Those who know me will be aware that I am passionate about consumer rights. In this respect, I am fortunate to have more than 20 years’ experience as a lawyer, during which time I have been named Consumer Lawyer of the Year 2018, 2019 and 2020. I am also in a unique position of having a good media platform, via my columns in the Daily Express every Thursday, and the Sunday People every weekend. In addition, I present The Consumer Hour radio show on LBC every Friday night (9pm). Utilising these tools, I am able to educate people on their consumer rights, and help where an injustice has been done.
During the Summer, I helped thousands of consumers obtain refunds from Sykes and Hoseasons, following Covid cancellations. After this debacle, I thought that other holiday providers and travel agents would stop messing consumers around. However, I was clearly wrong, as over the past few weeks I have been contacted by literally hundreds of people who have been desperately trying to get a refund from Teletext Holidays following their holiday being cancelled due to Covid.
How can I help?
I will do the following:
- Write to Teletext Holidays and make sure they are aware of their legal obligations and put pressure on them to process all refunds;
- Give every consumer waiting for a refund a template letter to use to send to Teletext, to assert more pressure;
- Write a feature article on this matter, therefore further exposing Teletext in the media. This will appear in the Daily Express, one of the papers I write a weekly column for;
- Feature this story on my LBC radio show next Friday (18th December) and I will continue to mention it on air until Teletext Holidays pays all outstanding refunds;
- Submit a report to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on this matter and push for the CMA to take action; and
- Draft template letters for consumers to use, to make a chargeback or section 75 claim, and produce a detailed advice article on this site, to guide consumers through the process.
Next steps
When I write to Teletext Holidays and the CMA it will be more powerful if I can provide a schedule of consumers waiting for a refund.
In this respect, I am asking anyone who would like me to add their details to the correspondence to follow me on Twitter @deandunham. I will then give you a link to a private form to complete. This form will ask you for the following: i) confirmation as to whether you booked a package holiday (travel and accommodation together), or just accommodation; ii) your full name; and iii) your booking reference number. This information will be kept private and will only be shared with Teletext Holidays and the CMA.
I will do all I can, within reason, to help every consumer who contacts me for help, obtain a refund.
To be clear, I am doing this as a consumer champion, and not in my capacity as a solicitor representing anyone. I do not wish to be paid by anyone, I get my reward from being able to make a difference to people who need my help.
Strength in numbers
If Teletext Holidays see a united group, led by me, they will take notice. I will post as much as possible on Twitter on the matter, and the more people who like and retweet, the greater a united front it demonstrates. Also, if you can tune into LBC (Fridays 9pm), I will highlight the matter on air.
