Hi Mark

I see what you mean about the links all disappearing!! Hmmm... very strange, I think the company has been bought by someone else. I know there were 30 bids for it and 10 were serious bids so perhaps someone got it!! It'll probably be up and running again soon! I have all the documentation on paper here so let me know what you need and I'll send it to you no problem.

Glad to see you got your money back at last.... I just got my £831 last week from the travel ins company! It was unbelievable what I had to do to get that money refunded... practically had to give them my blood! It really was OTT but never mind my persistence paid off!! Although, anyone who couldn't be bothered with paperwork and telephone calls would never see the money again!

Hope everyone else had some success! All the best...

Regards,
Claire xx

Hi, an update for anyone still in trouble with refunds etc, about 10 days ago i finally received my chargeback refund from the debit card booking, I also had a call from a 'manager' of barclays debit card services apologizing for the messing about I have suffered and that they would make a £20 gesture of goodwill to me via a bank account credit.

Which they promptly have not done...!

I also note all www links to xcape no longer work or lead anywhere, anyone got anything so that I can keep a check of the final outcome of the 'directors to be investigated' bit?

Best wishes to all

Mark

Having read the report I'm very very surprised that there was 'only' £11,000 odd in the company bank account on the day of ceasing trading... there have been several posters stating that they had paid in right up untl the last minute.

I also note the senior administrator commands a fee of just over £300.00 an hour... nice work for some eh?

I have received the administrators report with a covering letter stating a full list of trade creditors is attached to the report. However, there is no attachment. Anthony Batty & Co must have somehow forgotten to attach it.

Anthony Batty request information for the investigation of Xcapewithus directors. When this is received they make assurances that this will be submitted to the Department for Business. I hope they don't forget to do this like they forgot to attach the trade creditor list to the administrators report.

Can I use the freedom of information act to check that the Dept for Business do receive my information on Xcapewithus' pricing policy prior to their demise (my company has historical pricing data that shows that they were consistently undercutting all other travel companies and I suspect selling hotels for close to cost price to get money into the company quickly) and do carry out a full investigation of Andrew Miles and Xcapewithus?

I am, having same problem where do we get the "booking not hounoured" form, I feel I have given the bank enough information

Robert

hi Claire,

Just a quicky, how exactly did you access the 'booking not honoured' proof to send to your bank? Am having problems finding it

Ta

David

Update:

As nothing seemed to be happening I braved the wait of 38 mins to get through and phoned Barclays debit card services directly, eventually got to the chase and found that my claim was stagnant as the initial form that I had filled in (which they sent me remember) was the wrong form, it listed the problem as a fraud case not a chargeback case.

So new form has duly arrived, completed, sent back, but they did re-ask for the 'booking not honoured' type of paperwork... apparently they also haven't received a single word of the two letters and claim 'packages' containg ALL of the necessary paperwork that I handed in by hand at my local barclays branch. (who it appears have faxed it off to 'customer services' rather than 'debit card services')(honestly, no wonder they are laying so many people off, half this stuff could be done face to face at branch level couldn't it?)

Mark.

Hi Mark

(and for anyone else banking with First Trust).

I can't believe the banks are behaving so badly. I went to First Trust Bank on May 2nd and explained to the lady at the customer services desk what had happened. Firstly she said she was sorry that this had happened to us and then reached under the counter and pulled out a form, which she very kindly filled in herself than asked me to sign. I gave her a copy of my invoice and the print out from the website stating "booking not honored" and she said that was all the information she required. She then informed me that the form would be sent the same day to the fraud dept in Dublin and that I may have to wait 45 working days (9 weeks) for a response. I gave my branch a call when 7 weeks had passed (Tues past) and the money was in my account this morning (Sat). I paid with visa debit and thought I may never see a penny but it really couldn't have been any easier. Perhaps some of them other useless banks could take a lesson from First Trust and stop messing innocent, hard working people about.

Good luck again

Denny

Sorry to here some of you are still having problems trying to get your money back. I received a full refund several weeks ago from my bank - Lloyds TSB. From my initial contact with them until I received a refund, I have to admit, everything went extremely smoothly and they kept me up to date with the status of my claim via letter. I cannot complain about the service I received from them.

I have since booked another holiday in Salou for me and my boyfriend for September only this time I have used my credit card and booked through an ABTA protected company - Travelrepulic.

I hope those of you who are still awaiting refunds receive them shortly.

Thanks for that Denny, it gives hope to all lol

I initialy phoned barclays on the 1st May and was initially told that nothing could be done for 28 days 'in case there's a rescue package'!

So my first claim form and letter went in on 9th May, follow up about 3 weeks later, last letter (from them) stating 'sorry that I've had to complain but they are on my case and will reply by 29 June' so I'm waiting for Monday really... maybe I'm only a week away from a refund!

Hi Claire and everyone

You are quite right Claire it does can take sometime to get your money back with visa debit. Thankfully I got my refund (in full) this morning and I had requested the chargeback on 2nd May so it took almost 8 weeks. I bank with First Trust.

Good luck to the rest of you and I sincerely hope you all get your money back soon.

Denny

Hi Guys.

I'm reading with interest.

Just to catch up, i've two bookings with xcape, one was made with barclaycard credit card that i have received a credit for, the other was made by barclays visa debit card that i haven't had a refund from (yet).

I've wrote to them etc it's all detailed on previous posts.

My comment is that i find it strange that the administrators have gone through the charade of typing in your booking number to establish that your booking is 'not honoured', when NONE of the bookings not yet taken and completed were to 'be honoured'.

It would have been simpler to just state that no bookings are to be honoured.

For anyone's interest, I went round to the Palmanova address registered to xcapewithus before they ceased trading, it looks like a small flat above a motorcycle repair shop, although I couldn't be sure due to the inaccurate spanish street / address markings. Nothing looked boarded up either side anyway.

Hi Robert,

My view is TSB are stalling its quite clear that you have supplied more than enough information to enable them to settle. think I would now give them a call to ask who you need to contact (I don't mean at TSB but externally) as you feel you have supplied all the information need for them to settle and that they are being unreasonable in expecting you to supply written confirmation from XcapeWithUs as they are well aware that the are in administration. Might well be worth also trying to ask to speak with someone more senior that the person who initially answers your call, and asking for everyting in writing as you are going to take the matter further if they maintain their stance.

Only my thoughts but hope it helps and I wouldn't worry you will get your money back if you paid by credit card. My claim was settled in a couple of weeks (NatWest)

Craig

hi robert, with visa debit i am sure you will get your money refunded it just takes a bit of time, think from other people's experiences with visa debit this can take slightly longer than a credit card refund, up to 6 weeks... good luck and enjoy your holiday! claire x

Hi Sean

I paid using visa debit, managed to get the holiday re booked using alpha rooms but had to take out short term loan to pay for with my bank managers confidence that all would get sorted out.

The joys

Robert