HOLIDAYMAKERS with trips booked with Tui, Lastminute.com and Loveholidays have accused the firms of refusing to refund deposits – and say they've had to continue making payments.
That's despite their trips being unlikely to go ahead given the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has put an indefinite ban on overseas travel due to coronavirus.
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Consumer organisation Which? says it's heard from "huge numbers" of people who've been asked to continue paying for holidays that will probably be cancelled, or face losing hundreds of pounds worth of deposits.
It adds that in some cases travel firms are also demanding more money in order to change the date of trips or to process cash refunds.
The Sun has also seen complaints on social media where customers face the difficult decision of losing their deposits or continuing to pay without knowing when they might be refunded if trips are eventually cancelled.
Others whose paid-for trips have already been cancelled report waiting over a month for refunds, including The Sun reader Harry Moor (see the box below).
'I've been waiting a month for my £4,300 refund'
HARRY Moor (pictured on holiday in Singapore) had booked a dream two-week getaway to St Lucia with his wife earlier this year, which was due to go ahead on March 16.
The 74-year-old retiree from Cardiff told The Sun that his trip was unsurprisingly cancelled eight days before it was due to go ahead because of the coronavirus crisis.
But over a month later and Harry says he's still waiting on a £4,293 refund for the all-inclusive trip.
"I'm fortunate that I get a regular pension from my old job in insurance, so my monthly income hasn't been affected by the epidemic and my wife is able to continue working in her role for the NHS," Harry told The Sun.
"But I really feel for the self-employed and others whose income has been affected and who now can't afford to wait on these refunds.
"TUI is just sitting on our money. Knowing that it takes them seconds to process a payment I would think that a refund would take a similar time.
"I've been on hold for hours and I'm still no closer to knowing when I'll be refunded."
'I have to pay £2,500 for a trip in July or lose £800 deposit'
One person wrote on Twitter: "I cancelled my holiday and lost my £800 deposit for a holiday end of June.
"I did this online via Manage My Booking on March 21 and still have not had my refund when online it stated three to five days for refund, and then email sent stating four weeks and no one is replying to my DMs (Tui)."
Another wrote: "We are also in same position – pay £2,500 on Saturday for July holiday to Tunisia that won’t happen, or lose our £800 deposit (or pay £800 to change our holiday dates) -we will never book a holiday with @TUIUK again after this."
Someone else added: "So @lastminute_com has emailed to say it intends to take the money out of my bank account for my holiday due to take place in May.
"If I don’t pay the full balance then I’ll forfeit the holiday and my deposit. Nice work."
Another commented: "@lastminute_com I booked my holiday since January and paid deposit, it's not possible to go to Ibiza due to travel ban and you guys are sending an email I should pay my balance, balance to go where? Can a human being help resolve this My trip is May 21."
Someone else wrote: "@loveholidays your customer service is appalling. You forced us to pay our final instalment even though the holiday had been cancelled, end each chat session or phone call after 2mins, wont accept our voucher as a deposit.
"You are awful. Full refund now please wont use you again."
Another said: "Just paid £3,500 to @loveholidays for a holiday i know we won't be going on… Going full Jackie Chan on them if we don't get it back!"
Should I continue paying holiday installments?
Which?'s advice is to continue paying for the holiday and to then claim back the cash in full if and when the trip is cancelled.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: "Where possible, you should continue paying the installments for upcoming package holidays to avoid losing your deposit.
"If cancelled, package holiday providers are legally obliged to refund you.
"It's important to be aware you may have to wait for the money to be returned to you though, as some firms have told customers they will not be processing refunds for a number of months, while others are only offering credit notes.
"Unfortunately, if you decide not to pay for the remainder of the holiday it's unlikely you will be able to claim the costs back from your insurer.
"If you cannot afford to pay, speak to your holiday provider about rearranging the holiday for a later date and delaying the payments."
What's happening to my Tui, Lastminute.com and Loveholidays trip?
Lastminute.com – you have longer to pay
Lastminute.com's website says it's giving those with payments still to settle more time to do so, although it's unclear what this means in reality.
It says customers will receive an email in the next few days containing information on the new terms of their payment plan.
If you still want to cancel, Lastminute.com says you can do so from your online customer account but says you will be charged cancellation fees if travel restrictions have lifted by the time your trip rolls around.
Lastminute.com has yet to respond to The Sun's request for further information and comment.
Loveholidays – trips up to April 30 cancelled
Loveholidays has cancelled all bookings up to and including April 30, 2020 and says it won't take any more upcoming payments for these trips.
These customers will be refunded with an ATOL/ABTA protected credit note, which they can swap for a cash refund at a later date – currently after July 31, 2020
For holidays due after April 30, 2020, it recommends people continue to pay their instalments as they could be charged for cancelling or changing trips.
A Loveholidays spokesperson said: "We recommend our customers who still have outstanding monthly payments to make towards future holidays that have not been cancelled continue to pay these to ensure that they can go on those holidays if travel restrictions are lifted before then.
"While we understand that this may be unsettling given the current uncertainty, their money is fully ATOL protected and not at risk should their holiday subsequently need to be cancelled.
"We recommend that customers do not pre-emptively choose to cancel their holiday at this time to ensure they avoid incurring cancellation charges.
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"If customers wish to amend their holiday bookings they should note that while Loveholidays has waived its own amendment fees where such amendments arise as a result of holiday bookings requiring cancellation due to travel restrictions within its cancellation policy period, hotels and airlines may charge their own fees."
Tui – trips up to May 1 cancelled
TUI is currently cancelling holidays for those travelling on or before May 14, 2020.
However, its online FAQs fails to detail what to do if you've paid a deposit for a trip that's yet to be cancelled and that you're still being requested payments for.
We've asked TUI what customers can do and we'll update this story as soon as we get a response.
A TUI UK spokesperson said: "We have now contacted all 170,000 customer bookings impacted by cancellations until 15 May.
"We recognise that our initial approach of calling all customers was taking too long, so we’ve introduced a refund credit system – which includes an additional 20 per cent booking incentive – so customers can manage any changes online to save time.
"The refund credit is valid until October 31, 2021. Customers can also call us to request a full refund and we are working through these as quickly as possible."
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