Do ALL of these things plus contact any tv, radio, newspaper or magazine and provide them your story.
I also strongly recommend that you consider
The terms and conditions you booked under cannot be changed
Hello. My husband and I were also booked to go on this tour, leaving 10 March. I rang Emirates and Costa on the 10 March and was told we could reschedule but only through Trip A Deal. Trip A Deal refused. Offered us no re-compensation or changes only a cancellation. No refunds at all. Poor service.
Can you please tell me what to look up on Slater and Gordon? I have looked and canāt find any specifics. We would like to join.
Many thanks.
JAB
The page to register with them is
https://www.slatergordon.com.au/class-actions/current-class-actions/travel-vouchers
A surprising bit is their focus is on companies refusing refunds, only offering travel vouchers. It is not obvious if their investigation and possible class action will extend to companies that simply tell their customers to rack off, no refund, no voucher.
You can only discover that by engaging with S&G.
is a key point. Start by reading them carefully.
With Many tours cancelled due to Covid-19, I attempted to get a refund for my mother.
TADeal, only offered a credit for a similar trip to China plus a $99 re-booking fee.
This offer had a time limit which I regard as pressure selling to try to force people (mostly elderly) into accepting an unfair offer.
I tried to argue for a refund but was informed by choice and other agencies under current circumstances this is unlikely. So I tried to argue the $99 re-booking fee is unfair as well as the China Trip condition. TADeal unequivocally stated that they buy tours and services in bulk which is why they are only offering other China tours as they themselves will not be getting refunded.
What they did not know (Iām guessing) that while they still pushed this line, my mothers travelling companion had agreed to pay the re-booking fee as long as she could use her credit on other trips rather than China. They agreed to this. Makes you question the validity of their claim to losses and so I feel a re-booking fee is also unfair. Over the next few weeks I can only say that this is the worst customer service I have ever experienced and eventually they offered the same deal, of a general credit but the re-booking fee will stand. My mother was getting stressed she would lose all her money. TADeal refused on many occasions my request to speak to management and eventually my mother instructed me to accept their offer.
Below is the email I sent to them summarising my experience.
Many other companies have not only refunded but offered discount vouchers to keep their customers. Eventually this will all be over and all we can now do is share the experience with others. I believe we see the true face of an organisation when things donāt go to plan and how they deal with it.
And funnily enough, now that I have accepted their offer, my emails have been responded to immediately!
I do not believe that my correspondence and requests were ever forwarded to management.
The biggest problem with TAD is they insist you pay fully up front months in advance - something I normally refuse and always advise against.
We will never use TADeal again and I urge others to look more closely at the companies who really looked after their clients in these difficult times!
To M
I can now unequivocally state that TripADeal has the worst customer service and communication I have ever encountered and I hold your organisation up against dealing with banks, utilities and telcos.
From your initial unfair āofferā, which I regard as time limited pressure selling trying to force people in accepting unfair deals.
Then to having a customer service operator sprout terms conditions and figures following being refused to speak to a manager until pressed.
Following this - no contact - being forcing to send a follow up email on your web site.
Then you refusing again my requests to speak to a manager (twice). Having to chase up emails as no response given. The last one being two weeks after I immediately responded to yours.
And finally, the above email stating that your manager will contact me by the end of the week?? Again nearly two weeks ago. The end of that week, the end of another week and the start of a new one has come and gone!
And so I will repeat what I said - as you insist services are paid for up front, this puts you and your organisation in a position of power and I regard this entire episode as an abuse of that power, plainly discourteous and unprofessional.
And why? Simply because I was trying to get a better deal for my mother! Rather than the unfair one you offer in your position of power.
So I can congratulate you M, as I represent my mothers interest and not my own, she has instructed me to accept your offer because she fears that she will lose everything so your strategy of delay has been effective. She has instructed me to accept a general credit and she will pay a $99 re-booking fee.
My motherās email is:
XXXXXXXXXXXX
She is expecting you will send an official email confirming this offer as I am expecting a response as well.
As previous experience dictates in regards to communication, I have also sent a copy of this email on your web pages ācontact usā point and will do so on a daily basis until an official offer arrives
Jerry
on behalf of CXXXXX XXXXXX
IMHO there is no longer a reason to use travel agents like TripaDeal. Once we can travel book online using sites like Rome2Rio to help you plan.
Donāt prepay travel agents unless you have written confirmation of refunds first.
I paid TripaDeal $5000 /person for a trip of a lifetime and tried to cancel. TaD cancelled the trip and refuses to refund my money. They even challenged my credit card chargeback.
They offered time-Limited vouchers which are worthless if you canāt travel before they expire.
Australian consumer law says Iām entitled to a refund so I will take them to VCAT and NCAT.
I would never deal with Trip A Deal again.
In my opinion they are greedy and insensitive to the needs and rights of their customers. It was the support of older Australians that enabled TaD to grow 400% and itās that support that will be ripped from them.
We had a China trip booked July 2019 for April 2020. It was cancelled because of coronavirus. We had 4 days following the cancellation to choose to accept a credit. We accepted the credit and also completed a claim withour insurance, Tick. They have denied the claim because we have accepted a credit.
We have approached Tripadeal for a refund following denial of the claim. They only talk about Best Endeavour Refund, with no promise of amount or length of delay.
Can you suggest other avenues please.
Welcome to the community @jh105
Were there any and what was the other option(s)?
That was a trigger for insurance refusing regardless if there was COVID-19 cover applicable. Since you had credit you had no loss to claim. You are not the first to fall into a similar trap.
They may have prepaid tour operators themselves, and are in a bad way for cash flow, hence best efforts, dependent on how and when they can regroup and get their own refunds.
Unfortunately, not I. You might get some ideas by perusing this topic from the beginning but I am not confident you will find any better alternative than keeping credit on file assuming you can travel in future, or waiting and hoping.
What are the terms of the credit? i.e. expiry etc
What did they tell you your options were at the time you accepted a credit? If they said there were no refunds, then thatās missleading.
Well we were offered full credit, initially just for China but extended in 2 days to any TripADeal tour, with the offer to be accepted within 4 days. The alternative given was to cancel the booking and liaise with travel insurance provider. The travel insurance would have been negated by refusal to accept a credit. There was no offer of a refund.The terms of the credit are that it is valid for twelve months after 25/3/2020 and that bookings must be made during that time. The travel dates must fall between 30/4/2020 and 31/12/2021.
Never book with Tripadeal they take your money and donāt supply what you paid for to get a refund go to NCAT the only way that you can get your money back after my trip was cancelled
Welcome to the community @marl
Would you like to expand on what happened? Was it related to Covid19 cancellations or something else?
All tour companies have been impacted, some more than others. I moved your post to this topic as you may find helpful information here, or search the forum for Covid-19 topics to see how others have fared.
I was just extremely disappointed with my dealings with TripAdeal as they have a very poor manner of customer service. Coming close to our travel date in May, they did not communicate any updates about COVID. Continue to chase we finally received a general email notification 4 weeks before our travel date stating that it was cancelled And refunds would not be granted but only credit. With not knowing what the future held I politely asked for a refund where I continually got ignored. After serval emails and seeking legal support I sent them a letter stating my rights. I got a phone call stating a particle refund would be given however they will keep 10% for admin fee. Theh also stated the amount of refund would be done within 14 business days. After the 14 business day I still had not received further correspondence about the 10% admin fee as I disputed this, as well as didnāt receive my refund until 21 days after. I have continued to email the person Iāve been dealing with - S****** K**** who continues to ignore my emails. The last time I made contact with her she advised she was too busy to deal with my email and that it was priority. I donāt think this is great customer service.
I understand the industry is in a struggle, as I work for a hotel chain myself - but this kind of service is definitely not great customer service considering a lot of people are in hard financial ship times.
I will continue to chase the 10% admin fee as they have not been able to delivery any documentation that states they are entitled to keep these funds!!!
Do not book tours with this company - they do not treat customers with respect and basically they will take your money and not follow through on there customer service.
Hi Tina and a big welcome to the community.
Sharing your experience will certainly encourage others chasing refunds from TripAdeal. Hopefully you will get a better response re the admin fee. There is a long discussion concerning travel cancelation and refunds in another community topic. There are many who have not done as well as you have in similar circumstances.
Not exactly a review, but looks like a job well done for TripADeal stepping up as they have.
I recently bought a cruise from TripADeal which was cancelled 5 months later and 8 months before it was due to sail. it was a rare offering to PNG . I was told I cannot have a refund but can put the credit towards something else. In other words, something I donāt want and which will probably mean more outlay. Also there is a limited time to use the credit or you lose it.
Does anyone else think this looks like a scam of sorts?
Hi @amber, welcome to the community.
It is worth going back and reading the terms and conditions associated with your booking. See what it says about TripADeal cancelling a booking.
The ACCC website also has useful informationā¦
Whilst the ACCC website is about Covid related cancellations, the also applies to cancellations in general.
The TAD refund policy clearly states a refund will be offered if the supplier cancels the paid-for service. This was the case with us .
Another thing I would like to clarify - if you donāt take up their credit offer within a given time-frame, you lose it. So who gets it? TAD? So they are more entitled to your money than you are???
What authority gives them the right to retain your hard-earned money??
āTripADeal doesnāt give refundsā is he exact quote.
Competition is alive and well, but maybe less so in Australia?
