Anyone who may have a Delta flight and is being stonewalled by an agent should be aware Delta airlines has been refunding direct bookings, no hassles.
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Hi All
I am also having the same issue as most. My travel agent wont refund me the full amount I paid for 2 adult and 2 child airfares. We are suppose to be travelling with Emirates in late July 2020.
Emirates currently have three options available:
- Keep ticket open
- Travel Voucher
- Refund
As I booked the airfares through a travel agent, I can only deal with the travel agent directly.
Travel Voucher:
The travel agent is offering a travel voucher, however the travel voucher is in the name of the travel agency.
I am reluctant to take this option they have indirectly mentioned in an email that they are currently operating to assist their clients but may not be their in the foreseeable future due to the current Travel bans in plans in Australia.
The majority of their business is for international travel. It is not one of our big named travel agencies, it is a privately 1 shop travel agency.
So if I take this voucher and the close shop, the voucher becomes null and void. I mean if it was Flight Centre, I wouldn’t hesitate to take the voucher.
Refund
While they are offering me a refund, but not a full refund.Emirates have waived all cancellation and service fee for all airfare types. I have that in writing from Emirates. However the travel agency now wants to compensate the commission that Emirates will recall from them if I cancel my airfares.
I wanted to see if I was up for additional charges with the travel agency before I decide what option i will take. I was not able to locate booking terms and conditions on my itinerary or on a website, so I contacted them via email to be told it was on the tax Invoice they issued me. Unfortunately they did not issue me a tax invoice for my $6,000 I paid, they only provided me my itinerary.
I posted on social media and some else who had booked with the agency, but did it in person (not via email like myself) was provided with a tax invoice which included the travel agencies booking terms and conditions. This would constitute a breach, as they are required to issue a tax invoice for an expense over $82.50.
The travel agencies condition is a $100 service fee for changes or cancellations to booking. My question is can they now also compensate the commission if it is recalled by Emirates.
Welcome to the community @Bella84.
The ACCC advice says “businesses are not permitted to change the terms at a later time to deny you a refund.”
While the agent is not technically denying you a refund, if they’ve changed the T&Cs to substantially reduce the amount of that refund, that would likely be considered an unfair contract term.
Additionally, an earlier ACCC guide to Australian Consumer Law for the travel industry says they can charge a cancellation fee that reflects “the reasonable costs associated with making the booking”. If they don’t reflect reasonable costs, then it may be seen as a penalty, which they generally can’t enforce.
So they would have to justify that charging you the commission they otherwise would’ve received, reflects the reasonable cost of the cancellation. Personally, I doubt it does.
For more information, see our advice on travel agent refunds (if you haven’t already).
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Booked a return flight for myself and my wife for a trip to Canada due to leave September 2020.
Air New Zealand informed me the flight from Cairns to Auckland had been cancelled and subsequent flights also cancelled.
They offered a credit for A$6,200 that would be raised when they got around to it due to a high workload.
I tried all of their recommended phone numbers, all were engaged or not connected.
I was on their main line for 1 hour and 10 minutes before my ear went numb and I hung up.
I really object to this airline hiding behind the excuse of being to busy to address my request for a refund.
A credit makes me a unsecured creditor of Air New Zealand a position I never wanted,
Travelers to the USA and those transiting the USA get a full refund from Air NZ.
We may never use the credit if it ever arrives as we are getting older and like many retired people we may not be able to use air fare credits in the future.
For those Air NZ customers who may be out of work or affected by the Covid-19 situation having their cash could be critical for their well being.
Yes I had travel insurance (always do) however as with most travel insurance it was not worth the paper it’s written on.
Visa have walked away due to their requirement to claim against the supplier within a specified time period, NOTE to Self - enroll in mind reading course.
Feeling very ripped off, gone is my A$6,200 or what ever that is Kiwi.
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Welcome to the community @Happycamper777 - I moved your OP to this inclusive topic as many, many have had similar issues over past months.
What you are experiencing is ANZ’s response to disparate consumer laws that apply in differing countries.
Unfortunately that can often be the case with any airline when you need help, COVID-19 disruptions or just bad weather at one of their hubs. If you booked direct it might be worthwhile to persevere contacting them for a refund, and unfortunately that is always at the passenger’s inconvenience.
Speaker phones come in very handy for holds. I make use of mine more than I would prefer.
As ANZ is doing business in Australia you might refer to the responses citing the ACCC and Choice advices linked to previous posts in this topic. You are far from alone, but at least a few have had from good to acceptable outcomes.
Please let us know how you go.
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We have been trying to get information about Webjet Exclusives in order to lodge a small claim for the loss of travel money - we have a letter promising a full refund, but each time we are given assurances it will be paid, weeks go passed with no refund. We have written to ASIC pointing out that Webjet Exclusives is a registered business but they (ASIC) have not recorded the ABN associated with it. The question for the Choice Community is, “Has anyone managed to get an ASIC search for Webjet Exclusives that identifies the Directors and their trading address?” Thank you
Many thanks
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Hi @TravelAction, welcome to the community.
Do you have any further business details?
Webjet Exclusives may not exist as a separate company.
The following appears to suggest it is simply a Business or Trading Name for Webjet Marketing Pty Ltd, (ABN 84 063 430 848).
https://exclusives.webjet.com.au/terms-conditions/
Large businesses often trade under multiple identities and use multiple related entities. You may find Webjet Marketing Pty Ltd is also not much more than an accounting and tax convenience with a nominal director. Were there further ABN details in the tax invoice you received for your bookings?
P.S.
Per ASIC search ‘Webjet Exclusives’ is simply a business name.
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Mark - Hi and many thanks for getting back to me. It is apparent from a wide range of websites that provide travel reviews that Webjet Exclusives is not giving refunds as promised (at this stage). In our own business registration we have provided details about the business owners name and address - and in the case of the registered business called Webjet Exclusives, there should be a person named as the business owner. What we do know is that our money went to an account in Melbourne called Webjet Exclusives. I thought that someone in the Choice Community may have already walked this ground and come up with the business owners name and address? Perhaps not?? Regards
There will be directors of the company which will be named as persons responsible for the business. These can be obtained by paying for a detailed company search. This search will also provide the registered address of the company.
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Many thanks - just wondering how others have moved fwd with Webjet Exclusives and whether or not someone else has actually done the search. We will do the search in the coming days and share it on a large number of sites. Regards
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Here is the Product Review reviews for Webjet Exclusives.
And the even more disgusting reviews for Webjet.com.au.
You are certainly not alone in your problems with this disgraceful bunch of charlatans.
/begin editing to tidy up
Senior management information is available from the Wall Street Journal. It may be subscription walled and since I do not frequent the site often it might be my monthly free visit.
Another link showing similar details is Reuters.
Webjet Marketing is stated as being part of Webjet Ltd Group, a public company. on the Webjet website and Exclusives appears to be just part of the mix.
Virtually all relevant contact information as well as the principles involved are in their annual reports, available from the Webjet web site.
\end editing
I trust that is helpful and the companies are in fact the same group with the same board level management as it appears.
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Keep in mind, regardless of promises made, Webjet as a public company has it first responsibility to operating under ASIC rules, and then for shareholders. Customers are unsecured creditors when it hits the fan. If management promised to refund but then discovered it might make the company insolvent, the directors would become personally liable for trading while insolvent and the company could be put into administration. Management will not ‘go there’. If that is what is happening there is no winning outcome except patience to see how it goes. While it does not seem ‘right’ to keep cancellation fees the agent did provide ‘valuable services’ ; if I use the analogy of a surgeon who operates but the patient dies, he and the hospital still present their bills and get paid. Re an agent keeping cancellation fees for ‘valuable services’ done? 100% credit on file might be a good outcome for many, excepting those who know they will be unable to travel in future, or if Webjet goes into administration.
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Hi @TravelAction & welcome to the forum.
I have moved your post to this thread which is about issues with travel during the COVID crisis, so other people looking fpr information (as you did) might find it more easily.
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hi
I booked a trip to China with TripADeal. Reading other comments , resonates strongly with my current situation. I booked in 06/2019and cancelled in 03/2020. Travel insurance is underwritten (with NAB credit card ) by Allianz. My claim has been denied x2. They claim that due to the Govt instituting the travel ban- Allianz will not pay out on this …TripADeal reassured us until March 5 that the trip to China in May was to go ahead. until that last email on March 5, we were ‘reassured’- However, Allianz claims that the travel ban was effective in February . I am out of pocket. No product to show for this. No trip. no money and still paying off the debt. How are we not protected? I have just emailed NAB re : credit card chargeback. For us, the man in the street, we have no voice and feeling bullied , that these companies can just take our money and no one is held accountable. Following the outcome of the next review, I hope to take it to the AFCA. Not sure how Allianz expected me to contravene a Govt order , or get to China , with which particular airline… or iF I would have been covered had I gone there against a govt directive… I do feel its a contradiction of terms here and the truth is twisted to serve their purpose. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t- how is that possible? As life slowly returns to and resembles a different normality, I feel the hype and hysteria and grave concerns of COVID 19, that was so palpable and tangible back in the peak times, has slowly dampened down. Unfortunately. So, now on reflection , we forget that non negotiable life saving commands and measures that were implemented- to protect us.
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Welcome to the community @natessa
I moved your post to this topic since you are not alone with tripadeal. You might be interested in the class action (Slater and Gordon) as well as other advice including from Choice and the ACCC.
Plz let us know if you take further action and achieve a resolution
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hi
I have looked at the Slater and Gordon class action. They currently doing the Travel vouchers, but will still email them with my enquiry. I got nothing to lose and everything to gain- have already lost my mind over this.
Thank you
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I have booked a trip to Uluru, accommodation directly with Voyages Ayers Rock Resort. They are currently closed due to the Covid 19 pandemic and we will not be able to go. They wrote offering to rebook for later this year or next year. We will however be moving to Europe and would like a refund instead of the rebooking. I’ve filled out their form online, phoned, emailed, no reply whatsoever… This has been going on for several weeks now. How do I proceed? I do not even have a proof that they received my request, as no confirmation email was sent. The trip was due to be this week. Thanks for any advice
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On their web site they have the following text:
" Ayers Rock Resort is currently closed due to the impact of COVID-19 and related Northern Territory border and remote community closures. We are currently taking general bookings from 1 August 2020, although this will be reviewed regularly should circumstances change. The Lost Camel Hotel is open for limited bookings for local residents and other guests who meet the mandated travel requirements and adhere to COVID-19 guidelines regarding health and safety. For guests travelling from outside the area a mandatory 14 day self-isolation period will apply. Please refer to our FAQ page for further information."
So there may be no-one there to respond to your enquiries. Your trip is definitely off.
I suggest that you wait and let them get back to you in due course.
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Welcome to the site @lenamilo
I have moved your post to this already existing topic that covers much of the same problems you are having. Hopefully by reading through the posts you may get a feel for what steps to undertake next. Others here may be able to help provide more advice that relates more directly to your issues.
If you paid by Credit Card consider seeking a chargeback through your bank, if you paid by Paypal you may also be able to access their Buyer’s Protection. There may be other things you can consider such as a complaint via Fair Trading.
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