A travel agency has been shut down after cancelling holidays at short notice and not providing holidaymakers with the services they paid for. Felix Travels and Tours Limited (FTT) was wound-up at the High Court.
FTT, which traded more commonly as Felix Holidays, offered travel packages with flights, accommodation, transfers and extras such as Disneyland tickets and ski passes. However, many holidaymakers did not receive everything they had paid for in their package, leaving them to pay for the same service again from a different company.
Almost 300 customers who missed out on the services promised by FTT are owed approximately £592,000. Cheryl Lambert, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: “Felix Travels and Tours claimed to be a high-quality, trusted travel agency. This was sadly not the experience for holidaymakers who had packages cancelled at the last minute or were left missing accommodation or other services they had paid for in advance.
“To make matters worse, around a quarter of the company’s total customers are owed refunds approaching almost £600,000. These completely objectionable trading practices left us with no option but to apply to have the company wound-up to protect customers in the future.”
FTT was established in April 2020 as a travel agency with a call centre in Sri Lanka. The company took initial deposits from customers after the total cost of their holiday had been agreed in most cases. It then arranged payment plans to spread the cost of the holiday.
Some holidaymakers who paid in full said they had travelled to their destination only to find that not all of the package was available to them. Others said their holidays had been cancelled at very short notice. A number of customers who agreed a monthly payment plan with FTT were advised by its call centre staff not to make any further payments as their holiday package could not be fulfilled.
FTT also misled holidaymakers into believing they had ATOL protection when they did not. Indeed, a separate, legitimate travel agency which FTT worked with terminated its contract with them and reported them to Action Fraud. Insolvency Service investigations have concluded that FTT ceased trading by the end of February 2023 when it stopped paying suppliers and the expenses to keep its call centre running.
Trade suppliers are also owed an estimated £7,000 by the company. FTT failed to fully co-operate and deliver up-to-date accounts when requested since investigations into their conduct began in August 2023.
The Official Receiver has been appointed as liquidator of the company. All enquiries concerning the affairs of FTT should be made to the Official Receiver of the Public Interest Unit: 16th Floor, 1 Westfield Avenue, Stratford, London, E20 1HZ. Email: piu.or@insolvency.gov.uk.