Ryanair refund thread

Saigongal

So my question to everyone is - has anyone, anywhere, actually received a refund when their flight has been cancelled by Ryanair due to the Cornoavirus? I mean real money back on your card refund, not just an on line message saying it's coming. Anyone?

rjhfandclf

Saigongal said:

So my question to everyone is - has anyone, anywhere, actually received a refund when their flight has been cancelled by Ryanair due to the Cornoavirus? I mean real money back on your card refund, not just an on line message saying it's coming. Anyone?

NO - NOTHING TO DATE. Request submitted online 17/03/20, and immediately acknowledged by online form (printed out - no email). The bottom of the form says ...

'Once approved your refund request will be processed within 7 working days to the original form of payment and should show in your account within the next 5-7 working days, A confirmation email will be sent to the address provided in your booking.' [my underlining]

I have screen shots of every stage of the process. I intend to give them another 6 working days until 06/04 before instigating a credit card claim. They are, however, required to refund within 7 working days, in fact - as I understand it, but could be wrong as it is all very convoluted.

bagand96

rjhfandclf said:

NO - NOTHING TO DATE. Request submitted online 17/03/20, and immediately acknowledged by online form (printed out - no email). The bottom of the form says ...

'Once approved your refund request will be processed within 7 working days to the original form of payment and should show in your account within the next 5-7 working days, A confirmation email will be sent to the address provided in your booking.' [my underlining]

I have screen shots of every stage of the process. I intend to give them another 6 working days until 06/04 before instigating a credit card claim. They are, however, required to refund within 7 working days, in fact - as I understand it, but could be wrong as it is all very convoluted.

You are correct that EU261 regs give the airline 7 days to refund.

Whilst your quote from the bottom of the submitted form is correct, before you fill in your details and press Submit, the form says:

"Once approved your refund request will be automatically processed within 20 working days back onto the form of payment used in your booking. Your bank may then take 5-7 working days to process this refund amount back to your account."

The problem here is, the EU regulation, and the timescales listed on the Ryanair form, are for a normal world.  We are not currently in a normal world.  The refund form appears not to be an automated process and I expect needs some manual input at Ryanair's end.  Given they've basically cancelled all of March and April, there will be a vast amount of customers trying to get refunds.  No company's customer services will ever be geared up to deal with 100% of their customers in a short time.

I think people will need to adjust their expectations on the timescale this is going to take to resolve.  It would be interesting to see your bank's point of view on the matter.  I expect they will tell you to wait for Ryanair.  In any event I doubt they will initiate a chargeback/Section 75 without confirmation that Ryanair are not refunding.

rjhfandclf

bagand96 said:

Whilst your quote from the bottom of the submitted form is correct, before you fill in your details and press Submit, the form says:

"Once approved your refund request will be automatically processed within 20 working days back onto the form of payment used in your booking. Your bank may then take 5-7 working days to process this refund amount back to your account."

From what you now quote, it would seem that the form process may have changed. It may be noted that this is partially similar wording to that which I received after submission - certainly nothing like this before submitting (as I said, I have the screen shots of every page of the process).

Also, I certainly don't disagree with your observations concerning the state of the 'current world', which is why I am not jumping up and down, pulling out my remaining hair. RA does have a small degree of my sympathy - it is in an invidious position. Equally (by its own announcement that I quoted for someone else, elsewhere here) it has strong liquidity, 'with strong cash and cash equivalents of over €4bn as at 12 March' (O'Leary)) and it is well within its power to relocate or even bring in staff to refund money quickly - should the company so wish.

Saigongal

The lack of clarity as to how long this is all going to take is the frustrating thing. 7 days 'after approval' but how long will it take to approve, and is there any chance that approval will not be given considering the flights were cancelled? Now made all the more worrying with Virgin Altantic's request for bail out !! I fear we could be on a loser here. :-( 

Saigongal

Ah - I was just checking email for something else as I had almost given up on Ryanair doing the right thing and look what I got...
that's all I wanted for the moment. It's a start!

Dear Customer, I refer to your recent request for a refund on your booking confirmation XXXXXX. Due to the high volume of flight cancellations due to COVID 19, we are experiencing an unprecedented high volume of requests. We are currently working through the backlog and ask that you please bear with us. Please do not resubmit your request. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Yours sincerely, Ryanair Customer Services

Evelyn74

Saigongal said:

Ah - I was just checking email for something else as I had almost given up on Ryanair doing the right thing and look what I got...
that's all I wanted for the moment. It's a start!

Dear Customer, I refer to your recent request for a refund on your booking confirmation XXXXXX. Due to the high volume of flight cancellations due to COVID 19, we are experiencing an unprecedented high volume of requests. We are currently working through the backlog and ask that you please bear with us. Please do not resubmit your request. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Yours sincerely, Ryanair Customer Services

Just received the same email. I submitted my refund request on 18th March (after struggling for days). Feel the same, happy to finally know they’ve received my request. 

rjhfandclf

Ditto - but regrettably I am of an age to remain cynical, if at least tolerant.  We shall see ...

TheRealPlodder

Hello everyone,
This to let you know we too got the email Saigongal received. Ours arrived on 28/3/20:

Dear Customer,

Due to the high volume of flight cancellations due to COVID 19, we are experiencing an unprecedented high volume of requests. We are currently working through the backlog and ask that you please bear with us.

Please do not resubmit your request.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Yours sincerely,

Ryanair Customer Services

We hope that this gives some degree of reassurance here that refunds are on the way and will update soonest when we see ours arrive in the bank. Wishing everyone safe and well.

Cliché of the day: Yes it's important, but there's probably more important things than money. No, not toilet rolls...

juliamac79

Same here. Ryanaur sent me an email the day before my flight on 19th March, confirming my flight had been cancelled. Clicked the refund button but said flight details were incorrect. I eventually submitted a claim through the button next to it which was the EU ruling one. I then received an email back saying my claim wasnt accepted because my flight wasnt subject to delay or cancellation! I have resubmitted attaching the email they originally sent as proof..so watch this space..on the actual day (19th)..i also received a text saying my flight was cancelled..it was due to take off at 07.05am. Then at 4pm..i received another text saying my flight would go ahead as planned?? seriously Ryanair are going about this in a real shoddy way. Every other airline is refunding or allowing you to reschedule. I have quite a few flights booked in June and July with this outfit and can see this happening to them all.