National Express Non Refundable Ticket

byronwells

Alright peeps
I have just found out at the start of the actual lockdown, 5 months ago my partner had booked some national express tickets (the non refundable ones) for the two off us to go some where.. But because of the lockdown the coach got cancelled.. And now she has said they are only offer her vouchers instead, not the actual cash back.. Is there anyway we can get the cash back instead?  £50 is a lot of money  

Mrsn

Non refundable usually means just that unfortunately, they would have been offered at a cheaper price than a flexible ticket.

Did the coach definitely still not travel? If you can get proof that it didn’t then you might be able to see if your card provider will be able to refund the money via a chargeback for services not received.

[Deleted User]

Vouchers seems fair enough in the circumstances.  Am sure you can put them to good use.   Lots of options with coach travel.  

43722

Disagree. As a layman, with no consumer expertise. You paid for a service. NE could not / did not provide the service. You did not cancel. You can insist on a refund because they did not provide the service, and I would not be accepting vouchers.

ARH_2

43722 said:

Disagree. As a layman, with no consumer expertise. You paid for a service. NE could not / did not provide the service. You did not cancel. You can insist on a refund because they did not provide the service, and I would not be accepting vouchers.

Agreed with this.

The non-refundable nature of the ticket refers to it being non-refundable if the customer backs out. If the provider backs out then it certainly is refundable. They'll likely try to offer vouchers for their own commercial reasons, but you don't have to accept them. 

This has been widely discussed in the media with respect to air travel, and the same is applicable to coach travel. 

The first step is to complain to national express that you're not happy with their offer of vouchers. Have you done this? Can you share their response? Depending on how this goes, you may approach your credit card provider, or press them more firmly.

eskbanker

byronwells said:

I have just found out at the start of the actual lockdown, 5 months ago my partner had booked some national express tickets (the non refundable ones) for the two off us to go some where.. But because of the lockdown the coach got cancelled.

When was the trip scheduled for?  Credit card chargeback is only viable if claiming within 120 days of the service being cancelled (and no section 75 coverage is available for sub-£100 purchases), so bear that in mind when considering if the card can act as a safety net here....