ACCC chair Rod Sims urges unhappy travellers to be patient getting refunds or credits
Disgruntled travellers who are seeking to get their money back on travel they can no longer take should listen to this advice from the nation’s top consumer cop.
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Furious consumers who are fighting with travel agents and airlines about getting money back on bookings they can no longer take should be patient chasing resolutions, the nation’s top consumer cop says.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s chair, Rod Sims, said the COVID-19 pandemic had made it difficult to get quick results.
However, he assured Australians the ACCC was delving deep into issues with more companies outside of besieged travel chain Flight Centre.
“We are talking about very complicated company-specific issues so it’s a tricky time with this pandemic,” Mr Sims said.
Complaints from disgruntled consumers are still flooding to the ACCC – it has received more than 7100 complaints during the pandemic – with many wanting their money back instead of getting a credit.
Mr Sims urged unhappy consumers to contact the ACCC or their local consumer body in the first instance to spell out any issues unfairly affecting them.
“We want to hear about it as well,” he said.
“Having dealt with Flight Centre and any subsidiaries we may be dealing with, we are now moving onto other companies that aren’t as big.”
Mr Sims said economy-wide consumer guarantees failed to apply during the pandemic and “instead it’s all about the terms and conditions of your contract firstly”.
“Then there’s state legislation and there could be contract or common law provisions which apply,” he said.
Travel companies including third-party businesses and airlines aren’t the only ones to come under fire. So, too, are travel insurers.
Figures from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority showed it has so far this year received more than 1000 complaints relating to insurers.
The biggest issues complained about included the cancellation and changes to travel plans, insurers failing to warn of possible pandemic exclusions when policies were taken out and failure to pay out on claims.
One of the founders of the Flight Centre Class Action Australia Group on Facebook, Adam Glezer, said he “won’t be happy until everyone gets their money back”.
“There’s still a lot of people out there who haven’t been paid out in full,” he said.
“People are having to wait a significant amount of time for their refund, especially during such a testing period when unemployment is at a high and a lot of people are losing their jobs or hours cut down.
“We still have customers in our group that are owed astronomical amounts. Some are owed in the vicinity of $50,000 and $60,000.”
The group has already attracted thousands of members.
On Flight Centre’s website it said “in normal circumstances refunds can take up to 12 weeks as we are reliant on receiving the funds back from the supplier before we are able to pass them on to you”.
The company said it was focusing on processing refunds for bookings for travel made up to and including June 30.
Meanwhile, law firm Slater and Gordon also announced they would be launching a class action against airlines and travel companies who had left customers dudded.