Wizzair refuses reimburse expenses for cancelled flight

sunnysnow

Hello. A month ago out flight Catania - London was cancelled on the morning of the flight. As later I found out it was traffic control strike, so no compensation is due, even though the lad on the customer service line told me the opposite. 
Anyway, super stressed, alone with my son, checking all the alternative options (Wizzair same flight was only in 3 days) the cheapest we could find was next day flight with Lufthansa, with stayover in Munich. It was a lot of money  in comparison to £30 for both of us which we paid several months in advance with Wizzair. 
The day of my return I filled in the relevant form on wizzair (the one for welfare reimbursement, not the compensation one), and today got the following reply:
"Regarding your request, unfortunately we cannot compensate your alternative flights, as for the compensation of the ticket difference with another airline, the route of the new flight must be the same as the original one, regretfully connective flights are non-refundable.

In regard to your inquiry for other expenses, we regret to inform you that according to  (GCC) Wizz Air cannot be held liable for consequential damages. Please find the relevant article of our GCC below:

17.1.6. Wizz Air is not liable for loss of profits, or indirect or consequential damages. The limitations of liability of these General Conditions of Carriage are accepted by the Passenger in consideration of the amount paid for Wizz Air’s services.

Please note that Passengers must be aware of these conditions, as our General Conditions of Carriage have to be accepted during the booking procedure.

The Customer Services Department, as well as our Passengers, is obligated to follow these provisions. Therefore, despite our best intentions, we are not able to reimburse any of your consequential costs." 


I asked to reimburse the flights (£700), the stay in the hotel (£100), bust tickets (£7) and food (£15). 
IS it ADR now, did anyone received the reply like that? I understand that I organized myself rerouting at the earliest opportunity, something wizzair failed to offer me.
p.s. of course, they refunded the cancelled flight for which I paid £30. I did not even ask for that, it is still on Wizzair account and I doubt I will ever use the company again.
Thank you!

Voyager2002

You are entitled to (i) re-routing, and there is nothing in the rules to say that this must be by a direct flight when only connecting flights are available; (ii) care, which means food and hotel. You should NOT receive a refund, in fact if you accept a refund you lose your right to re-routing.

I suggest you look up the rules and write to Wizzair again quoting them and using the correct terms. If that fails then personally I would be issuing court papers rather than messing about with ADR.

sunnysnow

According to what they have answered, wouldn't be a waste of time to continue communicate with them? And try ADR instead?
Court papers ..Do you mean Money Claim online? Is it more effective than ADR?

Re Refund of the initial ticket. I never asked or accepted. It was automated the next day after the cancelleation from Wizzair to my wizzair account. It is still laying there.

JPears

You need to download, read through and understand the relevant regulation - EC261/2004.  Also google for Vauban's Guide, it has some useful, if rather dated, information.

But yes, you are entitled to re-routing expenses as you have listed. It matters not one jot what Wizz air put in their term and conditions, this is trumped by EU and UK law.

sunnysnow

JPears said:

You need to download, read through and understand the relevant regulation - EC261/2004.  Also google for Vauban's Guide, it has some useful, if rather dated, information.

But yes, you are entitled to re-routing expenses as you have listed. It matters not one jot what Whizz air put in their term and conditions, this is trumped by EU and UK law.

Thanks. I have read all those before writing to wizzair a month ago. 
Me understanding of those is not enough to have my money back. I do not know how to make them reimburse.

sunnysnow

Can you recommend the best NWNF company that could deal exactly with my case, which is not compensation but simply reimbursement out of pocket expenses  to get home due to cancelled flight?

JPears

Whilst NWNF can useful in a "grey area" case. Yours is not. A NWNF will take approx 30% and have no greater powers than you.

You can go ADR at no risk.

You can go small claims court via MCOL, at cost.

The biggest problem appears to be the lack of compliance by Whizzair, even when courts have told them to pay up.

It is hard to know what to do.

I would suggest a letter of complaint to the CAA about the reply from Whizzair.  The more complaints the CAA get, the more like they may actually do smething about Whizzair.

eskbanker

JPears said:

The biggest problem appears to be the lack of compliance by Whizzair, even when courts have told them to pay up.

It is hard to know what to do.

I would suggest a letter of complaint to the CAA about the reply from Whizzair.  The more complaints the CAA get, the more like they may actually do smething about Whizzair.

Apologies for the pedantry but there's no H in Wizz Air (as evidenced by the number of threads, they're not speedy!)

JPears

Duly noted and edited

sunnysnow

JPears said:

I would suggest a letter of complaint to the CAA about the reply from Whizzair.  The more complaints the CAA get, the more like they may actually do smething about Whizzair.

CAA and ADR the same, I understand?
I printed and reread the Vaubans guide yesterday. It does say that it is a bit pointless to apply with them after the airline refused with the payments. Is it correct or I am missing the point?

sunnysnow

Wanted to report my own journey with the issue.
Wizzair answer is quite long each time, they answer probably 4 weeks after my email.
Initially as above in my first message here, they refused with any reimbursements (I just wanted the refund of my expenses due to cancellation, I did not claim compensations).
I chased them again with nearly the same email I wrote them first time, making sure they know I do not give up easily and know the laws (I only know what I have read on this forum).
Their second reply was that they can reimburse me the flight only, the one with a different airline. But not other expenses, like hotel bus, snacks. I did provide them my bank details.
In the third email from them they confirmed the amount they were going to reimburse
"Alternative transport to your destination: 600 EUR
The amount of compensation is based on the company's internal regulations.
Regretfully, the mentioned amount is the maximum possible compensation amount in accordance to our internal regulations."
Which was lower than the receipts I provided.
Today I have  received the email 
"In regard to your request, we kindly inform you that in light of our recent changes to the internal regulations, we have reviewed your claim and kindly inform you that we have reinitiated the compensation procedure in full amount of submitted expenses caused by the flight disruption.
Based on the submitted invoices, we can reimburse you a total amount of 744.94 EUR."
And also received the funds mentioned.
I am happy as was not sure I will receive anything at all.

Slightly disappointed  still why they refused with the hotel and other small expenses reimbursements (total about 150 EUR). Not sure if I should try and claim it separately.
Also, I have £30 credit on my wizzair account (that was the automatic ticket refund for a cancelled flight). I do not think It is possible to withdraw it anyhow, let me know if you know the ways. I am not planning any journey with Wizzair in the near future.

Just wanted to say, that do not give up with Wizzair if you are in a similar situation.