Dodgy Ryanair behaviour: need advice

RyanairIssue

I think it’s true that you get what you pay for and that was never more apparent when I tried to put in a claim for damaged luggage. Ryanair have at every opportunity tried to make the claim as complicated as possible and are now refusing to even process the claim.

After collecting my luggage I found that the bottom of it had it appeared been cut open and several stickers “saying security,” were put over the hole! We had to wait ages for someone to return to the Swiss port desk (Ryanair uses Swissport) and the woman processed our claim, gave us a report number and told us that Ryanair would call within three days, and promising that Ryanair would replace the bag.

After three days with no reply I called Ryanair who constantly wasted my time and eventually I got through to a guy that was insisting that I would have to report the damage to Ryaniar at the airport. His English was extremely bad and I think he believed that Swissport was another airline and wouldn’t believe me that there was no damage claim area for Ryanair at the airport (Belfast International). Eventually he agreed I could make a claim but would have to do it online.
So it’s now four days after the damage to the bag and I’ve got three more days to make the claim. So I get all the details receipts, flight details etc. But Ryanair isn’t accepting the claim number so I have to go back to Swissport at the airport and keep trying to contact the woman who actually gave me the report in the first place.

Eventually she emails me out the correct number on the Saturday and so on Sunday, a week after my flight, I fill in the form and it refuses to process.
“Regrettably your claim cannot be accepted as it is now outside the claim period.” I timestamped and screenshotted it as best I could as surely because even though I left it to the last day (because of complications Ryanair created!) it’s still within a week.

Furious at this point I fill in the Ryanair complaint form they send emails promising all the usual bull about spending time looking into it but instead I just get an email saying “Regrettably your claim cannot be accepted as it is now outside the claim period.” I try again enclosing all my details for the baggage claim and asking them to complete it or I’ll have to resort to small claims court and this time I get back an email saying that they can’t process the claim because it was ten days after the damage to my bag (i.e. when I sent the second email.)

Maybe I should just let this go but I’ve invested so much time and effort into this so I am wondering if I should proceed with the small claims court case and wherever it’d be worth writing to CAA?
Any other advice or suggestions would be really appreciated!

RyanairIssue

I should add I don't have travel insurance.

tomtontom

Whilst it's not a delay issue I would look at the flight delays sub forum (on the travel board). There is a Ryanair thread on there that will give you guidance on how to proceed, the same principles apply.

If you do need further assistance post on the Ryanair thread and someone will help.

RyanairIssue

Thank you