Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Tots to Travel cancelled booking refunds

6 replies

MaggieMouse · 03/09/2020 14:08

Anyone had a holiday cancelled because of Covid by Tots to Travel? Have you tried credit card chargeback and did it work?

OP posts:
Yellow80 · 02/12/2020 23:14

@MaggieMouse Hi, I had a booking with Tots to Travel and am desperately trying to get a refund from my travel insurance. I tried to get a chargeback but they refuted it saying that accommodation was always open despite being in lockdown and all flights were cancelled.
Travel insurance say that I need to get a credit note from them but they won’t reply to emails and their phone line is cut off. They seem to have liquidated taking our money with them.

MaggieMouse · 03/12/2020 09:34

If paid with a credit card, Charge back would be my suggestion. It worked for me. Essentially, you did not get what you paid for. There is a time limit which is based on when you made your final payment. I would suggest writing to credit card company with evidence of payments etc. Tots to Travel should have provided you with a statement that they do not give refunds, send that to your credit card coy. As far as I am aware, re-arranging / credit notes etc are not acceptable if you don't want to accept that as a solution. If chargeback doesn't work, you can try the credit card coy under what is called a " Section 75" . Google charge back and Section 75, lots of info on how they work,also, look at MSE Martin Lewis website.
Our insurance coy was totally useless. I got statement from them before buying policy that they would honour claim if our villa was cancelled because of Foreign Office travel ban. I submitted a claim back in April and it didn't get anywhere. I went to the Financial Ombudsman but that was a waste of time and effort.
This pandemic has been an absolute sht storm for everybody but IMHO the culpable party here is Tots to Travel. I have written to every official person / government / organisation I could think of complaining that it is just not right that this outfit can keep people's cash in this way with no responsibility to customers, and what is particularly galling is that the bstarts are still trading. Sorry I can't be more helpful. My advice would be to keep hacking away at your credit card coy.

OP posts:
Yellow80 · 03/12/2020 22:30

@MaggieMouse thanks for your kind reply and advice. I’m afraid the chargeback and section 75 didn’t work as Tots To Travel denied it stating that their accommodation was open for business in May despite there being a lockdown and FCO advised against travel.
Tots to Travel have now liquidated and I’m therefore trying to get my money back through my travel insurance as ‘end supplier failure’.
What I find unbelievable is that the founder Wendy Shand did a podcast recently about how she grew her company into an 8 figure company. Bad timing! She’s active on Linked in and Twitter but doesn’t answer any emails from families that have lost their money. The Trust Pilot reviews show that there are a lot of families suffering.
I really thought Tots to Travel was a reputable company when I booked. Really sad :(

MaggieMouse · 04/12/2020 09:04

I'm surprised your credit card coy are not looking at your claim, for two reasons: firstly, if an FCO warning was in place against travel to the area art the time of your booking, that should be sufficient grounds for a claim on its own, simply because you could not get there and so you were not able to receive what you paid for. Secondly, if TtoT have liquidated, and I'm not sure that's absolutely the case, since their website is still extant and it states it "is not trading at the moment", that means they are in no position to offer a solution, and to me, that is even stronger grounds for your CC coy to honour a claim.
Unfortunately, I am not a professional in this field, so I can only offer advice on my personal experience. Here's a couple of things you could try: a lot of insurance outfits (especially online outfits) are subsidiaries of major coys, many of them foreign, whose names might not even suggest they have any connection to insurance. I would contact the Financial Obbudsman and get their advice. They will have access to records that we don't and will be able tell you advise you. Although the subsidiary might have been conveniently liquidated, the parent coy might be liable for claims? Also, a good source of advise is the Citizens Advice service. If you get in touch with them, ask to speak to someone who has specialist knowledge re credit cards and insurance.

I'm really surprised your CC coy are not looking at your claim. Have you tried contacting the relevant dept, usually the fraud department, and talk to one of their claims people? My coy was very helpful and supportive. If by any chance you do get them to look at your claim, and it is successful, you will have to keep hold of the money for 45 days after it has been awarded as the coy you have claimed against can request to reverse the chargeback. If TtoT have gone bust, they'll hardly be in a position to contest the chargeback. Remember as well, the chargeback is conducted bank to bank, so if TtoT is bust, that should not make any difference as it is their bank that hands back the cash.
I'm so sorry I can't be of any further help and I would suggest you keep hacking away. I started trying to recoup my losses in April and it took me until November to get a result. Ironically, the only company I had no trouble getting a full refund from was Ryanair for my outbound flights. Getting a refund from Bast*Rd Airways was as tough as you'd suspect. I kept a spreadsheet with dates, contact details and notes of everybody I dealt with during my claim, a good ploy, since you will be phoning, writing and emailing all over the place and its a good thing to accurate dates and records.
Good luck

OP posts:
AttilaTheMeerkat · 04/12/2020 09:05

They were agents so really middlemen between you and the airlines and hotels. I hope you can get a refund from the airline and hotel in question as your contract is with them but were they actually paid by T to T?.

MaggieMouse · 04/12/2020 11:16

TotT abrogate their responsibility by claiming they are agents. What a wonderful trading position to be in: you supply a service but have no responsibility whatsoever if the deal goes sour! The CMA did something about UK based agents (www.gov.uk/government/news/covid-19-major-holiday-lets-firm-offers-refunds-after-cma-action) but the whole issue needs addressing in law so that ars*les like TtoT cannot get away with this appalling loophole. TtoT's general trading was such that the deposit was paid to them and the balance to the letting vendor. The vendor may be based in an entirely different country to the property being let. As this is not a "package" holiday, there is no ABTA cover, so the only avenues to pursue recouping losses are insurance or credit card cover.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page