Lastminute.com only offering vouchers for refunds

Aylesbury_Duck

You'll get your money back eventually, so be patient.  There is no quick solution.

Butts

charl2828 said:

Hi 

I am writing due to my current distress and upset over this matter.

I booked a holiday with last minute travel agency online which was due to take place on Friday 3rd April to Sunday 5th April for a surprise for my boyfriends 30th birthday. I booked a junior suite at a 5 star hotel in Prague and flights and paid for all of this as a package holiday and atol protected on lastminute . com travel agency online 

Due to the current pandemic Czech Republic has a travel ban and therefore I contacted last minute  for several weeks and have tried to receive a refund or resolve a way forward. However they have done nothing but give the same generic responses “sorry for your concern a team is reviewing” and “we are dealing with imminent travel” 

Now I don’t mind based on the current situation how long it takes and appreciate they may be busy as I understand there are important scary things happening at this time. So I decided to help and phone the airline I was supposed to be flying with Lufthansa and they agreed to provide a full refund for the flights but it would need to go directly to last minute first as that’s who I booked with. So I contacted last minute and confirmed that the airline had phoned me and transferred the monies to them that they could now send to me. I received the same response from lastminute a team will be reviewing. 

I also contacted the Prague hotel who stated last minute would need to phone them to cancel the hotel reservation and the hotel would provide no cancellation fee for this. So I contacted last minute to let them know. Again even though the travel dates have now passed they said the same thing. 

I contacted my MP who wrote to them and they haven’t responded. I paid nearly 1k of my hard working money and have absolutely nothing to show for it as last minute have done nothing in this time. What’s more upsetting is they have posted holidays since on their Facebook and Instagram page which has outraged customers who’s hard working money they have kept. This is a lot of my monthly wage to take and considering I had no choice as I can’t get to Prague due to the travel ban lastminute have offered absolutely nothing no future travel dates no refund no vouchers. In all honesty I wouldn’t want vouchers now based on their behaviour they don’t seem to care  

I’m sorry to send this at this time it’s just stressful when they have money that isn’t rightfully there’s and my holiday was protected under the travel package regs. I have done everything I can my end and still nothing but the same email from them doing nothing. 

They don’t seem to care. 

Thankyou for your post and I am so sorry for what is happening to you. I have been trying to highlight how poorly Last Minute have been performing even compared to others in these dire times.

You have demonstrated my fears succinctly 

The elements I feared here are all present. The providers are willing to refund but the stumbling block is the intermediatary namely LMC prevaricating and basically doing SFA with no adequate explanation for their conduct.

Can anyone really be suprised that if the current situation is still ongoing in July when I am due to pay the £3700 balance on my booking to them (paid £400 deposit) there is a cat in hells chance I will hand the money over. Once they have your money all your leverage is gone and they can treat you with contempt.

I'd rather lose the £400 than subject my self to all the worry and uncertainty.

Aylesbury_Duck

OP has already paid in full.  It's not a case of only losing their deposit.

But yes, in your case I'd probably do the same as you and forfeit my deposit rather than put another £3,700 into limbo.

Butts

Aylesbury_Duck said:

OP has already paid in full.  It's not a case of only losing their deposit.

But yes, in your case I'd probably do the same as you and forfeit my deposit rather than put another £3,700 into limbo.

Indeed, a prime example of what could happen !!!

I think with all the chaos currently ensuing Last Minute.com have been flying under the radar to an extent on here. The odd snippet has emerged from a few posters, but they seem to behaving in a more incompetent manner than most of their peers - sadly even in these trying times that is possible.

The biggest mistake I made was booking with them in the first place an error I will not be repeating. If I had booked direct with BA I would still be a little concerned but not to the extent I am with LM at the helm.

My sincere hope is that they fold between now an July which means I would get my deposit back from my CC and be back to the position I was in before I made the foolish decision to utilise their services.
 

bagand96

It's only been a week since your trip should have happened.  Unfortunately, the advice above about being patient is exactly what you need to do.

These online travel agents are exactly that - online.  Most of their systems are entirely automated, and they have proportionally very few staff.  Now, even in normal times, Lastminute.com do not have a great reputation for customer service.  That said, take into account that many of their staff are probably not at work, and they may have had to close their call centres/head office for social distancing reasons (yep - their staff are just as entitled to this as anyone else!) then it all adds up to things moving very slowly.

There are hundreds of thousands of people in similar circumstances.  It's all going to take time.  to expect a refund immediately is, unfortunately, unrealistic.  Maybe next time don't use a travel agent - if you'd booked directly with Lufthansa and the hotel you might be a little bit nearer your refund now.  But even saying that, most airlines are currently giving refund estimates of 4-6 weeks if not longer.

Aspland85

Hi I wonder if any one can help me. I booked a trip to Lisbon through last minute.com for the 20th March however the foreign office advice was not to travel obviously but the flights did not get cancelled. I do not have travel insurance and cannot get in touch with lastmin.com at all! I ring and just get hung up on and have not had any reply through email or social media! I have tried through charge back as we booked on our debit card with the bank but because they said they didn’t cancel the flight they couldn’t refund the money. Any ideas on what I can do to get a refund?
thanks Kayleigh 

mattyprice4004

Aspland85 said:

Hi I wonder if any one can help me. I booked a trip to Lisbon through last minute.com for the 20th March however the foreign office advice was not to travel obviously but the flights did not get cancelled. I do not have travel insurance and cannot get in touch with lastmin.com at all! I ring and just get hung up on and have not had any reply through email or social media! I have tried through charge back as we booked on our debit card with the bank but because they said they didn’t cancel the flight they couldn’t refund the money. Any ideas on what I can do to get a refund?
thanks Kayleigh 

If you don't have travel insurance and the bank have said no, that's pretty much all you can do. 
If the flight went ahead and you weren't on it, it doesn't matter what the reason is - you didn't check in, and therefore can't get a refund. 
They don't know if it's a holiday, if you're a Portuguese national returning home etc - and as such there were still (and are still) limited flights operating. 

Sorry, but next time I'd buy a comprehensive insurance package when booking - this kind of situation is exactly what it's for. 

maman

Sorry there's not better news aspland. It's a difficult one when the FCO tell us not to travel. 

Prentiz

I booked a flight to the US, scheduled to depart on the 8th May, with BA, via Finnair, via Lastminute.com  They've contacted me today with details of their refund offer, following the cancellation.  I originally paid £387.77 for the flights on my credit card, including Lastminute's Fullflex insurance.  Lastminute have offered me: 1) Travel credit to the value of £426.54 2) Refund by voucher £387.77 or 3) Airline refund £319.47.  The Airline refund option is heavily caveated - they say it could take a long time, and the refund might be in airline vouchers, or in cash.  Any advice on the option to pick would be much appreciated!

bradders1983

Nobody here can really answer it for you. Are you wanting to travel again in the near future?