Thomas Cook: Epost 'exploring possibilities' for cheaper documentation fees

Epost is currently charging a monthly administrative fee per member of £50 (plus vat) to access documents, such as invoices and Atol certificates, needed for agents to make claims in the wake of Cook’s collapse.

Many agents have taken to social media to protest a shift in pricing on Tuesday evening (24 September) – with many showing screenshots of the Epost website offering membership priced at £12 per month (including vat).

Helen Owen, branch manager of Morgan Travel in Caerphilly, who paid the £50 fee, told TTG she felt agents were being “backed into a corner” to pay the charge and branded it "a disgrace".

Westoe Travel boss Graeme Brett called the price "shocking", claiming Epost was "holding agents to ransom".

David McDonald, managing director of World Travel Lounge, said he had refused to pay the fee “out of principal”.

Epost told TTG its fee had been “calculated at cost” to help agents during the “unusual circumstances” over Cook’s failure.

In a new statement the company explained its actions.

A spokesperson said: "Normally, services are fully automated from the moment the documents are received to archiving. Documents are processed and appear instantly on members’ portals. We have had to turn off Thomas Cook’s servers and processors due to excessive costs and unpaid fees.

"We were under no contractual obligation to provide the additional service for agents to access Thomas Cook’s document. However, we managed to devise a procedure to do that expediently within 24 hours. This new procedure is not fully automatic and requires human resources to revive documents for individual members and the costs reflect that.