Opodo requesting bank details to process refund

Nick212010

As the title suggests, Opodo have emailed to request my bank details so they say they can process my cash refund. Is this normal practice? Wouldn’t this normally be refunded back to the credit card my flights was paid on? (Paid July 2019 for a cancelled April 2020 return flight.)

The email I received from no-reply@contact.opodo.com, ironically says I should supply these details by replying to the above email address. 

I’m being very sceptical about this, or am I just being over cautious?

Westin

Do Opodo owe you money?

Whilst wise to apply caution, there will come a point that if you are owed money and expecting a refund from the company then you will need to probably furnish them with information to allow them to do this.  Whilst refunds are typically made back to the original form of payment sometimes the company may elect another payment route.

You could I guess ask for a cheque but given Opodo's rather dire record on refunds (and their service centre being based overseas so issuance of a GBP£ cheque may be a challenge) I am not sure this would be my recommended suggestion. 

Their reputation and time lag on refunds would probably encourage me to supply the requested bank account number and sort code just to get the money back and close the chapter with Opodo.

Ganga

Do not forget your bank account number and sort code are all ready printed on your cheque book pages so that information is all ready available to anyone you have sent a cheque to. it is not like you are giving out your pin number etc.  

MalMonroe

Can't you just phone and ask them to refund back to the credit card? It's worth a try at least. Just tell them you are not comfortable divulging your bank details in the way they have asked. Many people feel the same way. It does seem strange that Opodo have asked to to reply to a no reply email address. I'd phone, even if I had to wait on the line a while. 

I have received warnings, and we're often being told, not to put bank details in the body of an email.  If you don't feel comfortable doing that, you have a right to ask them to refund in another way. 

And if you take advice from this site to go against your instincts and something goes wrong, there's nothing you can do because the rules state -

"Do not rely on any information given on the forum without checking it yourself first. If you do, you do so at your own risk." and it goes on to say "We would hate to think people were losing money because of this forum."

Go with your instincts. Opodo do still owe you the money, even if you don't want to have it repaid in the way they state.

MattMattMattUK

Nick212010 said:

As the title suggests, Opodo have emailed to request my bank details so they say they can process my cash refund. Is this normal practice? Wouldn’t this normally be refunded back to the credit card my flights was paid on? (Paid July 2019 for a cancelled April 2020 return flight.)

The email I received from no-reply@contact.opodo.com, ironically says I should supply these details by replying to the above email address. 

I’m being very sceptical about this, or am I just being over cautious?

The issue might be when you paid. I know, at least from my businesses car processor that we can not process a refund to a card for a transaction that is more than 12 months ago. As the original transaction was 20 months ago they may not be able to process a refund to the original card.

CKhalvashi

MattMattMattUK said:

Nick212010 said:

As the title suggests, Opodo have emailed to request my bank details so they say they can process my cash refund. Is this normal practice? Wouldn’t this normally be refunded back to the credit card my flights was paid on? (Paid July 2019 for a cancelled April 2020 return flight.)

The email I received from no-reply@contact.opodo.com, ironically says I should supply these details by replying to the above email address. 

I’m being very sceptical about this, or am I just being over cautious?

The issue might be when you paid. I know, at least from my businesses car processor that we can not process a refund to a card for a transaction that is more than 12 months ago. As the original transaction was 20 months ago they may not be able to process a refund to the original card.

We are limited to 6 months without calling, so I'm suspecting that it's the same issue.

Nobody can take funds with just an account number and sort code, just pay money in. If this wasn't a secure method of payment, these details wouldn't be written on cheques.