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No guarantee of cash refund- Last minute.com

We booked two flight tickets through last minute.com in November 2019 to fly to Australia in September 2020 (there was an excellent deal on). Due to the pandemic the airline cancelled our flights (which were with Malaysia airline) in July 2020 and last minute.come notified us that it was processing our refund but we had to wait until after the flight date to receive a refund. Fast forward to January 2021 the refund had finally be confirmed after many ignored emails, and that we needed to confirm the method of refund. 

Unfortunately, as many of you have stated, there are three options to choose from 1) credit note 2) voucher 3) request refund directly from the airline (but a cash refund is not guaranteed with this option) and there would be a £30 handling fee for the privilege! 

It’s been over a year since we booked those flights, 7 months since they were cancelled and 5 months since our refund was being processed.

we’re totally stuck as to what to do next as we want a full cash refund (as we know we are 100% fully entitled to). But last minute.com are being a total hassle to deal with.

Does anyone have a propositions as to how we can successfully close this fiasco?!?!

many thanks

Comments

  • Ceelson said:

    we’re totally stuck as to what to do next as we want a full cash refund (as we know we are 100% fully entitled to). But last minute.com are being a total hassle to deal with.

    You are not entitled to a full cash refund. You are entitled to a refund of the value of the flights, less an administration fee (the £30 fee you mention, which is entirely reasonable and allowed under the relevant legislation). Tell them you wish them to refund you, accept they will charge the admin fee, get the vast majority if your money back.
  • Caz3121
    Caz3121 Posts: 15,733 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Ceelson said:

    and there would be a £30 handling fee for the privilege! 

    as far as third party handling fees go that is certainly at the cheaper end of the scale. For future, these fees can be avoided by booking directly with the airline.
  • I am happy to pay £30 as long as the company will guarantee a cash reimbursement, but what I am worried about is that in the T&C’s is that if I tick the box it says they can still give me a voucher or the Cash... 

    Is there any way that I can guarantee cash without the small print messing me round and then I still end up with a voucher? 

    Thank you for the comments 
  • Westin
    Westin Posts: 6,211 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Ceelson said:
    I am happy to pay £30 as long as the company will guarantee a cash reimbursement, but what I am worried about is that in the T&C’s is that if I tick the box it says they can still give me a voucher or the Cash... 

    Is there any way that I can guarantee cash without the small print messing me round and then I still end up with a voucher? 

    Thank you for the comments 
    There are quite a few existing Lastminute.com threads on this board.  I seem to recall that on one someone had posted screen shots of the three LM options. You might wish to look for those if confused about which option to select on their email/website.

    As for "guarantee" of a cash refund, I suspect it will come down to whether LM can get the refund from the unnamed airline or if the unnamed airline has been paying cash refunds rather than vouchers.  LM certainly won't give you a cash refund unless they themselves have received the money from the airline.

    Qantas, Emirates and Qatar I believe have now largely moved from credit to returning cash refunds.   I think still issues with Thai and Malaysia Airlines, both who had not been returning money as both are in deep financial do-do. 
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