Opodo actually refunded me - after the bank put through the chargeback

takingitback

Hi all
Like many people my longhaul flights for Easter 2020 holidays were cancelled by the airline due to Coronavirus. I'd booked through Opodo and spent many hours trying to get my refund - on hold, tweeting, finding email addresses for literally anyone at the company... I managed to speak to someone at opodo twice, both times was promised a refund at some point, both times the company met none of the deadlines. Indeed, they didn't even initiate the cancellation/ refund process but kept bumping me to alternative flights, even after we were in full lockdown and despite my clear requests otherwise. Meanwhile, the airline were incredibly helpful and contacted me proactively to ensure I wouldn't be charged for a noshow due to Opodo's failings. About a week after the original flights would have taken off, having been unable to reach anyone at Opodo or receive anything other than generic emails, I initiated a chargeback with my bank. They credited me the money straightaway and I thought that was it.
At the end of June, a large amount of money suddenly appeared in my bank account. It was Opodo actually refunding me the cash. I immediately tried to contact my bank to let them know so they could take their credit back. Then and on numerous occasions since, I've been unable to reach anyone by phone. I managed to get a customer service agent in the live chat who told me that the bank would take the money back but they still haven't. I've put it into savings so I can't touch it but still would prefer not to have all this money that isn't mine in my account as I don't want to get used to it... I try to keep my current account balance to under £1000 to help control spending. But if  the bank claims it back without warning I could get whacked by overdraft charges - and it could affect my credit rating, which isn't great. Part of me wants to keep quiet and give the money to charity - it's not as if Opodo are a good company. What would you do?

TheShape

My first action would be to put the money back into the account that it was credited to.  As you have already identified, if the bank reclaims this payment from the account you could go overdrawn.  You just need to remember that your balance is the full balance minus this amount.

Then contact your bank again to remind them to take the payment back.

born_again

Contacting the bank will not make them take the money back.
This is all going to depend on timescales.
From the date of the (bank refund) to the end of the period retailer has to contest is 45 days. If you are under that timescale then it could be rejected by retailer and bank will re-debit you.
If it is over that timescale (might take a while for bank to pick up due to the amount of chargebacks actioned) then there is nothing they can do. As the chargeback has not been contested.
At the moment DO NOT PAY retailer back, if you are still in the 45 days. As they could then reject the chargeback and you end up with nothing.
Best advice is to place in a saving acc and get a few Pence interest. If you do not have the funds in the current account, bank will contact you before debiting.

Tgilbody

How did this pan out? Similar thing has happened to a friend of mine. Bank chargeback was performed in Sept 2020 for a cancelled package in April 2020. Then Opodo have refunded in May 2021.

Speedbird676

When this happened to me Santander wrote to me to say the money they had credited to my account would be debited after 14-days as the retailer had refunded the money.

Opodosucksdotcom

The same has happened to me. I had to harass Opodo daily on Twitter/FB/livechat (and directing all their other complaining customers to opodosucks.com) and they eventually refunded me after I had already done a chargeback. I don't think they would have done if I didn't stalk then so much - it's a shambles some people are waiting over a year, 1 month was enough for me. 

My chargeback through Lloyds was credited 26th Aug. Refund from eDreams was 1st Sept. So I did the same as above by putting it in a savings account and see what happens. I wouldn't feel guilty for keeping it, they are a lousy company. Will update after the 45 days they have to contest.