Skyeurope: 1year On I'm Still Waiting For A Refund!

[nino]

Hello fellow consumers ! Here is my story!

 

Special internet offer booked in July 2008 online to go to Bratislava, for me and my wife. I paid and printed the ticket which clearly shows the total price for two passengers.

4 weeks before we are due to fly they sent me an email:they had to cancel the flight and were to put us on another one. I had made special arrangements that involved missing connections and cost me more, so I declined and I asked for a refund.

Since then, Oct 08 , there have been numerous emails promising and also confirming a refund was on its way ! They were writing from Slovakia, Bulgaria and even Romania ! Each message apologised for the refund delay and promising swift remedial action ! But nothing was ever refunded.

A few weeks ago I received an email from Romania asking for my bank details as they no longer make refunds to the credit card companies !! I called the tel number on the email and got some reassurance it was not a con ; so I emailed them the details.

However, I had by then realised by looking at my bank statement that they had debited my account for TWICE the price of the tickets : yets, two separate transactions for the same price of two passengers !

I told them so and they ....referred me to their complaint office , from which I received a standard email reply.

I am still waiting......

 

WHAT ACTION CAN I TAKE ?

 

Thanks for any advice you may give me .

regards

[nino]

Anybody there ?

Have I quoted an ackward subject here ?????!

And what about the fellow member you ha reported problems with Wizz-Air ?!

[Conniff]

I'm afraid it looks as if you have been conned.

 

"BRATISLAVA, June 22 (Reuters) - Slovak-based SkyEurope Airlines said on Monday it had obtained creditor protection from a Bratislava District Court to restructure its debt, as it seeks new equity investors".

 

"Consumer groups want safeguards as the low-cost airline carrier SkyEurope goes into administration"

 

SkyEurope sparks fears of more airline failures - Telegraph

 

They obviously saw this coming in 2008 and wanted to hang on to as much money as they could.

 

Your best bet is to get your bank or Credit Card company (if that is how you paid) to help you.

Edited June 28, 2009 by Conniff

[nino]

Thanks for that piece of News. I never had any doubt they had conned me! But my question was: what steps can I take to make them refund me ?

Would Atol help ? I never suspected they were in financial trouble , because they keep sending me these very colourfull emails advertising great fares to their destinations.

Is this legal , considering they may fold up at any time if not enough funds are made available to their creditors ?

 

I have booked a flight with Wizz Air this Autumn: I pray if will not follow the same fate as SkyEurope.

regards

[Conniff]

There is nothing you can do at present as they have been granted protection from their creditors by the court in Bratislava.

 

If they fail to attract any further investment they could be put into Liquidation, but all that means is you will be at the bottom of the pile when it comes to sharing out their assets so are very unlikely to get anything back.

 

You haven't said how you paid for it. If it was by Credit Card, then contact the CC co and ask for a chargeback although they may say you have to wait until they are Liquidated first.

[nino]

I paid for the tickets using my Abbey visa debit card. I have written to Abbey and the answer was :

 

"Due to Visa regulations we have 120 days from the date of the transaction to reclaim the money back from the company. May I advise you contact the merchant or teh Citizen Advice Buereau for further assistance."

 

Great !

[nino]

Is it a lost cause , then ?

[Conniff]

I'm afraid it does look that way.

 

They are heavily in debt and have had some of their aircraft seized when they have landed at foreign airports, Paris Orly Airport seized one a couple of days ago as they owe a lot in airport taxes.

 

Because of the debts and the problems in the airtravel industry as a whole, if they go into liquidation then no one will want to buy their aircraft so they will not be able to get funds to pay the debts they have.

 

They are still hopeing that someone somewhere in the world will invest in them, but the present climate makes that unlikely and they will go the way quite a few airlines have gone in the past 18 months.

 

If they did liquidate, you would be at the very bottom of the que for any refund as the commercial creditors would be the first to be paid.

 

Abbey isn't quite correct. In the case of flights, it is 120 days from the flight departure date, not the transaction date.

 

Sorry to have to say that.

 

I have just re-read your original post.

When did the fraudulent debit take place because the Visa rules state 120 days from when you noticed the problem??

Edited July 4, 2009 by Conniff

[nino]

Thank you so much Conniff.

 

The double dr entry was made to my account on 14th July 2008 and shown on that month bank statement.

The flight date was to be on 15 Nov 2008.

I first wrote to Abbey on this subject on 29 May 2009.

 

It looks like whichever way one looks at it, the matter is well past the 120 days...

Perhaps I should put the matter to rest.

[Conniff]

Don't give up too easily nino, email Visa Europe - enquiries.europe@visa.com

 

Explain the situation that the airline have promised to refund on numerous occassions and that is why you missed the 120 days deadline and 'ask' them if there is any way they can help you.

Mention the double charge (but not the date you noticed just yet), to them as well.

 

You have nothing to lose by trying.

[nino]

I have sent an email to the address you have quoted me.

We shall see.

Thanks you

 

Nino

[Gogivit]

What I would do is this:

 

I would send an email to their head office demanding the refunds be carried out by a certain amount of days and advise them that if they do not refund your money you will forward your complaint to the airport directors here in the UK.

 

My local airport has Sky Europe flights every day

[nino]

Well, here is VISA's (standard letter) reply to my email .

Basically: go back to your bank , nothing to do with us !

 

And as for the Airport director : do you think that a company that has been cheating for over a year would give a jota about me writing a letter to a...director (?!). C'mon.

It is clear to me now that nowadays to be honest and law abiding does not pay.

 

This event adds itself up to what I suffered last year : a car crash with an uninsured eastern european driver. It was entirely his fault, he admitted it but ...the law let him off scot free by doing absolutely nothing to try and bring him to account. He is now back home and I have suffered a loss of a thousand or so pounds.

 

Thank you all for reading my postings and try to help.

Nino

[nino]

I seem to have left out Visa's reply. Here it is:

 

quote

Unfortunately, Visa cannot progress this case on your behalf, since Visa does not have access to, or jurisdiction over, cardholder accounts.

It may help you if I explain the role of Visa Europe. Visa Europe is an association of member banks. Banks join Visa to either issue cards to their customers (e.g. yourself) or sign up retailers to accept the cards. Our members are responsible for all account management and billing inquiries. Account information is confidential and is proprietary to the issuing bank and the cardholder.

As Visa members, the banks agree to abide by a set of rules and regulations. This ensures that the payment system works for everyone using it – wherever they are around the world. When the bank signs up a cardholder, they have to ensure that their terms and conditions accommodate the standard requirements of the Visa association.

As you are aware, in cases of disputed sale transactions, you may be eligible for a chargeback. Chargebacks are reversals of disputed sales transactions.

Visa chargeback rules and regulations apply to all Visa credit and debit cards. As a Visa cardholder you have a right to approach your bank and ask them to request a refund if the goods and services you purchased with your debit or credit card are not supplied as specified. This also applies in the case where a merchant ceases trading.

 

Please contact your card-issuing bank for detailed advice about chargebacks. You can contact them directly, using the address or telephone number on your Visa statement or on the back of your card.

 

unquote

 

Nino

[Conniff]

That is true that they personally don't do the chargebacks, but is a good explanation.

 

I would now approach the bank and tell them you have been in contact with Visa and they have told you to come to them for initiation of chargeback.

If the bank says they can't do anything, you can tell them 'that is not what Visa says'.

 

They don't like doing chargebacks because if they do too many, they get a bollocking from Visa, so go for it.

I wouldn't show them the reply, that's personal to you.

 

Also, unconnected with your problem, there is the confirmation that many in other threads wouldn't believe and have been told by their banks, that chargeback can also be done with Visa debit cards.

[nino]

Conniff,

I have written the letter and I will report back to this forum with Abbey/Santander 's reply.

Thank you

[nino]

SUCCESS.

I have been refunded by Abbey.

File in your claims!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thank you all for your support and advices.

I hope this will set a new precedent.

 

Regards

Nino