Lothian Helitours

lexilex

My mum booked a helicopter trip through Lothian Helitours/ www.helitours.co.uk as a christmas present. She bought the gift voucher on 7th Dec paying through paypal.

His trip was supposed to be today. He rang the weather line as instructed two hours beforehand to check the trip was still on, only to be told the company had gone into administration 11th May and to contact credit card companies or paypal to chase a refund.

We have been in contact with paypal who don't want to know. They are saying as 45 days have passed they cannot do anything. We explained they had just gone into administraiton before we could use the voucher. They have said unless other people get in contact in the same situation our case will be closed.

125 people were due to fly in Leven alone today. There are many other dates listed on the website so there will be others in the same position.

Is what paypal say correct? I find it hard to believe we are the first to contact. We rang the airfield and they said others had already rang them.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

hollydays

you could post this on the ebay board.

meer53

lexilex wrote: »

My mum booked a helicopter trip through Lothian Helitours/ www.helitours.co.uk as a christmas present. She bought the gift voucher on 7th Dec paying through paypal.

His trip was supposed to be today. He rang the weather line as instructed two hours beforehand to check the trip was still on, only to be told the company had gone into administration 11th May and to contact credit card companies or paypal to chase a refund.

We have been in contact with paypal who don't want to know. They are saying as 45 days have passed they cannot do anything. We explained they had just gone into administraiton before we could use the voucher. They have said unless other people get in contact in the same situation our case will be closed.

125 people were due to fly in Leven alone today. There are many other dates listed on the website so there will be others in the same position.

Is what paypal say correct? I find it hard to believe we are the first to contact. We rang the airfield and they said others had already rang them.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

Get your mum to call her card issuer to ask them to do a chargeback for non receipt of services. As the company went bust recently they'll be able to do this for her.

Superbiatch

meer53 wrote: »

Get your mum to call her card issuer to ask them to do a chargeback for non receipt of services. As the company went bust recently they'll be able to do this for her.

Is that correct of debit card payments? I ordered flights at christmas and paid on my debit card so not happy. The problem with reimbursing the card is the account is no longer in use as I've gone onto a debt management plan

custardy

lexilex wrote: »

My mum booked a helicopter trip through Lothian Helitours/ www.helitours.co.uk as a christmas present. She bought the gift voucher on 7th Dec paying through paypal.

His trip was supposed to be today. He rang the weather line as instructed two hours beforehand to check the trip was still on, only to be told the company had gone into administration 11th May and to contact credit card companies or paypal to chase a refund.

We have been in contact with paypal who don't want to know. They are saying as 45 days have passed they cannot do anything. We explained they had just gone into administraiton before we could use the voucher. They have said unless other people get in contact in the same situation our case will be closed.

125 people were due to fly in Leven alone today. There are many other dates listed on the website so there will be others in the same position.

Is what paypal say correct? I find it hard to believe we are the first to contact. We rang the airfield and they said others had already rang them.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

standard PP T&Cs

meer53

Superbiatch wrote: »

Is that correct of debit card payments? I ordered flights at christmas and paid on my debit card so not happy. The problem with reimbursing the card is the account is no longer in use as I've gone onto a debt management plan

Chargebacks can be actioned on both credit and debit cards. A chargeback has to be actioned within 120 days of the debit date unless the purchase was for a service in the future (as in the OP's case) You don't say why you want to dispute this, are you saying that you aren't happy that you booked them or are the flights not available ? If you've just decided that you can't afford them, then your card issuer won't be able to help with that.

There isn't a problem with the card not being live any more, any credit from a successful chargeback can be paid to you, either transferred to your account or sent out by cheque if your account is closed.

Superbiatch

meer53 wrote: »

Chargebacks can be actioned on both credit and debit cards. A chargeback has to be actioned within 120 days of the debit date unless the purchase was for a service in the future (as in the OP's case) You don't say why you want to dispute this, are you saying that you aren't happy that you booked them or are the flights not available ? If you've just decided that you can't afford them, then your card issuer won't be able to help with that.

There isn't a problem with the card not being live any more, any credit from a successful chargeback can be paid to you, either transferred to your account or sent out by cheque if your account is closed.

I booked my flights on 20th December iirc, and I'd be disputing on the grounds of non service as the company has gone into administration and therefore can't honour what I have paid for - is that something i can do at this stage?

EDIT: Just realised its probably too late too

meer53

Superbiatch wrote: »

I booked my flights on 20th December iirc, and I'd be disputing on the grounds of non service as the company has gone into administration and therefore can't honour what I have paid for - is that something i can do at this stage?

EDIT: Just realised its probably too late too

When were your flights ? If they were within the last 120 days, call your card issuer.

Superbiatch

meer53 wrote: »

When were your flights ? If they were within the last 120 days, call your card issuer.

You get a voucher on receipt of payment to book flights. We booked our original ones for March if i remember but due to weather on the day they cancelled the flights and told us to ring up and rebook. They then offered us 30th April which wasn't convenient due to prior arrangements so told me to ring back in the following weeks as they were finding a new base to fly out of. I had it in my calendar to ring them this week. As far as i know they didn't fly on 30th April anyway due to restrictions about the royal wedding

meer53

Superbiatch wrote: »

You get a voucher on receipt of payment to book flights. We booked our original ones for March if i remember but due to weather on the day they cancelled the flights and told us to ring up and rebook. They then offered us 30th April which wasn't convenient due to prior arrangements so told me to ring back in the following weeks as they were finding a new base to fly out of. I had it in my calendar to ring them this week. As far as i know they didn't fly on 30th April anyway due to restrictions about the royal wedding

If i got this at work, i would action the chargeback, depends on who your card issuer is really, some are more helpful than others. As the voucher was "open ended" i can't see why it shouldn't be successful, the only fly in the ointment might be the fact that they cancelled, then you declined the offer of another date. But, i would still try it, you haven't received what you paid for, end of ! I definately wouldn't assume that you've lost the money yet.

Superbiatch

meer53 wrote: »

If i got this at work, i would action the chargeback, depends on who your card issuer is really, some are more helpful than others. As the voucher was "open ended" i can't see why it shouldn't be successful, the only fly in the ointment might be the fact that they cancelled, then you declined the offer of another date. But, i would still try it, you haven't received what you paid for, end of ! I definately wouldn't assume that you've lost the money yet.

Thank you for your help, I shall get onto them Monday. I'm so disappointed it more than likely won't happen now as it was a present for my OH