Lastminute refund voucher that cannot be converted to a refund as promised.

jonp05

I was wondering if there was anything that you could do to highlight this issue or at least warn people that if they book a holiday that is cancelled then they will struggle to get a refund?
Lastminute.com have issued vouchers for cancelled holidays which were chosen by many people over a cash refund on the understanding that they could be converted to a refund at a later date if not used. Now that date has arrived it is impossible to contact them to request it as they have no phone number other than to book new holidays, no email, no contact on their website and are no longer responding to social media as they were earlier in the year. ABTA will not do anything until 56 days after the request was made but no requests can be made. They also won't intervene until the voucher expires but lastminute have extended this date until next September. In this email it still said that a cash refund would be made if requested. They have in effect locked the doors turned off the lights and drawn the curtains and are pretending they aren't in and ABTA are allowing them to dodge their obligation for  refunds, which to me should not be legal or permitted. Sorry to bother you with something so trivial but hundreds possibly thousands of people have money trapped by this immoral practice. 

watsonjle

Send an email to: customercare@lastminute.com. I did this from both my personal and work email 3 times over 3 separate weeks and a couple of weeks later got a response to the one from my work email (weird as this is not the account my booking was under...): 

We kindly inform you that w ehave passed your request to a member of our team. We will contatc you when the exchange has been made. A delay will appear with the management of the booking due to the circumstances and many requests from our customers, therefore we advise you to be patient.

Whilst I am still none the wiser as to when I may get the refund from the voucher, at least I now have evidence of the contact I've made with them and have raised a complaint with ABTA on this basis. I'm hoping that in 56 days, if I have had no further comms from them I can move forward with the ABTA complaint. I'm hoping it won't come to this and I'm willing to be patient (to a certain extent!) 

Hope that helps somewhat - it's not proven to work as yet but at least you'll feel you've been able to take some action. I don't know if you've seen some of the other threads on here (or the latest numerous trust pilot reviews) but there's a lot of people in a similar position. It's incredibly frustrating.

jonp05

Thanks very much for that - I'll give that a go - I did try writing to their postal address too, but no idea if that counts with ABTA..

jonp05

Just sent emails from my personal and work emails and like you, got a reply to my work one (which wasn't the one used to book) - not sure if it means there is any chance of it being actioned, but as you say at least it is something to give ABTA...

Barny1979

As they are based overseas, will ABTA be interested?

Butts

jonp05 said:

I was wondering if there was anything that you could do to highlight this issue or at least warn people that if they book a holiday that is cancelled then they will struggle to get a refund?
Lastminute.com have issued vouchers for cancelled holidays which were chosen by many people over a cash refund on the understanding that they could be converted to a refund at a later date if not used. Now that date has arrived it is impossible to contact them to request it as they have no phone number other than to book new holidays, no email, no contact on their website and are no longer responding to social media as they were earlier in the year. ABTA will not do anything until 56 days after the request was made but no requests can be made. They also won't intervene until the voucher expires but lastminute have extended this date until next September. In this email it still said that a cash refund would be made if requested. They have in effect locked the doors turned off the lights and drawn the curtains and are pretending they aren't in and ABTA are allowing them to dodge their obligation for  refunds, which to me should not be legal or permitted. Sorry to bother you with something so trivial but hundreds possibly thousands of people have money trapped by this immoral practice. 

Have you actually read any of the threads on here ?
A cursory glance would establish that the words LastMinute.com and refund are an oxymoron 

jonp05

I have received a second (non automatic) email that suggests that my request has been sent to the correct department, so fingers crossed...

Barny1979

jonp05 said:

I have received a second (non automatic) email that suggests that my request has been sent to the correct department, so fingers crossed...

I've had those too, don't hold your breath.

Butts

Barny1979 said:

jonp05 said:

I have received a second (non automatic) email that suggests that my request has been sent to the correct department, so fingers crossed...

I've had those too, don't hold your breath.

Or check Trustpilot which is littered with complaints about people being offered convertible vouchers earlier in the year that were supposed to be able to be redeemed for cash after September 1st.

Surprisingly enough it turns out they aren't worth the paper they were printed on.

The only language Lastminute.com understand is chargeback !!

Barny1979

Can a chargeback be used on a paypal deduction from a bank account though?

Butts

Barny1979 said:

Can a chargeback be used on a paypal deduction from a bank account though?

Not being a user of Paypal I don't know how that form of payment works so am unable to comment.