Hi, very briefly we booked booked through ABL travel in May 2009 for 2 weeks at the Three Brothers in Sept 2009. Trip wa cancelled due to ill health, and ABL travel emailed they would hold our credit for 12 months less one night for their fee.
Tried to book for this Sept and use our credit. I sent a choice of 4-5 hotels, including Three Brothers, but they replied "already fully booked" wherever I suggested. This continued for 3 weeks and according to them the whole island had not a single room available. This would have left them holding my US$612.50, which they said they would KEEP.
I contacted Three Brothers direct and they had plenty of rooms available so booked direct with them , flights were already in place, and they said I could pay when there.
After arrival contacted ABL by phone and told them to pay up or I would report them to the Indonesian Travel and Tour assoc, which they are members of. They sent me an email stating that I used the credit up in May this year, no way , was home working my but off then. After much arguing and the manager of Three Bros joining in as he was angry they said he was fully booked,they finally said O.K. would pay for Three Brothers with credit they held. Wow!!! I thought I had finally had a win, only to check my bank statement 2 days later to find they had accessed it after 18months and withdrawn another $AU186. Back to the phone and accused them of theft, contacted my bank and had a reversal processed, which they did immediately.
In the end it was a win win for me, but b...dy hard work, and Im sure lots of people would have given up and had a big winge about it. I was determined not to let them get away with it, so persued it to the end result.
A big lesson to all out there, do NOT use ABL travel for any bookings, they also rip people off by charging a US$15 booking fee on top of their quotes when they access your credit card I have been told too. Had a great hokiday in the end, made sweeter by having a win over ABL Travel.