was paid for by my visa debit card and my sister paid by her visa debit card.
As instructed by ATOL I got my initial deposit refunded from Virgin and sent a claim to ATOL on 15th September last year. In December it was returned to me saying that I had to make 2 claims as there were two bookings. I therefore sent two claims to them. As I waited patiently for my refund, I then got both my claims sent back to me in March saying that due to section 75 of the consumer credit act, my credit card company is liable for the whole cost of my holiday and that they should refund me my money.
So I sent a claim to my credit card company and they inform me that this is not entirely correct and I should go to my bank first and try and claim back through 'Visa chargeback' and that they certainly would not refund me the money paid by my sister. So here we go again, I write a letter to my bank asking if I can claim the money bank under the 'Visa chargeback' scheme and as at todays date I still haven't heard from them. This is the good bit, I phoned ATOL again and they told me that my sister had to make a claim direct to them for her payments, as her bank wouldn't refund her under the 'Visa chargeback' as her claim was over 180 days old. I told them that we had done this in September and they just apologised and said that they had to get 'clarification' on what claims they are liable to pay!
On my return home from work yesterday, there was a letter there saying that the CAA my be paying one of my claims now and that they will review it again. YIPPEE you think, oh no I was wrong again. After spending one hour holding on my phone today, I was finally told by a lovely gentlemen from the CAA that they will not be paying any of my claims, as the credit card company are liable to refund me this money! So there you have it. 7 months later I am still owed £4000.00 and my sister hasn't heard anything back about her claim yet, but we live in hope. What can I possibly say about ATOL that is printable? Nothing, but I am sure that most people will agree that ATOL means nothing if you booked a holiday in advance and paid for any of it on your credit card. Good luck to you all and hopefully we will get our money back eventually!
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We are Travel Agents are are utterly disgusted by the antics and unprofessionalism shown by the CAA with regards to the Excel collapse and with clients trying to recover their monies.
The CAA have moved the goalposts each and evry time we contact them on behalf of clients to endeavour to get them paid out.
One minute they have everything they need, then they don't, then they say they want another documnet, then when they get it they say that won;t do they want something else.
Especially difficult when clients have paid us part cash and part cheque.
We are losing business over this because clients are blaming us for the CAA's gross incompetence. It is an utter disgrace for a legal body run by the government, or maybe we shouldn't be surprised?
In my opinion the staff at the CAA are being financially motivated by the number of claims they can reject or by the number of people who give up. It is the only explanation for their actions.
They are hopelessly and chaotically organised. There is no communication between staff and you have to go right back to the beginning on each and every email or phone call.
Someone, somewhere needs to take the final processing of these claims in hand and get them settled.
And are they going to pay out interest on people's monies which have now been outstanding for 7 months?
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We put our claim in with CEGA last sept. We were told in Jan the claim had been approved. I have phoned a few times and got an answer straight away but was told it was definitely passed I should have been paid out at the end of february. We are still waiting and now we can't even get an answer to our phone calls. Something should be done about this, we all paid up front and should be entitled to our refunds.
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We have never had a family holiday abroad, and we took my three sons, my two step daughters and my son's fiance. It was to be the holiday of a lifetime
We were advised to book flight and hotel seperately which we did, we were going to sharm el sheikh
XL went down 4 days before we were due to leave, we were told we were covered for the flights but not the hotel as it was not a package, as we did not want to let everybody down we paid for new flights on air egypt, which was a lot more expensive, the only way we could do this was by getting into debt and putting all the new flights on a credit card, at the time we were told it would be a maximum of 3 months, so we thought we could pay a small payment back for 3 months and then pay the remainder when the money came back
We are still waiting and still have not managed to pay the credit card bill
We finally received a claim number in a letter dated 27 january and it actually says on the letter 'please refrain from contacting us as this will divert our resources from the processing of your claim' is this a thinly veiled threat, we have refrained from calling them, and have heard nothing from them.
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I booked a holiday for four with [company removed] last september to give my children a holiday as they havent been on one for a few years. They were extremely disappointed when my husband i told them about the collapse of xl airlines but understood that we would get our money back and book another holiday soon.
That was over 6 months ago and we have received one letter in all that time after i called freedom direct to find out what was happening. The letter from the CAA arrived the next day with my claim number on the 30 December 2008.
The first paragraph asks me to quote my claim number to them on any future communication with them, the last paragraph says " In the meantime it would be helpful if you can refrain form contacting us as this will divert our resources from the processing of your claim. Please be assured that we wil contact you soon with regards to the status of your claim"
Looks like the watchdog team are the only people keeping us up to date
with what is happening. I would like to know where my money is? and what exactly it is doing as it still isn't in my account!
Incindently are people who are telling me that the French And German side of XL airlines still opperational correct. Maybe someone at watchdog can chase this up.
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ALFREDIOSMUM - You can get all the information you need by visiting the CAA's website - all names and addresses are there. Best of luck!
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Re XL claims - We too are waiting for anything even an achknowledgement of our claim, a claim number would be a start - the clain form was was sent to ATOL at the begining of October. We had paid £1380.00 on a visa debit card(Alliance & Leicester) we have tried claiming from the card company who told us as it was a debit card and not a credit card we would need to claim from ATOL. Having read all the other comments especially from staceysm I am begining to dispair of ever getting our money back - where do any of us go from here?
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I'm very concerned that someone has been offered 75% of their claim back.. can the CAA do this? I submitted my claim in November and have a claim number but that is it. In March I was asked to submit something else which I did and have been ringing each week to see where it is, I was previously told everything was fine. I too have £600 on a credit card that I'm paying interest on but no one seems interested in getting these claims signed off.I was told that after the intial claim is settled I could (try) to claim the credit card interest...
How many people are waiting for money back and how many have been paid? I would really like to know.
Last week I was told that my claim was sat on '[personal details removed's]' desk for sign off, today I ring and '[personal details removed]' is on holiday. I was also told that it will have gone to [his] desk because there is a problem... but they don't know what the problem is. Oh and [he] has gone to work with the outsourced company which isn't doing a good job....??? It also doesn't appear that many people are working on these as I speak to the same people each time who are very nice but do nothing.
I just can't believe that it is taking this long, an update on how many people have been paid, how many are waiting and a how long they expect it to take to get through the rest would be a start....
I'm so disgusted with the whole process.
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I am also one of the ill fated XL customers along with 11 friends!! We were due to fly out the day that XL collapsed. Only due to the company I work for I still went, as they paid for new flights, and 3 other friends managed to arrange alternative flights.
I sent my claim to the CAA as soon as I returned from my holiday.
I have recieved my refund but only because I hassled the CAA, I contacted them on 4 or 5 occasions to ask them the status of my claim. I finally recieved my refund in february.
I would suggest that those still waiting for their money back, keep calling even if you have not recieved an acknowledgment letter, as they can track your claim using your postcode and name. I know there have been some delays with certain travel agents like [agent removed].
Good luck all, hope this helps.
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We have received yet another letter requesting information we have asent them twice before. Someone else I know has been asked for further proof of payment.This is firsi i have heard since mid october when i sent more paperwork back.
These just seem to be delayng tactics.
I bet they would not wait 8 months for Money
all we get is more and more delaying tactics,here was me thinking it was y cheque this morning no such luck!!!!!
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What number are you all calling?
I am calling the one on the letter I received, 01243 621009 (which is the same as the one on the CAA website), but I am never able to get through to anyone. I listen to the recorded message and then hangs up. Another example or poor customer service from CAA
Is there a best time to call?
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We like many others booked our holiday to Florida 12 months in advance, we were due to go September 2008. We were a group booking and had all made various payments throughout the year. We had made one credit card payment of £76.00 with a lloyds tsb mastercard the remainder was all paid via debit cards.
After the collapse we duly sent all of our tickets, bank statements etc to ATOL/CCA and waited and waited, until finally in Feb 09 we were told that due to the one payment of £76 on the credit card we would have to pursue our credit card issuer for the full balance. We requested all documents back from ATOl which took 4 weeks( all original tickets were missing, although we did receive bank statements and original invoices). I tried to contact the credit card over the phone but unfortunatley kept hitting my head against a brick wall as they claimed that as the payment was under £100 i was not insured, INCORRECT. I decided to go to my local branch and speak to one of there advisers face to face, this i would recommend to everyone as they are alot more helpful when they can actually see the steam coming out of your ears! I was told that you are covered if the full balance of the item your are purchasing is over £100 even if you only pay £5 of this on your credit card. After sending Lloyds all of our details in the post it has taken just over 6 weeks and we have received written confirmation that the balance in full will be credited to my account. I only wish I had known all of this before even attempting to claim from ATOL. Good Luck to everyone who is still waiting
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Sounds like we are all in the same boat.
Eight of us booked a holiday to Florida under my friends name. She booked via C/Card and partly debit card, she has received her credit card payment back from her Card Company, we paid by debit card and cheques and obviously we have not received a bean. Atol said that the whole claim should have been made under my friends Credit Card Company but since then this account is no longer in use. Anyone know where I stand as to my £2,600 claim as cant get hold of Atol since this was aired on TV. (what a surprise!).
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My family and I were due to fly to Greece last October with XL and no doubt like thousands of others was told by the tour operator that the CAA would deal with the reimbursement of the cost, as my flights were ATOL protected.
To date I am still waiting and the last correspondence I had (following a threat to instruct solicitors) was a letter 10 days ago requesting documentation I had already supplied with the claim form last September. The letter added that my claim had yet to be considered.
I paid by credit card but when I approached the card provider. I was told they wouldn't deal with the matter until they receive a letter from CAA advising that my claim through them has been declined.
It seems no one is prepared to take responsibility for this and as usual it is the innocent victim who has to suffer.
In future I shall refuse to pay the ATOL fee - what's the point of it?
I am a Claims Manager for a FTSE 250 company and if I treated claimants like this I would, quite rightly, be sacked!
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I booked with [travel agency removed], along with a friend of mine, to travel to Egypt last November. As soon as I heard about the company going bust I followed all the instructions on the CAA website to put my claim in. I received a letter in January to say the claim had been received and would be processed and not to get in touch about the claim as this would hold the process up!
I started getting a bit concerned about the length of time it was taking after a couple of months so decided to call and speak to someone. As anyone who has called the line knows it advises to email the [organisation removed] with any queries regarding claims. So I did. It took about a week for a reply which apologised for the length of time it was taking and that "due to the legal complexities of the failure we are still awaiting instruction from the CAA on a number of issues".
A couple of days later I received a letter to tell me I hadn't enclosed, in my original claim, a copy of my receipt which has the 4-digit ATOL number on it. I know for a fact this was enclosed with my originals! I have now sent this information but the mixed messages are a bit concerning, are they processing claims or not? I get the feeling they are stalling.
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We, like everyone else are waiting for compensaiton for XL failing on the day we were due to return from Tenerife. We were stuck in the airport for 26 hours (taken to a hotel in the early hours for a few hours only after MUCH complaining) with the promise of a flight home which the ground crew at Reina Sofia assured us did not exist. Eventually got my sister to book us a flight leaving 4 days later and the excellent Thompson desk found us accommodation. The extra 4 days cost us more that the full weeks holiday. We kept all our receipts as the CAA rep we spoke to assured us we were coverd (our travel company were ATOL protected)and these were submitted 6 months ago. We got a letter in March saying they needed more info (some of which they already had) which we sent and then an email from one of their operators on 09/03 told me the claim would be dealt with that week. Of course we have hard nothing since. I've sent numerous emails - no reply - and you cannot get through on the phone EVER. I have today emailed them to say I will visit CAA House this week whilst in London and have had no reply.
Does anyone know if you can actually vist the CAA premises as I don't believe they have any intention of replying to me, or anyone else and this might be the only way?
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I,ve read the other comments, and agree about the very bad service. My case should have been simple, XL went own before my holiday was due to start. My claim forms were checked by [agency removed] and submitted with all evidence, but it took until 30 January to get an claim number. The letter from CEGA said payment would be in FORTY DAYS from receipt of claim. I could not get through by phone on the number given, so emailed a query as to when they had actually received my forms, as I thought they had had them some time.
Repeated emails were ignored and the phone no 621444 was never answered. I got through on tel no 621000 (got from their website) and insisted they get someone to call me (they tried to tell me to call 621444).
I then finally did actually make contact,was told that part of my claim paid by debit card(£408)could be dealt with, but more evidence was needed as part payment (£200) had been made with [agency removed] vouchers. Their excuse was that [they] 'might just have given me'!!! the vouchers. I said that although [they] would already have produced the evidence requested in respect of the vouchers on the claim form, I would comply, but wanted the payment made by debit card dealt with immediately.
I have now received £408.
I sent the evidence on 30 March, and asked for acknowledgment, and then having got none,emailed repeatedly, and finally phoned 621000 again, was told I should call 621444. I said I know, but since I do not get responses I will continue to dial the number I can get through on, so perhaps they could tell their colleagues to answer emails, and just phone me to confirm they have my letter.
I now have acknowledgement, and wait to see if I get my £200!
It seems that the only way to get action is to be very persistent - I was told that my case had been put to the front of the queue because I'm a complainer!
I feel I have every justification to complain. I know that there are a lot of claims, but that is why the claimants should not be ignored,and should be kept informed of progress (or rather the lack of it). They are not even apologetic. Seven months in, they must have some idea of payment timescales.
I worked for many years in the insurance industry, and would hve been going down the disciplinary route had I treated customers the way I and others are being dealt with
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We were due to fly to Gran Canaria last October, as soon as we heard that XL had failed we completed a claim form and were told it would take about 12 weeks. At the beginning of January I was told that we would receive our refung by the end of the month. After 7 months of being asked for extra information, forms being resent I was told last week that CEGA who were dealing with our claim are no longer as the CAA have retaken over our file. Good news? Definately not! Today I have been told by the CAA that our details have to be resubmitted and guess what? - our claim will take about 12 weeks! Exactly what I was told 7 months ago!! What can I do?
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reply to ptiff ptiff you was thinking about making a visit to the CAA premises in KINGSWAY but be warned they will not let you into the building I know I tried it myself.we have been owed money ourself so we know our you feel;I will post some more information on this site tommorow that may help you regards john
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Some progress (I think)!
I sent an email to CEGA and copied it to their MD and within a couple of hours was emailed by their Claim Manager.
I was sent (another) form for my wife to sign and was told that as soon as this was returned my claim would be passed to the payment section. I have returned it recorded delivery and will check my bank account next week.
My advice is to send your emails to [the MD] - it appears to work.
Best of luck everyone.
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Hi All,
Hoorah, we have had some of our holiday money back. After my sister threatened Atol/CAA with legal action they have paid my sister the money that she paid by her debit card. Its amazing as not 3 months ago they told me that my credit card company were liable for this money. I am still waiting for £1900.00 back, but at least we got £2,000.00 back.
All I will say is hang on in there and perhaps if need be speak to a solicitor or the citizens advice bureau. We booked ATOL protected holidays, therefore we are entitlied to our money back.
ATOL we will not go quietly!
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hi ptiffpiff you may find some useful information regarding your problem on this website,www.holidaytruths.co.uk i hope this site will help you regards john
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Hi there,
I booked my holiday for me and my friend to Corfu with the co-operative we was due to fly with XL and our accomodation was through kosmar (kosmar was part of the XL group) we were due to fly out the day the company went into administration. I filled the forms out the day after as the co-op sent them to us straight away. Luckily i did get to go on holiday as mum and dad helped me and my friend out! But now 8 months after i put my claim in i still haven't received my money. I received an acknowledgement letter in feb stating i would receive a full refund within 40 days this did not happen! after seeing the report on watchdog i was advised to give them a call....so i tried needless to say i got the automated service to which they left me with the dial tone!! I then decided to email asking for an update on MY money and they said looking into the claim i didnt provide proof of how i paid for it (i did) so i didnt argue and faxed it straight over to them. then they said they couldn't read the fax so i scanned it. one thing that did really get on my nerves was that they didnt even look into my own particular claim properly as they mentioned to me about freedom flights but i didn't book anything through them. i have emailed them asking to ring me so i can actually talk to an actual person but they disregard that everytime i say it. they keep going on about legal complexeties but i'm sorry i like everyone else want what is owed to me and i don'tr want to wait any longer.
i have now sent roughly 5 emails but still getting no answers.
Regards
Carolyn
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hi carolnmoth i am sorry to see you are having problems with your refund.if you look at posting no-39 author remarkablejohnfred,there is a website address ,this may help you,we had the some problem as yourself and we know how you feel ,best of luck john
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