/omg. Travel agent gone bust.

[sweetiepie71]

Just discovered that the agents we have booked with has ceased trading. We've paid in full, and all I have from DLP is the printed reservation sheet with who's going and how much it costs, then a letter from the travel agents saying we've paid. If I check the booking on the DLP website, it says we still have the balance to pay. Really worried. Have phoned DLP and the very nice USian ladies can't do anything as they can't access the systems til the morning. I'm SO worried. :sad1:

[ukstitch]

There will be a procedure for this, though I'm afraid I'm not entirely sure what it is.

If you have paid them money for something and they have not then given you that something (i.e. you've paid them for your holiday but they've not forwarded it on to Disney) then I guess there must be routes you can go to claim that back.

For one thing - if you've paid on a credit card then that would cover you as you can claim back anything over £100 on a CC.

Hopefully Disney will be able to help, but at least you've got all the letters and paperwork outlining costs, amounts paid etc

[poppie123]

I really do hope you manage to get it sorted :hug::hug:
Let us know how you get on tomorrow.

[mickeymousemad]

As ukstitch has said, the easiest thing to do is claim back via your credit card if you paid with one. If not you need to check the agent was a member of ABTA(if it was a high street agent it should be). you can check on ABTA's website.
Check this link out it tells you extactly what you need to do
http://www.abta.com/consumer-services/protecting_your_travel_arrangements

hope this helps,

mel

[sweetiepie71]

Paid by cheque. :sad1: Always do as can't stand paying for big things with credit, stupid really. DLP can't tell me anything until tomorrow, I'm not going to sleep well tonight.

[sweetiepie71]

Oh, and even if we can get our money back we won't be able to rebook with the free meals, so we can't really afford to go without them. I'm devastated. Really, really.

[mickeymousemad]

Please try not to worry too much, seen as you have the invoice from disney that means you have a booking with them, i work in a travel agents and as far as im aware they will have to honour the booking and claim the money back on your behalf.

[thelittlemermaid83]

Oh no, hope you manage to get it sorted :hug: :hug:

[britchic4]

Fingers crossed for you. Was the agent ATOL protected?

[sweetiepie71]

Fingers crossed for you. Was the agent ATOL protected?

Yes.

[mommy2ash]

thats just awful i really hope they sort it out for you and you can still go

[jillrobinson]

Really hope you can get this sorted tomorrow morning, will be thinking of you :hug:

[Disneyfanswicklow]

OH - got such a shock when I read your post - hopefully all will be ok - I had to pay the balance of my holiday last week to travel agent and it was to be forwarded to DLRP that day so that tickets etc. can issue to me - as you going the same time lets keep fingers crossed that your balance was forwarded last week too. Will be thinking of you tomorrow and sending you lots of positive thoughts for it to all work out. Let us know how you get on.

[BRobson]

Hope you get it sorted out in the morning :hug:

[daiseyirl]

ill hav fingers crossed for you tom, really hope u get it sorted:hug:

[kizzabel]

me too :hug:

[poppyolivia]

Oh no just saw your post this morning, please let us know how you get on, what a nightmare xxx

[sweetiepie71]

Not sounding promising.

Insolvency people acting for travel agents have our holiday file and whilst there is a record of our booking, deposit, deposit being paid to Disney and our balance being paid to the travel agent, the insolvency chap can find no record on the file of the balance being paid to disney.

Insolvency chap is speaking to the manager of the travel agents this morning and will try to clarify whether the money has been paid or not. He will ring me back either today or Monday.

Phoned Disney and the only people you can speak to don't have access to that information. They have to email a different department, who take 3 clear working days to respond to enquiries, so I might find out from them on Wednesday whether or not they have the money.

The Insolvency chap isn't sure if Disney is covered by ABTA, so if the money HASN'T been paid to Disney we may lose the lot.

I'm in total limbo now. This trip was our post Christmas pick-me-up, my Mum died a month ago and Christmas is going to be pretty awful without her. Gutted.

[thelittlemermaid83]

:hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:

[poppyolivia]

Oh no..I could really cry for you...what a bad time for it to happen..its bad enough as it is but I can't even begin to wonder how you're feeling with you mums passing...please be strong, we are all thinking about you here..

lot of love

Katrina xx

[sweetiepie71]

OK. Everyone, HUGE fingers crossed for us but I *think* we might be okay. According to ABTA, although DLP aren't ABTA registered, the fact that we booked through a UK Travel Agent who was ABTA registered, means that DLP have to honour our booking, as the Travel Agents work as a UK Retail Agent for DLP.

Have spoken again to DLP, the (English) girl I spoke to this time was much more helpful, she's encountered this before and thinks we will be okay.

I have to email a scanned copy of our reciept from the agency showing we have paid in full to the agency support at DLP (I have the name of the person she has spoken to) and they will contact me back to confirm it's okay. Hopefully.

[angel_nix]

Fingers crossed for you, starting to sound more promising.

[thelittlemermaid83]

Fingers crossed it works out for you.

[DLPdaft]

How awful for you, on top of the sad news about your mum :hug:.

I really hope you manage to get the trip you have paid for, fingers, toes and everything else crossed for you.

[poppyolivia]

oh thats great....sounds like you are 99% going now.....:woohoo::woohoo:...

[BRobson]

Fingers crossed for good news xx

I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your mum :hug:

[britchic4]

Hope it works out for you....

[mommy2ash]

i am so sorry you are going through all this. it sounds promising though so fingers crossed

[Calumsmummy]

Hi there.
First of all, my sincere condolences on the loss of your mum. :hug:

Secondly. I was travel agent for 28 years and can tell you without question that if you booked through an ABTA bonded travel agent, then your money is SAFE irrespective of the method of payment you used to pay.
You know that Disney have your booking but the balance hasn't been paid by the agent so that's the first hurdle over.

Now, there are a couple of things that could happen. The first and simplest way is that Disney simply honour your booking and you would just have to sign forms authorising Disney to claim their losses on your behalf from the ABTA fund and you continue with your holiday as it is.
Secondly and much less favourable is that you have to pay Disney yourself for the holiday (yes, I know that means paying twice) and then you claim the money back from the ABTA fund yourself. This does take anything up to a few months to sort out so if you find yourself having to go down this road, be aware that you probably will not get anything back before you're due to go, but you will be guaranteed a refund of all the monies paid to the agent and you do still get your holiday.

It all depends on Disney and what their policy is regarding failure of their agents.

Here is what the ABTA website says.

Quote

"Package Holidays
The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tour Regulations 1992 are overseen by the Government’s Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS). These Regulations require organisers of package holidays to provide protection for your money and to bring you home if necessary.

A package holiday is a holiday that consists of two or more elements, e.g. transport and accommodation, that are sold to you as a package at an inclusive price.

If you book a package holiday that includes a flight, then your money must be protected under the ATOL scheme. This is operated by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). If you book a package holiday that doesn’t include a flight, then your money will be protected either by way of a bond held by a trade association, or by way of an insurance policy, or by placing your money into a trust account.

Flight-Only Arrangements
The Civil Aviation (Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing) Regulations 1995 are overseen by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and require tour operators who sell flight-only arrangements to provide protection for your money and to bring you home if necessary.

This protection doesn’t apply to flights that are bought directly from an airline.

Flight-only arrangements bought through a travel agent aren't always protected under the ATOL scheme. You should always ask. Where travel arrangements aren't already protected, most ABTA Members will be able to arrange protection using a suitable insurance policy.

Voluntary Schemes
Some travel companies offer protection for your money voluntarily. For example, accommodation-only providers may offer protection although there’s no legal requirement for them to do so.

If protection is offered it may be by way of a bond held by a trade association, or by way of an insurance policy or by placing your money into a trust account.

Full Documentation
If a protection scheme is in place for your money, it’s important that you obtain and keep all relevant paperwork so that you can make a claim for your money if necessary.

Details of the paperwork that you need can be found in our leaflet Your Protection Checklist: Important Information When Making a Booking With an ABTA Member.

What Happens if Your Travel Agent Ceases to Trade?
If you’ve made your booking through a travel agent, it’s important that you obtain and keep all the paperwork referred to above. This will show that you have a booking with the relevant holiday company.

You should contact the holiday company to make sure that the booking is in place. If it is, then your travel arrangements should continue unaffected.

In the unlikely event that your travel agent has failed to make your booking with a travel company you should contact your credit card company if you paid by credit card. If you didn’t pay by credit card, contact our claims enquiries office for advice and assistance. Contact: ABTA Claims, PO Box 127, Metro House, Northgate, Chichester PO18 8WQ, Tel: 01243 621 500.

ABTA may not be able to recover your money for you but we can assist in taking the matter up with the relevant authorities."

So, either way your money IS protected.


Good luck with this, your money is safe though as long as the bond is in place.
:thumbsup2

[sweetiepie71]

Okay....have been told that we are fine, however until I get the revised tickets in my grubby little mitts, I'm not taking anything for granted.

DLP have copies of our receipts now, and ABTA have confirmed the conpany is bankrupt.

Apparently what now will happen is that DLP will cancel our original booking with the travel agents details on it, and re-issue a new identical booking with our details solely on. This can take a few days/a week or so to organise.

I'm almost breathing again now.......

[poppyolivia]

Thank god!!lol I went out for lunch and all I thought about was you and your holiday....I would have been in absolute bits if I were you.....thank goodness its sorted, I can get on with my life now!!!!....so HAPPPPPPPPY for you!!!!!!:yay::yay::yay:

[Disneyfanswicklow]

Oh Thank God - that sounds like it is all ok - have just arrived home from work and first thing I did was to log on to see if there was any news - I'm delighted for you!! :banana:

Was telling everyone in work today so I think there was an awful lot of positive thoughts out there for you!

Was sorry to read about your mams death :hug:

Do let us know when you receive your new tickets etc. :banana::banana::banana:

[kizzabel]

oh thank god, i think like the rest of the girls i was holding my breath to hear how it panned out for you.

very sorry about your mums passing. :hug:

hope everythings goes well and that ou have a nice break away.

xxxx

Christina

[sweetiepie71]

Thanks everyone for all the supportive messages -it's been a very long 24 hours! I'll let you know WHEN (she says, hopefully) we get our new paperwork.

[poppie123]

Brilliant news :cool1: :goodvibes

[karenmoloney]

Glad to hear you got good news & fingers crossed that your paperwork all comes through OK.

[daiseyirl]

delighted to hear it seems to be getting sorted, hope your new paperwork comes through real soon so you can relax and look foward to a well earned dlp trip:goodvibes

[Calumsmummy]

Okay....have been told that we are fine, however until I get the revised tickets in my grubby little mitts, I'm not taking anything for granted.

DLP have copies of our receipts now, and ABTA have confirmed the conpany is bankrupt.

Apparently what now will happen is that DLP will cancel our original booking with the travel agents details on it, and re-issue a new identical booking with our details solely on. This can take a few days/a week or so to organise.

I'm almost breathing again now.......

Thats great news! They went with the simplest way- good on DLP!! They'll now let you go on holiday without paying anymore and they will claim the money you paid to the agent back through the ABTA fund :banana:


Just goes to show that booking through an ABTA agent is the best way.

[lilacgems23]

sounds like youve had a nightmare but glad its all sorted now.

out of curiousity what agent is it?

[tennisfan]

Sorry to hear about your mum:hug::hug:

So glad you managed to get the problem sorted out:woohoo:

[Cyrano]

Any update ? :goodvibes

[jillrobinson]

:goodvibesGlad it's sorted.

[Ware Bears]

Just catching up and saw this thread :scared1: :scared1:

Thank goodness it's sorted now. :wizard:

[sweetiepie71]

I got my replacement paperwork today, however it's still showing full balance owing. Rang Tristan at DLP (very helpful chap in agency support) and the accounts dept have authorised our "claim" and the credit will be being made to this new booking within the next few days (as it takes a few days for the system to sort itself out) and then DLP will claim the money directly from ABTA.

Lilacgems, it was a smallish local agent called Deeping Travel with a few offices in and around South West Lincs. Been going for over 40 years, really sad actually as it was a family business.

[Disneyfanswicklow]

Thats great news :dance3:. I got my tickets vouchers etc yesterday in the post :cool1: and i was thinking of you. A real shame about the Travel agent - a sign of the times :sad1:

[BrizMarc]

I am so sad for the horrible few days you have had. I am glad it seems to have all worked out.

[sweetiepie71]

Final update: My booking with the agent as intermediary has now been cancelled and an identical booking with my name as "lead" has been issued and sent to me. The accounts team have now actioned the funding and it is now marked as fully paid with a zero "to pay" balance. Woohoo! I can now breathe again. :cool1:

Thanks for all the support, folks. :thumbsup2

[angel_nix]

Fantastic news, glad it all got sorted in the end. Have a wonderful and well deserved holiday.

[Disneyfanswicklow]

That is fantastic news - delighted for you. Now you can really start enjoying the anticipation!! Roll on January :banana::banana::banana:

[daiseyirl]

Fantastic news, now you can look foward to a well earned dlp trip, have a fab time:goodvibes

[mommy2ash]

that is wonderful now you can finally relax lol i hope you have a wonderful trip