I’ve been having massive issues trying to get a refund rather than travel vouchers for a variety of trips. i think all the operators are offering vouchers because they literally don’t have the money for a refund and would go under.
I tried AMEX and they said I can’t Section 75 it (Can anyone confirm if this advice is correct!) as it technically isn’t a breach of contract, something I later confirmed by reading my travel agents terms and conditions, although I am pretty sure they are breaching the package holiday regulations (technically a package since I booked flights and a tour at the same time) so according to the letter of the law I am entitled to a refund. But like you said, its a pain trying to get through just now.
The thing is, if your flight/package has been cancelled then you’re entitled to a cash refund, but you’re right most seem to be pushing people to take vouchers instead.
It would be good to get some more opinions on the section 75 thing because I’m under the impression that it should work here.
I’ve never been a fan of vouchers as the value of them can disappear overnight if a company runs into difficulty. I guess some of these airlines are too big for their governments to allow them to fail, but I’d still rather have the cash I’m entitled to!
I understand that ABTA are trying to get the government to guarantee the vouchers. It’s just a difficult situation. I can’t claim on my insurance yet as they wan’t a letter from the travel agent saying what has been refunded or credited and what hasn’t. The travel agent are apparently automatically crediting my account with the vouchers… which I have refused but it was not noted by them in the call as they said they couldn’t do anything else. so there is large amount of worth of useless, not guaranteed, travel vouchers sitting in my account with the travel agent which I don’t want and which will now stop me from claiming on my travel insurance! The situation is so messed up
Anarchist
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I believe you are entitled to a cash refund within 7 days. I guess we might cut them a little slack given that the office might be understaffed.
I think that’s completely fair, they’re just not helping themselves at the moment by leaving us in the dark.
I imagine if they put up a notice on their website or on social media saying, ‘we’re busy, we’re expecting to have vouchers and refunds processed in X amount of days’ then they’d straight away see a reduction in strain on their call centres and social media response staff.
That said, I would imagine that airlines are terrified of refuding everyone because that would have a huge impact on their cashflow and capital (money going out, nothing coming in), and that’s why they’re pushing vouchers at the moment.
It may take a longer time - months, perhaps? - to get a refund, and may well need you to take the airline to small claims court.
Worst case - airline collapses under claims and you get naff all.
This is slightly concerning - basically airlines are looking to be able to force people to accept vouchers and if they refuse then they want to be able to defer payment. Hopefully this doesn’t go through.
Also BA have now responded to me saying 14 working days to process now
I was due to see a show at the Opera House in Manchester next month. Due to the current climate, it has been cancelled. ATG have provided me with a Full Credit Voucher, not a cash refund. Other theatres have provided cash refunds.
There seems to be no norm about the policies really.
Personally, I was happy to accept the ATG voucher as I can use it in any of their theatres and am not confined to Manchester, which is not my home town.
Thanks to a change in policy on 23 March 2020, I am also receiving a full cash refund for my advance ticket rail fare, which would have only been eligible for an exchange otherwise.
Ultimately, all of my cancelled plans will achieve a positive resolution it seems, it will just take time for those credits to wend their way back to me.
Due to fly to Denmark in May, so fingers crossed I do not have to jump through hoops for that if cancelled. Involves Ryanair. Denmark currently not letting us in from EU, but may change mid-April. Who knows?
Which in real time is essentially 3 weeks. But at least you know you don’t need to worry (yet?). The expected refund window hasn’t passed, so hopefully it will go smoothly.
It would reduce the speed of the spread so that (a) the hospitals do not become overwhelmed and can cope (b) an effective vaccine can be developed before it gets hold of the majority of the population.
That’s a pretty good outcome from the theatres given they’re not as heavily regulated as the airlines. I suppose they do have the reputation of their shows to uphold though if they want to survive on the other side of this.
To be fair, Ryanair have been one of the better airlines so far and are actually processing refunds and updating their customers of any delays.
Yep exactly, I’m happy to wait for now. I guess the only thing to worry about is BA/the government shifting the goalposts around refunds/vouchers.
I’m impressed with how well these have been dealt with. I have Glasto tickets for example and I’ve got the option of keeping them for next year or getting a refund on my deposit. I’ll be keeping them of course!
The government definition of vulnerable differs from the supermarket definition.
The government definition has a whole list of things… I come under a couple of them (and am therefore not allowed to set foot outside the house for 12 weeks - this also means it really doesn’t matter when the supermarket opens, I’m not allowed to go).
The supermarket one is basically ‘over 70’. Because they can’t verify any of the other things visually and they don’t have access to medical records. And they’re strict about that - there was a post locally where a 68 year old was refused entry despite shopping for his sick wife. Luckily the local support volunteer groups are really good and ready to step in for cases like that.
I’m impressed with how well these have been dealt with. I have Glasto tickets for example and I’ve got the option of keeping them for next year or getting a refund on my deposit. I’ll be keeping them of course!
From their point of view it’s easier and cheaper to just roll the tickets forward to whenever the opening date is going to be. Plus they can use it to offset losses (which in some cases are huge because insurance companies were excluding covid-19 long before the government took it seriously).
The government is sharing their list of extremely vulnerable people with supermarkets so they can identify their existing online customers and give them priority access to online food deliveries.
My wife works in Home Bargains and each day she’s coming in from work with numerous stories of how the shop is busy, etc…people buying stupid things like garden gnomes and the like… you know “essential stuff”…
But what’s really annoying is this…
The common trend, at least where we live, is that the so called “vulnerable groups” i.e the elderly are actually treating a visit to the store where my wife works as part of a normal day out with their “children” (usually adults of 55+ age!) - like a lets go down the shops and have a coffee type situation
What part of the Government guidance do these people not understand?
We’re all at risk here, and the biggest risk of all is peoples stupidity
