I believe the 28 day period relates to an "acknowledgement" of the complaint, so as long as within 28 days they contact you to say that they are looking into your complaint, that is fine. Within 56 days they should have investigated and tried to find resolution with you.

The tour operator has a duty to provide an acknowledgement of receiving your complaint within 14 days and to provide a detailed response to your complaint within 28 days. This also applies to emails....

There are a number of .pdf files that can be downloaded from the Abta website: http://www.abta.com/about/industry_standards#codeofconduct

CwB

I work in an Agency and we have an ongoing complaint.
I called Thomas Cook the other day to chase the reply as the 28 days were up and was advised they are experiencing delays but that ABTA are aware of the situation

ABTA code of conduct state they must respond within 28 days, Unfortuantely, when they dont ABTA do not seem to do anything about it, so far I complained to Thomas Cook back in April, 2 of my letters received 0 response and I had to write to ABTA who just wrote to Thomas Cook and then I got a box standard response, the last letter from a Solicitor received a response saying they would respond within 28 days and guess what...... yes , no response as yet and its way over the 28 days.

By rights the tour op should inform ABTA if they are overrunning their due reply dates - and, they can get fined.

However, ABTA won't take up your case until you have received 2 full responses from the tour operator (that means 2 replies to the complaint and not an acknowledgement letter, then a reply). If at the stage you have responded to the initial tour operator reply, and received a further unsatisfactory reply - you can contact ABTA.

They will want copies of all documentation from both sides before they decide if they will take on the claim. Then they will want their fees. ABTA will review the case and make their decision. If you win - the tour op pays your ABTA fees and you get whatever you are awarded and your fees back.

However, there's always a chance you could get awarded less than you were offered by the tour op - and that's the chance you take. The tour op is ruled by the decision and they won't give you more than ABTA decide, even if they offered you a higher amount in the first place.

If enough people complain about not getting replies in time, ABTA will fine the tour op.

Best advice is to contact your Trading Standards office as enough complaints made in that direction can lead to a cease trading order. No tour op wants that and usually they will settle pretty quickly if they believe they will lose the claim. Your TS office will write to the tour op, who deal with ABTA, TS and MP's letters as a priority over any other complaints...

Ros Fernihough is probably in that list too now, although she wasn't that high up the agenda in my days! (We had a different surname for her then too)

CwB

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