Teletext Holidays could face legal action over package holiday refunds

Teletext Holidays could face legal action unless the firm takes urgent action to improve how it handles refunds to package holiday customers, the Competition and Mergers Authority (CMA) has warned.

The CMA said it is “concerned” that Truly Holdings, the owners of Teletext Holidays, has not done enough to repay customers who were already owed refunds at the time the undertakings were given in May to repay holidaymakers.

Truly Holdings has so far paid £7.2 million of the £7.8 million owed to package holiday customers, but almost £600,000 in refunds remains outstanding. Truly Holdings has reported that the outstanding amount is owed to Teletext Holidays customers whose current bank details it does not have and whom it has been unable to refund through their original payment method because the purchases were made more than a year ago.

But the CMA does not consider that enough has been done to ensure that Truly Holdings is able to provide refunds to package holiday customers with outstanding claims. Nor has Truly Holdings done enough to make sure that it pays all refunds that may in future become due within 14 days to Teletext Holiday customers, as required by law, according to the CMA.

Andrea Coscelli, Chief Executive of the CMA, said, “It is unacceptable that some package holiday customers are still not receiving refunds within the timeframe that they are legally entitled to.

“While we are pleased that many consumers have now received the refunds they were due because of our intervention, we are clear that Truly Holdings must comply with the law. Unless it urgently takes steps to address the failures we have identified, we will take court action.

“Although the CMA does not currently have powers to impose fines for this, this is the kind of issue that could be resolved at pace and met with fines if the CMA receives the consumer powers that the Government is currently consulting on,” she added.

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