Cruise Refund Troubles

dodge08

I booked a short European cruise with MSC back in December 2019 and paid a total of £1575 (deposit of £300 in December, the rest in February). I also paid for a couple of extras like a day trip too which cost around £200. The cruise was due to set sail on May 6th and so we watched as they announced the cancellations and eventually ours was one of them. I contacted MSC who revealed their +25% voucher scheme but the prices for the same cruise next year were slightly elevated thus negating the +25% anyway so we decided to chase a refund. They said you'd have to wait until December 2021 for the voucher to become a refund so I called my bank to try and claim but as it was a package holiday they gave me a letter of rejection which kicked MSC into action once I forwarded it to them. So I sent them a stern email and they simply replied saying my refund request had been raised and it could be up to 90 days - this was in April.

Fast forward and after the 90 days passed I had received the £200 for extras but not the full balance so I emailed them with a legal threat and was told a senior customer representative would call me... which they did about 5 days later and she said if you don't receive your refund in a further 4 weeks which is this week to email her directly. The reason they state is that they don't have enough staff to process all the refunds but I'm reading about so many other travel companies including cruise liners like P&O who are refunding people perfectly.

My questions really are - can I escalate the issue any higher? Is it worth considering taking it to court? Can I claim for loss of bank interest or compensation for their breach of the law in not refunding for a cancelled service in 7 days?

macman

Of course they are, because the alternative is to become insolvent. 
If you have already sent an LBA, then presumably that specified what action you would take and on what timescale?  If you were not prepared to go the smalll claims route, then why send an LBA? I suggest you follow through on that without delay, because the court delays to hear such claims will now be backed up for many months.
By 'your bank', do you mean your debit or credit card provider? If so, did you request a chargeback or an S75 claim? I see no reason why either would be rejected if you can show that it was an ATOL-protected package booking which was cancelled by the supplier? 
I'd talk to your bank again, and run a chargeback in parallel with small claims. Don't delay, as your chargeback option will expire in about 3 weeks (120 day limit).

dodge08

macman said:

Of course they are, because the alternative is to become insolvent. 
If you have already sent an LBA, then presumably that specified what action you would take and on what timescale?  If you were not prepared to go the smalll claims route, then why send an LBA? I suggest you follow through on that without delay, because the court delays to hear such claims will now be backed up for many months.
By 'your bank', do you mean your debit or credit card provider? If so, did you request a chargeback or an S75 claim? I see no reason why either would be rejected if you can show that it was an ATOL-protected package booking which was cancelled by the supplier? 
I'd talk to your bank again, and run a chargeback in parallel with small claims. Don't delay, as your chargeback option will expire in about 3 weeks (120 day limit).

So I haven't actually send them an LBA, I noted that in my original post by mistake as before I sent it that's when I received the phone call from the customer service agent. So I removed that part of my post a while ago. 
I will chase MSC again today and see where things go from there and if the response isn't satisfactory then LBA and eventually small claims I guess!

macman

Presumably your 'legal threat' says much the same as an LBA would ('pay me x by y or I shall take you to court in z days'?), so my point remains valid, The problem is that issuing such threats and then not following through within the quoted timescale just undermines your case.
Why are you not pursuing the chargeback option? This is quicker, more likely to succeed, and will cost you nothing.

granoftwo

After waiting 5 months for a refund from Planet Cruise, and no reply to my latest e mail, i contacted my bank (Santander) as i had paid by direct debit in 3 instalments  (first was April 2019)!. They refunded the full amount within 3 days of raising the charge. Definitely worth a try and santander were really helpful.

blindman

granoftwo said:

After waiting 5 months for a refund from Planet Cruise, and no reply to my latest e mail, i contacted my bank (Santander) as i had paid by direct debit in 3 instalments  (first was April 2019)!. They refunded the full amount within 3 days of raising the charge. Definitely worth a try and santander were really helpful.

But MSC have 45 days to claw it back so don#t spend it yet.