Disgruntled travellers urged to consider legal action consider if holidays not refunded
Furious travellers unable to get their money back from travel companies and are owed large sums of money should consider engaging a lawyer, the nation’s top consumer cops says.
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Exclusive: Furious consumers who have been unable to get refunds on trips costing tens of thousands of dollars may have to engage lawyers, the nation’s top consumer cop has warned.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s chair Rod Sims said customers being issued with credits instead of refunds could result in them seeking legal action.
“These issues are so case-by-case specific that if you have lost a lot of money it may also be appropriate to contact a lawyer but that’s expensive,” he said.
Mr Sims urged consumers to report any issues to the ACCC and their state’s local consumer body before considering engaging a lawyer.
Latest statistics from the ACCC showed it had received 7100 reports relating to COVID-19 travel disruptions.
Self-funded retirees Bruce McGregor, 78, and wife Sandra, 69, of Pipers Creek in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges, were unable to this month take a holiday they booked to Singapore and the Maldives due to international travel bans.
They booked the trip – totalling more than $20,000 – through popular booking website Webjet.
Mr McGregor, who has bladder cancer wants a full refund but instead they have been issued with two Webjet e-gift cards valued at $10,344 each.
They are valid until April 2023 but Mr McGregor fears due to ill health he will never be able to use them.
“I’ve asked for a refund and I’ve never heard from them (Webjet),” he said.
“I've been in touch with our travel insurer but they said because we have a credit from our supplier we are being fully reimbursed and haven’t lost anything.”
Mr McGregor said he was considering legal action.
News Corp approached Webjet for comment but the company did not respond by time of publication.
But Mr Sims said any credit given to customers “must be dated long enough that it’s usable.”
“Secondly it may well you do not have to accept a credit, that you are entitled to a refund,” he said.
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Just last week the consumer cop had a major win against besieged travel company Flight Centre who finally bowed to pressure and dumped their excessive cancellation fees.
They were charging $300 per person for consumers seeking a refund on an international booking.
The scrapped fees also applied to the firm’s subsidiary brands including Aunt Betty, Travel Associations, Student Universe, Universal Traveller and Jetescape Travel (trading as Byojet Travel).
Travel insurers have also come under fire – new statistics from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority showed this year they have already received 1018 complaints relating to travel insurance – this compares to 549 complaints for the same time last year.
Many complaints relate to the cancellation or change to travel plans and claims insurers failed to warn of pandemic exclusions at the time of booking.
Law firm Slater and Gordon has revealed customers left dudded by major airlines, travel agents and tour companies should be entitled to cash refunds and not credits and is launching a class action.
Already 1500 people have signed up.
Originally published as Disgruntled travellers urged to consider legal action consider if holidays not refunded
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