High Court rules Teletext and Alpharooms broke the law by refusing refunds - here's how you can get your money back

Watchdog the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched court action in October last year against Truly Holdings, the company behind Teletext Holidays and Alpharooms, over delays in repaying outstanding refunds to customers.

Truly Holdings signed undertakings committing to refund package holiday customers but then entered liquidation in January this year. The CMA, however, continued to seek a declaration from the court that Teletext Holidays and Alpharooms broke the law and, today (28 February), the High Court agreed. 

But this doesn't change how you should go about seeking a refund - see the information below for more on this. Also see our Coronavirus Travel Rights guide for help with refunds and cancellations.

If you're due a refund, it will be paid by the Travel Trust Association

Since Truly Holdings entered administration, the Travel Trust Association (TTA), a trade body, has been dealing with any outstanding refunds and ensuring that Teletext package holidays will still go ahead - and today's court decision does not affect this. 

It means that:

• If you've booked a Teletext holiday, it should go ahead as planned.  All of the Teletext holidays taken on by the TTA include flights and as such are ATOL protected, meaning your holiday will still go ahead or you will receive a full refund. The bookings will now also be subject to the TTA's terms and conditions, which can be found in full online. 

  You can contact the TTA directly with any questions about your booking via trulytravelbookings@tta.co.uk. The TTA told us it has contacted Teletext Holidays customers who were due to travel and so they do not need to do anything.  Any outstanding payments will be collected by the TTA.

• If you booked accommodation with Alpharooms, you'll be due a refund. Sadly your booking with Alpharooms will no longer be valid. However, you can get a refund. You'll need contact the TTA to claim your refund, if you haven't already.

    To claim your refund, you will need to fill out this refund form and provide a number of details, including proof        of payment for both the deposit and the balance. The TTA said it anticipates that once claims are confirmed          refunds will take up to 12 weeks to be processed. Similarly, if you're waiting for a refund for your Teletext              holiday, you can fill out this refund form.    

We've a full breakdown of what's happened and how to claim a refund in our story published in November last year and updated in January 2022.

What does the CMA say?

Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA, said: "This should be a wake-up call to any business that thinks that it doesn’t need to honour customers’ refund rights. Today’s ruling confirms the CMA’s view that Teletext Holidays and Alpharooms broke the law by not providing the refunds customers were due within 14 days for cancelled package holidays. 

“While this ruling comes after these firms have been placed in liquidation, we hope the decision will make it easier for people to get their money back for a cancelled holiday in the future."

We have approached Truly Holdings for comment.