How to Claim From Ryanair (Volcanic Disruption)

Had this response from Ryanair after being stuck in Italy for an extra two weeks because of the volcanic disruption. Family of two adults a 12 year old child and a 10 year old child claiming reimbursement of £812 accommodation, (4 fraught and expensive days in Bologna with no cooking facilities, then thanks to our kind landlady back to her holiday apartment for the remainder of the time)£158 transport (train and airport bus) back to our apartment then back to the airport and £1363 for meals (breakfast lunch and tea) in both Bolgona where we had to eat out, and both supermarket food and a few meals (to get internet access) in town at the apartment. Total 2175.09.
We arrived at Bologna check in the first day of the disruption at 7.30am when all flights to Edinburgh had stopped. We were told to "find accommodation" and handed a sheet. We are worried that we did not choose hotel accommodation and instead chose the cheaper option of going back to our landlady's apartment after a few days in hotel accommodation in Bologna, but looking on the air transport users site, it says in their volcano pack that they are liable to pay for hotel accommodation, and Ryanair state hotel accommodation.(nothing about going self catering), and we simply couldn't afford a hotel. Rooms alone were £100 a night, and while we stayed booked with ryanair, the flights kept getting cancelled until we had been in Italy another 2 weeks beyond our scheduled leaving date.

Put in a claim form at the end of May by fax, and had this reply today by e-mail:
Dear Customer

I refer to our recent correspondence regarding your disrupted flight(s).

We now invite you to submit your reasonable expense claim along with the original receipted expenses for hotel accommodation food and transport to/from the airport which were incurred whilst waiting to travel on the next operating Ryanair flight.

To access the form click on the below weblink and complete the Expenses Claim Form online, then print and sign the form and return to the address provided, ensuring that you attach all the original VAT registered receipts to support the claim. On receipt of the required documentation, we will work with our insurance assessment team to process valid reasonable claims.

https://www.ryanaireu261.com/default.aspx?P=sssxi4ACZ916iRu2ddtj3lUgj-kyIR1PeP8b3Lb-nCc=32315509

Please note that due to large scale of this flight disruption it may take up to 8 weeks to finalise your claim.

Yours sincerely,

Ryanair Customer Services

I can't get the form link to work (can someone else please try?)
I have all my receipts, but none of them are VAT receipts as Italy doesn't have VAT. They do show Italian tax though. Will this matter?
Susan, our landlady at the apartment has sent me an e-mail stating the price of the apartment and what we paid. Does this count as a receipt?
Did it matter we went self catering?
I'd be grateful for some advice. I've collated the receipts, but I'm reluctant to send the originals, does anyone know if photocopies will do?

I'm worried that we shopped at the supermarkets rather than going out for properly receipted meals all the time, but we couldn't afford to do that, and so I just cooked to save money. Does anyone know if that will matter?

Thank you in advance.

We are runing two very similar threads here, the other being under ash disruption. I certainly don't have VAT receipts. Wanting VAT receipts is in my opinion just another delaying tactic. If they try to play silly sods I will just take them to court. Remembering from former days as an Accountant, they will want VAT receipts so they can claim that back. By the sounds of it the person wasn't VAT registered or similar, therefore no tax to pay. You do not have to be VAT registered to trade if your turnover is below a certain level (well in this country anyway). Plus of course it would be an administrative nightmare - if not impossible even to attempt to verify if a VAT receipt is genuine

sockdrawer wrote: »

Dear Customer

I refer to our recent correspondence regarding your disrupted flight(s).

We now invite you to submit your reasonable expense claim along with the original receipted expenses for hotel accommodation food and transport to/from the airport which were incurred whilst waiting to travel on the next operating Ryanair flight.

To access the form click on the below weblink and complete the Expenses Claim Form online, then print and sign the form and return to the address provided, ensuring that you attach all the original VAT registered receipts to support the claim. On receipt of the required documentation, we will work with our insurance assessment team to process valid reasonable claims.

https://www.ryanaireu261.com/default.aspx?P=sssxi4ACZ916iRu2ddtj3lUgj-kyIR1PeP8b3Lb-nCc=32315509

Please note that due to large scale of this flight disruption it may take up to 8 weeks to finalise your claim.

Yours sincerely,

Ryanair Customer Services

My girlfriend sent them a letter with all receipts attached weeks ago and she received this email today. How can they be claiming she should now START the process of applying for a refund when her letter weeks ago contained all the information and had receipts attached? They are just trying to make us give up and not pay, aren't they? Perhaps this should be reported to the media?

Rob_Stan wrote: »

I'm going to send an email to Ryanair soon, airing our grievances, so any advice as to what I can threaten them with, as regards the legallity of what they're doing, would be welcome.

They do not publish an email address though, do they? Best of luck to you in dealing with this company!

Has anyone received any compensation whatsoever from Ryanair for the volcanic ash delays?