Originally Posted by
mightyducksman
Seeing if anyone has any other ideas for me...
Purchased a non-refundable BCN-LIS-IAD one-way ticket directly through TAP in Executive for myself, wife, and 2.5 year old - around $3,400 in January 2020 for travel August 2020.
- Flight cancelled by TAP in June 2020. I called and requested refund, request granted at that time. I made the mistake of not calling my credit card.
- In December 2020, no refund had been processed yet, so I called credit card who said the window had passed for charge back (Chase Visa).
- I opened a DOT claim, which was registered and then received a contact 2/15/21 from TAP copying the DOT lawyer indicating a refund had been initiated and to be patient. Of course, no refund has been processed yet (3/28/21).
Any other ideas? My understanding was EU-261 was useless given TAP government ownership and I don't see evidence that changed from this thread.
Any chance TAP would negotiate with me to give me a similar flight even though they aren't running the nice one way fares any more (I know that's very unlikely)?
TIA
When exactly is date of travel in August and when did you call Chase? Dispute due to services not received must be filed within 120 days of departure date. So if your departure date was Aug 15, and you called to dispute after December 13, then Chase is correct to not open a dispute.
Originally Posted by
Often1
Both EC 261/2004 and US DOT rules apply to this ticket. The former because TP is a Member State (EU) carrier and because your ticket originated in the EU and the latter because the destination is in the US. Although there is no compensation for this cancellation, your Section 8 rebooking rights most certainly do apply and it appears that TP has recognized this (as it must). Similarly, TP has specifically recognized the entitlement to a refund in its response to your DOT complaint.
Yes, you may be too late for a chargeback as of right, but many card issuers will honor a chargeback up to a year after the contracted service was not provided. In your case, that might be as late as December 2021. More importantly, advised DOT that a refund was being processed on February 15.
I would file a chargeback based on the response to DOT. Do it in writing -- the mailing address for chargebacks appears on your monthly statement under a section describing those rights. In it, I would simply refer to the February 15, 2021 commitment and note that as of this date, it has not been received. Make certain that you attach a copy of the TP letter to DOT, along with a copy of your original e-ticket receipt and any other responses indicating that a refund is forthcoming. Finally, I would start a new complaint with DOT, referencing TP's commitment to process a refund and failure to do so, This will generate another round with TP.
Each of these steps causes a lot of work for TP and may lead them to appreciate that you won't give up.
Last step is to sue TP in your local small claims court. TP does business in Virginia (service at IAD) and, if you have trouble locating a registered agent to serve, you may well find help from MWAA (the airport authority).
Recommending OP to go back to Chase is likely a dead end and waste of time as Chase already said no. It will never cause TAP "a lot of work" as Chase is not going to start the process to begin with.
As confirmed by Chase in a
prior thread and OP confirmed in this thread as well, Chase already said too late. Disputing due to
service not provided must be made within 120 days after date service was expected to be received.
This is a VISA rule; not a rule Chase can provide a waiver for. As the date of travel was August 2020, a dispute must be filed around the same time of the month in December. Any dispute filed after the 120 days due to services not provided will be rightfully rejected by the merchant bank.
Please provide data points Chase is willing to eat a charge >$1000 after the 120 day timeframe instead of pushing misleading information.
There is no dispute criteria allowed by VISA to allow for a chargeback based on TAP response to DoT given the dates involved. Again, the chargeback window closed in December. A dispute due to credit not received require a transaction credit slip from the merchant. If TAP has not run the credit against the card, there is no transaction credit slip to support the dispute. TAP of course is violating US law for agreeing that a refund is due on a transaction paid on a credit card and not following thru with the refund within 7 business days.