Hi and welcome to HT!

I would double check what you were told about Visa Chargeback. I believe that only applies to Visa DEBIT cards and not Electron.

luci

Hi I have re-booked after calling hotel direct -to be advised payment had not been made by sun4u. Chargeback claim in, going in 4 weeks - hope everyone else manages to get sorted.
Due to this experience will be booking all big holidays as an AIR package - makes a big difference for getting help...

Sun 4 U

We booked on the 27/07/2010 with Sun 4 u Direct, we gave card details over the phone and as far as we were concerned had booked a package holiday.

It now appears they took 2 payments , 1 for them & 1 for Easyjet.
And is not a package holiday.

After calling ABTA , ATOL , SUN 4 U Direct adminastrator on 02078311234

We seemed to get nowhere, i mistakenly picked up the wifes account card , which was a switch Maestro. Not a VISA DEBIT like my card.

We have no comeback on the bank, ABTA are no use even though, they were a UK company we gave our booking through, but the arranged the booking through JUMBO TOURS PMI, which are a foreign company.

I have spent aproximatly 5 hours on the phone total, and after speaking to ATOL to 3 different people it appears i can get a refund through them even though they took 2 seperate payments. SO claim form in the post and fingers crossed!

I am in the position to be able to pay for my hotel and transfers again, and god hope i get the money back. I feel so sorry for people that have saved and can't afford to now go and loose the lot.

I have contacted the Hotel directly and they are holding the room for us, and we pay when we get there, and to make sure they are holding the room for us, i have asked them to return an e-mail to me stating that and the price quoted over the phone.

We are going to to re-book our transfers through resort hoppa. Who we have used before and were 100% ok.

Happy Holidays for us eventually i hope, Good luck and best wishes to anybody else in our position

Dale

The same has happened to us, thought it was a package, but they split the payment, flight money went staright to jet2, tha other was supposed to go to the hotel but they never got it, i am waiting to hear now off jet2 to see if our flights are still valid as when i booked with sun 4 u, the guy who booked the flights only booked them for 9 nights instead of 10,(he had booked the hotel for 10), so sun 4 u paid jet2 £87 to amend the booking to 10 nights, even though jet2 tell me that my payment has gone through(have even checked in on line and printed boarding passes as due to go to majorca on the 27) they dont know about the payment from sun 4 u, even though the error happened at the begining of july, i have contacted the hotel by phone and they have said they will hold the room and have transfered the booking to one that is direct with the hotel, they have told me a price which i pay when i check in(received confirmation email with all details on), has anyone else reserved here in england and then payed on check in at the hotel?, i have been told it is common in spain.

jet 2 say we have the flights(thank god), 11 days and counting.

has anyone else reserved here in england and then payed on check in at the hotel

only when staying just one night - normally I pay on check-OUT. They may be feeling a bit vunerable given what's happened to their bookings.

When I've booked direct with a foreign hotel I've always paid on check in. In English hotels I've paid on check out.

I received an e-mail from our hotel today. Confirming our reservation is secured and a price. I am happy to pay when i get there, going to take cash. So i am happy to travel. We have rebooked our transfers. ATOL claim form is being sent recorded delivery tomorrow am. Flights confirmed with easyjet.

Suitcases nearly packed, sun supposed to be shining in Majorca by the weekend!

Fingers crossed from now till Sunday.

Also BAA strikes cancelled too !!

Thanks for the replys regarding paying when i get to the hotel, can hopefully relax now and finally look forward to the holiday

Hi all,

We went on our original holiday and paid for the hotel when we arrived, all had an enjoyable time.

We sent off our claim form to ATOL as instructed and advised by 3 of there employees, upon return from our holiday we had recieved a letter from HUNTSWOOD who were the agency dealing with the CAA/ATOL claims, however we recieved a letter today from HUNTSWOOD stating we are not entitlled to a refund through the ATOL scheme, even though we were told on 3 seperate occasions that we were, i am now in the process of writing a very strong complaint letter to ATOL and asking for a investigation as to why 3 of there employees advised me that we would get a refund, and as to why ATOL/ABTA allowed SUN 4 U to trade in that manner and issued ATOL invoices and why they were not investigated beforehand.

Dale

hi all.....unless they sort out the law regarding how people get protected from TO/TA/Airlines ect going bust ect......the news will not be good for other firms like sun4u in the future ...or people wanting a holiday in the long term....as the only safe way at the moment is going on a package with the likes of thomascook or thomsons............

Its bad at this moment in time as you do not know if you really have any protection untill you get to the point that Dale is at just now....laymen like ourselves think we are ATOL or ABTA protected as no one tells us any differently...or we just dont get told the whole truth if we ask....or who we ask dont know properly and so tell us we are.........

Its about time they simplified the rules and the law.....so if you book a flight and accomodation at the same time be it on a site on the net , over the phone, or in a travel agents, it is a package and you are covered for both if one part of the deal you arranged fails ......you should pay a fee to the firm who are arranging the holiday and given a " your holiday " specific certificate number.....the fee you pay should be for ATOL protection for flight and accomodation......the firm should be required to pre purchase numbered certificates.....and to register the customers details against the certificate number within 24hrs of payment of the fee by the customer.....this should be on to an ATOL registration data base.....where the customer can go to ....and on inputting the certificate number can check this has been done.....and be reassured they are fully protected ....no matter who they had purchased their holiday from ...

This would also save a lot of hassle and work for the ATOL staff.....all that would be needed off the customer would be the certificate number.....they only need check it against thier data base....and they can instantly verify your entitlement to refunds ect.

Atol flight only protection could remain the same.......it would only need a certificate number if a package.... and not just the packages offered by big companies .....but a simpler version .....which deems a flight plus accomodation booked at the same time is a package and therefore needs a certificate ...and is then fully covered by ATOL ...it could be made illegal for flight and accomadation to be sold together without a certificate being issued...

No more grey areas where there are pit holes for the unknowing to fall into....no more packages that arent packages but dynamic ones....tweetie

I really don't see a problem with a 'dynamic' package. The company that does the 'packaging' has to have an ATOL to cover and the contract is with them, not the individual suppliers. The price quoted is fully inclusive and the customer gets an ATOL receipt. The problem is with the individual component holidays, that aren't packaged, but invoiced separately.
I agree there is a problem with some people not knowing the difference and more clarity would be a good idea.

When I got my invoices from Thos Cook and Thomson for the holidays booked/taken this year they have shown the ATOL charge. Daft question but does it show that on your invoice?

fwh

Do you mean if you book dynamically? To be honest I don't know. It is a couple of years since I worked in an agency (wages etc) and even longer since I did sales so I really haven't had much to do with sales paperwork for a while. I think ATOL have made changes since then.

As far as i was concerned, i booked a "HOLIDAY" with SUN 4 U, i.e flights, transfer and hotel. they were the ones who arranged it all and arranged payment to the airline and hotel NOT ME, therefore they were my agent, i.e a holiday/travel agent, but they are not covered by ABTA as they booked it through a foreign agent.

If im correct ABTA rules etc were devised in back in the 1950's and im guessing they havent changed much if they allow travel agents to act in that manner and not checked regulary. ie mystery bookings to see if customers are told the correct information.

All in all its me the consumer who has lost out, not SUN 4 U, the directors are sitting pretty, i do hope the are prosecuted for acting unlawfully, but i doubt it, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth and i doubt i'll see my money again, i have recieved notification from the administrators asking me to put my claim into them if i cant claim elsewhere, but i aint got a hope in hell of getting any money from them.

AND ATOL are a waste of space, as i said previously im going to write a letter to them complaining as to why 3 of there staff tell me im entitled to refund when i am not, i own my own business and if a member of my staff incorrectly informs a customer then its me who has to take it on the chin and swallow the cost, but can you see ATOl doing that! I very much doubt it

Dale

hi...if Im right a dynamic package is

A holiday consisting of flight hotel and transferes.
It looks like a package
It acts like a package
It works in practice the same as a package

BUT ....legaly it is Not a package

It is usually cheaper than the exact same holiday that is a true package....and if all goes well saves people money......but if things go wrong only the flight part of the package is refundable....the company may have an atol number....but only for the flight part of a dynamic package....tweetie

i think you are correct tweetie, but these companys are selling these "PACKAGES" and not informing the customer they are a DYNAMIC package and if it goes wrong you can sod off for your money.

We made a genuine mistake and picked up the wrong debit card, and used a switch/maestro instead of a visa card which we have for the same Natwest account. We have been lied to by SUN 4 U and ATOL, ABTA wont help. Natwest wont help. Administrators wont help.

We had a good holiday but its long forgotten already.
Oh and we came home to a leaking roof, that isnt covered by insurance as the record of wind wasnt above 50mph to say it was a Storm therefore cant claim for storm damage!

And my i phone broke on holiday, Welcome home !!

hi dale......not up to speed about a swich maestro card.......but you can get a charge back from a debit card.....there has been discussions about this before....seems even some of the bank staff dont understand the procedure.....and you have to ask to speak to someone senior and fill in a form....maybe someone can add to what Ive said ....and give you links to other places on HT where it been discussed.....I learnt a new trick on HT today thanks to mod david....type what your looking for in search box ....bottom left on this page....and click search and posts with them words come up....try putting debit card chargeback.....tweetie

ps....what you said about them selling the dynamic packages ....thats why a simple ruling of flight and accomodation sold at same time should be a legal package....and the seller should take legaly bound steps to protect it....tweetie

I can't get a chargeback as it wasn't a VISA debit card. If it was i could do it.

You can claim money back easier on a CREDIT CARD.

I'm proper annoyed with my bank as they never changed my wifes card but did mine, and mine expired before hers!

Live and learn, but an expsensive lesson. !