LowCost Holiday Company Gone

The Bishop Basher

andrew1977 wrote: »

Various people say Visa Debit holds the same protection as Visa Credit, but nothing concrete can I find on any reputable website/source.

This is for AIB anyway...

http://www.aibms.com/help/management-tasks/dealing-chargebacks/


"All merchants accepting debit and credit card payments are liable for chargebacks in the circumstances outlined."

One of those circumstances is...

"Non-delivery, where the cardholder disputes the sale for reasons such as failure to receive goods or services"

ibarelycare

I just spoke to a lady in CAR on the phone (very helpful considering they must be absolutely inundated today - 20 min wait time!) to query the figure I should put on the form, as the flights are confirmed to be booked and paid for. She said to include the full figure and the breakdown and put a note to say that the flights are paid for. She said to include any paperwork and be as clear as possible. They understandably have absolutely no idea on the timeline for the claims to be processed but advised to get it in as soon as possible.

Anno2

Unfortunately I had two holidays booked
The first one, I only paid for accommodation with LCH so I know I have to do the charge back with my bank and possibly just lose the flights as the hotels have gone sky high. I might get something back from the tax.
The second holiday was a complete package so I will hopefully get this back from CAR. My only worry is that the flights were confirmed for this and I'm not sure if they will refund these too as part of the package?

ideb

Anno2 wrote: »

Unfortunately I had two holidays booked
The first one, I only paid for accommodation with LCH so I know I have to do the charge back with my bank and possibly just lose the flights as the hotels have gone sky high. I might get something back from the tax.

Have you asked the hotels involved whether they have your booking? If they have your booking it may just be a matter of paying the same cost again. I'm not sure.....and it would probably depend on the hotel, but I reckon a lot of the hotels won't want to actually lose the bookings.

RE. the 2nd holiday I'm not certain on this, but I reckon you wouldn't be covered for the flights. The flight booking is available to you so you can go. It would be seen that you are cancelling the holiday. I could be wrong in my interpretation on this.

chillipoop

Credit card and debit card has same protection in ireland can find details in money guide ireland.com

chillipoop

Hotel in tenerife did confirm my booking is in their system but not paid!!! Annoying thing is they claim they don't know the balance and need third party to contact them and my only option is to wait....wtf
I've emailed and scanned copy of my booking hopefully they will honour the price as everything around the area has gone up the roof.

ibarelycare

We're lucky we're not going until September so it's not quite the busiest of times. We're flexible enough too (don't have kids, don't mind what resort we stay in). I ended up booking a lovely hotel for nearly €600 cheaper than the price that our original hotel was asking for, just in a different resort a few km down the road. It's through booking.com with free cancellation and no deposit so we'll decide this week which one to go with and then cancel the other one. The original hotel really is beautiful and more luxurious but €600 extra in our pockets going on holidays would be nice

Tippex

chillipoop wrote: »

Hotel in tenerife did confirm my booking is in their system but not paid!!! Annoying thing is they claim they don't know the balance and need third party to contact them and my only option is to wait....wtf
I've emailed and scanned copy of my booking hopefully they will honour the price as everything around the area has gone up the roof.

I would say they are hedging their bets on that one.
The odds are that Lowcost may have booked through an intermediary and the hotel will only have the details of the price it was booked on their contract (with the intermediary) at and have no idea what lowcost sold it to you for. So they will need to deal with the intermediary and have them cancel it. It is a massive web and can be an absolute pain.

chillipoop

Just got a reply from hotel and they told me my booking has been cancelled, they won't honor original booking.....went online straight away to rebook but the dates I wanted are all gone.....luckily I've just manage booked another hotel through ebookers for extra €450 with only 1 room available and 7 people viewing at the same time.
Been to ulster bank about debit card charge back... the staff are well aware of lowcost and said they will phone back.

chillin117

Had a low cost beds voucher (same company) for tomorrow night flight with Budget travel. Because I booked the lot through them they take the hit, Thank God.

Tippex

chillin117 wrote: »

Had a low cost beds voucher (same company) for tomorrow night flight with Budget travel. Because I booked the lot through them they take the hit, Thank God.

It's the beauty of booking (flights and accommodation) with a travel agent if and when things go wrong they are responsible for resolving it.

chillin117

Tippex wrote: »

It's the beauty of booking (flights and accommodation) with a travel agent if and when things go wrong they are responsible for resolving it.

The email I got
Important Message from Budget Travel Dear Customer,
In light of the recent news that LowCostHolidays has ceased trading, we would like to reassure you that your booking with Budget Travel will proceed as planned.

A number of media publications circulated inaccurate information over the weekend which suggested that Budget Travel, not LowCostHolidays, had ceased trading. We would like to reassure you that Budget Travel is trading as normal.
Budget Travel is owned by the largest travel agent in Ireland, Club Travel, and we are fully licensed and bonded and in operation for over 45 years, so your holiday is safe with us.
May we take this opportunity to thank you for booking with us and wish you a very pleasant holiday.

Kind regards,
Budget Travel

uck51js9zml2yt

Heard back from my hotel in Portugal. I've to give them another 708€.
I've emailed acceptance and need to call them when I get home with my credit card number.

Still to hear back from Avant Card about the charge back.

ibarelycare

Bf spoke to BOI who said if we do the chargeback process with them we should be refunded within 60 days. Wondering whether to go with them rather than CAR.

HelgaWard

The hotel we booked with Low Cost Holidays still have our reservation, they said they have been told by Low Cost Holidays that they won't receive payment from them. We paid in full in January. They have upped the price of the stay by €200, so they are not honoring the price we got when we paid the initial booking. I think this is such bad form, talk about profiteering on somebody else misfortune.

meme74

ibarelycare wrote: »

Bf spoke to BOI who said if we do the chargeback process with them we should be refunded within 60 days. Wondering whether to go with them rather than CAR.

Hi ibarelycare can I ask when were u due to travel? We were told by BOI we wouldn't get refund until after the date of the holiday passed which is oct

ibarelycare

meme74 wrote: »

Hi ibarelycare can I ask when were u due to travel? We were told by BOI we wouldn't get refund until after the date of the holiday passed which is oct

We're due to travel in September, so we most likely won't get the refund until after the date the holiday has passed either, but they didn't say on the phone that they wouldn't process it til after that date, just that it would take up to 60 days.

Tippex

HelgaWard wrote: »

The hotel we booked with Low Cost Holidays still have our reservation, they said they have been told by Low Cost Holidays that they won't receive payment from them. We paid in full in January. They have upped the price of the stay by €200, so they are not honoring the price we got when we paid the initial booking. I think this is such bad form, talk about profiteering on somebody else misfortune.

There is no guarantee that the price you paid is higher than what the hotel would have received from LowCost (they have been known to undercut other providers and go for market share) not saying that is the case but it could be.

I do agree it is bad for but unfortunately you are at their behest and they know it.

HelgaWard

Tippex wrote: »

There is no guarantee that the price you paid is higher than what the hotel would have received from LowCost (they have been known to undercut other providers and go for market share) not saying that is the case but it could be.

That would help explain why they have gone bust so!! Although the hotel are not claiming they would have got more from LowCost, they said the reason we need to pay more is because they are charging their other guests this price and couldn't be seen to give some customers a favorable rate. Which is a load of bull**** because they were happy to only charge us that price last week.

Tippex wrote: »

I do agree it is bad for but unfortunately you are at their behest and they know it.

Yes, but they are also at the behest of potential negative internet reviews.

chillin117

HelgaWard wrote: »

That would help explain why they have gone bust so!! Although the hotel are not claiming they would have got more from LowCost, they said the reason we need to pay more is because they are charging their other guests this price and couldn't be seen to give some customers a favorable rate. Which is a load of bull**** because they were happy to only charge us that price last week.



Yes, but they are also at the behest of potential negative internet reviews.

I think you should take your ''ire'' out on Low Cost not the hotel. I am sure the Hotel got Royally screwed by Low Cost. The very word probably raises blood pressure down at reception...

HelgaWard

chillin117 wrote: »

I think you should take your ''ire'' out on Low Cost not the hotel. I am sure the Hotel got Royally screwed by Low Cost. The very word probably raises blood pressure down at reception...

Well then the hotel likewise should take their "ire" out on low cost holidays and not on their future customers by screwing them for extra money.

GaGa21

We are flying out on Wed and I was waiting 2 days to hear back from hotel regarding our booking. They said that our booking was still valid, we would just have to pay on arrival but price would not be the same....it's actually €110 cheaper!
Was so relieved. Now we can enjoy our holiday and just send everything required to the bank for charge back. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long.

uck51js9zml2yt

Called my hotel with my credit card number this evening. €40 cheaper than LCH @708.
Their website was showing 1100. Happy I saved a few quid.

Now just for Avant to refund me.

Anno2

ideb wrote: »

Have you asked the hotels involved whether they have your booking? If they have your booking it may just be a matter of paying the same cost again. I'm not sure.....and it would probably depend on the hotel, but I reckon a lot of the hotels won't want to actually lose the bookings.

RE. the 2nd holiday I'm not certain on this, but I reckon you wouldn't be covered for the flights. The flight booking is available to you so you can go. It would be seen that you are cancelling the holiday. I could be wrong in my interpretation on this.

Thanks for the reply! I checked the aviationreg website and it says:

'If your airline says you can travel but you have established that your accommodation has not been paid for by Lowcostholidays Spain S.L. you can
1 - proceed with your travel plans, pay for your accommodation yourself and then claim a refund of the original accommodation cost by completing the attached claim form and submitting it to CAR.
2 - you can choose not to travel and claim a refund by completing the attached claim form and submitting it to CAR.'

So I also rang twice - one guy told me I'd have to claim back from Aer lingus which is totally wrong... and the next person told me I should be good to claim the entire package back but it could take months...

I rang both hotels and both wanted more than the original price paid! There goes my holidays this year!

ibarelycare

Sorry to hear did you book with CC? Might be quicker to go that route.

Anno2

ibarelycare wrote: »

Sorry to hear did you book with CC? Might be quicker to go that route.

For the first trip I'll just lose the flights and will have to claim off my CC for the accommodation as this was not booked as part of a package (Flights failed to book with LCH and I ended up booking them myself!!) 2nd trip it just works out cheaper for me to claim the entire lot back!
I'm sick of the thought of holidays after all this trouble!

Rizzoli1

We are due to fly on Thurs. The flights were confirmed but we have had to pay again for our apartment. Am I better off to claim from CAR or through a chargeback to AIB? Paid for the holiday by Visa credit card.

Alrite Chief

ibarelycare wrote: »

Bf spoke to BOI who said if we do the chargeback process with them we should be refunded within 60 days. Wondering whether to go with them rather than CAR.

There are 4 options available I would apply to them all. Chargeback, CAR, travel insurance and appointed liquidators who have set up a claim process. Whoever you can get your money back from first then you can stop proceeding with others.

Tippex

Rizzoli1 wrote: »

We are due to fly on Thurs. The flights were confirmed but we have had to pay again for our apartment. Am I better off to claim from CAR or through a chargeback to AIB? Paid for the holiday by Visa credit card.

If you paid in a single transaction I dont think you can do a partial refund on the chargeback so will need to be theough CAR (I'm open to correction on that I think it would be a refund on the whole lot or nothing)

meme74

Our hotel have told us they will "honour" our booking but then tried to charge us €350 more than we paid with LCH. Such a pity these hotels are cashing in on such an unfortunate situation