Originally Posted by
LoungeLizzard
Several people have reported that they got their refunds from Swiss. - It seems that those who got the money back were generally not those who did a lot of warm waving, charge-backing or threatening to take them to court.
I do have a certain understanding for getting mad at them, but I find it unfair to all others who wait for refunds and rebooking if you call or write to them a hundred times and therefore bind their already scarce resources. They did make it clear that the refunds will happen, but it will take time. I would like them to stick to that rule and not let people who shout the loudest jump the queue.
If LX / LH had taken a customer-centric approach like other airlines that immediately had
functioning websites,
reachable phone lines, and
clear policies that allowed customers to rebook online or receive a credit that
automatically converted to a cash refund if unused after [12] months, I'm sure they would had found many more customers willing to just "go with the flow".
Instead, we were met with websites that couldn't handle rebooking, call centres that couldn't be reached, and policies that kept changing. The
lack of e-mail notifications showing that cancellations initiated by them,
hiding of the refund possibility on their website (later brought back only to be removed again), and — when pushed — reluctant
verbal acknowledgement that refunds are possible but refusal to put anything in writing all served to further the impression that they were trying to hide the ball. They have no one but themselves to blame for the "run on the bank" by customers legitimately concerned about the creditworthiness of a voucher from such a company.
And then to use the excuse of having "insufficient resources" to process refunds while clearly having sufficient resources to concoct disingenuous legal arguments to fight chargeback inquiries further shows where their priorities are. So no, I do not agree that customers should just sit back and "wait our turn" when the airline is clearly not acting in good faith.
Originally Posted by
rosenkavalier
their resources aren't THAT scarce if they are able to systematically reject all chargeback requests in a swift manner like they are doing now...
Originally Posted by
Adam Smith
Swiss verbally acknowledged (in mid-March) that I was legally entitled to a refund. They just told me that I had to call them back in 2021 to get one. Not only is thst against EU261, it's just plain ****ing unreasonable.
Judging by the posts in this thread, most people have attempted to resolve the situation directly with LX, and only turned to chargebacks etc after LX has tried to deny them their rights (and their money).
Let's not blame the victims of LX's outrageous conduct for pursuing what little recourse is available to them.
100% agree with @
rosenkavalier and @
Adam Smith.