Booking.com ignoring full refund

eskbanker

MissRP95 said:
Yes we spoke to them on the phone before cancelling and the said we could cancel the hotel and get all the money back except pay a £35pp admin fee. They said they couldn't refund us for the flight and that we would need to go directly to the airline to ask about a refund. We didn't want to cancel the flight anyway, just the hotel as we saw some bad reviews that really put us off the hotel. 

But surely you wouldn't have gone ahead with cancelling the hotel without any idea how much you'd get back - in other words, it would only make sense to partially cancel if they stated an actual figure that they'd refund, rather than the vague concept of 'you'll get what you're due'?

If you went ahead and cancelled on that latter basis, it does put you in a very weak position if you don't know the hotel cost and you're reduced to trying to calculate it yourself because you don't trust the agent, so you really can't go accusing them of ripping you off until you've seen evidence that supports that, in a more concrete form than some notional costs the airline's mentioned, i.e. the breakdown you're belatedly trying to get from them remains critical to your chances of success.

theonlywayisup

MissRP95 said:

HillStreetBlues said:
Who took payment?  was booking.com on the statement?

Technically Lastminute.com as they own booking.com. Talking to either company is a difficult task. 

I don't agree with how you think you've worked out what you are owed.  If there is no itemised cost breakdown then you are not able to estimate.  A flight is not a fixed price.  

That aside, you won't get much joy with Lastminute.  A work colleague had fully cancellable flights booked with them, which they cancelled and they won't refund.  Sadly she paid by debit card and is outside the time limit for chargeback and her card provider won't do anything.  They are not UK based so any legal action is tiresome at best.  Even the UK Government has issued with them not giving refunds for holidays. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/lastminute-com-faces-legal-action-unless-it-pays-outstanding-refunds

tightauldgit

MissRP95 said:

elsien said:

Why would the flight operator owe you money when you haven’t cancelled the flight? That’s the bit I’m confused by.

Because we haven't got the breakdown we are using the knowledge we have to estimate how much we are owed. They are saying that the money we've calculated around £300 isn't owed by them, that the flight must cost more than they are saying. They are just trying to push responsibility away from themselves. 

Manxman_in_exile said:
If your package holiday is made up of two parts consisting of (1) flights and (2) accommodation, can you cancel just one part and keep the other?

Assuming you can, if you were keeping the flights I'd expect them to cost more on their own than they did as part of the "package"...

The package was booked through booking.com but when it comes to the flight they are just acting like a middle man, so they've allowed us to cancel the hotel but keep the flight as really they have nothing to do with the flight. They've just linked it as a package on their website.

eskbanker said:
Are you sure that you still have a live booking with the airline?  It's beginning to sound like booking.com have cancelled the whole package, which is probably what I'd expect to be honest, rather than simply removing the accommodation component of a package....

Yes, we spoke to the airline today and they said we still have the flight.

tightauldgit said:
I just had a look at booking.com as I have never booked their packages only ever made separate hotel and flight bookings. 

It looks to me as if the 'free hotel cancellation' means when you cancel the whole package booking you get your hotel portion refunded. It doesn't appear to say you can just cancel the hotel portion and keep the flight. 

Is it possible they've cancelled your package and then rebooked you on the flight at additional cost?

The way it seems is the hotel was like a regular hotel booking with themselves and the flight is like when you use skyscanner. They are just the middle men that making the booking on your behalf and then link it to your hotel and then give you the options of adding luggage and transfers. I wouldn't call it a proper package holiday like if you were to book it through Jet2 or TUI.

born_again said:
Does the Hotel T/C allow this?
Booking.com advertise free cancelations, but in the small print this is subject to hotel etc supporting this. many do not.

But like others, if there is no breakdown of costs, then it sounds like the whole holiday has been cancelled.

Yes we spoke to them on the phone before cancelling and the said we could cancel the hotel and get all the money back except pay a £35pp admin fee. They said they couldn't refund us for the flight and that we would need to go directly to the airline to ask about a refund. We didn't want to cancel the flight anyway, just the hotel as we saw some bad reviews that really put us off the hotel. 

HillStreetBlues said:
Who took payment?  was booking.com on the statement?

Technically Lastminute.com as they own booking.com. Talking to either company is a difficult task. 

I don't think its that LM own booking.com its that LM are the provider for all the packages on booking.com which is another reason why I don't think you can treat a package the same as two separate bookings. 

HillStreetBlues

MissRP95 said:

HillStreetBlues said:
Who took payment?  was booking.com on the statement?

Technically Lastminute.com as they own booking.com. Talking to either company is a difficult task. 

Any refund due needs to be paid by Booking.com/ LM

The airline can't refund your money as you didn't pay them.

born_again

@MissRP95

How are these payments shown on your bank account.
As rule of thumb from what I have seen, flights are debited by Airline, & other parts by Booking.com.

Seems very odd that the invoice has not broken down costs. Or is this all through the same company Such as say Jet2 holidays?

But why title ignoring full refund, when you did not want to cancel flights?

tightauldgit

born_again said:

@MissRP95

How are these payments shown on your bank account.
As rule of thumb from what I have seen, flights are debited by Airline, & other parts by Booking.com.

Seems very odd that the invoice has not broken down costs. Or is this all through the same company Such as say Jet2 holidays?

But why title ignoring full refund, when you did not want to cancel flights?

If you go to booking.com and look for a 'package' then what you get is actually a front to a lastminute.com provided service which doesn't break down the cost of flight and hotel on the invoice. And I presume gets charged as a package by lastminute.com and paid to lastminute.com. 

While the site makes a big deal of saying that the hotel can be refunded in full if you cancel - I can't for the life of me see anything that says its possible to cancel the hotel portion only and keep the flights. I suspect either the OP or someone at booking.com has gotten confused by that. 

born_again

Will have to wait & see what Op comes back with.

MissRP95

eskbanker said:

But surely you wouldn't have gone ahead with cancelling the hotel without any idea how much you'd get back - in other words, it would only make sense to partially cancel if they stated an actual figure that they'd refund, rather than the vague concept of 'you'll get what you're due'?

If you went ahead and cancelled on that latter basis, it does put you in a very weak position if you don't know the hotel cost and you're reduced to trying to calculate it yourself because you don't trust the agent, so you really can't go accusing them of ripping you off until you've seen evidence that supports that, in a more concrete form than some notional costs the airline's mentioned, i.e. the breakdown you're belatedly trying to get from them remains critical to your chances of success.

We definitely didn't want to stay at hotel once we saw the reviews about infestations, so we knew we wanted to cancel. They said at that time they couldn't give us the exact figure but we would get a full refund on the hotel.

If the provided a breakdown and it showed we were paid what we should have been, everything would be fine. It's because they are refusing to provide the breakdown that's causing issues. I don't know how to get it. And because they are fobbing us off each time it makes me thing they are withholding our money.

born_again said:

@MissRP95

How are these payments shown on your bank account.
As rule of thumb from what I have seen, flights are debited by Airline, & other parts by Booking.com.

Seems very odd that the invoice has not broken down costs. Or is this all through the same company Such as say Jet2 holidays?

But why title ignoring full refund, when you did not want to cancel flights?

On my credit card it's Last minute it rather LMNextUK Ltd. 

Full refund for the hotel, not the whole package. As per the terms of the booking, we are entitled to a full refund of the hotel but we believe we've only recieved a partial refund. Agents from booking.com vaguely tell us they can see we are due more of a refund but can't tell us how much or when we will get it.
When we speak to them, it feels like they are fibbing us off "Yes, yes I can see you are due a refund. It will be paid soon. I will escalate it for you" and then nothing happens.

I don't know how to get them to give us this breakdown. I feel out of pocket, obviously if the breakdown shows the hotel costs the same as the refund I'll drop it.

tightauldgit said:

If you go to booking.com and look for a 'package' then what you get is actually a front to a lastminute.com provided service which doesn't break down the cost of flight and hotel on the invoice. And I presume gets charged as a package by lastminute.com and paid to lastminute.com. 

While the site makes a big deal of saying that the hotel can be refunded in full if you cancel - I can't for the life of me see anything that says its possible to cancel the hotel portion only and keep the flights. I suspect either the OP or someone at booking.com has gotten confused by that. 

We have been able to cancel one part, as the hotel has been cancelled and a partial/full refund (don't know which yet) has been given. And I spoke to the airline yesterday and we still have the flights. 

tightauldgit

tightauldgit said:

If you go to booking.com and look for a 'package' then what you get is actually a front to a lastminute.com provided service which doesn't break down the cost of flight and hotel on the invoice. And I presume gets charged as a package by lastminute.com and paid to lastminute.com. 

While the site makes a big deal of saying that the hotel can be refunded in full if you cancel - I can't for the life of me see anything that says its possible to cancel the hotel portion only and keep the flights. I suspect either the OP or someone at booking.com has gotten confused by that. 

We have been able to cancel one part, as the hotel has been cancelled and a partial/full refund (don't know which yet) has been given. And I spoke to the airline yesterday and we still have the flights. 

Or they've cancelled the whole package and rebooked you on the flight incurring admin costs which have reduced the amount you are due to be refunded. From your POV those two things would look much the same.