jondabomb

Hello, I recently flew BA and my bag was destroyed. (Literally) I filed a claim via their website and also registered mail.
They are offering me 50% off the claim because I no longer have receipts for these items. Some were gifts and others I dont remember where or when I bought them.
The total claim is for £ 752 and they want to pay £ 376. The problem is, that doesnt cover everything that was destroyed.
Do I have to settle for half? Are they obligated to pay even though I dont have the original receipts? Is the next option to go to small claims court?

FlyingUnderTheRadar

Did you show them written replacement costs for the items from reputable merchants? If so I would politely reject their offer. If they deny the claim and given my previous success for suing an airline in small claims court that would be my next step.

mules

Did you pay for these items using a credit card? Can the credit card company statement provide enough proof of purchases?

rbwpi

If all else fails, definetly go the small claims route. My experience is that they will not contest your claim in court if there is any reasonable basis for your suit, but rather pay up. Of the six suits that I filed in the past ten years, I received five default judgements.

obscure2k

Moving thread to BA Forum.
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

Short Final

jondabomb,

How about just claiming on your travel insurance, surely much easier and less stressful than fruitlessly chasing after an airline for enhanced compensation ?

HIDDY

Is this the same bag that was eaten by a pack of wolves?

If so, then it might be tatty but far from destroyed. I reckon £10 would get you a replacement down the market.

bealine

Sniff....sniff...snuffle! What's that I smell? Could it be something a male bovine would leave behind in the field?

My one and only experience of taking a legitimate claim through the "Small Claims" procedure involved both my son and myself losing two days from work each. Whilst the judge was prepared to rule against the wheel clamping company involved, he was very clear that he would only be willing to compensate for the value of the actual, receipted, losses incurred and would not entertain the notion of anything undocumented or unreceipted.

So, although my son got his money back from the clampers, and the money for the damage done to his car at their hands (filmed on CCTV and three repair estimates provided) intangibles such as our loss of earnings, costs of legal advice, transport costs to/from court were lost. If you also take into consideration the number of man-hours taken by two amateurs to prepare the case to go to court, and visits to the premises to take video evidence etc, we were probably out of pocket to the tune of a couple of hundred squids. The judge advised us to take a fifteen minute break and see if we could arrive at a settlement with the clampers over coffee.

Although we were still out of pocket, justice was done the following week when one of their clampers and the towaway driver were set upon and thrown into Portsmouth Harbour by a handful of taxi drivers!

Ii is not unreasonable to ask for receipts if the items being claimed are quite new - after all, while something is still under guarantee you (or whoever bought it as a gift) would be reasonably expected to be able to provide a receipt or evidence of purchase - credit card statement, bank statement etc. If no receipts are offered, would that not appear as though someone might be trying to "pull a fast one?"

golfmad

Out of interest jondabomb, how was it destroyed?

DonnaDonnaDonna

I'm confused, why are you suggesting rbwpi's post is BS? My experience is similar, I have issued many small claims actions against large retailers and all but one has either settled or allowed it to go to default. In defending a claim their costs are far higher than that of a lay claimant, and certainly more than the £376 the OP is concerned with.

You shouldn't need legal advice for a small claim, the process is really very simple, and I assume you asked for the case to be heard at your local court, so minimising inconvenience to you?

Often1

Time is money. Presuming that you are employed, just how little do you earn that you want to sit around court?

File a claim against your travel insurance and they will sort it out with BA through subrogation. You will take the claim payment and go on your way.

HIDDY

By a ravenous pack of wolves.

golfmad

I thought you were joking earlier

MNManInKen

I find this rather inconsistent. You say you don't have receipts and indeed for some you have no idea at all about price, yet you claim a rather exact £752?

In your original post on this issue, you referred to "My few staple clothes" - if there were only a few of them, were they all from Prada? You also mention valuables and expensive books, but apart from the obvious rule not to put valuable stuff in checked baggage, isn't it a bit strange not to have receipts for those?

I appreciate is not pleasant, but in the end if you have no reasonable proof for your claim, what do you expect them to do?

Small claims courts are quite good for minor cases like this, although I very much would hope no judge would just assign you an award without any reasonable documentation to back up your claims.

golfmad

I couldn't agree more. OP, please tell us that you have travel insurance?