Easyjet cancellations and refunds

Thomas1967

laslomas said:
This is happening to me too. Choose option 1, then a long shpiel about how busy they are and you can do most things online. If you really need to speak to someone, call back later, - Goodbye. No queue. How do you actually make it into a queue?

You keep trying.

My impression is that the situation is easing a little. Some passengers will have taken a chance on alternative flights, some will have taken the voucher option, and no doubt easyJet has responded by trying to put more people on the phones. It's surely no coincidence that the 'reassuring' message from Uncle Johan was issued on the same day as letters critical of easyJet appeared in the British press.

Things will get easier over time. easyJet needs to manage its cashflow to maximise its chances of surviving and so give people their refunds.

albinosabre

Mods feel free to merge if you think it's appropriate, I looked through the easyjet thread and saw it was all about flights only.
Anyway, we booked a package holiday that was due to leave on the 11th of April, 3 weeks ago we got a cancellation email stating a refund would be processed and automatically deposited to our method of payment, sounds fairly straightforward. 
But now the holiday is missing entirely from my bookings, the customer service number for holidays has been turned off (0330 365 5000) and of course I've not received the refund of nearly £3000. Has anybody else had their refund from this or found a way to chase it up? I guess it will be processed and all fine but it's a lot of money and I get that niggling feeling they've just put down the shutters and ran away.

albinosabre

Just found another number in the main thread (0330 365 5454), rang that and chose the holidays option. Got a message stating that due to the pandemic all of the contact centres are now closed. Doesn't fill me with anymore confidence if I'm honest. 

Fatal_Swan

Yes, it's just a matter of keep trying. I've called many times over the last few days and never got through to the queue. Put the 0330 number in redial, hit 1 (for flights only) when you hear the first voice, hang up when you hear the 'we're sorry' male voice which would tell you you haven't made it onto the queue. However I've been trying again today, redialling for about 15 minutes at 9am, encouraged by the other people on this thread who managed to get on the queue. Once in the queue it was just a short wait like others said, less than 5 minutes to speak to someone. 

My outbound flight 12th April has been officially cancelled though the return on the 19th currently hasn't, and despite easyjet announcing their flights are grounded during this period they wouldn't give me a refund yet on the return flight. It's pretty disgusting but no more than I've come to expect from easyjet after the last couple of weeks. The woman on the phone didn't offer up the solution of giving me the refund on just the outbound flight for now until I raised it (she suggested a voucher/change for the whole booking) but when I declined she begrudgingly accepted that I was entitled to it. As unhappy as I am with easyjet I tried to be as polite as I could because I guess it's not a fun job to have at the moment. 

I was relieved to get half the money refunded for now (I had a refund confirmation email straight after the call and the flight has disappeared from the My Bookings page) along with the knowledge that I can call them for a refund on the return flights once they show as cancelled too - also knowing now that it is actually possible to get through on the phones. 

Thanks to the other posters on this thread, which has really helped me, and good luck to others trying to get through on the phones, I'll be joining you again soon! Big thumbs down to easyjet for deliberately concealing from customers the fact that they are entitled to a full refund in every single communication, and then making it almost impossible to get. 

Thomas1967

Riskman said:

If Easyjet had held off paying out £174 million in share dividends a fortnight ago I might have had some sympathy for them.    Buying shares is a risk and reward activity and Easyjet's shareholders have been rewarded enormously over the last several years so now they should share the pain and not expect the customers (and probably the taxpayer) to bear the cost.  A typical example of boardroom greed

No offence meant, but this isn't a very informed post.

• For huge international businesses like easyJet, this isn't an either-or choice. If you don't keep your shareholders happy, there's no easyJet left, and disappointed passengers won't get refunds.
• If it wasn't for these shareholders taking the initial risk on their investment, there wouldn't be any budget flights for you to benefit from in the first place.
• Shareholders take the biggest risk of all. They've stumped up far more than the price of a ticket, and they're the last to get paid out in a liquidation.
• They will be feeling plenty of pain in years to come (when there are no dividends because of easyJet's current losses) long after you've had your refund. How much have you staked in the company?
• £174m isn't out of proportion to easyJet's 2019 revenue of £6.4bn, and the decision to pay these dividends will have been taken long before the effects of the virus started to be felt.
• I don't see what this has got to do with the taxpayer at all. How is the taxpayer being asked to contribute anything? 
• And the comment about boardroom greed might make more sense if the payment was for directors' salaries and not shareholders' dividends.

Sorry (and I'm not suggesting a debate about this), but as I say, that was't a very informed post.

Thomas1967

Fatal_Swan said:

Yes, it's just a matter of keep trying. I've called many times over the last few days and never got through to the queue. Put the 0330 number in redial, hit 1 (for flights only) when you hear the first voice, hang up when you hear the 'we're sorry' male voice which would tell you you haven't made it onto the queue. However I've been trying again today, redialling for about 15 minutes at 9am, encouraged by the other people on this thread who managed to get on the queue. Once in the queue it was just a short wait like others said, less than 5 minutes to speak to someone. 

My outbound flight 12th April has been officially cancelled though the return on the 19th currently hasn't, and despite easyjet announcing their flights are grounded during this period they wouldn't give me a refund yet on the return flight. It's pretty disgusting but no more than I've come to expect from easyjet after the last couple of weeks. The woman on the phone didn't offer up the solution of giving me the refund on just the outbound flight for now until I raised it (she suggested a voucher/change for the whole booking) but when I declined she begrudgingly accepted that I was entitled to it. As unhappy as I am with easyjet I tried to be as polite as I could because I guess it's not a fun job to have at the moment. 

I was relieved to get half the money refunded for now (I had a refund confirmation email straight after the call and the flight has disappeared from the My Bookings page) along with the knowledge that I can call them for a refund on the return flights once they show as cancelled too - also knowing now that it is actually possible to get through on the phones. 

I wonder if you made separate bookings for each leg of your journey. On a single booking of a return flight, you should obtain a full refund, including for the unusable return leg, if the outward leg is cancelled. This is what happened to me and to others I know.

And yes, in my experience politeness with the telephone staff will help. There's no point taking out one's frustation on them.

jmini

Thanks @cubegame for the alternate number -  03303655454. Called at 8AM sharp, got through with no wait and they processed my refund promptly.

Fatal_Swan

Thomas1967 said:
I wonder if you made separate bookings for each leg of your journey. On a single booking of a return flight, you should obtain a full refund, including for the unusable return leg, if the outward leg is cancelled. This is what happened to me and to others I know.

Ah I wasn't aware of that - the easyjet agent specifically said I wasn't entitled to a refund on the return tickets as these hadn't been cancelled (yet). My outbound and return tickets were all booked at the same time in a single transaction, same airports etc.  

shepherda

I am due to fly on 17th April (8 days time) how far in advance do they email to say your flight has been cancelled? Obviously the flights aren't going but are they all cancelled?! I've had no contact from Easyjet, and obviously cannot get through on the phones. Thanks

Fatal_Swan

shepherda said:

I am due to fly on 17th April (8 days time) how far in advance do they email to say your flight has been cancelled? Obviously the flights aren't going but are they all cancelled?! I've had no contact from Easyjet, and obviously cannot get through on the phones. Thanks

My flight on the 12th was cancelled 10 or 11 days before departure. It showed up as cancelled in My Bookings first with no notification and 24-48 hours after that I had an email. I know earlier on some flights were only being cancelled 2 or 3 days beforehand. My return flight on the 19th is not showing as cancelled yet (though of course it will be).