Sunwing Sides With Agents on Chargeback Controversy

Sunwing says the burden of payment will not be passed on to agents in the event a chargeback is approved by a credit card company. The company also says it will dispute any chargebacks on behalf of agents.

Sunwing sent a “Travel Agent Special Update” to advisors on Wednesday, outlining its policy on the controversial chargeback issue. Here’s what they had to say.

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“We know that these last few weeks have been challenging for our travel agent partners, employees and the industry as a whole. We would like to thank you again for your support as we navigate this unprecedented time.

“As you may know this week, the Government of Ontario made an amendment to the Travel Industry Act to help reduce the burden on agents and wholesalers during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The amendment has deemed future travel credits or vouchers as an acceptable form of redemption for bookings impacted by COVID-19 and expanded coverage under the Travel Industry Compensation Fund. We are very happy with this amendment, as this will reduce the risk of chargebacks and ease the financial burden on travel agents.

“In the event that a chargeback is approved by a credit card company, the burden of payment will not be passed along to you as a travel agent,” the letter said. “Sunwing will be disputing these chargebacks on your behalf. If we require any information from you to dispute a chargeback, we will reach out to you directly and ask you to provide us with any communications between your agency and our mutual customers in regards to future travel credits or compensation to make the dispute process easier.

“Please make sure to regularly check sunwingagents.ca for important updates,” the letter said. “We will get through this together.”