lastminute.com airline / cash refund

magritte

Hi, has anyone been able to get a cash refund from lastminute.com for flights, or from their credit card provider? If yes, how long did it take? 

We were due to travel mid-April. Our flights were cancelled by the airline and lastminute.com sent me an email offering either vouchers or an airline refund. I chose the reduced airline refund. Original cost was £380.This is what LM shows me on their website: 

We are preparing your Airline refund

You've selected an airline refund of £347.89. The refund of your ticket depends on your airline's Covid-19 policy. We are not able to refund you until the airline confirms our refund request. You can either be refunded via your original payment method, in the form of an airline voucher, or through any other means in accordance with the airline's terms and conditions. Please note that this may take up to 3 months.

LM are charging a £30 processing fee - despite not guaranteeing the cash refund and delaying the refund for 3 months - and they not responding to any emails/phone. So I contacted my travel insurance provider and they told me to contact my credit card provider first. I then claimed for a section 75 refund with Barclaycard and I emailed LM to let  them know. 

To date I have not heard back from either LM or Barclaycard. Anything else I can do apart from waiting?

Thanks. 

Life__Goes__On

With what I have read on here, LM is one of the worst TA to deal with in giving refunds, Barclaycard is one of the worst dealing with Chargeback/ Section 75
When did you raise it with BC?

magritte

Life__Goes__On said:

With what I have read on here, LM is one of the worst TA to deal with in giving refunds, Barclaycard is one of the worst dealing with Chargeback/ Section 75
When did you raise it with BC?

Thanks, just my luck then. Won't be using LM after this experience, that's for sure.

I completed the claim online with Barclaycard on the 10th of May. I can see online that the status of the claim is "Open" and that they have all info they need ("If we require more evidence we will contact you"), but they don't provide a timeline. I tried to call Barclaycard but was placed on a phone queue and after 30 mins I abandoned it. 

Life__Goes__On

I would have thought they would have raised a Chargeback as it doesn't cost BC.
LH has 45 days to challenge the Chargeback,  so handy if you can find out the date it was raised.

Nebulous2

I’m with the same two companies as you. Last minute emailed me on the 19th of March to say my return flight was cancelled, leaving me stranded, and haven’t even made me an offer yet. I first contacted Barclaycard on 23rd March by secure message, posted all my paperwork on 10th April, and haven’t heard anything from them either. Only advice from both is ‘wait.’ 

Life__Goes__On

Nebulous2 said:

I’m with the same two companies as you. Last minute emailed me on the 19th of March to say my return flight was cancelled, leaving me stranded, and haven’t even made me an offer yet. I first contacted Barclaycard on 23rd March by secure message, posted all my paperwork on 10th April, and haven’t heard anything from them either. Only advice from both is ‘wait.’ 

I was thinking of getting a BC, but certainly I'm not now.
I phoned Tandem on Fri 17th April and was given an e-mail address to send my claim (Holiday Extras), so sent the evidence with a covering letter. (none of this waiting 60 for a form that I read other CCC are doing)
Same day, I sent the email,  same day I get a reply saying it will be passed to the disputes team, on the Monday it was credited back to my account. Now only a few days left to wait till I know that haven't challenged it.
I left Tandem due to them ending their Cashback card,  but now willing to forgo the .25%  for better service. and take their Journey Card

magritte

Nebulous2 said:

I’m with the same two companies as you. Last minute emailed me on the 19th of March to say my return flight was cancelled, leaving me stranded, and haven’t even made me an offer yet. I first contacted Barclaycard on 23rd March by secure message, posted all my paperwork on 10th April, and haven’t heard anything from them either. Only advice from both is ‘wait.’ 

Wow that is a long wait... Barclaycard have been fine before this experience, and I'm keeping the card as it offers a low rate (not promotional). It's understandable that they have a backlog and reduced staff due to covid-19, but still... it looks like they take months, not weeks, for a claim. I've never used section 75 for anything so I don't know how long it's supposed to take in normal times. 

mattyprice4004

My S75 claim for Thomas Cook took around 3 months from start to finish - but that was with Amex rather than Barclaycard. 
I can imagine they're absolutely swamped, combined with the fact that their S75 team is quite a specialised unit so can't just drag staff from other departments and some staff will be off - I'd expect to wait a while longer yet. 

With regards to the fee, that's one of the downfalls of using these online travel agents - they make basically nothing on the tickets, so fees and charges are how they make their money. 
£30 seems reasonable to be fair - they need to pay the staff to process refunds and deal with claims etc. 

angela_stone

Hi can anyone give me any advise please we booked easyjet flights through lmc that were cancelled waiting for refund, if this does not progress , which is better to do chargeback first , then if not granted section 75 or does the latter not cover as booked through third party, have post office credit card?

Life__Goes__On

Chargeback,  like you say a S75 will more than likely fail as you didn't book direct.
Possible you could challenge a s75 failure, but it would have be be though the courts, not the Ombudsman.

magritte

Still no refund from either LM or Barclaycard, after 2+ months (flight cancelled early April, departure date was 12 April).

LM is unreachable unless you're willing to stay one hour+ on the line. Barclaycard blame it on COVID-19 backlog and they are unable to provide an ETA for the dispute resolution. 

Has anybody received a cash refund from LM, for flights?