EasyJet Refund Update

[ulxima]

Hello Guys

a quick update about December weather disruption refund.
The total cost of the flight (Gatwick-Basel-Gatwick) was £217.73
On 19th January I received an e-Mail said that a "a payment of £160.98, as refund of your cancelled flight, has already been processed to the original method of payment".
The day after money was credited on the Amex account.
So, EZY refunded 74% of the fare I had paid 33 days after the cancelled flight.
I then asked for details about the refund and what was going to happen about hotel, meals, train ticket and so on.
I received a call from EZY customer centre and another e-Mail on 3rd February
"I can confirm that a payment of €180.24, as refund of your cancelled flight has already been processed to the original method of payment"
Apparently they have miscalculated the first refund.
"your refund request for hotel train and meals have been forwarded to the concerned department and once we will receive a update from them, we will get back to you."
We have to wait for the latest.
Now we are approaching two months....

Ciao
Ulxima

[Nick Riviera]

Had a similar problem with them a year or so back. E-mailed CEO direct and threatened him with the small claims court. Surprisingly the full amount was refunded within days. Don't take their sh!t.

[ulxima]

I can confirm that a payment of CHF 284.00 for train expenses, CHF 175.00 for hotel expenses, €267.31 for alternate flight and expenses for meals has already been processed to the original method of payment. This will be made to the card used in your original booking to make the payment within 15-20 working days


Hello Guys
the above is a part (ok the most important) of a message I have received three days ago.
The situation as per today is the following:
- Received CHF 460.31 against a claim of 527.65
- Received EUR 82.19 against a claim of 283.71
- Received GBP 160.98 against a claim of 217.73 (about this one I have nothing to complain)
What it is missing today:
- Train from Basel to Zurich
- Meal in Zurich
- Breakfast in Brussels
- Meal in Amsterdam
- Part of the flight ticket Amsterdam-London
I wrote them back.
To be continued......




E-mailed CEO direct and threatened him with the small claims court

Well done Nick!
I wonder if it would still be effective as Mr. Andy is supposed to leave in June. :}
Well, let's say I still have some patience to wait for the full clarification about the refund made.

Ciao
Ulxima

[groundbum]

I wrote them a letter Jan 4th about flights etc and haven't heard anything back, isn't there a set number of days they have to respond under the EU compensation scheme? Anyways, I sent another letter yesterday saying I'll be filing a small claims court action Feb 27th if they don't respond.

G

[joniveson]

I'm also having problems with them - they sent me a message saying they had issued a refund for my flight and the cost of my alternative flight to the original payment method but therein lies the problem. Between booking the flight and easyjet cancelling it, I changed bank and closed the account that I had used to pay for the flight. Easyjet insists that the refund went through successfully to a card number that's no longer in use!

My old bank has confirmed that they couldn't have refunded anything to this account but easyjet don't seem to believe me! I received an email saying that they would wait for the payment to be rejected and assumed that they would contact me - two weeks later they hadn't so I used the live chat function. Got no help whatsoever - just told to send another email and was assured it would be dealt with as a priority. Almost a week later and I am no further on... :ugh:

I am not asking for anything I am not entitled to or that they haven't agreed to pay me, just for it to be paid into a bank account that exists!

[ulxima]

Between booking the flight and easyjet cancelling it, I changed bank and closed the account that I had used to pay for the flight


Oh dear, unfortunately this is an issue that requires a lot of patience (really a lot) and this is why I always use a card that I am (pretty) sure I will not change in the next six months.
The funny thing is that even if I used two different cards they continue to pay back the refund on the one used first.
Good luck.

¡Suerte! :ok:
Ulxima

[ulxima]

isn't there a set number of days they have to respond under the EU compensation scheme?


Not sure being correct but you can set 4 weeks and then act.

Did you mail a letter or rather file a complaint through their website (recommended)?

Ciao
Ulxima

[joniveson]

The flight was booked months before I changed bank, the flight never even crossed my mind at the time!

[ulxima]

The flight was booked months before I changed bank, the flight never even crossed my mind at the time!


GULP! :eek:

Something went terribly wrong then.....

Ciao
Ulxima

[Tigger4Me]

This has given me some hope. My flight LIS/LGW was cancelled and I managed to get out on TAP but to LHR. I had one email from Easy saying they were refunding the cost of my cxld EZY flight. The next day I heard that they would pay my train fares from LHR to LGW. The guy that emailed me said that he was not able to authorise a refund of the alternative TAP flight but was escalating the issue. I thought that would be the end of it but now I live in hope.

It must have cost them a fortune to keep their planes on the ground whilst others carried on flying. Presumably it was cost effective for them and I would love to know how so. :confused:

[groundbum]

I mailed my letter to Easyjet the old fashioned way. I'm not a fuddy duddy, I send and receive probably a hundred emails a day and my business relies on professional email handling. But I also think for a complaint where it takes a side of A4 to make your point and ask for what you think is reasonable then a piece of paper is far better than an email. I also think for large companies emails can be easily lost or mis-filed whereas a letter generally lands on a desk and stays then until handled in one go..

G

[ulxima]

a letter generally lands on a desk and stays then until handled in one go..


...or remain on that desk below many other letters and forgotten until the next desk relocation or office move. :ugh:
C'mon Groundbum, is not a complaint e-mail a professional one?

Ciao
Ulxima

[groundbum]

since my first letter was ignored, I resent the letter 4 weeks later and put on the top "court action starts in 7 days etc". The next day I get an email from Easyjet saying they had received the letter and were investigating. A few hours later I get another email saying get stuffed cancelled due bad weather. We go back and forth a bit and I've now filed a court claim for £1250 (5xE250). Told them this via email and they've replied saying sorry, flight was cancelled due weather according to their logs so they can't make an exception blah blah.

In fact as an ex-ITer with 20 years in data centers I was impressed all this was done through some CRM/helpdesk system where there is a tracking number etc. Also my original letter was scanned in and is attached to the CRM log as an image. All rather professional, and certainly set up to deal with a high volume of complaints!

As to court, we shall see. My case is basically every other flight that day except 2 BAs to Heathrow got off, including two charters on the same MAN/MALTA route, and that Easyjet delays and cancellatons that month were way in excess of any carriers. So the weather was there, but other carriers deal with it so the fault lies more with Easyjet and their resources etc than the weather. All I've lost is the £70 fee if I lose...

G

[Sprogget]

I was caught up in all this at Geneva for two days with my three year old daughter. The word nightmare doesn't come close to the experience.

In the end, aftyer four canx flights, we were rebooked to LGW on a flight that went, however, we had been told by the desk (after five hours of queueing) that in all likelihood, the flight wouldn't go, so I took a view & cadged a lift back to Calais & made my own way from Dover.

Easy refunded £84 out of £228, but I incurred an additional £200 odd of expenses as a direct result. Just been turned down by my insurers for that lot, so is the view that I can ask Easy for reimbursement realistic?

[ulxima]

GROUNDBUM
Best of luck for your claim and keep up informed about the outcome.


SPROGGET
My answer is yes and all in all is worth a try.

My situation is the following

- Received CHF 460.31 against a claim of 527.65
- Received EUR 82.19 against a claim of 283.71
- Received GBP 160.98 against a claim of 217.73 (about this one I have nothing to complain)


According to the last message their Customer Service sent me, I will not receive any further CHF repayment which means they will not pay me back the trip I made from Basel to Zurich.
I should instead receive the difference in EUR that is still missing, we will see.
I am also open to explanations, would they bother to provide them. If they had genuine reasons not to repay an expense I do not see the problem not to mention it.
Best of luck to you too.

Ciao,
Ulxima

[groundbum]

Easyjet solicitors have sent me a letter today saying they have been appointed to represent Easyjet at Small Claims Court and are seeking instructions on the matter from Easyjet. They've ticked the box that says they intend to contest all the claim. oooh.

Seems a bit silly as I suspect their solicitors fee's will exceed what I'm asking, and I intend to represent myself and also to have the hearing take place near me. So if they travel from London to Yorkshire etc then their costs to Easyjet will be huge. In small claims court there is no concept of one side being made to pay the other sides costs, so it's a lot fairer for the little man like myself.

G

[PAXboy]

In due course they will decide if they have frightened you off or if they do not want to go to court. They are doing this by the numbers. Thanks for the update.

[Tigger4Me]

Very interesting Groundbum and thanks for the update. You say that there is, "no concept of one side being made to pay the other sides costs." I was always under the impression that the side that lost paid the costs for the other side. Can you confirm that is not the case please?

[Capot]

I intend to represent myself and also to have the hearing take place near meIn the Small Claims cases I've been involved with, I was under the impression that the defendant can choose the place for the hearing.

Good luck! I hope you win; the judge will go by the letter of the law.

[UniFoxOs]

In the Small Claims cases I've been involved with, I was under the impression that the defendant can choose the place for the hearing.

Correct; a common ploy by a defendant is to get the case moved to an office of their choosing - as far away from you as they can arrange, in the hope of encouraging you to give up. Last time it happened to me I started off my response to their letter advising me of this along the lines of "I look forward to having a day out in London at your expense". Don't know if this swung it but they caved in and paid up.

Cheers
UFO

[groundbum]

oh well if it is London then I'll travel down by train etc and have a day out as you say.

In Small Claims the Judge decides for the plaintiff or the defendent. There is no concept of costs, so the little guy like me if I lose cannot be asked to pay the, say, £15K legal bill of the other side. This isn't true in big court, which is why lots of small people don't decide to sue large companies cos it basically ends up in a blink first game, as opposed to a fair legal trial as it should be. A case in point is the kid in Shropshire or thereabouts who has beaten by an Asian gang at school sued the school for not providing a safe work environment. The school won the case and is now persuing the kids family for £100K of their legal costs, and of course the parents have to pay their side's legal costs as well. It's brinkmanship.

G

[lowcostdolly]

Guys I work for EZY. I take pride in our customer service at the sharp end as CC. My company puts a lot of emphasis on this to us in training

I cringe with :O when I see this sort of thing happening and just want to hand a shovel to our so called "Customer Services Champions".

They would be the ones who send out emails saying "due to the high volumes etc......." :ugh::ugh:

Customer Services should be the most inactive dept in any organisation IMHO if they are getting it right. Our's apparently are inundated with claims/complaints......:hmm:

A word to the wise. EZY do "brinkmanship" extremly well. Check your claims against the T&C's......the document not many actually read.

If you still feel you have a valid claim and are being jerked around by Customer Services then email the CEO direct.

[Evanelpus]

Groundbum

I'll bet Easy settle just before you go to court. They will wait as long as possible, hoping you'll change your mind.

Disgraceful situation, shame on you EasyJet!

[groundbum]

Thanks for all the letters of support, it cheers me up no end. I could check Easyjet T+Cs, but unless they say in there they are above the law then it doesn't matter a jot. The reason being is my claim is for the EU Mandatory compensation of E250/passenger where the Airline cannot operate the flight.

Now, there is an exception in this EU regulation that says the airline doesn't pay the E250 where it would be unsafe to operate the flight, and this I totally agree with! We don't need flights occuring that should not be. Generally these exceptions are maintenance, war, industrial action, weather, etc.

As expressed previously Easyjet are wiggling out of this claiming weather. But 100 out of 103 aircraft operated from T3 MAN that day, including two on the exact same MAN/MALTA route. So yes England was in a cold snap, but there was nothing about the weather per se that meant that flight that day could not be operated.

Now, it could be, and it's not for me to argue, that the weather had stretched Easyjet so thin that they ran out of crews, tugs, aircraft, biscuits whatever. But the EU regulation is almost designed to "punish"/"deter" airlines that resource their operation so thin that passengers are regularly inconvenienced. Act of God can only be used so many times... And that's the basis for my case, all the other airlines managed it, so Easyjet cannot use the weather/safety argument for my flight.

G

[lowcostdolly]

Groundbum you won't find EZY's T&C's stateting they are above the law because they are not.... despite the company interpretation of the law :hmm:

Playing devil's advocate here I wonder why ulxima got an albeit partial refund for weather disruption yet you seem to have got nothing? You should at least be treated the same for the same disruption claim.

Just a little bit of a heads up here. EZY cancelled loads of flights due to "weather". That is the official line and will be logged on every cancellation report I'm sure. These will be referred to if your case ever gets in front of a Judge. Our flag carrier at LHR also seems to have the same problems whenever we have snow,fog etc and we are both on a par with our appalling numbers of cancellations due to "weather".

So why do EZY/BA not fly routes in bad weather that other airlines seem to manage to do even with the delays.....the same route in your case?

I've no idea how geared the infrastructure at Manchester airport is to dealing with cold weather/snow but at LGW it is pitiful. Add to that the size of EZY's operation at LGW when it gets icy/snows we have a big problem.

Due to limited de icing facilities planes from all airlines form an orderly queue to get this done by the spray can trucks (they have "drive thru" hangars downroute in say BUD). This can be really long and when it is done we then join another queue for departure clearance from ATC.

On a good day at LGW it is not unusual at peak times to sit in this queue for 20 mins+ and that is when everything is working to capacity.....in extreme weather it is nowhere near capacity. De icing is only effective for a limited period of time....I think it's 40 mins but stand to be corrected by a Pilot on this. After 40 mins we then have to be de iced again and could go to the back of the original queue .....:eek: Revolving doors spring to mind.

It's unsafe for us to take off when we are not effectively de iced....nobody would argue with that I'm sure so EZY can effectively blame the weather for this and wriggle out of compo claims but here is the flip side.

Delays because EZY run such a tight schedule impact on where the aircraft is for the next rotation. It also impacts on crew hours and if we go out of hours the next problem arises regardless of where the aircraft is and so on and so on....... until EZY bite the bullet and cancel that days operations. They may do it sooner rather than later.

So whose fault is this? Is it the pax so the cost of an operation too big for an airport infrastructure should be passed on to them.........:suspect:

Good luck with your claim, it may indeed set a precedence or you may loose who knows.

What I do know is EZY will approach you for a settlement if they have broken the law........ stick with it :ok:

[WHBM]

It's unsafe for us to take off when we are not effectively de iced....nobody would argue with that I'm sure so EZY can effectively blame the weather
LCD :

I guess that the users here are up to speed with this situation. But the EC "weather" get out is aimed at weather actually stopping the operation, like crosswinds out of limits. It is however quite possible to operate in freezing conditions by de-icing. If you (or your agents) haven't got enough de-icers that is a matter of operations organisation, not the weather.

THe same is true when Heathrow goes on LVPs and BA cancel much of their domestic programme. This is not "because of fog", as they claim. It is because there is a reduced number of departures, and BA have taken a commercial decision to run every long haul and European flight, and to dump the domestics. There is nothing inherent in the domestic aircraft which means they cannot operate while their equivalents on other flights are dispatched OK.

[ulxima]

I wonder why ulxima got an albeit partial refund for weather disruption yet you seem to have got nothing?


I wonder too.
On my experience I can write to have been very satisfied with EZY Customer Service and the way they dealt with my case; and fairly satisfied with EZY airline.
I did not get full satisfaction but it is ok, I want to trust there is nothing else the guys at CS can do and I do not wish to escalate this to court.

My best of luck to Groundbum.

Ciao
Ulxima

[lowcostdolly]

WHBM That was exactly my point to groundbum re operations Vs weather. Not enough de icing capability for the operation means knock on delays etc which EZY like BA will put down to the weather cos it's convienient. :oh:

[cockney steve]

To expand slightly on the Court issue.

The plaint-fee is on a sliding scale, geared to the value of the claim.
IIRC, the upper claim limit is £2,000 for the small-claims hearings.

The plaint fee is automatically added to the claim (only reimbursed if the plaintiff wins)

In certain circumstances, a Professional Report fee is allowable , up to ~£150

(in this instance, it would be something like a despatcher's report confirming that Wx was nit the reason for cancellation, IE confirming the numbers leaving/arriving before and after the cancelled slot within say a couple of hours Maybe a copy of the NOTAM for the period (together with a layman's translation) (charge photocopies against expenses)

Re- the "move the hearing" trick.....the defendant cops for the bill if they lose.

My last plaint was against a motor-trader...he moved the local (to me) hearing to his local town . spent a lot of money on solicitor's letters trying to refute the claim and intimidate me.......all money down the drain....he lost...claim in full, travelling and lost income to attend court 40 miles from home, plaint fee and professional report fee. This brings us to the next point.

The judge is a lay person. Make your documents easy to understand, enlarge and use a highlighter if needed.

You do NOT need "absolute proof"....in a Civil case, the judge decides on "the balance of probabilities" -Or to put it bluntly, who is the most credible.

Legal representation will not go down well in this sort of court....they don't like bullying and intimidation and those costs are NOT allowable

I cannot guarantee the above is 100% accurate,but have had several happy experiences over the years.

State the facts clearly and go for it!-Oh,-and don't forget that their bean-counters will have a big say as to wether you get "hush-money" or the case becomes Public Domain in the National press and opens the floodgates.

to close.....their T's and C's mean bugger all if they contravene the unfair contract terms legislation.

[groundbum]

Easyjet solicitors have sent me a letter offering me £300 without admission of guilt to settle, to save both sides time and costs. I've sent them a quick note back saying 50% of the £1250 plus £70 court fee would do it.

We shall see!

G

[groundbum]

darn, solicitors emailed in the last few minutes accepting my offer of £625 plus £70 court costs. I fill in their form releasing them of liability and notifty the Small Claims we've settled and got my dosh.

Wish now I'd held on for a bit more. Other's reading here take note!

Don't forget I think I had a strong argument against the weather clause, 2 other aircraft operated MAN-MALTA that day and 95% of MAN T3 departues left by and large on time that day. I think the EU allows weather as an excuse where it would be unsafe to operate the flight, not where recent bad weather has mucked up the carriers crews, planes etc. In this case the carrier needs more resilience etc.

G

[lowcostdolly]

Groundbum well there's a surprise!! EZY approached you for a non liability settlement when they knew they were on dodgy ground. They would have paid the full amount I guarentee it if you had tested them on this..... but you were happy to settle for 50% less :confused:

This is exactly how EZY conduct their employment issues as well. They will break employment law and then settle because they don't want adverse publicity.

SLF take note.....when EZY start making offers they will know they are in the wrong. If they are sure of their position they will not make offers/goodwill gestures. Don't accept initial offers and go for what you think you are entitled to :ok:

Groundbum I'm glad you are happy with the outcome.