Can I pay for someone else to protect them with S75?

TCA1989

grumbler said:

MSE:

• What does Section 75 cover?

Scroll down directly to

It's a GREY AREA if you...  Bought an item as a secondary cardholder or purchased something in the name of someone other than the primary cardholder

There is no point in asking the CC company. For them it's black&white, not grey. And stop trying to find some logic where there is no any. S75 is an archaic piece of legislation that makes no sense when applied to CCs. CC companies use every possible excuse for not paying,

I’ve never had a CC S75 claim rejected and have probably done one at least once a year for things varying extensively from airline issues to private medical bills. Every claim I’ve made I’ve gone in thinking no chance, as they’ve always been in grey areas (and I’ve been categorically told on here I’ll get nothing on my airline issue), but they’ve all been refreshingly helpful in attempting to sort my issues before refunding me.

If I need this to be my second claim this year (it’s now looking unlikely I’ll need to, luckily) I’ll update you all as to how it goes - if in doubt, absolutely try to claim, the worst that can happen is they say no and explain in real terms why they can’t help. 

grumbler

TCA1989 said:

grumbler said:

MSE:

• What does Section 75 cover?

Scroll down directly to

It's a GREY AREA if you...  Bought an item as a secondary cardholder or purchased something in the name of someone other than the primary cardholder

There is no point in asking the CC company. For them it's black&white, not grey. And stop trying to find some logic where there is no any. S75 is an archaic piece of legislation that makes no sense when applied to CCs. CC companies use every possible excuse for not paying,

I’ve never had a CC S75 claim rejected and have probably done one at least once a year for things varying extensively from airline issues to private medical bills.

Quite possible, most claims were processed like simple chargebacks by CC companies. Otherwise they pay from their pockets and, understandably, don't like this and resist.

Grumpy_chap

TCA1989 said:

I’ve never had a CC S75 claim rejected and have probably done one at least once a year for things varying extensively from airline issues to private medical bills. 

If you have succeeded in S75 claims once a year for a number of years, you probably have more experience of the S75 process than anyone else on this board (or indeed anywhere from the Consumer side).

I have never followed the S75 route but my understanding is that the CC companies are quite stringent before an S75 is processed and paid out as the CC has to meet the costs directly and will take lengthy steps to establish that they are genuinely on-the-hook based upon a breach of the legal rights held by the Consumer.  

Are you sure the claims you submitted were S75 and not simply processed as chargeback?

If you have needed to submit claims (whether S75 or chargeback) once per year for a number of years, you do seem to have had a fair run of bad luck.

IMO, S75 as applied for CC is in need of reform as it puts a level of risk & liability on the CC company is that entirely disproportionate to their control of the goods / service provided or the CC company revenue from the transaction.

TCA1989

All have been S75 refunds after months of back and forths.

I have a lot of claims because unlike most people in this country I don’t just roll over and accept poor service! I’m sure most people have customer service or product issues at the same frequency as me, but they’ll just take the loss and get on with it. 

I believe some of the advice on my S75 airline post on here was basically suck it up, you’re out of luck and have zero rights to anything - but I got £1000s back after at least half a year of work from the CC (and three emails from me during that time). Emirates refused to give anything back eventually and even refused to refund my hotel during my 24 hour+ delay and the moment that email came through the CC paid out. 

Grumpy_chap

It is good that you have been successful.

Perhaps it would be a courtesy to those that commented on the flight thread to update as to the outcome and what points were  / were not accepted.  I just read that thread, and I am confused as to why your first route for redress seemed to be S75 rather than following Emirates complaints process in the first instance and then your travel insurance.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6440716/emirates-flight-from-hell-refusing-to-contact-me-back#latest

I am, though, pleased at your successes.
With all your experience of the S75 process, it would be great if you can provide advice to others as to how the process works,  I really suspect there are few people that have a history of successful S75 claims so you can bring unique insight and advice and be a real strength to the forum.

One question that has been mooted from time to time is whether an individual with a history of bringing S75 claims would in any way be impacted in their ability to obtain credit.
You appear to be the living proof that is not an issue.

TCA1989

For the airline issue I couldn’t even contact them on the channels they said were mandatory for contact of such nature, when I got serious about it and started to fight I was up against a wall of forms that wouldn’t submit due to character limits in text boxes. I assumed it didn’t like punctuation so removed it all, then found the same. Then realised it was just a total glitch, their online team refused to acknowledge it and I rather cynically believe they use that form on purpose to turn people off. 

My insurer wasn’t interested as the airline had the obligation to provide the hotel and food etc under whatever rules they follow, from their perspective I was merely delayed and not stranded/vastly out of pocket. 

Once started on the S75 claim I didn’t have to do anything other than answer around 8 questions over several months from my case handler at my CC provider, very simple questions too. After a while Emirates came to me directly and offered silly things like vouchers off Emirates holidays (subject to minimum spend) but eventually refused to cooperate once I’d rejected their offers. 

A very bizarre approach from such a big company, but I’ve since had a friend with a similar issue with them and it’s panning out the same way. I suspect many people on my flight settled for £0 in refunds, even if they were out of pocket with hotel expenditure. 

The funniest thing is that when I claimed I only wanted my out of pocket expenses covered, and at a push I wanted the return portion of my ticket refunded. The CC company couldn’t refund any of my out of pocket expenditures as they were separate, they did however refund the entire booking amount which was far, far more than I anticipated.  

As for credit worthiness, it doesn’t appear to come into it, I think that would be a kick in the teeth when the whole system is designed to protect the consumer. You can only claim when your rights have been breached, and I suspect they’re good at navigating the grey areas such as the original post I’ve put here. 

As for giving advice, I don’t feel I’m able to, other than try a claim if you think you have one - they’ll either take it on or tell you it’s not covered. I’m no expert in anything other than realising when I’m not receiving the service or goods I paid for, the rest has been very simple online forms and rather professional case handlers simplifying the process, and maybe a whole lot of luck.