Help

[Hallfamily]

Just noticed Simon's thread re attraction tickets 4 less. We have booked through them and are due to go on the 24th March 06, we had tickets for Discovery cove to do the swim and i am desperate not to dissapoint the children. Does anyone know if i am likely to get these honoured and if not what are the chances through another company.

 

[Miffy2003]

Oh my I do feel for you. I haven't really got any advice though unfortunately.

Did you pay by credit card, if so there may be ways to help. If not it is still possible (likely???) ABTA or whomever will be able to help.

Does the ad say to contact ABTA? Thats would be my first course of action if so.

Much luck to you.

 

[Mumof2]

Oh you poor thing. I suggest you give Abta a call to see what they say. You could also try phoning Discovery Cove direct to see if they can help!

Good Luck.

 

[Claire L]

I am not sure ABTA will deal here as it is ticket purchases only, and ABTA will only cover the package holidays. Even so give the people a call who are quoted on the website, I am sure they would assist all they can.

Claire

 

[lagunn]

on their site is says that they have ceased to trade and this number for people who already have existing bookings, have you rung them?
01903 222 500
good luck.

 

[Hallfamily]

Thanks for your responses, i can't phone until Monday at 08.30 but contacted the credit card company who really weren't that helpful. They said they could attempt to get the money back if they didn't honour the booking but i thought that you had protection with your card but wasn't filled with optimism. I am compltely gutted and really can't afford to lose £1300.00. Had been sooooooooo looking forward to the holiday and going to swim with the dolphins. It really has put a dampner on the whole trip, i really must pull myself together, sorry for being such a misery.

 

[lagunn]

No you are not a misery you are just upset that all your planning and hard earned cash have been wasted, you must feel very angry and upset. So misery you are not.
Whatever happens you will enjoy your holiday.

 

[Claire L]

According to the DC website, they have availability on April 1st, so all may not be lost, also nearer the time allocation does reappear if people cancel and don't want to lose all their money.

Claire

 

[SimonV]

I am in touch with one of the shareholders of Holiday Travel Essentials and hope to know more later on Monday. The sad fact is, HTA resigned their ABTA membership on March 1 and officially ceased trading on March 3. I have never heard of a company doing this before and I'm not sure how it affects people who have already paid. In theory, if you have paid money to an ABTA company, for any kind of service, tickets or package, and the company goes bust, you should get a full refund through ABTA. The number to call at ABTA if: The company you have booked with has ceased trading, Tel: +44 (0)20 7637 2444 or email claims@abta.co.uk

My understanding is also that you should be covered under your credit card company protection rules for non-receipt of goods. If the ABTA coverage is not there, you should be able to insist on a refund on the credit card.

Travel industry website Travel Mole reported HTA's demise ysterday thus:

HOLIDAY TRAVEL ESSENTIALS FOLDS

Holiday Travel Essentials, which also traded as Exclusive Cruises, Cruising Holidays 4 Less and USA Essentials, has failed.

The company, based in Burgess Hill, Sussex, resigned its ABTA membership on March 1 and ceaed trading today.

Any ATOL related claims will be handled by the CAA, while claims from approximately another 40 forward bookings will be handled by the ABTA claims department, the association said.

Report by Phil Davies

 

[LorraineH]

I really feel for you. We went through this 2 years ago. We ordered our tickets through themeparktickets.com at really good prices. We bought 4 park flex tickets, 5 day wdw tickets, and the biggest expense 4 x balloon flights. It had cost an absolute fortune, and I didnt want to go ahead and re-order elsewhere until we had our money back.

I have to say ABTA werent entirely helpful. They wrote us a letter explaining why they couldnt refund our money. So we went back to Barclaycard and asked them for our money back. They said they werent liable to pay, ABTA were. Went back to ABTA. They said they werent liable but to show the credit card company the letter from ABTA explaining why they wouldnt pay.

Anyway, this went on for WEEKS. I have to say time was on our side, the company went bust in the June, and we were flying out in the October.

The long and short of it however was that the credit card company IS liable to refund you under the Consumer Credit Act. We got back every penny from Barclaycard.

You WILL get your money back. But I think it took about 6 to 8 weeks.

Good luck.

L x

 

[florida sun]

I am so sorry for you, I do hope you are able to get your money back, please keep us in touch with developments

 

[yo-ho-yo-ho]

Hope you get sorted out !!

 

[SimonV]

Not too much to add today, unfortunately. The administrator, Vantis, will be in touch with anyone who has booked to go with HTE, and the ABTA bond WILL still be valid to ensure people get a refund. All bookings for Discovery Cove WILL still be valid as they have been passed on to Attraction Tickets Direct, who will honour all dates booked by HTE. However, they WILL have to be paid for first (i.e. again), and you will then have to reimburse yourself when you get the refund from Vantis/ABTA. This isn't of great comfort to anyone going soon, as they will still have to pay for new tickets and then wait for the refund for the original ones through HTE. It is usually a 4-6 week process to arrange the refund, so it then becomes a question of if you can afford the short-term expense of shelling out again (with Attraction Tickets Direct, or similar).

Commiserations to all on this, but it is a real problem for many ticket brokers right now. Competition has driven profit-margins down to all-time lows, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were one or two other casualties this year, as many of them just aren't making money any more. It does stress, though, the importance of booking with an ABTA-bonded agent OR using your credit card, which is the other means (usually a longer process) of arranging a refund.

 

[Hallfamily]

Just thought i would give you an update. Contacted Vantis this am who are the company the website say to contact, explained i was desperate to know if there was any likelihood that the tickets would be honoured as travelling so soon. She said she couldn't or wouldn't tell me anything and said she would ask someone to call me..................still no call. Have spoken to ABTA who told me to call the credit card company, they then took the details but said it may take 6-8 weeks. So i feel i have no option but to kiss goodbye to the discovery cove swim tickets and just bite the bullet and book some others. Many thanks for your good wishes.

 

[Hallfamily]

Just thought i would give you the great news that thanks to Simons reply yesterday and from no help from Vantis. I contacted Attraction tickets direct and they have rebooked our original booking at discovery cove with the swim, so i am no officially the greatest mum in the world............And i have re booked our other tickets. Downside that i have had to fork out £1500 on top of the original £1300 but prices have gone up. Hopefully though i will eventually get my £1300 back and we are all now excited about our trip on the 24th March. Once again thanks for all who replied.

 

[florida sun]

Well done, I do hope that you still get your original money back, congrats on booking your new tickets and I hope you have a wonderful time

 

[Miffy2003]

Just thought i would give you the great news that thanks to Simons reply yesterday and from no help from Vantis. I contacted Attraction tickets direct and they have rebooked our original booking at discovery cove with the swim, so i am no officially the greatest mum in the world............And i have re booked our other tickets. Downside that i have had to fork out £1500 on top of the original £1300 but prices have gone up. Hopefully though i will eventually get my £1300 back and we are all now excited about our trip on the 24th March. Once again thanks for all who replied.

Well that is great news! And not long now till your trip