Bosses at travel giant Tui are under pressure to ditch their 'unlimited holiday' allowances after placing 11,000 workers on furlough and leaving passengers in limbo about when they will receive their refunds for cancelled holidays.
Chief executive Fritz Joussen and his senior team have pocketed £34.3million in pay, bonuses and perks in the past two years, alongside the right to two complimentary family holidays each.
It comes as thousands of its lowest-paid workers have been placed on furlough - while hundreds of holidaymakers remain out of pocket over cancelled holidays.
Nichola Gristock, 50, said she was offered a refund for her all-inclusive holiday to Thailand on March 17.
She's still waiting for the £5,500 to arrive in her bank account.
The mum-of-one, who suffers from PTSD, was due to travel to celebrate her retirement after 26 years in the military. She says she's been left devastated by the way her claim has been handled.
"I found out my holiday had been cancelled on the eve of flying," she told Mirror Money.
"We were due to travel on March 18 and return on April 2. At the time, the customer services agent who called me asked if I'd like to rebook. I declined as I'd already had a bad experience with Tui and decided to ask for my money back instead, as per their terms and conditions."
The agent accepted - and explained that her refund would be issued within the next couple of days.
However, almost a month later, Nichola is still waiting for the refund to be processed.
"I've tried to contact Tui on four separate occasions and have been on hold for around nine hours in total. They've sent me around in circles - even asking me to contact my local store - despite the branch being closed. I received an automated response back saying the branch was closed and no longer responding to emails."
Nichola, who is registered as disabled, is now thousands of pounds out of pocket and unable to get hold of Tui.
"I'll never be able to afford a holiday like this again, it was supposed to be a one-off but it's just been a nightmare from start to finish. I understand that there may be delays, but their customer services are appalling. All I want is for someone to get in touch to explain the situation. I'm happy to wait for a refund - but right now, I have no idea as to how long this could be."
And Nichola is not alone.
Mirror reader Lee chose to cancel his Tui holiday due to coronavirus in early March. He lost £500 as a result, but was promised a refund of the remaining amount. A month later, he is still waiting for this money to be processed.
"I was told I would get refund in seven days but would lose £500. I didn't mind as I really needed the funds, however the money has still not arrived," he said.
"I have been ringing them up ever since. They keep telling me I will be payed within 48hrs but that never happens. I was on hold for four hours - in the end, someone hung up on me.
"On Tuesday March 21, I spoke to a manager over the phone. He said that even though their financial team were not in, they had an email support line for 48 hour refunds. I’m still waiting.
"I really am stuck. I needed that money for an emergency. I feel so depressed and it's not nice especially when you can’t even speak to someone about it. Hopefully there’s light at the end of the tunnel and it gets sorted soon."
Reader Malachy says he was told to accept a credit note - and is now concerned about where this could leave him if Tui later follows in the footsteps of Thomas Cook and collapses.
He booked a holiday to Turkey with Blue Sea Holidays via Tui. After being told it had been cancelled, he was promised a refund by April 8.
"I was supposed to depart on March 27, but after it was cancelled, was told in writing I would receive the refund by April 8 2020."
After the money failed to arrive, Malachy contacted Tui and was told to accept a credit note.
"I fought back but they told me they wouldn't be able to provide me with a timescale for a refund. I've since emailed the manager back but have had no response."
Tui refunds - what's the score?
The law states that if your holiday is cancelled due to coronavirus, you are entitled to your choice of a 14 day refund, a change of date or a credit note.
However, due to the volume of claims being processed right now, many who opt for a refund could find themselves waiting months for their money to arrive.
Mirror Money asked Tui for an update on its refunds policy.
The travel agent insisted that it is processing refunds - however warned of significant delays.
This, according to Abta, could be up to four months.
"We are proactively contacting all affected customers as fast as we can to help them amend their holiday to a future season. If they are unable to amend to a suitable alternative, we will discuss their various options with them," a statement explained,
"One option currently available for customers is to cancel the holiday and receive a full refund, however there is a delay in this process due to the large volumes of customers impacted, combined with temporarily reduced staffing across the business and limited teams available due to our Retail shops and Contact Centre offices currently being closed with many of our colleagues working from home.
"We appreciate that this is frustrating for our customers and we would like to assure you that our Head Office teams are working behind the scenes as quickly as possible."
I'm still having no luck - what should I do?
If your provider continues to refuse a refund, skip reporting them to Abta.
The organisation has said it won’t take enforcement action against its members in regards to complaints about coronavirus-related refunds.
Instead, consider using Section 75 or chargeback to get your money back.
Section 75 is part of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. This means your credit card provider is jointly responsible for any breach of contract or misrepresentation by a retailer or trader. It's valid on transactions between £100 and £10,000.
If you paid using a debit card, get in touch with your bank or building society and ask for a chargeback refund. This is at their discretion, so the sooner you act, the better.
