LOVEHOLIDAYS is set to refund £18million to 44,000 customers who’ve had their holidays cancelled due to the coronavirus crisis.
Hundreds of holidaymakers complained to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) after the firm refused to fully refund them.
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When customers contacted LoveHolidays to request a refund, they were told they would only receive the money back for their flights once the firm had received the cash from airlines.
The investigation comes after The Sun reported LoveHolidays to the CMA in July for wrongly delaying refunds.
Consumer law states that airlines and travel package providers must give customers’ their money back if the firm cancels their trip.
If your holiday is cancelled by your tour operator, the money has to be refunded within 14 days, or seven days if the airline called off your flights.
Travel agents are also legally bound to refund customers for Covid-19 cancellations, regardless of whether or not they’ve received the money from suppliers.
Following the CMA investigation, LoveHolidays has now promised to ensure affected customers receive all their money back by the spring.
The travel company has so far refunded £7million to 20,000 customers since the investigation began.
The majority of remaining refunds will be paid back in full by March 2021 the latest, the CMA said.
When will LoveHolidays refund customers?
IN order for consumers to receive their money back as quickly as possible, refunds will be made in two parts.
Refunds for hotel accommodation and transfers
- For holidays cancelled before November 1, customers will be paid back by December 31
- For holidays cancelled between November 1 and December 31 (inclusive), customers will be paid by January 31, 2021
- For holidays cancelled between January 1, 2021 and April 30, 2021 (inclusive), customers will be paid within 14 days of cancellation
Refunds for the cost of flights
- For holidays cancelled before August 24, customers will be paid by February 28, 2021
- For holidays cancelled between August 24 and October 31 (inclusive), customers will be paid by March 31, 2021
- For holidays cancelled between November 1, 2020 and 31 March 2021 (inclusive), customers will be paid by April 30, 2021
- For holidays cancelled between April 1, 2021 and April 30, 2021 (inclusive), customers will be paid by May 31, 2021.
For trips cancelled from May 1, 2021 onwards, LoveHolidays has promised to pay customers full refunds within 14 days.
If LoveHolidays fails to repay customers by this date, the CMA said it’s prepared to take the company to court.
In September, LoveHolidays quit as a member of industry body ABTA, blaming conflicting views on cancellations and refunds.
It meant the holiday firm was no longer obliged to follow a code of conduct put in place to protect consumers during the pandemic.
Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said: Travel agents have a legal responsibility to make prompt refunds to customers whose holidays have been cancelled due to coronavirus.
“Our action today means that LoveHoliday’s customers now have certainty over when they will receive their money back and they will receive this without undue delay.”
A spokesperson for LoveHolidays told The Sun it was “pleased” to have reached agreement with the CMA on accelerating refund payments.
It added: “The pandemic has brought unprecedented disruption to the entire tourism sector and we appreciate the CMA’s acknowledgement of the extraordinary pressures faced by package holiday companies this year.
“We have been working tirelessly since March to do everything we can to ensure our customers receive their money.
“And we have refunded more than £205million owed to over 180,000 customers – the equivalent of 10 years’ worth of refunds in eight months.
“We sincerely thank our customers for their continued patience, and apologise that it has taken much longer than normal to process their refunds.”
The travel industry has been hard hit by the coronavirus crisis causing delays for customers claiming refunds for cancelled holidays and flights.
Consumers have struggled to reclaim money they are owed amid ever changing travel restrictions over the course of 2020.
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In July, the CMA had received more than 17,500 complaints about the difficulty in obtaining refunds or information from holiday firms.
In mid-September, Tui promised to refund customers by the end of the month after thousands of holidaymakers complained.
Meanwhile, Virgin Holidays is refunding £203million to customers with cancelled holidays and LastMinute is paying back £7million.
The Sun’s travel editor Lisa Minot explains how the change in the government’s coronavirus travel advice will effect holiday refunds
