Traveltrolley return flight Vietnam airlines stuck waiting for refund

fivesmaster

Hi all, 
Had a read through other posts, so many in similar problem. Hoping someone can advise:
I booked a return flight to Vietnam through Traveltrolley to fly in Nov 2020, but the flight did not go ahead, we never received any cancellation but Vietnam Airlines were just not flying.
We contacted Traveltrolley, requested a refund; still waiting.....then rang again a few weeks later and they still have not got any further, still waiting. They have now put a 'chaser' on it, whatever that means, to chase it up I guess.
In the meantime, I rang Nationwide insurance, to consider putting a claim in. They advised us to go through Tesco credit card to get the money back, as we paid using credit card. So I put a claim in for chargeback. It was rejected, I rang Tescos, they asked for more documents, so I have resubmitted these and am now waiting.....I was annoyed with Nationwide as I thought we can just claim on insurance, but they were quite forceful in telling me if we claimed they would simply ask us to go through chargeback.
So...this is where we currently are, waiting and waiting....hopefully Tescos claim will be successful?  
A worry I have is that we have no confirmation the flight was cancelled, although we do know for a fact it was...no flights coming in or out of Vietnam....not sure if I should be worried about this aspect.....
So, advise from anyone? I guess to just be patient and wait???My big concern si that we will not get anything back, which seems unfair, as we got nothing for it, no flight or anything! (flight was for my wife to attend anniversary of her Father's passing).
Sincerely...

Caz3121

fivesmaster said:

 the flight did not go ahead, we never received any cancellation but Vietnam Airlines were just not flying.
We contacted Traveltrolley, requested a refund; still waiting.....then rang again a few weeks later and they still have not got any further, still waiting. They have now put a 'chaser' on it, whatever that means, to chase it up I guess.

when you choose to use a middleman rather than booking direct with the airline it adds time and complexity. You paid your money to TravelTrolley and they paid the airline and are the airline's customer. 
Before they can refund you they need to request and receive the refund from the airline, they should then deduct the service fees and return the remainder to you.
I am not sure what Vietnam's timescales are but many airlines are taking months to issue refunds. I suspect the chasing up is TT to request/receive the refund from the airline.
What did your booking on the airline website show?
If you have the flight number and date it should be possible to check the cancellation details

eskbanker

fivesmaster said:

I was annoyed with Nationwide as I thought we can just claim on insurance, but they were quite forceful in telling me if we claimed they would simply ask us to go through chargeback.

It's standard practice for insurers to expect policyholders to recover costs from other parties who are demonstrably liable, as here.

Voyager2002

fivesmaster said:

 
A worry I have is that we have no confirmation the flight was cancelled, although we do know for a fact it was...no flights coming in or out of Vietnam....not sure if I should be worried about this aspect.....

Have you asked the airline for this confirmation? Or found it on their website?

Waywardmike

I had a flight cancelled in early April with Oman Air booked through TravelTrolley.

Back then TT were being horrendous, pushing hard for credit notes and wouldn't even entertain the idea of a refund, although this was driven partly by the airlines.  They were also at the time adding £75 per person fees if they could successfully get a refund from the airline, although this wasn't stated in their T&C's. Thankfully they've backtracked on that now and refund in full which is unusual for an OTA so I'll give them credit for that as someone needs to be paid for the work they're doing at least trying to obtain refunds.  Even now, a year later after I booked, Oman Air aren't refunding.

I started a Chargeback almost immediately in April as neither TT or the airline were abiding by their own T&C's let alone the EU regulations around cancellations. 
It took 6 weeks for the bank to action it, TT challenged it on day 43 of the 45 day period they have to disagree.  My bank didn't agree with them and reapplied the chargeback, I then finished the second 45 day period unchallenged so finally got my money back.  6 months later!

I couldn't get a cancellation notice from the Airline, my booking disappeared from their manage booking option and it took a lot of work speaking to TT on the phone to get one of their agents to admit that the airline cancelled, not me, and put it in writing.  I like to think they're better now as they're trying to recover their reputation.

I think your only option is to pursue the chargeback with the bank, if this doesn't work pursue S75 as you used a CC, if the bank still won't play ball, ask for a letter of deadlock and approach the Ombudsman.

fivesmaster

Thank you so much everyone for your feedback.  Caz3121 I cannot find any confirmation anywhere of cancellation, but I know it was....how do I find out if it was now? Is there a website to look at all of the cancellations?  Nothing comes up when I login on Traveltrolley, it is as though everything has been wiped....wish I had screenshotted something at the time....

fivesmaster

I guess I just need some patience.....thank you everyone for ideas....

fivesmaster

Voyager2002 said:

fivesmaster said:

 
A worry I have is that we have no confirmation the flight was cancelled, although we do know for a fact it was...no flights coming in or out of Vietnam....not sure if I should be worried about this aspect.....

Have you asked the airline for this confirmation? Or found it on their website?

I emailed them to confirm but they simply replied stating to wait for the airline response. How can I find confirmation this flight was actually cancelled? Putting in the booking ref, nothing comes up.....

Caz3121

as per post 2 - what was your flight number and date?

fivesmaster

Caz3121 said:

as per post 2 - what was your flight number and date?

VIETNAM AIR-VN 54 on Sunday October 18th 2020....very grateful if you can help.....

MattMattMattUK

You will need to get the airline to confirm that the flight was cancelled, they usually respond to an email but at he moment it will take a bit of time. 

As far as I can see the flight did not operate on 18/10, the last time it operated was 02/10 and it would appear that no flights operated from London to Hanoi on 18/10.