The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced an agreement by Teletext Holidays to pay more than £7 million in outstanding refunds to consumers for cancelled package holidays.
The CMA announced Teletext owner Truly Holdings had “signed formal commitments” or undertakings that customers owed a refund will receive their money back.
However, the CMA announcement suggests this may not mean every customer whose holiday was cancelled receives a refund.
The authority’s statement says Truly holdings has committed to repay “all customers it accepts are owed a refund” for cancelled package holidays will get their money back to an agreed deadline.
It added: “Having reviewed Truly Holdings’ financial information and how quickly it can make the repayments, the CMA has accepted its commitment to pay back all customers owed refunds by August 31, 2021 at the latest.”
The CMA noted customers with longer-standing claims would be prioritised.
It advises customers seeking a refund to visit teletextholidays.co.uk or alpharooms.com from May 28, “where there will be dedicated pages explaining the process and a web form enabling customers to request a cash refund”.
Teletext Holidays and Alpharooms package holiday customers who have Refund Credit Notes for cancelled trips should receive an email from the company asking them to confirm whether they want a refund.
In a statement, Teletext Holidays said: “We are pleased that a successful conclusion has been reached with the CMA in regards to the processing of refunds for our customers who have had their package holidays cancelled due to Covid-19.
“Further details of the refund timescale and process we will be embarking upon will be published on our website by May 28.”
The CMA opened an investigation into Truly Holdings, which operates Teletext Holidays and Alpharooms.com, on February 4 and warned the company at the end of April that it was preparing to take court action.
It said Truly Holdings has signed undertakings to repay customers with bookings cancelled on or before July 31 last year by June 30.
Bookings cancelled between August 1 2020 and October 31 2020 will be refunded by July 31, and those cancelled between November 2020 and May 24 this year will be refunded by August 31.
Truly Holdings has also committed to pay full refunds within 14 days for package holidays cancelled from May 25 onwards.
The CMA said it “will monitor Truly Holdings adherence” and the company “will report regularly to the CMA on the time it has taken to refund customers”.
Teletext Holidays is the trading name of Truly Travel, which is owned by Truly Holdings along with Alpha Holidays Limited, trading as Alpharooms.com.