My lawn bowls team got stranded after a cancelled flight. Why won’t easyJet pay out? SALLY SORTS IT
Can you help 20 retired lawn bowlers who went to the Algarve on a bowling holiday last spring?
We booked through Bowling Abroad, which in turn used travel agency Nirvana Europe.
We were due to fly from Faro back to Bristol Airport on April 28 with easyJet, but the flight was cancelled due to a power outage throughout Portugal.
It was a stressful situation as there were no easyJet reps to talk to, only leaflets telling us to rebook flights online.
We contacted Bowling Abroad, which via Nirvana Europe, found us accommodation in Albufeira for two days and we subsequently flew back to Bristol on April 30.
EasyJet was required to pay for our food and transport, and we kept receipts so we could claim this back later.
It’s been more than six months, and we still haven’t had our money which we estimate is £1,352.
L.W., Staffordshire
Claim: A reader’s bowling team was left stranded in Portugal after their flight was cancelled due to a power cut
Sally Hamilton replies: If EasyJet was your bowls opponent, you could have accused it of landing a stopper.
That’s when a player delivers a shot that prevents the competition from being able to play their desired move.
In your case, you tried your best to get the reimbursement due, but easyJet appeared to hamper you at every turn.
It should have been straightforward, as under a law called EC261, you were entitled to certain help or compensation following the incident, even though the cause was out of easyJet’s control.
An airline is meant to organise accommodation for as long as required until a new flight can be booked, plus provide a reasonable allowance for food and drink if the hotel doesn’t include these.
EasyJet’s website states its allowance is £25 a day. EasyJet didn’t sort out the accommodation for you, but fortunately your travel agent did. All 20 of you had to pay for food and drink yourselves.
Airlines are also meant to either provide transport to and from the emergency accommodation or reimburse the cost.
You did all the right things by collecting receipts for food and refreshments from your fellow travellers, including one for 180 euros for taxi fares.
You sent these off to your agent Nirvana, expecting it to deal with the situation as your group had paid it to book your trip.
But after a few weeks, the company returned your receipts saying easyJet would only deal with you, the group leader. Your efforts came to nothing despite providing every bit of information required.
The months rolled on. At one point recently it was looking hopeful that the payment would be forthcoming. But to process it easyJet wanted each of the group’s bank details.
You didn’t have this information, were uncomfortable asking for it and fearful of the security risk of sending all this personal information by email. So, you came to me.
I asked easyJet to find a more sensible solution and get the claim paid as soon as possible.
To-ing and fro-ing ensued between me, easyJet and Nirvana Europe for a couple of weeks. Eventually, easyJet issued a payment to Nirvana out of which the agent forwarded about £802 directly to you to share amongst your fellow bowlers.
Nirvana had subtracted the cost of the extra accommodation in Albufeira, which it had paid for even though this should have been easyJet’s responsibility.
This sum didn’t seem right, so I asked easyJet to look again. The next day came some better news, with the airline offering you a further £550.
The total reimbursed was now £1,352, a welcome result after eight months of chasing.
The amount was increased after the airline realised some of your submitted receipts had been misinterpreted by a customer service adviser.
Once this was rectified, it confirmed it would refund all the expenses, including the taxi fares.
EasyJet apologised for the delay and inconvenience. You were relieved and thanked me for my help, saying: ‘Without the might of the Daily Mail I do not think we would have got anywhere at all.’
RAC won’t pay agreed refund
Our car broke down at 7.30am on the day we were making the two hour 40 minute drive from our home in Devon to Lymington to catch a noon ferry to the Isle of Wight for a holiday.
We were left dangling for many hours when we should have been helped by our breakdown provider RAC.
In the end we were forced to organise a private recovery firm, but despite RAC agreeing to cover this bill nothing has been received. It has been three months. Please help.
S.N., Tiverton, Devon
Sally Hamilton replies: You explained that when you rang RAC on the day of the incident, 45 minutes after you had left home, an automated voice told you to go online as it would be quicker.
On doing this, a message said a recovery van would be with you between 10.50am and 12.50pm.
Later you were told it would be 12.50pm-14.50pm. I hate to think how slow it would have been if you hadn’t gone online.
Despite having left plenty of time for your drive to Lymington, you were going to miss the ferry.
You informed the ferry company and your hotel that you wouldn’t be making it and reorganised for the following day.
You then booked a hire car from nearby Taunton to drive home in and on to the Isle of Wight the next day. Your own car would have to be towed to a garage to be fixed in the meantime.
Then you were told it might be 4.50pm before RAC could get to you. Totally fed up that you might end up facing a nine-hour wait for help, you cancelled the callout, organised a private recovery firm and drove the hire car back home.
You arrived home at 5pm and were astounded that at 5.15pm a call came from an RAC recovery man saying he was where you had phoned from and couldn’t find you.
That was the only time you actually spoke to a human. Of course, by then neither you nor the car was still there as it had been towed and you’d driven home.
That evening you completed an online complaint letter to RAC, which was successfully submitted, and you were asked to send in the bill for the private recovery.
Despite asking several times where your reimbursement was, you got not no reply. You were rightly fed up with RAC’s poor response times, both for your breakdown on the day and from customer service regarding your claim.
I contacted RAC on a Friday. By Monday morning you received a call from an apologetic RAC saying it would reimburse you.
It paid you the £295 for the recovery and added £55 for the inconvenience. You were very grateful but disappointed that it took my intervention to get your money back.
- Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@dailymail.co.uk ¿ include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.
