Lastminute.com refund issue.

jedavies

After lots of unsuccessful chasing, nearly a month after LASTMINUTE cancelled my package holiday, they have emailed me today offering  3 options. Credit Note, voucher or a full refund. I want the full refund. However if I choose the Refund option there is no other option than to accept their T&Cs on the refund. The T&C's state...

" Covid-19 refund of your package - Cash refund (subject to providers’ policy) By choosing this option, the refund of your cancelled travel package, for all passengers included in the booking, will be processed in accordance with the Covid-19 refund policy put in place by the service providers of the services included in your travel package."

I booked the holiday in mid-January well before Covid-19 travel restrictions were mooted. So how can my refund be subject to Covid-19 conditions implemented after my booking? I cannot click on the refund option with these extra conditions being applied.

How can I get my refund without accepting these extra/later added conditions?

Have any other LASTMINUTE customers on here experienced this, and what did you do?

Browntoa

You can't do anything without accepting the terms. 

It simply means if your flight refund takes 12 weeks for example then that is when you will get it 

Not accepting the terms does not change the result

Life__Goes__On

jedavies said:

After lots of unsuccessful chasing, nearly a month after LASTMINUTE cancelled my package holiday, they have emailed me today offering  3 options. Credit Note, voucher or a full refund. I want the full refund. However if I choose the Refund option there is no other option than to accept their T&Cs on the refund. The T&C's state...

" Covid-19 refund of your package - Cash refund (subject to providers’ policy) By choosing this option, the refund of your cancelled travel package, for all passengers included in the booking, will be processed in accordance with the Covid-19 refund policy put in place by the service providers of the services included in your travel package."

I booked the holiday in mid-January well before Covid-19 travel restrictions were mooted. So how can my refund be subject to Covid-19 conditions implemented after my booking? I cannot click on the refund option with these extra conditions being applied.

How can I get my refund without accepting these extra/later added conditions?

Have any other LASTMINUTE customers on here experienced this, and what did you do?

All I can think of is LM is trying to stop Chargebacks, using those T&Cs  as a  defence.

A refund within 14 days is a legal right, so  there shouldn't be any T&Cs concerning a refund.

jedavies

Browntoa said:

You can't do anything without accepting the terms. 

It simply means if your flight refund takes 12 weeks for example then that is when you will get it 

Not accepting the terms does not change the result

It was a package holiday from Lastminute not just flights. So why should Lastminute make me wait on a refund from their supplier, in this case BA. I didn't purchase anything from BA. The law, which currently exists, says the package company should refund in 14 days, no special conditions should apply. Clearly Lastminute are dragging out refunds looking for the expected change in the law to happen soon, so that they can give just vouchers or credit notes.

jedavies

Life__Goes__On said:

jedavies said:

After lots of unsuccessful chasing, nearly a month after LASTMINUTE cancelled my package holiday, they have emailed me today offering  3 options. Credit Note, voucher or a full refund. I want the full refund. However if I choose the Refund option there is no other option than to accept their T&Cs on the refund. The T&C's state...

" Covid-19 refund of your package - Cash refund (subject to providers’ policy) By choosing this option, the refund of your cancelled travel package, for all passengers included in the booking, will be processed in accordance with the Covid-19 refund policy put in place by the service providers of the services included in your travel package."

I booked the holiday in mid-January well before Covid-19 travel restrictions were mooted. So how can my refund be subject to Covid-19 conditions implemented after my booking? I cannot click on the refund option with these extra conditions being applied.

How can I get my refund without accepting these extra/later added conditions?

Have any other LASTMINUTE customers on here experienced this, and what did you do?

All I can think of is LM is trying to stop Chargebacks, using those T&Cs  as a  defence.

A refund within 14 days is a legal right, so  there shouldn't be any T&Cs concerning a refund.

Exactly. They are ignoring the law. And they are hiding behind the pandemic. I'm not prepared to accept their "extra" terms. So there is no way directly with Lastminute to demand it other than going through Small Claims court / Money Claim online.

Browntoa

Good luck getting a money claim online case before a judge in less than 12 months due to the backlog.

You could attempt chargeback or section 75 but , despite what others will tell you , there is no absolute guarantee that you will succeed . We've already seen one thread today where a Ryanair chargeback has been reversed in favour of Ryanair. 

Life__Goes__On

jedavies said:

Exactly. They are ignoring the law. And they are hiding behind the pandemic. I'm not prepared to accept their "extra" terms. So there is no way directly with Lastminute to demand it other than going through Small Claims court / Money Claim online.

If you paid via a card a Chargeback is an option,  it's not certain to work,  but have advised I would  say at least 200 people to do one, and I think there are the few that said it didn't work for them, even a few that got refunded the next day (I was one of those)

Nebulous2

You’re lucky to get an offer. I’ve just had another, don’t contact us we’ll contact you, email from lastminute.com. 

Lump_2

I have been wrangling with the same issue for the past two months.  Despite repeated email correspondence with their customer service team, relying on the PTR 2018, they refused to provide a cash refund without my accepting the option online (together with the new Ts & Cs).   I had also tried a chargeback and had heard no more.   The company had refused to engage with the substance of my claim and was refusing to acknowledge my request that they provide an address for the service of legal proceedings.  I wrote last night and asked for a refund to be provided today, otherwise I would take steps to issue proceedings, including a claim for interest and the fees charged for issuing the claim and affecting service on them at the address provided on the ATOL certificate provided with the booking.  They called me today, unsolicited, and confirmed that a full refund would be paid within 15 days (international transaction).  I now wait to see if my refund materialises in my account.

Butts

Lump_2 said:

I have been wrangling with the same issue for the past two months.  Despite repeated email correspondence with their customer service team, relying on the PTR 2018, they refused to provide a cash refund without my accepting the option online (together with the new Ts & Cs).   I had also tried a chargeback and had heard no more.   The company had refused to engage with the substance of my claim and was refusing to acknowledge my request that they provide an address for the service of legal proceedings.  I wrote last night and asked for a refund to be provided today, otherwise I would take steps to issue proceedings, including a claim for interest and the fees charged for issuing the claim and affecting service on them at the address provided on the ATOL certificate provided with the booking.  They called me today, unsolicited, and confirmed that a full refund would be paid within 15 days (international transaction).  I now wait to see if my refund materialises in my account.

Which E-Mail Address have you been using to contact them ?
I hope your refund arrives but they are untrustworthy as I'm sure you have ascertained in your current situation.

markbrennan

Same with me. DON'T accept any of the "refund" options if you want a cash refund, especially Option 3 "cash refund". If you read further into the offer, you are signing away ALL rights to cash in favour of vouchers at an unknown date from the airline and accommodation. There is no protection, no ATOL, the vouchers are time limited, the chance of actually getting any cash is almost certainly zero... I am trying section 75 first . Never, ever again with this company or any rebranded relaunches.