Ocean Florida - Refund Refusal

Lizley21

Needing some advice.

Booked a package holiday with OF and flights with Aer Lingus. Following all the change with Aer Lingus, we were awaiting to see what was to come of it.

Fast forward, I got told on Monday that the return flight was no longer available as it was sold out but they could bring me the home the next day, which wasnt possible to us due to school commitments.

As this then was classed as a "major" change as per OF own terms and conditions, i requested to cancel the booking and opt for an refund (which I was due as per the T&Cs). I then get a phone call from the retentions team on Wednesday to say they have found me alternative flights, to which I responded, no I opted to cancel on Monday.

They have now come back to me Thursday to say that as it is now classed as a "minor" change as they have provided alternative flights, I am not due a refund.

My argument is that I opted for refund on Monday so at that point the caseworker should have proceeded with my request, failed to summarise the conversation in an email, however, I emailed them in response, specifically noting that this was my written request to cancel my booking and commence with a refund.

Now because they didnt "confirm" my request to cancel the booking and they found alternative flights, this is how is falls into a "minor" change and therefore fits their narrative further.

Ive looked into the UK package regulations 2018 which also state that monies should be returned if a significant change has happened, which on Monday it had.

We as a party have now booked an alternative holiday which i have also provided them with proof if purchase.

Has anyone had a simular experience with OF and come out with a positive. They are pretty adamant that it falls for a refusal of refund, but I feel as if they have played this very sly so they dont have to comply?

Thanks for reading.

Ayr_Rage

I can see both sides of the argument but as you never received written or even verbal confirmation that your refund request was accepted you may be on a sticky wicket.

Emails can sit in inboxes for days before getting attention especially in situations such as this where Aer Lingus is rerouting thousands of passengers.

If the Monday contact was by phone then request a copy of that call and see who actually said what.

I certainly wouldn't have booked an alternative until I'd received confirmation of the refund.

Alan_Bowen

I think you have seriously jumped the gun, as soon as you said the flight the next day wouldn't work for you, they went and looked and found an alternative on the same day as the original flight. With no confirmation of a cancellation from them, and their resolution of the problem within 48 hours, I very much doubt they will offer the refund you hoped for

eskbanker

Alan_Bowen said:

I think you have seriously jumped the gun, as soon as you said the flight the next day wouldn't work for you, they went and looked and found an alternative on the same day as the original flight. With no confirmation of a cancellation from them, and their resolution of the problem within 48 hours, I very much doubt they will offer the refund you hoped for

While I agree that it would have been sensible for OP to wait for confirmation of cancellation before buying elsewhere, I think there is an argument to be made that it was valid to cancel for a full refund, even though I imagine you're right that they won't offer it, and will probably need to be sued for it.

For anyone reading who isn't familiar with them, the relevant clauses of the regulations for significant changes are:

(4) The organiser must, without undue delay, inform the traveller in a clear, comprehensible and prominent manner on a durable medium, of—

(a) the proposed changes referred to in paragraph (3) and, where appropriate, in accordance with paragraph (7), their impact on the price of the package;

(b) a reasonable period within which the traveller must inform the organiser of the decision pursuant to paragraph (5);

(c) the consequences of the traveller's failure to respond within the period referred to in sub-paragraph (b); and

(d) any substitute package, of an equivalent or higher quality, if possible, offered to the traveller and its price.

(5) The traveller may, within a reasonable period specified by the organiser—

(a) accept the proposed changes; or

(b) terminate the contract without paying a termination fee.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/634/regulation/11

It seems tenable to interpret the Monday notification as being a proposed change to the next day's flight, under 11.4.a, and therefore at that point OP had the choice between accepting that or terminating the contract.  Obviously in the real world there's often a bit more toing and froing than that, so it wouldn't be uncommon for alternative options to be identified for consideration, but if the initial notification only gave one, then terminating at that point (with no fee) seems valid, rather than asking for other options to be sought.

The fact that the company went away and subsequently found an alternative that would only be a minor change (thereby circumventing the above provisions about how to handle significant changes) shouldn't trump OP's nomination of termination on the Monday (and to the best of my knowledge there's no regulatory requirement for this to be a 'request' that's then 'confirmed' as such), but it does seem likely that the exact wording used on the Monday call will be critical so definitely worth securing a copy of the recording....

Woodstok2000

I think youve made this much more difficult than it needed to be, but I do agree with the above that you probably have a decent case for a full refund.  Looking at the travel regs, OF informed you of the chnage and the alternative on offer. At that point you are within your rights to terminate the contract, which you did. Nothing after that changes the fact  you rightly requested full termination and that should be processed as such.