Massive Delay in BA Refund

Ratty987

On 6 March I tried to book a flight for a colleague (something I do regularly) directly with BA. At the final payment point, after I had inputted the credit card details, the page did not load and basically was in limbo. I waited for about 15 minutes and gave up and restarted the booking process. 
I was confident that would not be an issue as I had used Amex to 'pay',  and I have a 2 step verification and I had not been asked for the 'code'.  The second booking went through as normal (and the 2step amex verification was requested)  and I quickly received a BA confirm email and all seemed well.
The next day I noticed that I had been charged twice!
I first called BA but after waiting over half an hour in a queue, I thought it easier to call Amex, who to be fair are generally pretty responsive.
Amex put a 'hold' on the first incorrect transaction and raised it with BA.

On 18 March, a letter arrived from Amex, saying they had closed my case as BA had provided proof that the transaction was valid. There was no mention of the fact that the charge i  had queried was a duplicate. 

I then called BA and after the usual wait got through to a human. They said that as  I had raised the issue with  Amex, I first had to cancel that investigation before BA could initiate a refund.
The Amex letter received suggested the case was closed anyway, but I agreed to formally close the query with Amex, which I did.
I then called BA back on 28th March, and was told a refund should be with me within 7-10 days.

Nothing arrived.

I called BA back again and was told that because I had raised the Amex query, I would have to wait 70 days from the original issue, which took me to 20th May! So the person I spoke to on 28 May was basically lying.

Despite a bit of a rant on my part, BA wouldn't budge.
I then went back to Amex, who told me the only option open to me now (via them) was to raise a S75 claim but that would probably take 7 weeks to resolve.

On that basis, I thought it was best to sit out out and wait for BA, particularly as the S75 claim required paperwork confirming the problem - which BA would not provide.

The 20th May (the deadline imposed by BA) came and went and no refund.
I called them on 4th June and they promised that the refund would be with me in 7-10 days. And they took the Amex details as they said they could no longer access the card. This sounded more hopeful...

7--10 days passed, and I called BA today. Who again promised it would be 7-10 days,
I can get no explanation for the constant delays.

The flight price was £2300 so it is a lot of money. 
I have spent hours on the phone, and a similar amount of time on daily checks on my cc statement! 

I could complain to BA, but posts on this board (and similar chatrooms) indicate that the time for a response is so slow as to be a complete waste of effort.
I have thought about getting my MP involved (she is super responsive apparently) but now is not the best time for help I suspect!
I am now considering the small claims court.

I would be very grateful for any thoughts or suggestions. Many thanks

Voyager2002

The money is gone, but BA need it more than you do.

Don't throw away any more of your time and effort trying to get it back. Just accept the loss and move on.

Ratty987

Voyager2002 said:

The money is gone, but BA need it more than you do.

Don't throw away any more of your time and effort trying to get it back. Just accept the loss and move on.

£2300? I take it you are joking!

Voyager2002

Ratty987 said:

Voyager2002 said:

The money is gone, but BA need it more than you do.

Don't throw away any more of your time and effort trying to get it back. Just accept the loss and move on.

£2300? I take it you are joking!

If only.

Do you seriously believe that you can get the money back? I do not, but you can control how much time, effort and emotion you put into trying to get it back.

Leavemealone

Well I for one could not afford to lose this amount of money! Presumably you have a card statement showing the duplicated payment and there will only be one booking reference number so. Claim through Small Claims online should succeed.  Send a Letter Before Action (templates can be found online). Give a cut off date for full payment after which payment plus costs will be claimed. 

It is straightforward and certainly worth the effort(in my opinion). 

mr_stripey

So did you effectively "book" two flights? One with the, shall we say "incomplete" transaction and then again with the correct one?

Did you get two booking references? Did you (or your colleague) actually take the flights - or at least one of them?

saajan_12

Did you receive 2 confirmations - and if so, could you not cancel one of them within the 24 hours and get a refund through the normal process?

If not, can you get a confirmation from BA in writing that they agree there's only 1 valid booking, with a duplicated charge and they agree to refund. That's half the battle, and makes any subsequent Amex / court claim easier if BA don't actually process the refund. 

Ratty987

mr_stripey said:

So did you effectively "book" two flights? One with the, shall we say "incomplete" transaction and then again with the correct one?

Did you get two booking references? Did you (or your colleague) actually take the flights - or at least one of them?

Effectively yes, there were two bookings but only one involved the two step payment verification. It was this one I received the email confirmation and yes, my colleague did travel on that flight.
To be clear  - BA have NEVER disputed that I am owed a refund.  They are just not paying me!

Ratty987

Leavemealone said:

Well I for one could not afford to lose this amount of money! Presumably you have a card statement showing the duplicated payment and there will only be one booking reference number so. Claim through Small Claims online should succeed.  Send a Letter Before Action (templates can be found online). Give a cut off date for full payment after which payment plus costs will be claimed. 

It is straightforward and certainly worth the effort(in my opinion). 

Yes, thank you for your advice which concurs with my thoughts. 

Ratty987

saajan_12 said:

Did you receive 2 confirmations - and if so, could you not cancel one of them within the 24 hours and get a refund through the normal process?

If not, can you get a confirmation from BA in writing that they agree there's only 1 valid booking, with a duplicated charge and they agree to refund. That's half the battle, and makes any subsequent Amex / court claim easier if BA don't actually process the refund. 

I have tried and all they keep saying is that the refund is being processed and  I will get it. They basically refuse the writing bit - although I am speaking to a call centre in India

Leavemealone

It is always my way to not conduct much business over the phone, not always easy I know, but in using the written word provides proof which is always a good tool to have. In any correspondence copy in all parties so that they cannot play one off against another trying to shift responsibility.