County court proceedings against Expedia?

jfreezone

Ok... my problem is as follows:
In December of last year. I paid £461.10 for a flight to Venezuela to travel on 29th December 2010. On the 2nd December 2010, I telephoned Expedia and stated that I needed to change my departure date to 21 Feb 2011. (Changes are allowed on the ticket but you have to pay the difference in flight costs if there are any plus an £84 admin fee). The date was changed, there was not difference in flight costs to pay only the £84 admin fee.

On the 19th February 2011 (two days before I was due to travel), I received an email from Expedia, asking me to contact them urgently. I phoned them straight away and they said that the flight portion from London-Madrid was still operational but the flight from Madrid-Venezuela had been cancelled and despite me asking for a reason- they offered none and said the next flight leaving Madrid was not for at least 24 hours. They offered a full refund (but not of the £84 admin fee) and I asked for an email from them to confirm that they were providing the full refund. Legally they have to refund me as the airline is the one who cancelled - not me and the Air Transport Council confirmed this.

I noticed that within the email they state they will refund me within 2 weeks to 3 months and I have questioned this on about four occasions with them yet they will not budge. I have explained to Expedia that I contacted the Air Transport Council who have stated on their own website that:
"Under EU law you are entitled to A refund of the full price you paid for your ticket within seven days for the part or parts of your journey not made.."

I relayed this information to Expedia and the airline (AirEuropa). They could care less. EU law is totally irrelevant to them. I am not so unreasonable that I would expect a refund within 7 days but 2 to 4 weeks would have been acceptable. Next week , 28 days would have passed without the refund. I phoned Expedia today and still things have progressed nowhere.

I have written to Expedia in Accrington sending the letter recorded delivery on 21 February 2011. They have ignored the letter. I have written to the airline (AirEuropa) based in both London and Spain. They have also ignored my letters. In fact the London office of AirEuropa simply say they are a small office and do not deal with complaints or refunds and passed my letter onto Spain as well.

Aside from the fact that they are delaying refunding me, as far as I am concerned (and the ATC also believed so), Expedia/AirEuropa also owe me the £84 admin fee. Why? I changed the date from Dec to Feb - which was my desire to do so. But I did so on the understanding that I would actually fly on that day. AirEuropa did not fulfil their side of the bargain. I could fly on the date change - they could not fly me - so in essence, I paid £84 extra for nothing,

I contacted my bank - the Co-op last week and they asked me for all of the info, letter, emails etc exchanged between us and said I should wait 28 days before they could apply for a chargeback (is it called?). But even then, it could take a further 28 days for them to sort out.

I was sitting here wondering whether I should proceed to the County court after 28-30 days have elapsed - bringing an action against Expedia and then claiming costs? Having looked online I am certainly not the first person they have delayed refunding the flight/holiday costs to. they have made people wait up to four months which is simply unacceptable.

All of this is aside from the fact that I also applied for the 600 euros compensation for the cancellation of my flight via the Spanish Civil Aviation Authority (the ATC said I had to go via them as the Spanish portion of the flight was cancelled not the British part) as no reason was given for the cancellation and I figured they:
1) Could not claim there were worker's strikes on the day I was due to travel - I checked Madrid and Caracas airports and this was not the case
2) They cannot claim that there were extreme weather conditions, how could they know that would be the case two days before the flight was due to leave?

Anyway, I was thinking of going on the legal route because a charge back is all fair and well, but they are doing this to thousands of people as I type and a charge back from my bank may resolve my problems but still leaves them free to continue conducting business in this way with other people. I cannot see how I would lose the case given that EU law stipulates they should refund within 7 days and even if it did not, 28 days would be long enough to wait for a refund. They go way beyond that.
Thanks for any advice.

bagand96

I would imagine that Expedia will not be refunding you until they get the money from Air Europa, and this may be where the problems are. However it does not excuse poor customer service from Expedia, they should at least be talking to you about this and explaining why it is taking so long.

You could of course go down the court route, but before you do that send them a "letter before action" informing them that you are giving them 7 days before taking legal action. This is usually enough to get someone to do something about it.

Personally I have always found Expedia and their customer services excellent. It does seem however that some cases slip through the net, you are not the first person this week to post here about refunds for cancelled flights.

jfreezone

The funny thing is that I used Expedia to fly to Venezuela last November (one month before I booked another flight with them). No problems whatsoever, which is why I went with them a second time.

But, I would never use them again. They are nice when you are paying and unresponsive when you try to get back your money. For people who tend to want an easy life - they are not a company worth using in my opinion.

jfreezone

Ok, Found a suitable letter before action template and am posting off the letter today via Recorded Delivery.
Thanks

whatyadoinsucka

have you got alot of time on your hands, you seemed to have stressed yourself so much that you are thinking unreasonably.
They will refund you, and as bagand96 has said they are likely awaiting the funds from the airline..

remember if you had booked with other websites you would still have had the same problem, In my opinion the £84 change fee was a change admin fee and is not refundable. A solicitor may see this differently as may a small claims court, definately write a final letter stating you will go via the courts..
Also remember when you read these holiday complaint forums they will always show companies in bad light, i have booked, hotels, flights and holidays via expedia for over 8 years and have always had a very professional service, and have telephoned them on a few occasions to double check things, I've never had a problem.

depending on where you are in the uk consider flying with lufthansa, as i've seen fairs at the £350-£400 point form the UK via germany..

richardw

BTW http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/mar/05/expedia-stalling-on-flight-refunds?INTCMP=SRCH

jfreezone

whatyadoinsucka wrote: »

have you got alot of time on your hands, you seemed to have stressed yourself so much that you are thinking unreasonably.

What has time got to do with anything? That must mean that everyone who goes on sites such as this - has "time" to waste and nothing better to do... and how am I thinking unreasonably, given it seems that hundreds of people have experienced problems with this company. A class action suit is being commenced against Expedia in the USA and from undertaking very simple google searches, people who were supposed to be refunded within 3 months are still waiting 10 months for their money with constant excuses being given by this company.
On top of all of the negative forum and consumer websites, the last poster here directed me to a Guardian news link and that merely confirmed what I already knew. Expedia are perfectly fine and dnady when you are handing over your money and indifferent when you are seeking a refund.
Moreover, they have more or less told me that they are a company that does not need to adhere to EU regulations when it comes to refunds because... they have "their own rules" in place.
So essentially, EC Regulation No 261/2004 Article 8 - which outlines that flights that have been cancelled by the airline must be refunded within 7 days has not applicability to them.. because they are an entitity in and of themselves...

I do not want to have to go through the stress of beating on these peoples' door another two to ten months down the line. They would have had one month to refund me by next week. That is ample time. I want to nip this in the bud now and not have to take this inevitable route after I have sent them twenty more emails and ten more letters.
The problems with people getting back their refunds goes back as far as 2005-7 from what I have observed online and of course, no one is going to encounter issues with them..... until they go for a refund. The reason I re-booked a second flight with this company is that the first time round.. they were fine... but then again, I was not seeking a refund for cancellation first time round and they were not having to give me back money which they evidently believe should remain their own.