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Lastminute.com

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Pietro11
Pietro11 Posts: 6 Forumite
Second Anniversary First Post
edited 19 May at 4:50PM in Coronavirus Board
We booked hotel accommodation only in Turkey with lastminute.com but could not go as Turkey closed its borders due to  Covid 19 and flights were cancelled. Lastminute.com are not responding but just keep delaying. We want to take out a County Court Claim but find that they are now Swiss registered with no UK registration. So we get a stalemate  situation when we email and can’t take out a County Court Claim. Effectively it means that Lastminute.com cannot be legally pursued if they do not acknowledge a complaint. What is your experience please? This ridiculous and dangerous  situation needs publicising.

Comments

  • Caz3121
    Caz3121 Posts: 15,832 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    was the hotel open? if so, did you have a refundable rate? if open and non-refundable, have you spoken to your travel insurance?
    If it was closed, have you spoken to your card company?
  • Pietro11
    Pietro11 Posts: 6 Forumite
    Second Anniversary First Post
    Thank you. The hotel was and is open but not then to foreign visitors. The hotel also do not co-operate. We cannot ascertain if lastminute.com paid the money for our holiday to the Turkish hotel. We have forwarded details to the Credit Card company but understandably they are swamped with cases at this time. There seems no way of getting lastminute.com to ‘play ball’. They obviously realise that effectively no one can pursue them. MSE ranked them 49th out of 53 as the worst companies  to have a complaint against. I believe that they now have thousands of complaints. Are any of you able to confirm that lastminute.com do not now  have a UK registration title and number against which a County Court Claim can be made please?
  • Caz3121
    Caz3121 Posts: 15,832 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    the terms and conditions state

    8. CHOICE OF APPLICABLE LAW AND EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION

    The T&C and the relationship between the User and lastminute.com are governed, in the measure allowed by applicable regulations, by Swiss law. Regarding what is allowable by applicable regulations and international agreements, the parties agree that the resolution of any dispute that could arise between them according to the T&C, the relationship created between them will be under the exclusive jurisdiction of ordinary courts at lastminute.com's headquarters. lastminute.com also reserves the right to meet with the User in a competent court at the User's domicile.

    If Lastminute paid the hotel then they will only be able to pass on whatever the hotel refunds them....You say the hotel was not accepting foreign visitors, did they cancel your reservation or is that an assumption you have made based on borders closing? (if a foreign person was already in Turkey, would have they been unable to stay?) 

    Credit card company would be an only option if the hotel was not available to you (if you had been able to get there.  Seems like  you would be best speaking to your travel insurance unless you have confirmation that the hotel cancelled the reservations for foreign guests

  • Pietro11
    Pietro11 Posts: 6 Forumite
    Second Anniversary First Post
    Thank you Caz3121 for your last report. You seem to know a lot about the situation. Obviously I am but a layman and do not necessarily understand all that one reads in T&Cs. Can you clearly confirm that we cannot take out a County Court Claim against lastminute.com in the UK? Having this confirmed will save us continuing to pursue the option. I was willing to speculate the £90 it would cost to raise the claim if only to get lastminute.com to respond within due time which I believe to be 14 days.
    When we first approached lastminute.com for a refund they stated that the hotel in Turkey was responsible to make any refund if such was due. Since then lastminute.com has only provided stalling replies including not advising us whether or not they have paid over money to the Turkish hotel. When we first emailed the Turkish hotel they simply stated that they were open. Anything additional to that we have assumed. We subsequently asked them if they would carry our payments forward to a bookinhg for next year. We also asked if they had received money regarding our booking from lastminute.com. We have received no reply from the hotel re these two latter requests. We sent to lastminute.com a copy of the appropriate page from the gov.uk website which indicated that the Turkish government were, at the time of our booking, not allowing foreign visitors into Turkey. We also advised lastminute.com that Bristish Airways, after cancelling the flights, had refunded to us the fares paid. In that we are not now receiving replies either from the Turkish hotel or lastminute.com we are at a stalemate situation. If businesses play fair and reasonably with me I respond similarly. I just want to know the full details of the situation. I am not the kind of person who gives up on a matter and I will continue to pursue it and intend to publicise the situation if fair treatment is not forthcoming. Thank you again. 
  • Nebulous2
    Nebulous2 Posts: 5,666 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    If you look at your terms and conditions, you will see there is a UK registered company with a London address, which is used for processing payments. I sent a letter before action there, with a copy to Barclaycard, giving both of them 14 days to respond. Two months later I’ve just had a letter from a paralegal at a firm of solicitors on behalf of Barclaycard, but nothing from lastminute. 

    I haven’t proceeded with a court date for a variety of reasons, but now that Barclaycard have sprung to life I might not need to. 

    I’m sure Lastminute would claim that the associated London company is not the company I had a contract with, but it might be worth a punt if nothing else works. 
  • Pietro11
    Pietro11 Posts: 6 Forumite
    Second Anniversary First Post
    Thank you for your comment Nebulous 2. I cannot see the name or number of the UK registered company on my T&Cs. Are you able please to advise its name and number. When searching the internet for a registered name and number I discovered that Lastminute.com Group Ltd was now dissolved. There was one other comany LM Group Ltd which had been recently formed with a Bloomsbury. London address but just one director. It appeared to me to possibly be just a shell company and I was unable to be sure that it was actually connected to lastminute.com.
  • Nebulous2
    Nebulous2 Posts: 5,666 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Details here: https://www.lastminute.com/terms/privacy-policy.html
    It is one of their group companies, but they might well deny the booking has anything to do with them. I have not had a reply to my LBA. 
  • Pietro11
    Pietro11 Posts: 6 Forumite
    Second Anniversary First Post
    Nebulous2 Thank you very much. I will check out the company mentioned and endeavour to get its registration number. I have got 'the bit between my teeth'on this one and will not give up until every avenue has been exhausted. I am fast coming to the conclusion the situation should br publicised on somethimg like the Rip Off Britain programme. 
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