Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Tui/Thomson ONLY

Cinderellashoes

I had a rather interesting phone call with Thomson last week after a few issues with them denying I was only flight or any record of me ever flying with them. this rejecting them accepting s claim from me or similar.

A rather unhelpful and rude phone call with a member of staff was quickly escalated to a manager who managed to find my booking ref 5 years after I flew. He also admitted to me they have no need for that info as its for them to prove we're on the flight and they use it to try and reduce the number of claims they deal with.

Also another piece of interesting information yielded from my call, they aim to deal with letters within 56 days but at present its 70 days to be dealt with (working days) including court paperwork.

Anyways long story short I have been told that I will have a decision on my claim by the end of this week, I hope it's good news (there seems to be a fair few payouts of recent) otherwise Thomson and I will have a date in court.

Scruffywuffy

How can they say they are taking 70 working days to reply to the Courts? They must reply to issued claims within 28 days (14 days for AoS, then another 14 to get their defence in or else the Claimant wins Judgment in Default.




I hope they do get back to you and it's good news. Having rejected my claim, they completely ignored my 2nd letter asking about the 2nd and 3rd delays on the same flight (!), my LBA and even my draft Particulars which I sent them - I would have thought that in itself was enough to show I was serious as I had help from the solicitors at work and they were properly drafted pleadings.


I think it's terrible that you seem to have to actually issue a claim to get them to tell you anything.

Cinderellashoes

I asked them this and they said "we are a very busy airline and it's as fast as we can deal with them".

Shocking it really is, would be much quicker to just write a mass of cheques and clear their backlog.

Scruffywuffy

So does that mean that everyone is better off to issue a claim as they won't deal with it in time ? Or do they actually prioritise the Claim Forms when they hit their desk ?!?!


Separately, are they insured for paying out for these compensation claims ? If my maths is right, I worked out if they paid out for everyone on my flight (Dreamliner) they'd have to pay out around £150,000. Now obviously not everyone will claim, but if they made it easier, then more people would ...

JPears

scuffywuffy you have hit the nail on the head. Their objective is damage limitation.
Alot won't claim becasue they are ignorant of their rights or lack the gumption. Even though the airline should (but rarely do) inform you of your rights.
Those that claim are fobbed off.
Those that perist are fobbed of more.
Those that make legal claims are fobbed off further.
Its a war of attrition .......

Cinderellashoes

I honestly do not know what the answer to this is really. Ideally in the interest of being fair we should do it in the proper way and first ask them nicely before sending then the claims forms however they treat us less than fair and fob us off at every point. I would just suggest going by the timescales in Vauban's guide however claiming compensation for something which is set out in law should be easy.

I wonder if anyone has or considered going to Watchdog about the appalling customer service of Thomson and the poor way they deal with the claims/ timescales for replying etc. I'm sure they need new content for their autumn show and it would probably get things moving.... Just a thought.

Scruffywuffy

Well I called the court today as I hadn't heard anything, they sent me the Notice of Issue on Friday (still not arrived) and my claim is considered to be served on them today. Be interesting to see if they defend it.


Do they tend to defend claims or is it dependant on each different flight ?

TMC19

I first posted on this thread almost exactly two years ago, my delayed flight being 31.08.08. I had been given the usual run around by Thomsons since first writing to them straight away after the delay but was not confident enough to take them to court. Thankfully, through the numerous excellent posts on this thread, I was able to contact Coby Benson at Bott & Co, who agreed to take on my case despite it being perilously close to the deadline. Today I have finally had 2 x £180 paid into my bank account from Thomsons via Bott & Co. I know that this is less than I would have got if I had pursued the case myself but it is also a lot more than the £0 I would have got when I undoubtedly chickened out. Having followed this thread for two years and read lots and lots of good advice I would like to thank especially all of those people who post regularly and so knowledgeably. :beer: and also to wish good luck to all of those still fighting :T

JPears

Congratulations compensation winner!

SimonAddison

Hi everyone


I'm pleased to announce another successful Thomson payout. I got an email yesterday to confirm they won't be attending the hearing and will pay for the statutory compensation and my hearing fee.


This feels like a huge win, and I echo everyone's comments about staying the course and my thanks to everyone on this forum who has been so helpful.


However they didn't agree to pay my MCOL 'court fee' of £105, nor interest at 8%. I believe the latter is a common scenario? Their reason being "the present claim is a claim for compensation under the regulation. It is not 'proceedings... for the recovery of a debt or damages' within the meaning of section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984".


I would be grateful for any guidance on this. I feel a little greedy/opportunistic in continue to pursue this, but I guess if it's a legal entitlement then I should do it.


My final word of advice to anyone else who is further back in the process is: don't allow too much time for the infuriating delay and lack of contact from Thomson when you make your original claim. Let them have their 56 days and then go straight to the NBA. The rest is just wasted time!


Cheers all, Simon