Maree Curtis and her partner had booked their holiday of a lifetime to celebrate retirement – flights with Air Canada; a rail trip on the Rocky Mountaineer and an Alaskan cruise aboard the Celebrity Solstice.
Then along came COVID-19, and like thousands of others, the couple saw their $20,000 dream evaporate before their eyes.
But what has really made Ms Curtis angry is the attitude of her online agent. Webjet has refused refunds, insisting they take credit notes – even though the cruise line has said it will pay them back.
Veteran cruiser Ms Curtis, who was due to depart to one of Australia’s favourite cruising destinations in May 2020, said she has repeatedly requested refunds from Webjet since her holiday was cancelled last year.
“My partner and I paid the deposit for our cruise in September 2019 and this holiday was supposed to be a celebration for my retirement. I love cruising and I was so looking forward to the holiday as we have never been aboard a Celebrity Cruises ship before,” she said.
“But when news of the pandemic started circulating at the beginning of 2020, we were asked by Webjet to pay the remaining amount of our trip in February which we thought was odd. The entire trip was cancelled and immediately, we had asked Webjet for a refund.”
Ms Curtis said she had been chasing a refund from Webjet for months.
“We were issued a credit note in April, which we didn’t ask for. We then responded asking again, for a refund. Finally, we got completely sick of waiting for a proper response from Webjet and we started to contact the third party-suppliers for our refunds,” she said.
“We were told by Air Canada that were unable to receive a refund, which we accepted, and we are still currently in talks with Rocky Mountaineer. And finally, we managed to have an honest conversation with Celebrity Cruises.”
Celebrity Cruises told Ms Curtis the line had given travel agents until 31 December 2020 to submit requests for refunds – but what they then told the couple shocked them.
“Celebrity, who have been so helpful to us, told us that Webjet had only requested a credit voucher before the 31 December deadline and not a refund. We find this completely unacceptable the lack of transparency,” she said.
Now, she is faced with an incredible Catch 22: “Celebrity has said that they will issue us a refund for the cruise element, but they are only able to refund the money to Webjet. And we are sceptical of whether we’ll see any of that money.”
When Cruise Passenger approached Webjet, they said they did not want to be quoted and refused to say if they would give Ms Curtis her money back, even if Celebrity returned it.
Consumer advocate Adam Glezer, leader of the Facebook advocacy group Travel Industry Issues – The Need For Change for Australians, said this is one of the many Webjet cases he’s had to work through.
“One of the biggest issues of Maree’s case is the fact that Webjet Exclusives hasn’t gone out and actively sought refunds for the customers after they’ve requested it. I also find it concerning that the customer has had to speak directly to the supplier to find out what is going on.”
“Maree booked through WebJet Exclusives and they should have been doing everything in their power to obtain her refund.”
I too will be boycotting Webjet
This is disgusting to read this about their behaviour
I will be informing all my travel friends about this article
I live in Melbourne Australia and made a cruise booki.ng from Dubai to italy from April. This cruise was cancelled due to the virus. I am still waiting for my refund from the travel agent Cruise Away . Each time i contact them i am told they have not got any money fron M SC. I had given my full details before 31.12
20
Cld u pls help me get my refund.
Always just pay via credit/debit card. If services not provided seek FULL refund from your bank. Very simple leave the bank do the chasing. They seem very good at this. Also always book direct with organisation that is providing the service. Haven’t used a travel agent in over 40 years of travelling.
Like you we had the same trip booked, and unfortunately Webjet do not want a bar of us. Celebrity cruises offer us a refund which we accepted and Webjet decided it was better in their pocket than ours. How do you get a company like this to refund our money. Sadly I do not know what to say, just keep trying and we will as well. This is highway robbery, although they will not admit to doing anything wrong.
Still waiting for a refund from Singapore Air Line. Overseas holiday booked & paid in full January 2020, holiday was for August 2020, have been advised will get full refund but still waiting now February 2021.
Prime examples to book with your local friendly travel agent face to face.
I constantly have people coming in asking me to help them with Webjet bookings
that they can’t get any help with and we’re talking $6000.00 plus here!!!
Maree, as your debt is $20,000 serve on webjet a statutory demand for the full amount of your trip. Get the format off the web via Google.
As webjet is a company they have 21 days in which to pay up. If they don’t you can apply for the company to be wound up. They won’t want that so will pay up.
I had booked with i talk travel for holiday to the medditeranean, it had been cancelled three times in total, but , Princess cruises, refunded my money and i talk travel helped me and are now trying to get my Airfares returned as well, these are the types of agent you should have gone to.
Another is Travel Marvel this compamy is Australian owned, when ther was a problem in europe with the waterways being low they looked after us and gave us a 30% refund.
Thank you ITalk & Travel Marvel.
How about giving some praise to the good guys!!
Back in Nov without request Tony Bemrose of Brisbane who handles the travel insurance for Australian Bridge refunded 80% of our annual travel insurance premium. As long as it hadn’t been used of course but so unexpected as I had written it off as one of the casualties of Covidf
Why do you feel you need a travel again!! Your money is always at risk when using a agent.
Ihave been in the travel business for the past 47 years and always book direct with the airline or cruise company now and many times get a much cheaper deal like business flight to London $4970 but via flight centre $5855 same airline!
check around you can save a hell of a lot NOT using a travel agent .
You will also be talking to a person who knows the product not a 20 year old girl in Flight Centre who knows nothing about travel.
Try it, it works.
Everybody boycott Webjet Post-Covid and celebrate then when they lose the confidence from the customers after there reputation ends up in tatters
I feel so sad for Maree and her partner and what she is going through. I’m glad Cruise Passenger publishes these stories. I for one will never book through Webjet after reading this and I’m sure I won’t be the only one. Keep fighting this Maree. There must be some agency that can help you get your well deserved refunds.
Marie we experienced the same with Webjet exclusives. No refund offered after they cancelled our October trip in April. Received a credit voucher. Thankfully it was only a deposit. Communication with Webjet became non existent. We eventually sought a charge back through our credit card bank. It took 5 months but was successful with the charge reversed on our credit card
We are not only ones to use this method to gain a refund for no service
Good luck
So Webjet, another company to add to my blacklist, along with TripADeal and Agoda. All unscrupulous companies ripping people off continually. It is unbelievable what these companies are still getting away with one year on
Appears Webjet deliberately asked you to pay the balance of your trip even though (it appears by your comment) it wasn’t due to be paid yet.
They now have your total payment and the total commission, the commission is the important part to them, they won’t refund as that would mean having to refund the commission as well.
I has some dealing with Webjet some time back and found them to be very arrogant and will not ever use them again.
They had my deposit and pestered me to pay the balance even though they wouldn’t confirm that enough bookings had been made for the trip to happen. I think that ‘rogues’ is a term that would fit them well.
I now only book direct with suppliers. You have more chance of getting a refund when things go wrong. Although some suppliers such as Jetstar will not give you your money back, only dated vouchers.
The moral of the story above about Webjet, not paying back a refund, is don’t book with them for anything.