A pensioner threatened a “sit-in protest” at a Dundee travel agent after they took nine weeks to refund his holiday spending money.
William Cairns had been locked in a war of words with travel firm TUI regarding the return of over £3,000 on an expired travel card.
The former Royal Corps of Transport (RCT) serviceman was planning a trip last year to New England in the US with his wife, Brenda, before the visit was shelved due to the pandemic.
Despite plans to reorganize the holiday for this year, the 74-year-old said the spiralling cost of health insurance for the pair made the trip unfeasible.
“Disappointed” William meanwhile began to liaise with TUI earlier this summer about refunding the money cards they were looking to use abroad.
The couple, who live in Perth, were unable to access the local TUI store to resolve the matter following its closure.
After speaking with the company’s office staff in Swindon, they were instructed to send proof of identification and paperwork to recoup the cash.
‘We started the process back in June’
William said: “There has been a catalogue of errors in trying to get this fiasco sorted. I never thought I’d have to jump through so many hoops to get my money back.
“We’ve used the money cards on a number of occasions.
“After a previous visit to the States we thought we’d keep the cash on the cards to use for a future trip we were planning.
“Unfortunately, with the pandemic last year and the cost of health insurance this year, it wasn’t viable.
“I have Atrial fibrillation (AF) — a condition which causes irregular heart rate — among other health conditions so the insurance was going to be costly.
“We started the process with TUI back in June to get the money refunded and it has rumbled on from then.
“Initially I was more than happy to wait for 30-days when we started the process on June 10.
“We sent all the relevant paperwork away via recorded delivery that they required to carry this out.
“As we went into the end of July I contacted them again to be told they’d not received the documents.”
After making some calls, the couple travelled to the TUI office in Dundee’s Overgate Shopping Centre to try and resolve the dispute.
William added: “Both me and my wife had a card and the staff in the Dundee store got my wife’s refunded there and then — they were fantastic in there to be fair.
“They couldn’t do mine because the process had been started from the main office. I guess they did get the paperwork previously after all.”
‘I wasn’t prepared to wait’
As the issues continued to drag on, William issued a threat of a “sit-in protest” within the Dundee branch due to the company’s handling of the matter.
He added: “TUI came back via email in late July saying they were going to reimburse me £3,149.22 but it may take another 30 days.
“I wasn’t prepared to wait any longer and basically said I’d have a wee sit-in protest in branch until the matter was resolved there and then.
“Finally this week I was given the money back from the branch in Dundee but even that wasn’t without its issues because I was issued £2,960.
“The agreement was the original value in the email and thankfully it has now been resolved to the fullest extent.
“The way this has been handled has been shocking.”
TUI sorry for delay
A spokeswoman for TUI has apologised for the experience that Mr Cairns had encountered to get the matter resolved.
She added: “We’re very sorry for the delay with Mr Cairns’ refund.
“As his currency card had expired, it had to be re-activated with our provider before a cash refund could be processed.
“We’ve apologised for the inconvenience caused and are pleased that we have now been able to resolve this for him.”