ABTA Avis 745

Booked 5*+ hotel in Lanzarote with Tui. 9 months later and 6 weeks before travel tui cancelled holiday as result of hotel changing from half board to inclusive. Tui would not give me option to contribute to upgrade.
Tui gave me 10 days to accept money back, inadequate contribution to upgrade or default to 4* alternative. Complaint to tui met with hard nosed attitude.
I took refund and time constraints gave me no option but to rebook with tui for same dates. This was 5* hotel [but not as good as original booking] and it cost me additional £464
This aspect was the core of my complaint to abta and after consistently rejecting their suggestion to go to arbitration they must have persuaded tui to offer me £50
I rejected this and requested abta reviewed compliance of this complaint against their code of conduct. ie. substitute of package of equivalent or higher quality.
Their reply was that tui cancelled in accordance with their code of conduct and that i might consider consulting a solicitor.
I have asked abta for their own organisation complaints procedure but wait to hear. ref.285675

ABTA have been incredibly efficient and resolved my case. Beyond grateful to ABTA. Very easy to submit a case.

After trying to claim for a loss of facility from Jet 2 Holidays and despite us having a signed letter from the rep while still on holiday for the compensation due and photo's Jet 2 denied my claim 3 times, taking 2 1/2 months for this outcome, I contacted ABTA with all my details and within a week of them contacting Jet2 Holidays I got my claim back in full. I think without ABTA's intervention JET2 would have kept disputing my claim

ABTA from the very beginning of the complaint they're only intentions was to lie they simply lied about every single thing, even with overwhelming evidence supporting a claim of dishonesty from Jet2 holidays they still would not issue action against them that's probably because they're being paid by them, the even managed to break their own complaints procedures just to protect Jet2 they was well out of their complaints time scale but according to abta they wasn't even providing proof of them being out of their timescale would not accept it now convenient, then to make it even more of corruption apparently Jet2 holidays provided more information that wasn't allowed to be shown to the customer again absolutely like there was no such information which was confirmed over phone by one of their staff by mistake it's organization should be shut down it is not fit for purpose and it's about time we had a proper holiday regulator to sort out the corruption it's certainly not what Jet2 quote as a holiday company you can trust well that's not our certainly experience when it comes to claiming that there is buses picking your up what doesn't take this and then lie about the vehicle even being there in the first place the fact that Jet2 was got no complaints procedures it took them over six months to even respond and apparently that's still not out of this 28 days limit, well how ironic,D M ask me to contact her regarding the trust pile review she is the code of conduct manager this would be the same person who didn't follow the code of conduct, unbelievable they are corrupt and couldn't answer a single question I'd ask them they bring their new meaning to the word not fit for purpose,

Every bit of evident you need to show corruption the formal complaints process was not followed at all, Jet2 holidays apparently provided evidence to support their claim but one of your members of staff said there was no such evidence and I believe they're more than I believe any other stuff the fact that you couldn't produce a single piece of evidence to support their claim, highlights every single aspect of what I've said they didn't follow procedure get to holidays did look follow the procedure, you didn't hold them accountable, can you provided not one piece of evidence to show that they did follow the procedures 28 days is what you told me was the rule and they have to follow all complaints up within that 28 days three months later and I still untied a response but they wasn't out of time apparently according to yourself and then there's the judicator we've not heard anything from them it all stinks of corruption and I suppose when you being paid by these companies is our little surprising they have no interest it members at public the fact that not a single member you staff could have a conversation over the phone because they were scared to death of saying something wrong, you are not fit for purpose and help people read this and understand that there is no protection againkst companies like Jet2 holidays and it doesn't matter if they discriminate against you lie ch folks statements nothing seems to matter you just won't do anything about it,
Well that's where you're wrong there is outstanding formal complaint for corruption there is no getting away from the fight that you made deliberate excuses to get Jet2 or it is off the hook they broke the rules and they should be punished for it it's as simple as that using to think that they shouldn't be punished when they behave in badly right the discrimination it's not my fault that the bus never turned up, my fault but you think that 3month is an acceptable length of time to get a response to reformable complaint from jet to all of this,I would suggest you look at your code of conduct I certainly don't need to but you should everything I put in this trust pilot is one hundred percent accurate and true I can't help it if you're dishonest and not fit for purpose

You have to have patience with your case. ABTA have been a great advocate for us, it took us 7 months but we finally got there and had a successful result.
NCL wouldn’t even acknowledge our complaint until ABTA became involved, do recommend, it is frustrating but worth holding out.

ABTA are a complete waste of time. We had a dispute with Hays Travel regarding one of our hotels being closed when we arrived to it along with a series of other errors on their part. All ABTA did is ask Hays what happened, Hays lied, and that was the end of it unless we decide to pay to take it further down legal routes. No investigation was done. Seems like a scam to make money out of innocent people.

ABTA took up my claim for compensation following a delay of over 39 hours on a Tui flight. Tui's claim pro forma on their website didn't work Tui made no contact despite a letter to their chief executive. The matter was resolved after ABTA's intervention.

DB

SHAM. ABTA are a SHAM, paid for by the travel agents. They are an illusion of an impartial arbiter, but ABTA are set up, and paid by the travel agents to find in their favour. Don’t bother with ABTA, go straight to the courts.

I raised an issue with ABTA wrt Princess Cruises. They contacted Princess/Carnival. Carnival came back and resolved the issue.
Not a big deal financially, but the principle was resolved.
I would like to thank ABTA for their input.

UPDATE: ABTA here is yet more hard evidence, that you still do not act on. Travelcenter replied to me, only after I posted an updated review of them. This is their reply. After many months I still have not received a penny in compensation. Look at the timelines:

Hi A***,

Please take note that the extended wait is primarily due to our pending partial refund from the supplier. As previously communicated by our agent, our intention is to secure a partial refund for all passengers, given the disagreements among other individuals regarding the booking you organized. To expedite this process, we kindly ask you to reach out to your agent to commence the partial refund process, which can be done for either two passengers or all six.

Team Travel Center

This shows to me that there's no point in spending time calling them or sending them emails as they continue to make false promises. The only way to get a response from them is by exposing them on Trustpilot so that the world knows who these people are. By the way they are part of a conglomerate of companies.

On 27th September I was called by Philip Kent (not his real name). He said he would part refund me £214. To date I have received nothing. Another lie from travelcenter.uk. Thanks Philip for giving me the email evidence.

If you could book a flight and accommodation separately, say via Booking.com, for half the price that these sharks charge then what is the advantage of going through travelcenter.uk? There is 0 advantage. The following is the true reality based upon a real person's experience.
Don't trust any of the made up positive reviews. I dealt with Dimitry and his boss Philip. They are carpet baggers, snake oil salesmen and Del Boys all in one. The most unscrupulous, thieving, conniving scum bags you could imagine. They are charging me £557pp for flights that are £357.

I found out that they are based in Sri Lanka. Dimitry accidentally told me this. So there mentality is that you are so far away they cannot be served with legal letters.

They are charging me £643pp for accommodation that is £325.

I was told that the original villa booking was cancelled without charge. Despite that they will not give me a refund.

They told me we can stay at a 4 star at inflated prices. The mark up on that is even worse.

They are not telling me who the tour operators are. They are not providing me with an invoice so that I can see the breakdown.

If I had not paid £3342 already I would walk away. I passed this information to my solicitor and ABTA and ATOL.

They do not explain the reason for the inflated prices.

I enquired as to whether ATOL protected and was told yes. I didn't get my certificate or receipt emailed to me once booked and deposit paid.

I complained about travelcenter.uk. I had legitimate issues. I had proof in emails that I passed on to ABTA. This email correspondence shows indelibly that they overcharged me. It also showed that the tour operator refunded the accomodation. However they would not refund me, even though they have to. ABTA did nothing. They did not recommend an arbitration process administered by an independent body, which is faster, less formal, and more cost-effective than going to court. In my case a deadlock was reached. They did not ensure their member followed their code of conduct. You cannot even call someone there and have a conversation. They do not respond in a timely manner. You would think that with proof there would be something they could do. The moral is ABTA do not protect customers. Only their members. The bottomline is that they exist only because the agencies pay to be members of ABTA. ABTA your responses to customer reviews is the same. You have no reason to exist other than to make money for you and to protect your members.

Waste of time don’t actually know why these exist as they’re totally useless . Complained and was told I needed p pay further to take the claim
Further with them seriously . I can see why there’s so many stating they are a scam don’t fall for it and do t let the holiday companies get away with you paying for a naff holiday worst service from Abta and the worst holiday from
TUI as regular customers I dread to know how they deal with new customers as they definitely don’t care about their customers and Abta seem
To only want to help of you pay more for the service waste of time 😡

ABTA must be a scam . Made complaint - I complaint actually agreed by Tui . However Tui offer of compensation was below what I had actually paid out . But for ABTA to do anything I have to pay over £100 !?
So I could pay that and the scam means I’m actually out of pocket when my family has been wronged !??! .

I had a frustrating experience trying to complain direct to Cottages.com. I contacted ABTA. At first I received a disappointing standard response, about the need to allow 28 days to elapse, etc. I pointed out that I was asking ABTA a direct question about their rules. From there, I got a helpful response from Cottages.com. All in all, not perfect, but definitely helpful when dealing with a faceless travel agency.

So to update every one yet again . They asked us to contact them yet again . And gave them al the case ref numbers ect . And guess what ,they went to ground simply because they are a shower of excrement . Should really be investigated for level of total lack of service and transparency. When you present the facts on how bad your holiday was with over 50 pictures ,plus video and screen shots from your useless holiday provider thry still don't do anything. Why because there in the tour operators pocket .

Did get a reply as you can see . Just a cop out .because they said I had no case . So stick by my guns waste of space

100% TOTAL WASTE OF TIME!!
We have an ongoing claim against Jet2 for a blatant mis sale & I thought ABTA would step in look at the evidence & come to a simple conclusion!

All I’ve received from ABTA is simply “USELESSNESS”
All I’ve had is they “PLAY THE GAME” for a while then try to pass you over to “HUNT ADR”

DO NOT! waste your time with ABTA & looking at how HUNT ADR work DO NOT! waste your money! paying the £108 “Claim charge” The high % rate on Trustpilot are for “COURSES” The LOW % ( 1 star ) are from very disappointed Holiday makers who have genuine complaints regarding “HOLIDAY COMPANIES”

ABTA receive £ Millions from holiday companies & are “UNREGULATED” so how I see it! Is why would ABTA make decisions “AGAINST” the holiday companies that pay them… it’s all a game to them at the customer’s COST!

After taking a close look into ABTA & HUNT ADR I’ve stopped all communication & taking our case to Small Claims Court

All IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING ABTA & HUNT ADR IS ON TRUSTPILOT

UPDATE TO ABTA’S REPLY 12.09.23

Iv asked you numerous questions along the way which you simply ignored! After reading other customer reviews I see the same! Also the offer of “Arbitration that ABTA Recommends” is going from bad to worse!!
“HUNT ADR” are the same totally useless company towards customers who have genuine claims against holiday companies!

Hopefully you’ll answer these questions…
Can you honestly say the written & photographic evidence I sent ABTA & JET2 are from a”5 STAR” hotel?

Apart from holiday companies “Going bust” how many holiday customers have you supported to a positive result? Or are you only there for customers whose holiday company have gone bust?

Finally why would ABTA recommend “HUNT ADR” as a reputable company to judge customers holiday complaints as their “BACKING CUSTOMER” Complaints is near to or nil

I’ll take my chance with Small Claims Court at least I’ll get a fair hearing from a definite impartial body with the proof of evidence I have, it’s the same evidence I sent you but you clearly need to go to specsavers!

I’ll keep you posted with my enquiry to a national newspaper…

There is some interesting information on their website but otherwise we're really disappointed with ABTA as an organisation as they don't seem to do anything apart from pass documents around - they certainly don't make any decisions. Currently in dispute with a tour operator who are clearly in breach of ABTA's guidelines but ABTA will not answer our question "do you believe 'tour operator' are abiding by your guidelines". In reality all we've done is waste 3 months of our time. It's no good having guidelines if the signed up members aren't forced to abide by them by the organisation who set them. Currently finished Stage 1 of arbitration and rather than go to Stage 2 we're using our own solicitor to take the Tour Operator to the Small Claims Court. ABTA are just document shufflers.

03/10 thank you for your response but unfortunately your portal does not give us the opportunity to reply to you.

05/10 Postscript to this saga - we did finally get our money refunded but it took the threat of legal action (as far as writing a 'Letter Before Action') and even so the travel agent/tour operator waited until the deadline to refund. It also took 4 months rather than 14 days. ABTA did nothing apart from protract the case. They have also still failed to answer my question 'do you believe the tour operator have been acting within your guidelines?' - they clearly have not but ABTA will not answer this question.

It took my initial TrustPilot review to get them involved again after their first stage of arbitration. ABTA, an organisation ultimately paid for by the traveller are supposed to be there to offer peace of mind but I fail to see their purpose.

Finally if you genuinely feel you are owed money by the travel industry the only course of action is court action (and just bypass ABTA).

The entire travel industry is a sh.tshow with nothing but their own interests at heart.

Most pointless exchange ever

I asked them to clarify entitlement for ferry delay which is written on their website

First they told me to open a case which I absolutely didn't need to do, I literally wanted clarification of what was written on their website

They told me they couldn't clarify the rules, I'd need to write to the ferry company

Absolute stupidity

ABTA liased with the travel company and created the gateway to detail our claim. They followed with regular updates and put pressure on the company to respond to our issues. Eventually a satisfactory conclusion was reached for us. Thank you ABTA

I agree with so many others that ABTA's complaints procedure is a sham. They simply sent on the response from Hays that I already had. No investigation and no comment on liability. Not surprisingly, I declined their offer of arbitration as I had no faith in anything to do with ABTA and took Hays to court instead. I won a significant award with costs, clearly indicating their liability as ABTA had failed to confirm. A complaint to ABTA may be worth making as a preparation to a court case as it shows a reasonable approach but it is quite useless as a form of redress.
Edit 25/8/23 Thank you for your reply. I do, however, think you need to say that stage 1 will achieve nothing and paid arbitration is the only possibility. This would save the delay in taking your member to court.

I feel guilty awarding them 1 star, in fact, they should be removed as an arbitrator for holidaymakers as they only support their members the greedy holiday companies. The ABTA logo lures holidaymakers into a false sense of reality that they will support them if their holiday company members misleads or misrepresents them in any way. I will never make contact with them again, they have wasted 2 months of my time in a justified case, I am now taking the holiday company to court and I will keep trustpilot up to date on future developments.