i'm ready to refer my Section 75 claim to the FOS. what do i do ?

pushpull

The FOS won't get involved in the merits of your S75 claim (they're not experts in consumer/contract law) so will only look at if the CC company treated you fairly in dealing with your claim.

Generally that will be allowing you to make an S75 claim and then taking on board your points.  I suspect they have done this and you have ultimately failed to prove your claim, and thus will likely fail with  the FOS too.

Jonboy_1984

Did you book the flight directly with the airline or did you use any form of intermediary (online agent or payment method such as PayPal) that may have broken the chain of responsibility with the bank?

pushpull

Jonboy_1984 said:

Did you book the flight directly with the airline or did you use any form of intermediary (online agent or payment method such as PayPal) that may have broken the chain of responsibility with the bank?

There's no evidence that the bank have used this as an excuse, they'd be very clear if they'd rejected it for this reason.

born_again

@eskbanker

Chargebacks are all done via Visa/Mastercard system. No physical contact required.

eskbanker

born_again said:

@eskbanker

Chargebacks are all done via Visa/Mastercard system. No physical contact required.

Fair enough - what, if anything, would you read into "the credit card company admitted themselves they were struggling to get hold of the airline", i.e. under what circumstances would a card company do so?

OP also commented that "they also [i.e. card company as well as claimant] admitted they were struggling to find the T&C on the airline website too", which is a significant deficiency when trying to construct a claim for breach of contract!

DullGreyGuy

pushpull said:

The FOS won't get involved in the merits of your S75 claim (they're not experts in consumer/contract law) so will only look at if the CC company treated you fairly in dealing with your claim.

Generally that will be allowing you to make an S75 claim and then taking on board your points.  I suspect they have done this and you have ultimately failed to prove your claim, and thus will likely fail with  the FOS too.

The FOS absolutely will consider the merits of the S75 claim:

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-4364639.pdf

As a simple case where NW said there was insufficient evidence that the flight had been cancelled by the airline and it is a binary so not a matter for "on the balance of probability" which the ombudsman felt it was and so ruled against NW and awarded the original S75 claim amount plus statutory interest

TSx

One other very relevant reason to take it to the FOS - it is a free of charge consumer friendly service. Their rulings are binding on the financial provider and you are likely to get a fairer hearing with them. If you disagree with their final ruling, you can pursue it in court if you want.

If you go to court first, you will not get a second bite at the cherry with the FOS as they won't accept a complaint where legal action has been taken.

born_again

eskbanker said:

born_again said:

@eskbanker

Chargebacks are all done via Visa/Mastercard system. No physical contact required.

Fair enough - what, if anything, would you read into "the credit card company admitted themselves they were struggling to get hold of the airline", i.e. under what circumstances would a card company do so?

OP also commented that "they also [i.e. card company as well as claimant] admitted they were struggling to find the T&C on the airline website too", which is a significant deficiency when trying to construct a claim for breach of contract!

Only thing I can think of is they are looking at S75 & wanting T/C or other info to back up OP case.  As they will not take OP's word without proof. When they are paying out.

OP not mentioned ticket costs or anything value wise.

Our S75 would dismiss this out of hand without T/C being supplied.

eskbanker

born_again said:

eskbanker said:

born_again said:

@eskbanker

Chargebacks are all done via Visa/Mastercard system. No physical contact required.

Fair enough - what, if anything, would you read into "the credit card company admitted themselves they were struggling to get hold of the airline", i.e. under what circumstances would a card company do so?

OP also commented that "they also [i.e. card company as well as claimant] admitted they were struggling to find the T&C on the airline website too", which is a significant deficiency when trying to construct a claim for breach of contract!

Only thing I can think of is they are looking at S75 & wanting T/C or other info to back up OP case.  As they will not take OP's word without proof. When they are paying out.

OP not mentioned ticket costs or anything value wise.

Our S75 would dismiss this out of hand without T/C being supplied.

Yes, I'd have expected a card company to reject a s75 claim that wasn't supported by evidence of breach of contract, which is why I assumed that if the card company was trying to contact the supplier, this may have signified a chargeback instead, but I don't see how either s75 or chargeback can be expected to succeed if there isn't a clearly demonstrable case.

Hopefully OP will be back to clarify the basis of the claim....

pushpull

DullGreyGuy said:

pushpull said:

The FOS won't get involved in the merits of your S75 claim (they're not experts in consumer/contract law) so will only look at if the CC company treated you fairly in dealing with your claim.

Generally that will be allowing you to make an S75 claim and then taking on board your points.  I suspect they have done this and you have ultimately failed to prove your claim, and thus will likely fail with  the FOS too.

The FOS absolutely will consider the merits of the S75 claim:

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-4364639.pdf

As a simple case where NW said there was insufficient evidence that the flight had been cancelled by the airline and it is a binary so not a matter for "on the balance of probability" which the ombudsman felt it was and so ruled against NW and awarded the original S75 claim amount plus statutory interest

You've missed the point.

The FOS didn't debate the merits of the claim.  Just the validity of the claim by the bank that there was insufficient evidence the flight was cancelled.

Had the claim been about the legality of not refunding for a cancelled flight, for example, the FOS wouldn't have touched it with a barge pole.