Last minute refund of cancelled flights

lovehackney

Hello,
I had flights booked through Last minute which were cancelled a few days before we were due to fly, in early March.
I have been trying to get a refund since then. Originally they said I would get a refund but that they were waiting for the airline to refund. The flights were originally £120 so not loads but its starting to frustrate me how I'm being treated.

Today I have been offered :

Travel credit for £132 (in the form of a voucher - unclear how this is different from below)
Voucher refund for £120
Airline (cash) refund for £77

My preference is for a cash refund however I'm struggling to understand why it's for so much less. Apparently according to Ts and Cs there is a £25.60 handling fee - is this enforceable given the airline cancelled the flight, not me? Equally, that doesnt account for why the airline refund is £43 lower!
Last minute have also said that a cash refund will have to wait until the airline refunds us, which currently is an unspecified time frame. Is this allowed?

I'm extra frustrated because the flight was on the 17th March and since then we have been continually told we will be refunded, only for receive this.

Apologies if there is something similar on this board - I couldn't find anything

Thank you for your help.

 

Life__Goes__On

Hi have you read their T&Cs where it states the handling fee? As I have found this
https://www.lastminute.com/terms/terms-and-conditions.html#flight_amendmentbyus
"In the unlikely event that the airline cancels or amends your booking (for example due to scheduling changes), or is otherwise unable to fulfil your booking, we will use reasonable efforts to contact you as soon as reasonably possible using the contact details you provided at the time of booking. If the airline is unable to fulfill your booking and is unable to provide an alternative, your booking will be cancelled with a full refund.   (My bold)

According to their flight T&Cs  you get a full refund.

I have found no mention of a handling fee, so there can't charge one.

lovehackney

Thank you, yes I also couldn't see anything in their Ts and Cs but there is something about epidemics/ circumstances outside of their control (but no doubt added more recently!)

So I should get back a full cash refund? Are they able to make me wait until the airline refunds?

Thanks 

Caz3121

lovehackney said:

Are they able to make me wait until the airline refunds?

that is pretty normal for third parties. You gave them your money and they gave it to the airline. They will return it to you when they receive it back from the airline - some airlines are quoting 6-8 weeks+ for refunds. (I would suspect third parties would go bankrupt pretty quickly if they were forced to refund before they had received the funds)

Life__Goes__On

lovehackney said:

So I should get back a full cash refund?

Yes, most travel companies seem to be trying it on atm.
As a booking agent they could have claimed a fee for refunds (fee has to be fair) but need to be in the  T&Cs you agreed to.
As nothing in their T&CS they can't legally start adding them now.

bagand96

Terms and Conditions I can see for lastminute.com say they will charge a £30 agency fee to process refunds.

6.4. Booking modification or cancellation by the airline or flight provider

In case the airline or flight provider cancels or modifies the flight you have booked, you may have the right to a refund of the price of your plane ticket and/or some other type of economic compensation.

We remind you that, in accordance with clause 4.4 of the Terms & Conditions, the Company can apply the handling fees unless otherwise decided by the parties.

The Company's handling fees applied may vary, according to the method in which this reimbursement is made:

-      Using the original payment method to make the booking:

-      If you have purchased an Assistance Package: no handling fee applies.

-   If you do not have an Assistance Package: 30 GBP per refund request applies.

-  Receive a voucher: no handling fee applies.

If you have not purchased an Assistance Package and the value of the refund is less than 30 GBP, only a refund voucher option will be applied.

Delcon7

I am still paying towards a holiday about 20 May to Greece with Lastminute.com should I stop the final payment as it is unlikely the holiday will now go ahead. The flights are with EasyJet and hotel is shut.

Life__Goes__On

bagand96 said:

Terms and Conditions I can see for lastminute.com say they will charge a £30 agency fee to process refunds.

6.4. Booking modification or cancellation by the airline or flight provider

In case the airline or flight provider cancels or modifies the flight you have booked, you may have the right to a refund of the price of your plane ticket and/or some other type of economic compensation.

We remind you that, in accordance with clause 4.4 of the Terms & Conditions, the Company can apply the handling fees unless otherwise decided by the parties.

The Company's handling fees applied may vary, according to the method in which this reimbursement is made:

-      Using the original payment method to make the booking:

-      If you have purchased an Assistance Package: no handling fee applies.

-   If you do not have an Assistance Package: 30 GBP per refund request applies.

-  Receive a voucher: no handling fee applies.

If you have not purchased an Assistance Package and the value of the refund is less than 30 GBP, only a refund voucher option will be applied.

Can you link to those please.

bagand96

Life__Goes__On said:

Can you link to those please.

As strange as it sounds, no I cannot find an actual link to them!  They are current T&Cs for flight bookings though.  If you do a dummy flight booking, on the final page where you accept the T&Cs, there's a hyperlink to the T&Cs, and they come up as pop up in that window.  Can't find a link to where they are hosted though.

The T&C's you linked to in your previous thread appear to be very old, the top of the page says:

Updated at 5th October 2015 -. If you made a booking after this date, please refer to the terms and conditions in your booking confirmation email.

Life__Goes__On

I totally agree they do look old so wondered if they had been superseded
But if you look at the web address     "lastminute.com/terms/terms-and-conditions.html"
I believe it would be very hard for them to argue they had been updated  as if old they should have been moved to as /terms/old/ etc

Also I can't seem to find a link on their website to the T&Cs (Used Google)
They might well have removed any link then claim the fee are in their T&Cs

bagand96

Life__Goes__On said:

I totally agree they do look old so wondered if they had been superseded
But if you look at the web address     "lastminute.com/terms/terms-and-conditions.html"
I believe it would be very hard for them to argue they had been updated  as if old they should have been moved to as /terms/old/ etc

Also I can't seem to find a link on their website to the T&Cs (Used Google)
They might well have removed any link then claim the fee are in their T&Cs

Yes I can't find a link to any booking T&C's on their website.  The older T&C's you list came up on a Google search. Although they are old and the page header says as much.

It may be because T&C's differ depending on what you book, flight only, hotel only, package etc.  I'm no expert but if the appropriate T&C's are provided at the point of checkout and the customer agrees, would they not be correct to enforce them. 

OP, on your booking confirmation from lastminute, are T&C's included, or at least a link to them?